Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 4, 1896

THE CELTIC MONTHLY.
1S5
H. L. MACDONALD. OF DUNACH.
IJfpiHE Maedoualds of
yWy Dimach, uear Oban,
^=^ trace their descent
from Hector or Eachann,
2nd son of Ruari ]\[ac Alain
Macdonald, III. of Clan-
ranald, and thus belongs
to that distinguished and
powerful branch of the Clan Donald known as
the MacEachains. It embraces various forms
of the elan name, such as ilacEachinn, Mac-
keachin, AlacAlister, etc., and many of its
members have raised themselves to positions of
eminence in various VFalks of life, esiaecially in
the military profession, which has always had
a charm for Highlanders beyond that of any
other pi-ofession or trade. To this branch
belonged the famous ilarshal Macdonald, Duke
of Tarentum, who played such a prominent
part in the wars of Napoleon Bounaparte.
The MacDonalds of Dunach may therefore
claim an ancient and honourable ancestry.
Dr. Alexander MacEachinu (or Macdonald),
son of the Hector already referred to, married
Margaret, daughter of Ranald MacAlister of
DUNACH HorSE AXD GROUNHS.
Stratbaii'd, Isle of Skye, by his wife Ann,
daughter of Alexander Macdonald, VI. of
Kingsburgh. Their son, Charles Macdonald
of Ord, in Skye, represented the family on the
death of his elder brothers, and his son, Neil
Macleod Macdonald, was father of the subject
of this sketch. He married Madeline, daughter
of the Rev. John Henry Brown, Vicar of Lang-
ford, Notts, who is descended from an old
Yorkshire family, and traces her descent back
to a Sir John Rudston, Lord of the Manor of
Hajtou,- in Yorkshire, in the reign of King
John, A.D. 1205. Charles Macdonald of
Ord married Ann, daughter of Captain Neil
MacLeod, of Gesto, Isle of Skye, the well-
known authority on pipe music. He pubUshed
in 1828 a small book containing twenty
piobaireachds to illustrate the MacCrimmon
system of pipe music notation. The Gesto
family were famous Gaelic musicians, and
Dr. Keith Norman Macdonald, of Edinbane,
Skye, also a descendant of this talented
Highlander, paid a graceful tribute to Captain
MacLeod's memory by dedicating to him his
recently published " Oesto CoUection of High-
land Music." The Dunach family is worthily
represented by its present head, Mr. H. L.
Macdonald. He was born in 1871 at Attadale,