One Morning You Wake Up…
and Find You are Not Who You Thought You Were!

EARWAKER PRIZE

A CUPBOARD FULL OF SKELETONS

The Adventures of My DNA

Charlie Gregory

‘... the name of McGregoure sulde be altogedder abolisched, and that haill personnes of thatt Clan suld renunce thair name and tak thame sum uther name, and that they nor nane of thair posteritie suld call thameselffis Gregor or McGregoure thairefter under the payne of deid … they sal be prosequte, huntit, followit, and persewit with fyre and sword ... until they be ruttit out and exterminat…

Command, chairge all and sindrie, by oppin proclamatioun that nane of thame presume or tak upoun hand to supplie, schaw favour or conforte to ony of the said Clangregour, thair wyffis, or bairnis, ... under the payne of deid …

(The above are extracts from the Edict issued on 3rd of April 1603 by King James VI of Scotland – James I of England – on the very Sunday that he took leave of his Scottish subjects in an affectionate farewell speech before leaving for London to accede to the English throne.)

***

The name’s Gregory – Charlie Gregory. Names don’t come any more English than that. The Anglo Saxon Gregory family trace their line back to Leicestershire where they were seated centuries before William the Conqueror arrived in Kent. The family crest sports a Lion Passant, on guard, and the motto is Vigilanter – Watchfully.

I’m a third or fourth generation Mancunian and spent my early life in Openshaw and Abbey Hey. Dad was a fitter by trade, in engineering. Granddad was a foundry-man and great-granddad was a bricklayer. I never probed any further back than that because the birth of my great-grandfather wasn’t registered and I never found the time to go digging. But I always knew that, on the Gregory side, both sets of great-grandparents had their roots in Shropshire and moved into Manchester during the Industrial Revolution. It all pointed to rural England, Leicestershire, deepest Mercia and Anglo Saxons. It was good solid stuff and I liked it.

Then I discovered that Professor Bryan Sykes of Oxford Ancestors was doing a Tribes of Britain Analysis based on the Y-chromosomes of men. The project was aimed at pinpointing those who were of Viking origin. I thought that I would join in. After all, great-grandpapa-X20 might have moved into Germany from Scandinavia. You never can tell.

Oxford Ancestors produced a bigger surprise than expected. ‘Our analysis shows that you have inherited your Y-chromosome from one of the original Celtic inhabitants of the British Isles, even from one of the first settlers who arrived 9,000 years ago.’ Eh – Celt? Me? Arrived 9,000 years ago? Those guys must have been hunter-gatherers, following the receding ice. What about the Anglo Saxon and Viking bit?

This was weird. According to Oxford Ancestors I was not who I thought I was. The Gregorys are Anglo Saxons. But I’m a Celt so I can’t be a Gregory. So why have I got this name? There was no easy answer to that, only more questions. Had Oxford Ancestors got it wrong? Was I adopted and never told? Was one of my forebears adopted – or a cuckold? Oh dear – granny?! Here was a mystery demanding to be solved.

At this stage I went on the Internet and put various questions about Gregory into the Google Search Engine. That led me to the Clan Gregor website which in turn led me to the page where they give a list of names of families that might have their roots in the clan – Gregory was one of them. That struck me as strange, knowing what I did about the name and its origins. Then, on the Home Page of the website they ask, ‘Are you a MacGregor?’ followed by the question, ‘How do you know for sure?’ This in turn leads to the MacGregor DNA Project, which exists to answer two questions: Who are the MacGregors and where do they come from?

Professor Richard MacGregor runs the project. So I sent him a copy of my Oxford Ancestors 13 marker DNA read-out. He checked it against his data and found that it was a match. That intrigued me enough to join the project, which uses the Family Tree DNA laboratory in America. I now had a 37 Loci Y-chromosome signature, which again I forwarded to Richard MacGregor. He confirmed that it put me firmly in the clan with ‘no need for any further proof or production of a paper trail.’ All well and good, but if I’m a Gregor why am I called Gregory? This was bizarre. I suddenly had to get used to a new ethnicity, and then wonder why one of my forebears changed his name. Maybe a clue lay within Clan Gregor itself. After all, they are family.

It was my turn now to wonder, who are the MacGregors and where do they come from? So I researched their history. And a terrible one it is. Their origins lie in the Dal Riata – Race of Riata – who once lived in Dal Riada, which is now Antrim in Ireland. They probably arrived in Argyll when the first wave of Scots came into the Mull of Kintyre in 501 AD. The tribe finally settled in the glens to north of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs in the ninth century AD. Glen Gyle, Glen Lyon, Glen Strae, Glen Lochy and Glen Orchy roll off the tongue like poetry and finally became their homeland.

For my part, research revealed that my ancestors had probably travelled up the Atlantic seaboard from the Basque country, then across southern Britain to Ireland. That made sense because a read-out of my mitochondrial (female line) DNA is in the same group as that taken from the skeleton of a young man who lived and died in Somerset 12,000 years ago. Further investigation suggested that people from both my lines of DNA arrived in Ireland around 7,000 BC – long before the time of Finn Macool and the Fianna. Collectively they were known as the Erainn, the Irish Aborigines. It was a group of these indigenous people who formed the Dal Riata and settled in Ulster before ending up in the Scottish Highlands. Some of them were to become MacGregors.

In those early days, before the use of surnames, things looked good for the clan. Tradition has it that their chiefs are descended from Gregor, son of Kenneth MacAlpin (858) who himself was descended from a long line of Celtic kings. Either that or they spring from Griogair, son of Dungal, who ruled Alba between 879 and 889 AD. DNA evidence points the finger at Kenneth MacAlpin. In keeping with this, the clan motto is S Rioghal Mo Dhream – Royal is My Race. Most modern historians agree that the first recorded chief was Gregor of the Golden Bridles (b1300) whose son, Iain of the One Eye (b1325, d1390) succeeded him when he died in 1360. Highlanders always acknowledged Clan Gregor as being the principal and one of the most ancient of the Scottish tribes.

From the beginning the Gregors lived by the sword. In the 14^th century a combined force of Gregors and Grants stormed the stronghold of Clan Comyn, killing the chief and keeping his head as a trophy. But the Gregors had a big and aggressive neighbour in the Campbells, the most influential and powerful of all the clans. Both were expansionist, the Gregors by the broadsword and axe and the Campbells by their size and guile. The two clans formed an alliance and expanded into north and western Perthshire. The Campbells made use of the Gregor military might and prowess to further their ambitions. But over time the Gregors occupied and exploited lands that the Campbell chiefs, who were higher in the pecking order, wanted for themselves.

At the same time the kings of Scotland were striving to establish supremacy over the clans and needed loyal chiefs to help them gain control. One way of getting the chiefs on side was to grant them a Royal Charter for their land. The Gregors didn’t go along with this. They didn’t agree that the king had the power to give or withhold a charter for land that was already theirs. But the Campbells and many more saw the advantage of Royal Patronage.

In 1314 the Gregors fought for Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn. But the Bruce, demonstrating his authority, granted the Barony of Loch Awe, which included much of the Gregor lands, to the Chief of the Campbells who had helped him to get the throne. The Bruce left it to the Campbells to make their own arrangements for taking possession. So the Campbells harried the Gregors and drove them deeper into the glens. Then around 1400, Robert III, in a further show of power, gave the Campbells Glen Orchy, the ancient seat of the Gregors. The Gregors, reduced to tenants on their own land, would not comply, so the Campbells continually attacked them. The clan’s troubles were just beginning.

***

With no deeds to prove their rights, and completely surrounded by enemies, the Gregors swore to hold on to their land ‘by the right of the claymore.’ This played into the hands of the Campbells who were politically astute, ruthless, and adept at using the law against those whose estates they coveted. They knew that, because of their temperament, the Gregors would overreact whenever they were pushed. So the Campbells provoked them into acts of violence then invoked the law to put them down and take their ground.

By this method, in 1502, the Campbells stripped Clan Gregor of their Glen Lyon heartland. Now the Gregors were confined to Glen Strae. Though in 1506 they still had enough territorial power for their chief to entertain James IV of Scotland for six days at Inchcalloun. But in 1519, Eoin dubh of Glen Strae died without leaving an heir. The Campbells meddled with the succession, set up a rival line to the chieftaincy, and laid claim to the remaining Gregor lands. The Campbells’ power was greatly enhanced and Clan Gregor lay defeated. Even so, at that time there were 700 Gregors in the Scottish army. Half of them were killed in the Battle of Pinkie in 1547 when the English defeated the Scots and took Edinburgh.

In 1560, Cailean liath, the Campbell Laird of Glen Orchy, pulled strings to prevent Griogair ruadh, The Arrow of Glen Lyon, inheriting the estates to which he was entitled. Clan Gregor fought back using their formidable military strength, which Cailean liath and his allies could not defeat. The only way there could ever be peace was for the Gregors to negotiate with the Campbells and Crown. But the king’s Privy Council always backed landlords in any dispute, heedless of the grievances of tenants. So the Gregors would never negotiate. The Lairds of Glen Orchy, by pursuing a policy of victimisation, left the clan only one option – armed resistance and aggression. This led Mary, Queen of Scots, to grant an Act of the Privy Council in 1563, allowing noblemen to ‘pursue the MacGregors with fire and Sword.’

In 1571 the Campbells caught and killed Griogair ruadh. Clan Gregor were scattered in disarray and hunted down like animals. Their prayer, handed down from generation to generation, sums up their fate: ‘Frae the greed o’ the Campbells, Good Lord deliver us.’ Landless and driven by revenge they continually raided the property of those who had dispossessed them. They became expert poachers and rustlers, killing if need be, then hiding in the high glens. Their way of springing from nowhere, yelling their Battle Cry of ‘Ard Choille!’ (From the high ground!), then disappearing back into the clouds that shrouded the mountains, earned them the name of ‘Children of the Mist.’ Unable to stop them, many clans paid them not steal their cattle. The Gregors, forced to go feral, became the most violent and lawless of the Highland Clans and ran a protection racket.

In 1583, Cailean liath died and his son, Donnchadh Dubh a’ Churraic {Black Duncan of the Cowl}, succeeded him and ruled until 1631. Black Duncan had a beheading pit constructed in Finlarig Castle. Here, from where they danced in the Great Hall, guests could watch captured Gregors being dragged up Judgement Hill to a kangaroo court where they were ‘tried’ and found guilty. Then the guests were treated to the spectacle of the higher-ranking clansmen being shackled and beheaded in the pit below while the lower ranks were hanged on the nearby hill.

At this time the King and his Privy Council saw the Highlands, with their clan and Gaelic culture, as remote and barbarous. This was confirmed by continual conflict involving the Campbells who were bullying more than just the Gregors. Then in 1589 John Drummond, the Kings forester, hanged some Gregors for poaching. The clan retaliated by murdering him – an offence against the crown. The Privy Council immediately issued more letters of ‘Fire and Sword’ against the clan, making it illegal to shelter or have dealings with any clan member.

Between 1589 and 1603 there were countless battles to remove Gregor tenants – who defended their land despite their landlord obtaining legal deeds to remove them. Many other Gregors were outlawed for unspecified acts of theft. This demonstrated to the government that the clan posed a problem in the Highlands and were a threat to law and order. As the Highlands were a potential source of revenue they needed civilising.

In the winter of 1602, two Gregor clansmen, travelling from Glasgow to their home near Loch Rannoch, were overtaken by night while passing through Colquhoun land near Loch Lomond. Cold and hungry they asked for food and shelter in the town of Luss. Against the Highland tradition of hospitality, food and shelter was refused. Forced to spend the night in the open in the mountain-winter, the Gregors found an abandoned outhouse, slaughtered a sheep and had a meal. Discovering this, the Colquhouns seized the men and took them to their chief, the Laird of Luss. He sentenced the Gregors to death and they were executed there and then – even though they offered to pay for the sheep.

Under the Celtic clan system, where all members were classed as family, an injury to one was a hurt to all. The close knit Clan Gregor lived by this rule and never let an attack go unrevenged. Their chief, Alasdair MacGregor, was honour bound to hit back. The Laird of Luss, Sir Humphrey Colquhoun, was well aware of this when he passed sentence, which was part of a carefully orchestrated plan to bring down Clan Gregor.

In retaliation, on 7^th December 1602, a Gregor raiding party of 80 men came down Glen Finlas in the hills above the Colquhoun’s castle at Rossdhu near Loch Lomond. They killed two men and rustled 300 cows and more than double that number of sheep, goats and horses, which they drove to a spot between Loch Fyne and Loch Goil.

Sir Humphrey, Chief of the Colquhouns, had his revenge planned. He knew that James VI of Scotland was squeamish at the sight of blood. So Luss had a pile of shirts dipped in sheep’s blood. Then he recruited a group of women from his clan and took them to Stirling where they paraded before the king. Each ‘widow’ carried her ‘murdered man’s’ bloody shirt, held aloft on a spear. Sir Humphrey told the king that, ‘The Gregors murdered the men.’ Horrified by the sight, James responded by granting Colquhoun yet more ‘Letters of Fire and Sword’ against the clan.

The Gregors were enraged by the deceit with its lies and exaggerations, plus the fact that the king had condemned them without a hearing. At this time, the Earl of Argyll, Chief of the Campbells, had a feud going with Sir Humphrey Colquhoun. So the Earl offered Alasdair MacGregor the assurance of advice and support if he took vengeance on Colquhoun. Blinded by the desire for revenge, MacGregor failed to see that he was being set up to do the Campbell’s dirty-work – which the Gregors had done many times in the past.

On the 7^th February 1603 Alasdair Macgregor led 400 men towards the Colquhoun lands. But the Laird of Luss was waiting with twice as many men from the Buchanans, Lennox, Grahams and Colquhouns. Luss planned to stage a confrontation at the head of Glen Fruin, which runs from Garelochhead to the southern end of Loch Lomond. But MacGregor forestalled him by leading his men from Loch Long into the head of the glen and taking a stance in a narrow pass near Strone. MacGregor sent his brother John to lie in ambush and cut off any Colquhoun retreat. As the enemy approached the Gregors felt intimidated by the size of the force, many of whom were on horseback, but fear was overcome by the drive for revenge. The main contingent of Gregors met the Colquhouns head-on. Then John MacGregor charged from behind, surrounding the Colquhouns on boggy ground. The horses became a liability. Luss’s men broke ranks and fled. The Gregors went after them and it became a rout. Reports vary, but between 120 and 200 of Luss’s force were hacked to death by Gregor clansmen, skilled in the use of the axe and claymore. At the end of the day the Gregors made off with another 80 horses, 600 cows and 800 sheep. The Register of the Privy Council reported that 80 Colquhouns were among the dead. Very few Gregors were lost, though John dhu MacGregor, brother of their chief, was killed.

Sir Humphrey galloped to James VI bearing the bloody shirts ripped from the bodies of his men. The king was incensed. A massacre by Highlanders within 12 miles of Dumbarton made him look weak – just when the English throne was about to fall vacant. It was even more intolerable because the perpetrators were Gregors, the Royal Race, who claimed descent from Kenneth MacAlpin, King of the Picts and Scots. Racked by insecurity, James ordered the Earl of Argyll, the prime mover, to ‘root out and extirpate all of that wicked race.’

To pay the Earl for his trouble the King granted him, for life, the rent from all the Gregor land he confiscated. But then the King, ‘being a man of kindness and clemency,’ as he pointed out himself, offered to pardon any Gregor who would bring in the head of a fellow clansman of his own rank. The traitor would be rewarded with the dead man’s possessions on condition he renounced the name of the clan and produced surety for his own obedience of the crown.

On the 24^th February 1603 the King issued an Edict that, ‘God cannot be appeased nor the country relieved of the slander unless that unhappy and detestable race (Gregors and MacGregors) be rooted out, and never suffered to have rest or remain in the country hereafter. They shall be prosecuted, hunted and pursued with fire and sword until they are exterminated.’ This entailed the total extermination of the whole Clan Gregor, man woman and child. Rewards of £1000 a head were offered for the capture of Alasdair MacGregor and all his followers, dead or alive.

***

The King and the Privy counsel meditated on the situation. Then, on the 3^rd of April 1603, the day before he left Scotland to accede the English throne, James VI issued an amended version of his Edict. This explained that the decreed extermination of Clan Gregor need not be in the form of an automatic killing of every man, woman and child in the clan. But it might be achieved more mercifully by the compulsion of every man, woman and child – who desired to be left alive – abjuring the names of Gregor and MacGregor and assuming other names. Those who would not renounce their clan name must suffer death. To leave no escape-route the Edict rambled on for page after page, spelling out in detail that anyone who gave food, shelter, transport or absolutely anything at all to someone bearing a Gregor name – would also be put to death.

The Privy Council believed that if you had a Gregor name you would act like a Gregor. So, in ensuing acts over the following years, the names of Clan Gregor were erased from existence. ‘Babies not yet born will not take a Gregor name – under penalty of death.’ Any member of the clan could be beaten, robbed or killed without punishment. ‘To kill a MacGregor is not a crime but is to be encouraged.’

The clans-folk were assigned to other clans and made to take the new tribes’ name and swear allegiance to its chief. No more than four ex-Gregors could congregate at any one time and they were each only allowed to possess one un-pointed knife to cut their meat. Of those who refused, and were caught, the men were beheaded. There are many reports of Gregor women being branded on the face, stripped naked and whipped through the streets. Also reports of women and children either being sold as slaves in the North American Colonies or forcibly resettled in the Scottish Lowlands.

Further additions to the Acts denied the Gregors the basic necessities of food, water, shelter, and care for infants and the elderly. They forbade the church to offer the Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion, marriage, and last rites. The gentry of Scotland were encouraged to hunt the Gregors with dogs as if they were common game. Criminals were urged to sell Gregor heads to the government in exchange for a pardon for robbery and murder. These Proscriptions and Amendments were issued continuously over a period of 171 years. To avoid the savage brutality of the Edicts without swearing allegiance to another clan, many Gregors took on aliases and hovered in the misty periphery, awaiting their day. One ploy was to add the diminutive y to Gregor, become Gregor-y, then call yourself Gregri.

Chief Alasdair MacGregor evaded capture for a year after the battle of Glen Fruin. Then he was caught but managed to escape from a boat carrying him to Inveraray. But believing it would be only a matter of time before all of his people were slaughtered he had to make a move. He agreed to hand himself in to the Earl of Argyll, Chief of Clan Campbell, on condition that he was allowed safe conduct to London to put his side of the story to King James in person. He was sure he could convince the king that his clan was the innocent party and obtain a royal pardon for them. As a sign of his good faith he offered 30 of his best warriors to be held as hostages.

Argyll accepted and promised ‘safe conduct out of Scotland.’ But when they got to Berwick, technically on English soil, Argyll arrested MacGregor and took him to Edinburgh to stand trial for High Treason. Alasdair made a statement in which he pointed out that many of the Gregor’s deeds were carried out in the employment of the Earl of Argyll. But the Earl was the Justice-General of Scotland so the accusation was dismissed.

In January 1604, Alasdair MacGregor, Chief and Laird of MacGregor, was hanged at Mercat Cross in Edinburgh along with eleven of his warriors. In May 1604 another 25 warriors were hanged. The Earl collected £1,000 a head. Today, the Heart of Midlothian marks the spot where the Gregor Chief was executed. This treachery united the entire Highlands in their loathing of the Campbells.

Landless, nameless and hunted, many Gregors remained at large. From their den near Loch Katrine they continued the business of rustling and protecting. Then, in 1611, James VI ordered a new assault against them and enlisted every able bodied man between the ages of 16 and 60. He sent them across Loch Lomond in boats then on towards the Gregor hideaway with orders to, ‘Capture these wolves and thieves in their own hole.' But a large number of Gregors escaped in a blizzard and laid waste to Campbell country as far east as Comrie and Fortingall.

The annihilation was not succeeding. Though scattered to the four winds the Gregors knew who they were and answered the call whenever it came. In 1633 there were more Gregor uprisings. New letters of fire and sword were issued against the clan. Then, in 1642, Civil War erupted with the English Parliament, backed by the Scottish Covenanters, opposing Charles I. In 1644 the Gregor Chief, Patrick Roy MacGregor, threw in the clan’s hand with Montrose in support of Charles I. Montrose pledged, in the name of the king, that the Gregor name and lands would be restored once Cromwell and his allies were defeated.

But Charles I was beheaded in 1649 and Montrose was captured and executed in 1650. Nevertheless, the Gregors fought Oliver then Richard Cromwell’s men throughout the Civil War. Then in 1660, with Richard Cromwell gone, Charles II, already King of Scotland, was welcomed onto the English throne.

In 1661, as a reward for the clan’s loyalty, Charles lifted the Act of proscription, but he wouldn’t give them back the land in Glen Orchy because John Campbell, Laird of Glen Orchy, was the incumbent, and Charles was grooming him to counterbalance the power of the Earl of Argyll.

***

When Charles II died in 1685 his brother was crowned James II of England – VII of Scotland. James immediately started throwing his weight about so, in 1688-89, was driven out and replaced by the joint sovereigns William of Orange and his wife, Mary. That same year James was back in Ireland, raising a Catholic army to help him regain the throne. The Gregors supported him by joining the Highland revolt in Scotland. When that petered out they went to swell the ranks in Ireland. William went over the water too, tackling James head on and defeating him at the Battle of the Boyne. James fled to France but the Gregors fought-on to the bitter end.


When William called on the Highland chiefs to take the oath of Allegiance, the Gregors and MacDonalds refused. As a punishment the proscription was re-imposed and the Gregors became nameless and landless outlaws again. To avoid the same fate the MacDonald chief took the oath, but Sir John Dalrymple, wanting to make an example, suppressed the information and ordered the Campbells to kill every MacDonald under the age of 70.

The Campbells obliged at Glencoe, but the Gregors still wouldn’t sign. Instead, they rallied again for the Rising of 1715 when the Jacobites attempted to put James II’s son, James Edward – the Old Pretender, on the throne. That ended in tears at Sheriffmuir and Preston. Still, in 1745 the Gregors were back in action for Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender. That came to a head at Culloden when the Jacobites were finally annihilated. But, with the war lost, the surviving Gregors marched off the field with their banner held high. The persecution of the clan finally ended in 1774, during the reign of George III, when the proscription against them was repealed.

***

The most famous son of the clan is Rob Roy MacGregor who was born near Loch Katrine in 1671. Because of the Proscription he couldn’t use his real name so he went under is mother’s maiden name, which, ironically, was Campbell. He was a great swordsman and soldier and fought against William of Orange in the Battle of the Boyne when he was 18. He was also an astute businessman and master of the Highland protection racket – insuring livestock against rustlers. As an outlaw he hid on the Earl, now Duke, of Argyll’s land, much of which was originally stolen from the Gregors. He died in 1734 – peacefully at home. Rob Roy was immortalised in a novel by Sir Walter Scott who, well acquainted with all the facts and with the law, loved and vindicated Clan Gregor, which inspired him to write:

MacGregor’s Gathering

The moon's on the lake, and the mist's on the brae,
And the Clan has a name that is nameless by day;
Then gather, gather, gather, Grigalach.

If they rob us of name, and pursue us with beagles,
Give our roofs to the flame, and our flesh to the eagles!
Then vengeance, vengeance, vengeance, Grigalach.

While there's leaves in the forest, and foam on the river,
MacGregor, despite them, shall flourish for ever ...

Sir Walter Scott.

***

For nearly 300 years the Campbells, with the help of sycophants and backing of monarchs, hounded the Gregors and stole their estates. Then along with the Colquhouns they set them up and pushed them until their reaction gave the King and Privy Council an excuse to outlaw them. That went on for a further 171 years. Draconian Edicts deprived them of their land and name. The most severe and cruel laws imaginable were executed against them with unheard-of rigour. During this time their persecution by monarchs, the Privy Council and some of their fellow countrymen, though on a smaller scale, equals the nightmare of African Slavery. Their ethnic cleansing, carried out with fervour and rigour, ranks with any since the end of the Second World War. But they had resilience and a determination to survive that won them admirers and helpers among their fellow Highlanders. So still they flourish.

Maybe that clash with the Colquhouns in 1603 decided the fate of the Gregors, but no regrets. For the Pipe Tune of the clan is still The Rout of Glen Fruin. No cries here for compensation or pointless apologies. For with the dignity of a Royal Race who became the Children of the Mist they adopted a line from their admirer, Sir Walter Scott, and wear it like a badge of honour on T-shirts and the like – ‘Despite Them ...’ Yes, despite them, in 1953 the clan was given a place of honour in the escort that carried the Honours of Scotland before the monarch at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth. And the name’s Gregory – Charlie Gregory, a third or fourth generation Mancunian.

http://poet-on-a-hill.blogspot.com

Bibliography

www.houseofnames.com

www.fleurdelis.com

Oxford Ancestors. Tribes of Britain Analysis

www.familytreedna.com

MacGregor DNA Project at www.clangregor.org

www.heartofscotland.com

Google Book Search

MacCorkills Scottish at www.geocities.com

Highlanders of Scotland at www.electricscotland.com

Scottish Clan and Family Encyclopaedia by George Way and Romilly Squire.

www.heartofscotland.com

P J Lawrie FSA-Scot at www.broughtysands.co.uk

Forays and Rebellions by John L Roberts

Encyclopaedia of Scotland, edited by John and Julia Keay

The Conflict in Glenfruin at http://www.scotwars.com/