Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 7, 1899

THE CELTIC MONTHLY.
THE CHIEF OF THE MACGILLIVRAYS.
^ijU^ COOMPANY-
^^ ING this
r&^& sketch is the
portrait of Mr. John
William IMacGilliv-
ray, the Chief of the
Clan. For four
hundred years his
ancestors possessed
Dunmaglass and
other mountain lands
in the neighbourhood
of Inverness. It is supposed that the Mac-
Gillivrays are one of the many branches of the
Clan Chattan. That they were closely associa-
ted with the Mackintoshes is an undoubted
fact; but whether of the same stock or not must
yet be left an open question. Feudally they were
connected also with the Campbells of Cawdor —
yea and with previous old Thanes of Cawdor
who had only a territorial surname. They were
also feudally connected with the Earls of Moray.
But in these cases there was no blood alliance —
no common origin tie at least. Perhaps it was
likewise a charter and tack connection with
the Mackintoshes, which many intermarriages
strengthened, rather than descent from one ances-
tor. In very truth the Clan Chattan, from its
first appeai'ance in records, has always exhibited
the characteristics of a league or confederacy, and
not the usual features in a marked degree, of a
clan claiming common descent from one ancestor.
Mere supposition as it is, we cannot get rid of
the idea that the Clan Chattan must be con-
nected by name and cat totem far more closely
with Sutherland than with a common ancestor.
It is shown pretty clearly by the Sagas of the
Norsemen that these invaders drove many of
the native Gael inhabitants out of Sutherland
and Caithness. The driven out people would
be, of course, united by race, language, and the
purpose of holding themselves together, for
defence and oifence, under a chosen leader or
captain. If there was such a displacement,
as this theory supposes, of driven out Caithness
and Sutherland Gael before the days when
Scotland — or at anyrate the kingdom of Alba —
was about equally divided between INIacbeth
and Earl Thorfinn, the Clan Chattan puzzle
would be explainable. As regards the Mac-
Gillivrays, their surname has the same flavour
of Celtic dedication to saints as the surnames of
Macleans, Maclelans, Maclennans, Macgilchrists,
etc. They were always a clan small enough to
descend from a common ancestor, and their
habitat was always Dunmaglass and some places
adjoining. But although a small clan they
produced many men who distinguished them-
selves in war, peace, church, and science. They
belonged to the law-abiding section of High-
landers through all their generations, as far as
superiors and bad neighbours permitted. The
MacGillivray who fell at Culloden was a brave,
chivalrous, single-hearted upholder of the cause
of hereditary right, who deserves to be ranked
with the " Gentle Lochiel " and those who were
similarly upright and unselfish. After Culloden
the Macgillivray estates were forfeited for a
time, and young members of the Chief's family
and kinsmen emigrated to Georgia and Florida,
where they had countrymen and friends of the
earlier emigration of Highlanders under General
Oglethorpe before them. John MacGillivray,
Merchant of Mobile, and a brother of William,
Laird of Dunmaglass, made his first will in
1767. Lachlan MacGillivray, his cousin, desig-
nated of Vale Royal, Parish of Christ Church,
Province of Georgia, likewise made his will that
year. It proved to be his last. But John, the
Merchant of Mobile, lived to make his last will
in 178t). By that time he had retired from
loyal service on King George's side, from the
revolted States, with the rank of Lieutenant-
Colonel, and with considerable means which he
used to redeem debts on the Dunmaglass estates.
The two MacGillivrays mention, in their 17G7
wills, several other kinsmen and clansmen who
were resident in Georgia before the War of
Independence.
In 1852 the direct line of the MacGillivray
Chiefs ended with John Lachlan, who died on
the 6th February of that year. Chiefship and
property went then to the nearest male heir.
But the question which had to be decided was —
who was he 1 Mr. Neil John MacGillivray, of
County Glengarry, Canada West, and of Easter
Aberchalder, County of Inverness, claimed that
his ancestor, Donald of Dalcrombie and Tutor
of Dunmaglass, was the second son of Farquhar,
the MacGillivray Chief of 1626; and that he
was his direct representative. The Rev.
Lachlan MacGillivray, who denied that Donald
the Tutor was Farquhar's second son, and more-
over went so far as to throw doubt on the
Canadian marriage of Mr. Neil John's parents ;
claimed descent from William, another junior
son of Farquhar of 1626. The Canadian
marriage of Mr. Neil John's father was fully
established by witnesses who knew his father
and mother ; and the documentary proofs left
no doubt as to Donald the Tutor's position in
the pedigree. Five years after the death of
John Lachlan, Mr. Neil John was legally
declared his next male heir. Although born
and brought up in Canada, the new jMacGillivray
Chief was a far better Highlander than his
predecessor, the last of the old line. He