Where Are The Lost Macdonalds? By Donald J. Macdonald.

Donald J. Macdonald, Secretary of the Clan Donald Society of Edinburgh, appeals for help in filling the gaps in the family tree.

I ended my first article by making an appeal to any who knew of “lost” families of the Clan to send me particulars for record. The appeal still stands; but I am glad to say that some details have come to hand thanks to the keenness and kindness of some of our members.

Among these are Heiskeir and Skeabost, and Rigg and Balvicquean, both branches of the Clann Domhnaill Hearaich. We are also in touch with Hugh Macdonald of the Glenmore family of Sleat. My friend A.G. MacDonald, Commissioner of Clan Donald in Queensland, has done much to find some of these, and he hopes to find still more in Australia. I would like to acknowledge here our debt to him for his kindness and the great deal of trouble he has taken, and is still taking, to find more.

I have had many visitors from overseas, and letters from others who have some idea of a connection with known families, but their opinions rest usually on family tradition. Now, although this is hard to substantiate in a documentary manner, such traditions are not to be ignored. There is usually some reason for them, and research may lead one to the truth. They are, at the least, a starting point. In one or two cases these traditions have been followed up and found to be correct. So do not be deterred. Send in any information you have and it will be treated with respect and welcomed, for it may throw light on some other case, or may itself be corroborated by some other contributor.

In order to make it easier for any interested (and I hope there will be more than a few) I give a list below of the families I still have to “find,” with their connections to the cadet families of the various branches of our Clan.

Information is sought about the following families:

Some of you will know that, thanks to the generosity of Mr Roy Thomson, we were presented with a large quantity of “sheets” and blocks belonging to The Northern Chronicle, which published the three volumes of Clan Donald in 1900-04. Unfortunately we have found that there are not enough, among all that we received, to complete three volumes. This has been a great disappointment to me, of course. But there it is. The printers are of the opinion that it would not be practicable to reprint the missing sheets. The suggestion was made that it might be worthwhile re-issuing the work in one volume, and adding further notes on families, bringing them up to date as far as our records go. If this were undertaken, my appeal for more information about the families is even more urgent.

Sixty years – two generations – have passed since the original volumes were published and copies of the originals are hard to get and expensive. Would there be a demand for such a revision?