Clan MacIntyre

History

MacIntyre comes from the Gaelic Mac an t-Saoir, 'son of the carpenter'. One tradition ties the family to the Hebrides and to Maurice, a nephew of Somerled, the twelfth-century lord of the isles. Another, humbler account says the name began with a MacDonald who held land in Kintyre, whose son is said to have settled at Degnish in Lorn. Neither can be proved, and the clan association itself describes the origins as uncertain.

The chiefly family took its title from Glen Noe, which lies on the south side of Ben Cruachan and runs down to Loch Etive in Ardchattan parish. Local legend has the first MacIntyre sailing in by galley with a white cow, and making his home at the place where the animal lay down. That spot is still called Làrach na Bà Bàine, the site of the white cow. Accounts put the arrival from the thirteenth century or earlier, so the date stays open.

The MacIntyres of Glenoe are said to have been hereditary foresters for many generations. Their overlords changed as power in Lorn passed from the MacDougalls to the Stewarts and then the Campbells, and the family eventually held Glen Noe as Campbell tenants. Tradition records the rent as a fat calf at Christmas and, at midsummer, a snowball brought down from Ben Cruachan. Over time these tokens were commuted to a payment in money.

One branch moved east to Badenoch. Clan accounts date this to the late fifteenth century, when these MacIntyres were taken into the Clan Chattan confederation. Other families stayed nearer Appin and Lorn, and several MacIntyres are recorded fighting beside the Stewarts of Appin at Culloden. The best-known clansman of the age is the Gaelic poet Duncan Ban MacIntyre, remembered as Fair Duncan of the Songs, who fought on the government side at Falkirk in 1746.

As the money rent climbed, the chiefs could no longer meet it. In 1806 the tenancy of Glen Noe was given up, and the family later emigrated to America. Sources differ slightly on the dates of the last chief to live there and the last MacIntyre in the glen, placing them in the early nineteenth century and in 1876. The chiefship then lay dormant for a long time. In the early 1990s the Lord Lyon recognised MacIntyre of Glenoe as Chief of the Name and Arms, though sources differ between 1990 and 1991. We have not confirmed who holds the style today, so we give the style alone.