Highland vs Lowland

[Canadian Livingstone]

Sorry I meant the Appin Stewart spelling for Stewart in my last message. Donald

[D.W.Livingston]

I have also already broken them down by time period for the GIF image I have stored at: http://www.reclaimed-treasures.com/clan ... irths.html I am unsure if I still have the sheet breakdown but the actual image shows both MacLea and Livingstone by county from the beginning of the records. I have each timeline (ie. 1599 - 1649, 1650-1699, etc.) in it's own individual GIF file the entire zipped folder is 15 MB but I can send the individual pictures to anyone who does like seeing the pictures flip through years. David

[Kyle2 MacLea]

Thanks, David!

[Canadian Livingstone]

Thanks David and Kyle for that. This information will no doubt prove of great help now and in the future. I am also collecting historic and genealogical related Maclea and Livingstone data to be eventually utilized by the society. Rob was very interested in locating the earliest evidence of the use of Mcdunsliebhe, Maconlea, McLea and variety of examples of the this name have come to light in some of the early records in Scotland. Enough in any event to give one some idea of the evolution from Mcdunsliebhe to dunleave to dunlea to Maconlea to Maclea and the multiplicity of other spelling variations. Apparently much as 19th century Argyll historian Archibald Campbell pointed out that Drumlea originated as Drumsliebhe or something like that I would suspect Mcdunsliebhe travelled the same linguistic journey until it became Dunslee, Dunslea,Dunsleeve which are examples of our early surname that we would find in the Argyll records from the 1600's. Heres a question for the Baron and all to ponder if you will. With all the examples that Rob, David,Kyle and the rest of us have found over the last few years can we determine from examples when our highland ancestors in Argyll first started to abandon patronymic system and adopt Maconlea or a variation of it as a clan based surname. It is said that in the lowlands that surnames developed in common usesage by the end of the middle ages though nobles used them before that. In the highlands however it is generally stated by scholars that surnames were not commonly adopted until the 18th century. I would have thought sometime in the mid 17th century for our clan in Argyll, but perhaps that is too early.Can we take a look at some examples found by Rob, David, Kyle, myself and others to make some sense of this. In the last message I received from Rob he sent me some more examples of the early use of Maconlea he had found as it was something that for both of us found of particular interest. I know others feel the same way. regards, Donald

[Kyle2 MacLea]

I'm no expert, Donald, but I would say the 1600s seem to be a crossroads.

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Kyle, My list is on my other computer I think so I need to take another look but off the top of my head I would agree with you. I have a list somewhere with every single one that came to my attention. I listed them in chronological sequence if I can find the list. It would be neat to identify the earliest example we have of the use of the name as a surname. I think we have quite a few examples from the 1600's from Argyll. regards, Donald

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hello Baron, One other possible source of the Highland Macleas in the lowlands would be descendants of a few families that may have left Lismore, Movern, Mull, Appin (not including ones that settled inStrathconnon) etc and migrated into the lowlands or emigrated before the 1750's or 1760's. THese would include Maclea families that were neither of Lindsaig or Strathconnon origin.How many Macleas from Western Argyll settled in America before 1760 I would not think many but there could have been some possibly. Some could have settled in lowland counties prior to the name change. I have wondered about this for some time. regards, Donald

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Kyle, I was thinking sometime in the 1600's, but I was never quite certain the exact time line and perhaps a gradual end to use of Patronymics in that century in Argyll culminating in a more widespread of adoption of Mconlea by the end of 16th century or some spelling variation of it as a surname at the expense of older Dunslea. This list does not make this exactly clear but you I think you can see some sort of evolution of the name.

[Canadian Livingstone]

Sorry I meant the end of the 17th century for Maconlea Donald

[Barry Judson]

In my research here on PEI, I have seen some references to McLea in deeds and such. I will see if I can find more info on the McLea's of PEI. They are scarce, but I have seen some. Barry