Feasgar math,
Ceud mile failte!
Clan Donald, the largest and greatest of the Highland Clans, traces its recorded origins to Somerled, a descendent of Clan Conn and Clan Colla. With Somerled's defeat of the Norse King of Man in 1156, he gained independence for southwestern Scotland that remained for over four hundred years.
The Clan takes its name from Donald, "Third Lord of the Isles," and grandson of Somerled who lived until abt. 1269. Donald's son was the original to use the term "Mac" [which means the son of]. It was Donald's great grandson, Angus Og, "6th Lord of the Isles," who sheltered Robert the Bruce at the lowest point of his career, and leading a small band of Islesman was insturmental in Bruce's defeat of the Sassenach [English] at the Battle of Bannockburn. This battle won the independence for Scotland.
In recognition of Clan Donald's part in the victory Robert the Bruce proclaimed that the Clan would forever occupy the honored position on the right wing of the Scottish Army.
The power of the Clan survived and formed the backbone of the army of the Marquis of Montrose, fighting for the survival of the Stewarts in the 17th century, and though divided they were an important factor in the Jacobite rebellion of the 1700's.
Our Homeland - Northern Ireland, the Isles and the Highlands of western Scotland
There has long been a tradition among all my family surnames of our ancestral homeland which was located in Northern Ireland [Ulster], the Isles and western Scotland [Argyll]. Since I was a small child I have heard people call us "Black Dutch, Black Irish and Black Scottish" terms I have long worked on to root out their origins. I have tracked it to the ancestral homeland of Northern Ireland, the Isles and western Scotland along the Argyll and northern Germany. Research has shown that the term came about after the sinking of the Spanish Armada. The survivors landed in Ireland, the Isles and western Scotland, inbred with the Celts/Irish and the highland Scots. Which resulted in a Highlander with a darker complection and with dark hair.
Rev. Jimmie Lee Robins, MS
Listed in the "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia," is documented the Scotch-Irish, Irish and Scottish who immigrated prior to and following the Battle of Culledon in 1745. All of my family surnames immigrated during the middle to late 1700's. What we call Scottch-Irish here in North America, were called Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland. About 1745 the County of Augusta was formed, this was where the Scottch-Irish, Irish and Scottish immigrated to.