Though our restless feet have wandered far,
And severed wide we be,
The children of a common stock,
A clan ‘til death are we.
What events and what tales of ancient times underlay that sentiment?
According to l
egend from before1200 AD, people bearing the Gaelic name Mhic-Rath came from Ireland to settle on the shores of the estuary Loch Duich, east of the Isle of Skye. [Area indicated by the red rectangle in the map of Scotland] In early times the Gaelic Mhic-Rath, meaning Son of Good Fortune, was most commonly rendered MacRa. Many variants of MacRa came into use over the years, all of them being a "Son of" part (Mac or Mc) followed by a "Good Fortune" part (Crea, Creath, Kreth, Ra, Rae, Rath, etc.). In some versions the second part is not capitalized e.g. Macrae. Little significance attaches to these variations in spelling. For instance, the son of Macrae might well use the surname MacRae or McRae. By about 1400 AD a nascent Clan MacRa had established itself in Kintail, situated on the north shore of Loch Duich about one mile from its eastern end. Their leader was Fionnla Dubh MacGillechroisd, meaning Black Finlay, son of Christopher. "Dubh," pronounced "doo," means "black," and here signifies dark hair rather than the fair or reddish hair more common in the Highlands.
Black Finlay provided for the safety of the MacRas by ingratiating himself with the locally-powerful chiefs of the Clan Mackenzie. This line of chiefs, the Lords of Kintail, went under the family name of Seaforth.
Though Black Finlay may have been more skilled in the arts of negotiation than in those of war, and though his followers were mainly peaceful and hardworking farmers, the MacRas as a whole are better known in song and fable for their penchant to mayhem.
Here, for example, is the coming-of-age tale of Duncan, the younger grandson of Black Finlay, a youth destined to bear the sobriquet Big Duncan of the Battle Axe. Piqued that because of his tender years he’d been denied a place with the MacRa clansmen in a violent dispute, Duncan took a rusty old battle-axe into a fray, slew and beheaded four men of a rival clan and pressed his claim for recognition as a warrior by brandishing his gory trophies at the victory celebration. His elders admitted him as an equal without further ado.
The MacRa warriors put themselves at the service of the Lords of Kintail in their warlike enterprises, and in recognition of their loyalty the Lords eventually made the McRas the keepers of the MacKenzie clan’s castle on the island of Eilean Donan (also spelled Ellandonan). The island is located just off the north shore of Loch Duich about four miles north-west of Kintail.
Christopher, great-grandson of Black Finlay, was appointed Constable of Eilean Donan castle in 1511, and thereafter the same post was held by one or another MacRa clansman through the seventeenth century—for so long indeed that the castle became the symbolic home of the Clan.
"The History of the Clan MacRae," by the Reverend Alexander MacRae (A. M. Ross, Dingwall, Scotland, 1899). Copies may be obtained from: Higginson Book Co., P. O. Box 778, Salem, MA 01970 USA.
"The Clan MacRae with its Rolls of Honour and of Service in the Great War," compiled by Ella MacRae Gilstrap of Eilean Donan and Ballimore (Aberdeen at the Rosemount Press, 1923) offers a brief history of the Clan through the World War I period.
John McD. McRae of Waikiki Western Australia, family historian and perceptive traveler in the McRae country of Scotland and Australia, is the chief inspiration of the present account of Ian's background. He provided many nuggets of information distributed throughout the text and acknowledged separately.
Continue reading: 1.1.2 Eilean Donan
Previous Topics
1. Ian McRae (1904-1975) Background and Youth (-1929)
1.1 Scottish Origins
This Topic1.1.1 A Clan ‘til Death
Next Topic1.1.2 Eilean Donan
