Extinct Scottish Names- McAlexander
txhunter
name, which is McAlexander. Other variants are , MacAlexander, Macalexander,
both which, I assume, are a form of MacAlisdair. Here is some of the
information I have learned during the last several weeks of research:
I haven't done enough research to know a lot of the details, but I have
found that the McAlexander, ie. MacAlexander,Macalexander M'Alexander name
seems rare in present day Scotland. They were connected to the Daleroch and
Drummochreen families, all of whom have long since been extinct. The origin
is said to be from Ayrshire with 3 branches, Coresclays, Drummochreen and
Daleroch. I believe they are considered as part of the Clan Donald (senior
branch), and they share tartan and heraldry with the Clan McDonell of
Glengarry. I have also found text indicating they were also a lesser known
and smaller Gallo'glaigh family, which may have played havoc on their
numbers.
Also, I assume, many members may have succumbed to the edicts of the English
and dropped the Mac, Mc. prefix. Most, if not all, of the McAlexanders
located throughout the U.S descend from James McAlexander ( B. 1715 ) who
immigrated from either Scotland or Derry, Ireland in about 1740-1750 and
settled in Patrick, Albermarle County, Virginia. He immigrated with his
brother Thomas, however, family rumor has it that Thomas either dropped the
"mc" and his decendants are now Alexanders, or he died sometimes after 1756
in Virginia. Other descendents may have also dropped the Mc as they moved
West across the U.S.
I'm very interested to learn about the history associated with the
McAlexander name. It is definitely Scottish as a form of the gaelic
McAlisdair, and, I suspect there may also be ties to the Scotch-Irish in
Derry, Ulster via there role as Gallo'glaigh.
One book " A Social History of Ireland" Vol 1, P. Joyce
Dublin, 1903 mentioned the McAlexanders as one of the lessor known Galloglas
families. I suspect this may have been because of their early association
with Clan Donald and Clan McDonell.
Also, as mentioned in a letter by James L. McLemore, III, dated 22 Sept,
1997, " the M'Alexanders, according to the old history of Ayrshire ( by
Patterson, published in 1850 ), the 3 branches of the M'Alexanders were
interrelated, and they were probably all 3 branches from the main line
descending from the MacDonalds of Keppock , from one Alexander MacDonald,
and whose given name formed the basis of the patronymic used by his
descendants, who became the M'Alexanders- and eventually the Alexanders - of
Menistre and so Earls of Stirling."
I'm still searching for information, and I'm also wondering if there are any
McAlexanders or MacAlexanders left in Scotland or Northern Ireland, or if
they have all now become Alexanders?
Anyone with history, etc. please e-mail me.
James McAlexander
Texas
Creagan-an-fhitich
Robert Black
Yes ...I know the feeling....believe me.
You have crafted your article, brim full of detail and fact. You have
spent at least an hour and a half on it, editing and re-editing the
content. Satisfied that your article will raise a debate of 'fevered'
proportions, (cos the Glenallan told you so), you launch it on an
unsuspecting 'alt.scottish.clans' public. (g)
You check back every two hours on the first day....no response.
Second day.....no response.
Gradually as the days go by, the awful truth emerges. Your erudite
posting has gone down 'like a lead balloon'.
The 'cognoscenti' of the 'clans' news group, it appears know
nothing.....and in this case it looks as though you are right.
Be not downhearted. Most of us have been there.
It's at this part of the 'clans NG learning curve' that it dawns on
you only to ask questions that you already know the answer to.
That way you are not left with "your erse hingin oot the windae",
as one would say in Glasgow. (s)
It looks as though only The Nit Nurse, who mentions the Galloglas in
another thread has the remotest idea who the Galloglas are and I have
the suspicion that if I were Irish, I could give you better answers.
Thanks for responding to my original query about extinct Scottish
names. I got nowhere either.
Look on the bright side .....It's the Weekend.
--
Cheers.
The Glenallan
www.clydesdale.freeserve.co.uk
txhunter <txhu...@cs1.net> wrote in message
news:UQl03.2448$gV3.641908@insync...
Vance McAlister
historian for the Clan MacAlister Society in the U.S., I should be able
to give you some more information. First, you know that Alexander (in
Scotland, at least) is usually a Anglicised version of Alasdiar. The
Alexanders in the lowlands were mostly descendents of a branch of the
MacAlisters of Kintyre and Antrim. When the names were more amorphous,
a MacAlister would be easily called a MacAlexander, and on a number of
occasions two different English versions of Gaelic texts translate the
name in these differing manners. Of course, there came a time when
these names began to "firm up" and develop into consistent surnames, and
at that point I can't help you trace any particular MacAlexanders. I
think it is very likely that your family had some ties with the Clan
MacAlister. The other possibility, of course, is that they were simply
named after a worthy Alexander unrelated to this clan. If you suspect
the former, I can give you much information on the MacAlister Clan.
Just drop me a line.
Robert Black <RMB...@clydesdale.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:7i472s$42d$1...@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...
Alexander Maclennan
> You have crafted your article, brim full of detail and fact. You have
> spent at least an hour and a half on it, editing and re-editing the
> content. Satisfied that your article will raise a debate of 'fevered'
> proportions, (cos the Glenallan told you so), you launch it on an
> unsuspecting 'alt.scottish.clans' public. (g)
> You check back every two hours on the first day....no response. Second
> day.....no response.
Obh Obh! What terrible things you are saying. Surely you don`t expect a
hasty answer from highlandmen? Many years ago a cousin of mine had gone to
Barra, to record some talks in thw Gaelic by the then priest. After three
days on the Island with nothing recorded, but great hospitality offered, his
crew were getting a bit restive and he pressed the reverend gentleman to
begin recording. `Uisdean Uisedean` the good man replied, `the ways of the
city are getting you. When the Lord made time he made plenty of it`.
Snippets
The Highland Region telephone book lists no MacAlexander, aprox 110
Alexanders and 55 MacAlisters in various spellings.
An Alexander, Lord of the Isles died in 1449.
--
Alexander MacLennan sand...@sandymac.demon.co.uk
txhunter
interest or response. Most of the posts seemed to be about what manner and
style of kilt to wear.
Unfortunately, I missed the post on 5/20 due to ISDN line being on the
glitch. When I finally came back on-line, I deleted cach files so as not to
have a ton of things to catch up on, so I missed the post by the nit-nurse,
except for the portion posted in the "Ulster Scots" post. I did manage to
get mail off another subsciber group from a "relative" that is now an
Alexander, previously McAlexander, with some speculative ties back a few
generations from across the pond. These were pointing to an area known as
Barr, near Girvan in Ayr. Church Christening records from 1717 for our
presumed progenitor showing parents names as Alexander McAlexander and Jonet
McCandlish. Also a Duncan McAlexander
of Barr, Girvan as possible father of Alexander. Really need to find the
ships with passenger lists from Scotland and Ireland for time frames
1745-1756 that would have landed near Virginia. Have located many ships, but
none for this time frame.
Thanks to the Glenallan for his support.
James McAlexander
Robert Black wrote in message <7i472s$42d$1...@news6.svr.pol.co.uk>...
>'tx'
>
>Yes ...I know the feeling....believe me.
>
>You have crafted your article, brim full of detail and fact. You have
>spent at least an hour and a half on it, editing and re-editing the
>content. Satisfied that your article will raise a debate of 'fevered'
>proportions, (cos the Glenallan told you so), you launch it on an
>unsuspecting 'alt.scottish.clans' public. (g)
>
>You check back every two hours on the first day....no response.
>Second day.....no response.
>
Dene Macalister Smith
been completed by a relative that has passed on....my family apparently...or
at least from what i can work out is from the MacAlexander clan...or
something...i posted a message earlier today to get some help on it
all....there was a letter attached to the family tree giving a history of
the MacAlexanders and some of it matches up with what youve written. I dont
know if itll help....but here is my posting anyways.
Hiya everyone,
I was recently digging through some family papers and have come across a
copy of our family tree. Accompanying the tree was a short history of the
family itself.
It was previously unknown to me that we were of Scottish descent and it was
interesting to go back through the tree and see when and where we have come
from.
I do have a few problems though. The tree itself goes back to around 1610 to
a Hugh McAlexander and I am very interested to which clan he belonged and of
more information about the history of the clan. My problem arose when I
searched about online looking for information. Not having a great deal of
knowledge of the subject I have been stumped as to which clan Hugh
McAlexander belonged too and which tartan is associated with the clan.
This is the accompanying letter.
According to the book "The House of Alexander: by the Rev Charles Rogers and
finished in 1877, it appears that way back in early dates a Norwegian
marauder disputed possession of parts of the west of Scotland, and for years
held his ground. His son Somesled (very hard to read and ive probably
botched it :)) raided the Firth (again hard to read) of Clyde with a number
of vessels and he and his son were killed.1140. Before this date he had
married again a daughter of the King of Man (hard to read) and had three
sons Dougal, Ranald and Agnes.
From Dougal sprang the McDougals of Losne ?? (bad handwriting :))
represented by the House of Argyle - His possessions descended to sounds of
his brother Ranald, named Dougal and Roderick - the latter had three sons
Roderick Angus and Alexander - Rodericks line was extinct in the third
generation - Angus died in 1292- His grandson John - Lord of the Isles
married Margaret daughter of Robert II. His third son Lord of Lochaber left
two sons Angus an Alexander. The latter founded the House of MacAlexander
which has been divided into numerous divisions including Alexander,
McAllister Macalaster ect with clan tartans.
From one of the original *something*, the House of Stirling * hard to read*
has sprung, with the Earl of Stirling *impossible to read best guess* at the
head, he apparently *something* created after his work in settling Nova
Scotia
It is not sufficiently clear from a cursory perusal of book quoted how the
present Alexander clan sprang from any of these but there is sufficient
evidence to show that it does belong to the Clan Macalister which carries a
badge and motto and so far as is feasible runs to Hugh McAlexander about
1610
Upon the attached family tree appears the generations this man who
apparently was the great grandson of a huge clan who about 1760 dropped the
Mac and changed too the present form of Alexander.
**********************
Ok so is it the Macalister Clan or the Alexander Clan or are they one and
the same ? I have no idea...without basic knowledge of how it all works Im
lost.
I know this is an awfully long posting and I appreciate you taking the time
to read it through. If you do not have the time to help out could you point
me in a direction where I might get sufficient help ?
Thankyou very much for your time
Sincerely
Dene Macalister Smith
txhunter wrote in message ...
>1997, " the M'Alexanders, according to the old history of Ayrshire ( by
Antoinet...@bonanno.net
debra...@gmail.com
srwoo...@gmail.com
diversifiedp...@gmail.com
> My Grandmother is a MacAlexander, it is known in the family that they left Scotland for Ireland. In the mid 1800’s the family came to America and landed in Jamestown,Va. My Great Great Grandparents moved to West Tennessee and became share croppers. I would Really like to know about my family, I know I have a lot of Scottish-Irish,Indian and Welch in the family line.