McOnLea as an early form of McLea

[Kyle2 MacLea]

Dear Forum, Back in March, I sent out info on the McLeas from the Parish Records of Rothesay, Bute, to the Forum: http://www.clanmclea.co.uk/forum/Show-M ... sp?ID=1134 When I did that, Rob was curious if the early records actually used the form "McOnLea" (with all three capitals or something similar) as I had written.

[Kyle2 MacLea]

I also have the full pages plus the title page in a 32MB PDF file if anyone is interested as well. K=

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Kyle, May have seen these before, but worth checking out again. I guess there were a number of variations in the 1600's and 1700's, but most common was Mac or Mconlea or Mac or Mclea. The main thing for me as advanced way beyond the medieval period as a clan was that we moved from some variation of Dunsleibhe dropping the d and other letters along the way to point where we were often referred to simply as McLea. In the 1760's there was no e-mail or telephones in Argyll to get the message out, but nevertheless the McLeas or Maconleas that resided within their Clan chief's area of influence got the message from the top and by the 1770's the records indicate that most Argyll MacLeas/Maconleas changed their name to Livingstone. I dont know how united the Argyll Maconleas as Clan were after 1746, but to my mind this apparent solidarity regarding the name change suggests to me a strong clan led by an organized clan chief with a plan. regards, Donald (Livingstone) Clink

[Bachuil]

This is very interesting. One thing it is always worth remembering.

[Kyle2 MacLea]

Thanks to Donald and Niall. Interesting stuff.

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hello Niall and Kyle, Yes indeed and we are fortunate to have documented evidence over the centuries demonstrating with some spelling variation the evolution of the McOnlea name which McLea was in itself a final variation. It is interesting to note that in the 18th century how both McOnlea and McLea are used in Argyll based records prior to to the Livingstone name change. I found it interesting that Rob I think it was pointed out to me in an e-mail that even after the name change of the 1700's in the early 1800's we see evidence that the Baron at the time was still being referred to by some as Baron Maconlea. One should never lose respect for one's past family heritage as is also seen in the name of an elderly Mull tenant Dunsleve Livingstone recorded in the 1779 Argyll records.