!SOURCE: Alick Morrison, "The MacLeods of Gairloch", THE MACLEODS: THE
GENEALOGY OF A CLAN, Section V, Edinburgh, The Associated Clan
MacLeod Societies, p. 9.
Alexander MacKenzie omits this family in his ''History of the MacLeods''
1889, apart from teh occasional references to individual members of the
sept. He seems to have followed the authority of Sir Robert Gordon in
his ''Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland''. Sir Robert
normally a very trustworthy historian, blundered badly when he believed
that the MacLeods of Gairloch and the MacLeods of Raasay were one and
the same family. It is true that both were septs of the Siol Thorcuil
MacLeods of Lewis: it is also true that they used the same patronymic,
MacGillechaluim. The MacLeods of Gairloch, however, were some 200
years older than the MacLeods of Raasay. No doubt, Alexander MacKenzie
in his agreement with Sir Robert Gordon, must have found it impossible
to reconcile his knowledge of individual members of the Gairloch race
with the well-known facts on the MacLeods of Raasay,and probably for
that reason made no effort to include a separate account of the MacLeods
of Gairloch in his ''History of the MacLeods'' 1889.
The patronymic of the Gairloch family -- MacGillechaluim -- is
attested not only by Sir Robert Gordon in his ''Genealogical History of the
Earldom of Sutherland'', page 276, but also by Sheriff Donald MacLeod III
of Geanies in the Geanies Papers.
Their progenitor was therefore a Malcolm MacLeod, probably the one
mentioned as chief of the MacLeods of Lewis by Sir George MacKenzie.
!NOTE: I have attached this family to Malcolm MacLeod, IX of Lewis, for
the simple reason that this man "may" be the correct ancestor of this
family; however, this is conjectural at this point. My only clue to this
possibility is found in the fact that "Nele Nelesoun" is mentioned in 1430
as having received the lands of Gairloch and others in the Earldom of
Ross and Sutherland in the Sheriffdom of Inverness. This "Nele Nelesoun"
is Neil Og MacLeod, son of Neil MacLeod, the known progenitor of this
race. Morrison (reference above) suggests that this "Neil" was the
grandson of Malcolm, the progenitor of the race. At this time, this is
only conjectured. This requires further research and documentation for
validation. It is placed here in this line as the most likely possibility at
this time. James A. Ayars