!SOURCE: Rev. Dr. Donald MacKinnon and Alick Morrison, THE MACLEODS:
THE GENEALOGY OF A CLAN, Section III, "Cadet Families", Edinburgh, The
Clan MacLeod Society, 1970, pp. 252, 253-254.
John Mor, the great swordsman, comes first to notice in a tale dealing
with the exploits of ''Clan vic Gillivoire'', as Bannatyne calls them. They
were Morrisons, who held the Ness i Lewis and their chief was a
hereditary Brieve or Gaelic Judge. The Clan wa not very numerous but
amazingly brave and resourceful. There had been much ill-feeling
between the ''clan vic Fillivoire'' and the MacAulays of Uig adn the
MacLeods in Lewis and Harris supported the MacAuleys. Sometime
between 1520 and 1530, the ''Clan vic Gillivoire'' made a lghtning raid on
Uig [CELTIC MAGAZINE, No. 41, pp. 183-86.] and continued their
depredations down to South Harris. They had landed in the island of
Taransay, when an urgent call for help was sent t Berneray from Harris.
Under the leadership of John Mor MacLeod, alias Iain mor mac Dhomhnaill
mhic Aonghuis, a party from Berneray reached Taransay and defeated the
''Clan mic Gillivoire''. Only Ewen or Hucheon Morrison, later to be Brieve,
managed to escape back to Lewis with his back peppered with arrows.
Years later, John Mor visited Lewis to buy horses and was most
chivalrously lodged and entertained by Ewen who was living as sober as
any judge. John Mor also figures most prominently in the fratricidal
strife [Berneray tradition, MORRISON MANUSCRIPTS, Stornoway Library]
that led to teh murder of his father in Berneray House. John''s uncle,
Malcolm, was given a farm in Scarasta, Harris by the Chief of the
MacLeods. His heart was set on Berneray, however, and with a stout
crew he landed on the island and killed his elder brother, Donald, and all
the male members in the household at the time. From the terrified
female domestics he made enquiries as to the whereabouts of his
nephews, John Mor, Donald and Tormod. Leaving his party to gorge
themselves in Berneray House, he put on his helmet, some bits of armour
and his two-handed claymore. he met his nephew Tormod at Lagachealla
and killed him in a spot known as Lac na Ciste. Proceeding up to Brusda,
he waylaid his second nephew Donald and killed him at Cachaleith na
Beatha. Now he proceeded leisurely to Borve and met the third nephew
John Mor at Blar a''bhuailte on the east side of Borve Hill. As they
approached, John Mor was aware that his uncle wore a most matrial
aspect and the violence of his temper was clear for he wa busily
knocking the heads from the ragworts in his path. Though John Mor had
no armour, he had his sword and was swift, strong and agile. In a grim
battle, he finally despatched his uncle, and proceeding to Berneray
House, he had little difficulty in despatching his companions who were
hopelessly drunk. Only one escaped and managed to reach the birlinn at
Poll Baghte, nearby, but John Mor killed him in the boat and threw his
body into the sea.
This fratricidal strife and the consequent slaughtr it entailed,
infuriated the Chief, Alasdair Crotach. John Mor was ordered to come to
Dunvegan. He refused to do so and esaped to Baile na Cailleach or
Nuntown in South Uist, where his mother hailed from. The Chief brought
pressure to bear on Clanranald to bring John Mor to justice and hearing
that Clanranald had agreed, aimed a glancing blow at his neck with his
broadsword. Luckily, the weapon stuck in a rafter. The upshot was that
John Mor was sent to Dunvegan and imprisoned by order of his Chief.
Tradition says he was released to relieve McLeod territories of bullies,
whose exactions were a considerable hardship on the people, but as one
of these was Don Juan a Spaniard from the sunken Spanish galleon, the
FLORENCIA of 1833, this story is quite untrue. John Mor was dead long
before the Armada sailed against England. Alasdair Crotach, however,
was determined to get rid of John Mor and somehow managed to get him
a farm in Assynt. On his return from a visit to Assynt, John Mor fell into
the sea at the landing stage at Geocrab and here he was drowned. He was
married with issue, a son, Donald, who succeeded him in the island of
Berneray.