Dr. Donald MORRISON

Family 1:
  1. Kenneth MORRISON 
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|--Dr. Donald MORRISON 
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INDEX

Notes

!SOURCE: "The Morrisons of Skinidin", THE CLAN MACLEOD MAGAZINE, II, No. 17 (1952), pp. 63-66. In modern Gaelic the name Morrison is MOIREASDAN, which is just the English name in a Gaelic dress, but earlier it was MACGILLE MHOIRE (the son of the servant of Mary), and in middle Gaelic the name appears as GILLAMURE, now anglicised GILMOUR. Captain Thomas, author of THE TRADITIONS OF THE MORRISONS, on the authority of Dr. Skene, suggests that the Morrisons were originally "serfs or tanants" on church lands, but admits that GILLE MHOIRE became a proper name. At what period that happened cannot be said, but as the name is Gaelic, and the Morrisons always regarded themselves as Norse, and not Celtic, GILLE MHOIRE probably came to be used after their arrival in the Hebrides. The original home of the Morrisons was at Habost in the Ness district of Lewis, where their Chief held the office of hereditary judge or brieve. This office appears to have continued in the family, son succeeding father, until the beginning of the seventeenth century. The last of the Morrison judges seems to have been John, who is said to have been killed at Inverkirkaig in Assynt in Sutherland. His grandson, Donald, born about 1620, became minister of Barvas, Lewis, and the progenitor of a famous clerical dynasty. According to tradition, the first of the Morrisons in Skinidin in Duirinish, Skye, was Donald, who was a son of one of the Morrison ministers in Lewis. Tradition has it also that he came to Dunvegan as a doctor and received the tack of Skinidin. In the MacLeod Rent Roll for 1664, he is given as tacksman of Skinidin. He had a son, Kenneth, who is mentioned by William MacLeod of Hammer in his TREATISE ON SECOND SIGHT as a man "of good repute with his contemporaries."

Created by Sparrowhawk 1.0 (4/17/1996) on Mon Apr 2 10:50:03 2001