This web site began as a project initiated when I was a State Commissioner of Clan Donald, USA over twenty years ago. My name is Larry C. M^cDonald. I have been a student of Clan Donald history for well over 50 years. Our five daughters and two of our granddaughters have all won many awards as Highland dancers and our oldest daughter became a certified Highland Dance Instructor. We have sponsored many Kiltmaking Workshops managed by my wife. She has made kilts for our daughters, granddaughters, a son, two sons-in-law, three friends, and me. We have manned the Clan Donald booths for decades and presented workshops on Clan Donald history and genealogy. I have served as Vice President & President of my State Scottish Association and Commissioner of my State Clan Donald organization.

I am now a retired police detective. That may explain why my approach to Clan Donald history and genealogy tends to take the form of a police investigation. Knowing my background may help you understand my motivation to seek out the original sources, evaluate each historian’s motives, and note any inconsistencies in their conclusions. My training & experience as an interviewer & interrogator have taught me that inconsistencies from different sources do not necessarily indicate one source is incorrect. More often it is just the opposite. Slight inconsistencies actually validate that each testimony came from a different perspective. Identical, eyewitness accounts from multiple sources may raise suspicion of witness tampering. Historical “witness tampering” occurs when history is manipulated by political or religious entities in order to favor the perspective of those in power (today it is called “cancel culture”).

Political & religious conflict have deeply divided the Scottish clans for centuries. The history of Clan Donald, including its genealogies, literally became spoils of war, concealed from the public, only eventually returned to public knowledge with the advent of the Internet. Obviously, the Internet information highway provides both accurate & inaccurate information, requiring the reader to seek out and verify the original sources. Source materials for this web site are linked to a key word in blue text. By simply clicking on that word, you immediately go to the source page in the original document so that you may read it for yourself and draw your own conclusion without having to rely on another’s interpretation or so called “fact checkers” who have their own agenda.

Except for William F. Skene’s The Highlanders of Scotland, most histories of the Scottish Highlands & Islands did not portray our ancestors in a favorable way. Skene, himself, wrote in his preface, “The cause of this somewhat remarkable fact may, perhaps, be traced to the influence of that extraordinary prejudice against the Celtic race in general, and against Scottish and Irish branches of that race in particular, which certainly biased the better judgement of our best historians…” Clan Donald Vol. I, Vol. II , and Vol. III completed in 1904 were expressly commissioned to tell the story of Clan Donald from our ancestors’ perspective. Like most Scottish histories over the centuries the authors’ credentials were advanced degrees in divinity. This three-volume work was abridged into a beautiful one volume work by Donald J. Macdonald entitled “Clan Donald“ in 1978. This web site’s approach to our history is to make readily available, through Internet links the ancient, recorded documents that provide our Clan Donald ancestors’ perspective without it being filtered through modern political & religious bias that is so evident in almost every history of Scotland.

I do not claim this web site is absent of any of my personal bias, but I am neither pro, nor anti-Catholic, neither pro, nor anti-Protestant. I view the religious wars that occurred in Scotland to be a tragic historical fact. The loss, to all of us, of the church historical records including Christenings, Marriages & Burials are a very real consequence of 15th & 16th century “cancel culture” from which our current generation would do well to learn a lesson. I have friends that are fervent Scottish Nationalist and friends who just as fervently argue the political status quo of Scotland. I can see both perspectives as an interested outsider and I see the real need for tolerance & understanding from both sides.

My experience with genetic markers has been mixed. DNA tracking has been a very helpful tool in my personal family history research, but my personal experience with conflicting yDNA test results from two of the largest providers has raised serious doubts about the reliability of attempts to establish the number of generations back to a common ancient ancestor. The accuracy of yDNA tracing back five to ten generations is pretty well documented, but after reading some claims that geneticists can extrapolate back 20,000 years, I found their claims unreasonable and unreliable. Certainly, written history should not be discarded as some have suggested due to recent geneticist’s theories. Fourteen years after I had my first yDNA sample analyzed I received a positive match with another McDonald who has his documented ancestry traced to Glengarry, Inverness shire, Scotland!

My main interest is in learning what motivated my ancestors. What was their life like? What did they value most? I prefer learning directly from my ancestors through their writings. I had the opportunity of living in Scotland for two years which has helped me better understand the histories I have read and the modern national identity of Scotland as a part of the United Kingdom.

I had the opportunity of returning to Scotland with my wife a few years ago. Her DNA test revealed she actually has more Scottish DNA than I. My wife and I intentionally traveled to, and videotaped the areas once considered Clan Donald lands. After discussing the opportunity with several friends in Clan Donald including past Clan Donald, USA Commissioner Ellice M^cDonald Jr, CBE Delaware, we concluded there was a need for a video of the traditional Clan Donald lands. The video was given to those who made a donation to the Clan Donald Lands Trust, Inc. through Clan Donald Heritage, Inc. With the help of my son, Heath M^cDonald of HM Studios and Peter MacDonald (top photo), who was, at that time, resident director of Armadale castle & Gardens, we produced A Clan Donald Journey to Armadale. With the change to DVD format, we were able to make copies and ship them easier, but it also became easier for almost anybody to pirate our copyrighted work. Production of the Armadale Video was stopped in 2009 due to the announcement of a professionally produced DVD “Visions of Armadale” by the Clan Donald Foundation, Inc. We express our sincere gratitude to those who enabled us to send the Clan Donald Lands Trust over $3,000.00 donations received for the Armadale video. It is now available to everyone to view without charge through this web site. We were saddened to learn in 2025 that The Clan Donald Lands Trust Inc. has decided to sell Armadale castle ruins, Museum of the Isles including artifacts donated to the Trust, and the 20,000 acres on the Isle of Skye the Trust has maintained for over 50 years.

Almost all the histories of Scotland and even several histories of Clan Donald give only the perspective of Clan Donald’s foes. The movie Braveheart (in spite of some glaring inaccuracies) told the events of Scotland from a Scottish point of view. The people were not rebelling from their “rightful King” as so often portrayed in British histories. The Scottish people were struggling to be free from the English encroachment. As Braveheart’s William Wallace put it, “Historians from England will say I am a liar, but history is written by those who hanged heroes.” So it was, with Clan Donald and the Lords of the Isles. They considered themselves a separate kingdom from Scotland with a right to make alliances with kingdoms other than Scotland if it served their interests. This brought them into conflict with the Scottish crown which led to several Clan Donald chiefs at the end of a rope and the forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles to the British Crown. The information on this web site is either taken directly from or inspired by, Donald J. Macdonald’s authoritative history of Clan Donald. Much of the content of this web site was discovered by going to Donald J. Macdonald’s sources listed in his work. The original publication of “Clan Donald” owes much to Ellice M^cDonald Jr, CBE Delaware the National Commissioner of Clan Donald, USA at the time. He made great effort to place a copy with every Clan Donald organization. When this web site was first created the original publication was out of print and copies difficult to acquire. Now a second edition is available in a new, beautiful printing for less than the original cost and may even be purchased as a Kindle book for $2.99! This web site now provides links to the original histories and manuscripts Donald J. Macdonald used as sources for his history now available through Internet web sites such as Google Books Online and online libraries that make digital copies available free as a public service.

Chan eil GàiDhlig agam.

That is how you say “I do not speak Gaelic” in Gaelic! But I have recently enjoyed researching the language of our ancestors. I have gained a better understanding of their culture by learning a few words, phrases & linguistic customs, especially the meaning of Gaelic names. I appreciate the patience of friends more conversant in Gaelic who have suggested more than a few grammatical corrections. Ironically the Gaelic way of saying “I don’t speak Gaelic” is translated literally “Gaelic is not with me”. Although I don’t speak Gaelic, my study of my ancestors’ language has changed me, taught me and “will always be with me!”

I am also very grateful to the many friends who have emailed me their opinions about this web site. I am sure Robert Burns would have said upon viewing the Internet, “O wad some Power the giftie gie us to see oursels as ithers see us! It wad frae mony a blunder free us, An’ foolish notion.” When you see a blunder anywhere on this web site PLEASE email me and let me know. We may just have a difference of opinion. If that is the case, I will continue to express my opinion and you are free to express yours. Many significant corrections and additions have been made to this web site because others have emailed me at Lmcdonald49@yahoo.com.

Another project Clan Donald Heritage, Inc. took on has been to encourage the traditional art of kiltmaking by hand. We have sponsored annual kiltmaking workshops over the last fourteen years that have kept this art form alive and ensured hundreds of Highland Dancers and their fathers, from the United States and Canada, had a proper, traditional kilt. Our instructor has been Elsie Scott Stuehmeyer, author of “The Art of Kiltmaking” who began her career as an apprentice kiltmaker in Scotland, became a master kiltmaker and now resides in California. She finally retired in 2013. We are honored and pleased that she continued doing the workshops for us for so many years.

Larry C. M^cDonald, CFE, CFS