|
HOME CLAN HISTORIES SCOTTISH CASTLES SCOTTISH WEDDINGS ROBERT BURNS CONTACT |
 THROUGH DIFFICULTIES Clan Crest © Art Pewter Silver Ltd, East Kilbride, Scotland |
 |
| The MacIntyres were known as Mac An t-Saoir, meaning the children of the carpenter. It is claimed in an old tradition that the family were formally Macdonald. Then one day while a group were at sea the galley in which they were sailing sprung a leak. One of the Macdonalds forced his thumb into the hole and cut it off, thus stemming the leak and allowing the boat to reach its destination safely. He was henceforth known as the carpenter, “An t-saoir” and his descendants became known as Macan t-saoir.
Whatever the exact origins of the clan they seem to have become established in Glencoe, Argyllshire around 1300, where they became feudal inferiors to the Campbells of Glenorchy. This family were considered the principal branch until 1806 when they were forced to part with their lands and emigrated to America. The MacIntyres were a disparate clan and had wide and varied associations with other clans. One branch were hereditary foresters to the Stewarts of Lorn and ten were killed or wounded in the Appin regiment at Culloden in 1746. Another branch of the clan followed the Campbells of Craignish, while another moved to Badenoch, and in 1496 were admitted as a sept of Clan Chattan by William, 13th Chief of the MacKintoshes. A further branch, the MacIntyres of Rannoch, were hereditary pipers to the Menzies of Weem, while yet another branch held the same office to the MacDonalds of Clanranald. One of the most famous of Gaelic poets was called Duncan MacIntyre. Born in Glenorchy in 1724, he was imprisoned for a poem he wrote against the Act of Proscription of the Highland dress and died in Edinburgh in 1812. The chiefship lay vacant until 1991 when James MacIntyre of Glencoe, who lives in the United States of America, was officially recognised by the Lord Lyon as Chief of Clan MacIntyre. |