Just received the following from the cousin who has conducted 40 yrs of research into the McReynold/MacRanald of Keppoch connection & is having his findings published:

Hello Terry,

Thanks for the note related to the McReynolds. Related to the McReynolds having ties to the Keppoch or not, the MacRanalds have been listed in old Scottish records, back to the 1400's as the Clan MacRanalds of Keppoch long before the name of MacDonald appears, after the MacRanalds left Scotland. Most all Scottish histories printed prior to the 1730's list the MacRanalds of Keppoch, no mention of MacDonald. When King James of England wanted a list of the true clans of Scotland, Keppoch was listed as Clan MacRanald of Keppoch and Lochaber. The McReynolds in Ulster has always said they were of the MacRanalds of Keppoch, long before there was an interest in genealogy.

The oldest McReynolds I've visited in Ulster was over 80 years old, 20 years ago and she always told me we were of the MacRanalds of Keppoch, according to her father years ago.

Our ancestor, Johne MacRanald of Scotland was an educated man who became a Protestant in Scotland and old family history and the old records mentioned above, has Keppoch as the MacRanalds of Keppoch and the MacRanalds converting to the new faith, Protestant, had to flee to Ulster, where Johne was later in the Siege of Derry for six months and later fought as an officer in Army of William of Orange and was back in Ulster by the late 1690's and owned much land and linen mills, I could have purchased Johne's Killyman farm about 18 years ago, but at the time it would have been a bit rough with small children moving to Ulster and with the troubles there at the time, my wife wasn't keen on the idea. I sincerely believe that the MacRanalds lost Keppoch/Lochaber when they fled to Ulster to the Roman Catholic MacDonalds, whose descendants still live in the area.

About 18 years ago, I contacted Savannah Jim who was the Chief of Genealogy then and enclosed copies of all my findings and never heard back from him and didn't returned my telephone calls. I heard he didn't like my findings.

I have been researching the McReynolds/MacRanalds for about 40 years, to include the McReynolds of the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia and to date, all McReynolds descend from Johne MacRanald/McReynolds except for one group in Chicago, Ill., they were the descendants of slaves of Joseph McReynolds of Blount Co., TN. and an old black McReynolds black man in Chicago told me his grandfather and his family were the slaves of Joseph McReynolds and they took the McReynolds name because Joseph McReynolds and his family were so good to the slaves.

I have seen many histories written and/or rewritten and not all the facts included, family histories and national histories and I'll have to stay with MacRanald of Keppoch being the orignal Clan and the MacDonalds took it about 200 years later, when our ancestors chose to become Protestants and went to Ulster.

Hope this helps in some way.

Cheers,

Capt. Lynn R. McR. Hawkins, Ret., FSA Scot


I forwarded the above to Clan Donald USA.