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Archiver > STEWART > 1998-08 > 0902819158


From: Leo van de Pas <>
Subject: Re: STEWART, clan
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 15:05:58 +0800


At 12:35 PM 8/10/98 -0600, you wrote:
>Mary, I was interested in your information about Stewarts, but especially your
>reference to the McGregor name being "proscribed" at some point. Could you
tell
>me more about that? Thanks in advance - Georgia

My apologies, but Mary knows my interest in the case of some Stewarts
previously having been MacGregors.

A few years ago I was asked to do something about the family of the
Marquess of Londonderry (living in Ireland and with the surname
Vane-Tempest-Stewart). And I would like to quote part of the foreword:

The origins of the House of Londonderry, probably appropriately,
are hidden in the mist of time. However, it seems certain that they
have their origins in Scotland and the Clan MacGregor, also known as
the Children of the Mist. The original homeland of the Clan Gregor was
the "three glens" of the rivers Orchy, Strae and Lochy and their motto
"S'rioghal mo dhream" means "royal is my blood".

However, in 1603, after a junior branch had usurped the chieftainship and
because of thjeir brigandage, King James VI outlawed the Clan MacGregor,
forbidding its members to call themselves by their own name.
Twenty-two MacGregors were hanged, four beheaded, three murdered, and five
killed in battle. To get away from it all, one brother of the then
chieftain of the Children of the Mist emigrated to America, where he was
scalped by the Indians.

They were forced to take other surnames, and some branches have never
resumed the name of MacGregor. According to Robert Louis Stevenson, the infamous
Rob Roy MacGregor "had the ill-taste to clap the name Campbell tae his own"
when in 1712 he had to go into hiding to avoid arrest for defrauding the Duke
of Montrose. However, Rob Roy was doing no more than adopting his mother's
maiden name.
Hope this is of some help?
Best wishes
Leo van de Pas

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