Page:The Celtic Review volume 3.djvu/18

Rh late Maclean of Ardgour kindly sent me a copy of the Ardgour MS. I wrote down John Maclean’s genealogy in my note-book in Dugald MacEachern’s house, Pictou, Nova Scotia, in April 1863, and found it useful to me when writing the history of the Macleans in 1899. The late Alexander Macdonald, Ridge, was born in Cape Breton in 1823, and died in 1904. He could trace himself back, name after name, to John Dubh of Bohuntin, and could also give a very full account of the Macdonalds of Keppoch. It is true that John Maclean and Alexander Macdonald were born genealogists, and that men of their class were somewhat scarce in this country. It does not follow, however, that trustworthy genealogists were scarce in Scotland in 1385; it is certain that they must have been quite numerous.

At the present day, those who take a genuine and sympathetic interest in their ancestors are few and far between, unless we count the men who jump over Adam’s head and land among apes or tadpoles. But we are not to judge the past by the present; our forefathers, with scarcely an exception, wero anxious to know who they were and whence they came.

In studying clan genealogies we must bear in mind that genealogite and histories are two different things. Genealogies deal with ancestors, and are generally, except when manufactured to order, fairly accurate for about three hundred years back from the time at which they were compiled. Histories deal with chiefs and events, and would, if written from traditions for even one hundred years, be full of errors and absurdities. The following facts will help to bring clearly before us the ideas which I wish to convey. The genealogy and history of the Macleans of Ardgour was written about 1760. The first six lairds and chieftains are given in the following order:—Donald, Ewen, Allan, ——, Allan, and Ewen. The second Allan is represented as succeeding his grandfather, the first Allan, but his father’s name had been forgotten and could not be given, except by inventing a name. The correct order of descent is this:—Donald, Ewen, Allan, third son of Ewen, John, Allan, and