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Clan MacLachlan

BRAVE AND FAITHFUL


Clan MacLachlan (also known simply as clan Lachlan) are a Highland clan, historically found in the lands of Strathlachlan on the west coast of Scotland. The name of the area (and subsequently the clan) comes from Lachlan Mor, a descendant of an 11th century Irish prince.

The MacLachlans were notable Jacobites - Lachlan Maclachlan of that Ilk signed the address of welcome to the rightful King James VIII Stuart in 1715, and the seventeeth clan chief lost his life leading the clan at the Battle of Culloden.

The MacLachlan clan motto is "Fortis et Fidus" (Strong and faithful) and the clan crest is a tower on a rock.

Scottish History

of Clan MacLachlan


Scottish Chiefs and Irish Kings

The MacLachlans are supposed to be descended from Lachlan Mor (“Great Lachlan”), a powerful chieftain who lived on the shores of Loch Fyne in Argyllshire in the 13th century.

The name is encountered even before this in Ireland, however, Lochlainn was a favourite forename in a branch of the powerful Ui’neill (“O’neill”) family, which was descended from the 5th century Irish king, Niall of the Nine Hostages.

The first chief of this branch was Lochlainn. The name is in fact Norse, and it may be that while Lochlainn’s father was Irish, his mother was a Norse princess.

This Lochlainn and his family were forever quarrelling with the main branch of the Ui’neills as to who should be the rightful king of Ulster. The dispute lasted well into the 13th century, when King Brian Ui’neill eventually slew Donald Maclochlainn, one of Lochlainn’s descendants, in battle.

The Ui’neills are said to be the oldest traceable family in Europe, so the Maclachlans, being descended from them, have a history going back to the pagan High Kings of Tara in the 5th century.

The traditional Maclachlan territory is in Argyllshire, around Lachlan Bay and Strathlachlan on the eastern shores of Loch Fyne. Today, it’s quite a small area, extending to about eleven miles long by about a mile and a half wide.

However, in earlier times, the Maclachlan lands were more extensive. They even stretched to the opposite shore of the loch, close to where the Campbells had their stronghold at Inveraray.

All this is within what was the ancient Scots kingdom of Dalraida, settled by immigrants from Ulster in the fifth and sixth centuries.

In an old genealogical manuscript, Lachlan Mor’s family tree is given as “son of Gilpatrick, son of Gilchrist, son of Aedh, son of Anrothan”.

This Anrothan was a historical character. He was the cousin of Aodh Ui’neill, king of Ulster from 1030-1033.

He eventually crossed to Scotland and married a daughter of the King of Dalriada, and received lands. He is credited with being an ancestor, not only of the Maclachlans, but of the Lamonts, the Macneills of Barra, Gigha and Colonsay, the Lyons of Glamis, the Macewens, the Macswins, the Macsweeneys of Donegal and the Macsorleys.

In 1238, we find the name of Lachlan Mor’s father, Gilpatrick mac Gilchrist, attached as witness to a charter in which his cousin Sir Ladman (of Clan Lamont) gave various churches in Argyll to Paisley Abbey.

By tradition, Lachlan’s mother was said to have been Elizabeth, daughter of a Lord of Cowan, and therefore a member of Clan Lamont. When she married Gilpatrick, she brought as a dowry the lands that later became the Maclachlan territories.

Lachlan Mor must have been a man of independent mind. When Alexander II subdued Argyll in 1249, he demanded tribute from all the local chiefs “by the fastest messenger”.

Lachlan therefore tied bags of money to the horns of a roebuck and sent it on its way to the king. That’s why roebucks support the Maclachlan coat-of-arms to this day.

Because their lands were on the shores of Loch Fyne, the Maclachlans were also seafarers. You’ll find, in the third quarter in this coat-of-arms, a royal galley of the kind used by the Lords of the Isles.

By 1292 the clan chief was Gileskil Maclachlan. In that year, his lands – along with those of eleven other chiefs – were brought into a newly-created Sheriffdom of Argyll by King John Baliol.

Gileskil is more commonly written as Gillescop, which translates into English as Archibald, “follower of the bishop”.

We encounter another Maclachlan in 1296, when Ewen Maclachlan was obliged to swear fealty to Edward I of England. Ewen’s son Gillescop, however, was an active supporter of Bruce, and a member of his first Parliament in 1308.

In a charter dated 1314 and signed at “Castellachlan”, we find this same Gillescop granting the preaching friars of Glasgow a yearly income of “forty shillings sterling” from his farmlands in Argyll.

Many early members of the clan had an association with the church. It is said that the Maclachlans took part in the Crusades, and that many members of cadet branches entered the priesthood.

In a charter of 1436, Iain Machlachlan, “Lord of Strathlachlan”, granted to his cousin Allan Maclachlan the office of thiossachdeowra (“crowner” or “coroner”) for the lands of Glassary. This Allan was the progenitor of a cadet branch of the family known as the Maclachlans of Dunadd.

Thereafter, the Maclachlan name crops up in many official documents and charters.

By this time, the Campbells were the most powerful Argyllshire family, and the Machlachlan formed close ties with them.

In the 15th century, the then chief, Iain Maclachlan was one of the many Maclachlans to marry a Campbell heiress.

He was luckier than the first Maclachlan to do so. On that occasion, the good “brounie” who looked after the family’s fortunes was so annoyed that he made the wedding feast disappear from Castle Lachlan.

In 1536, Archibald Maclachlan of that Ilk is named as one of the Earl of Argyll’s 200 kin and followers who attended the wedding of James V and Princess Madeleine de Valois, daughter of Francis I of France, at Notre Dame Cathedral.

There have been some unsavoury moments in the history of the Maclachlans, however. In 1646, during the Civil War, the Campbells embarked on a massacre of the Lamonts. One of the chief instigators was the Rev. Colin Machlachlan, and because of him, many men, women and children were butchered. Someone later called him a “criminal lunatic”.

The Maclachlans at this time supported the Roundheads, and in 1656 “Lauchlane MacLauchlane of the same” was appointed Justice of the Peace for Argyllshire by Oliver Cromwell.

Following Charlie

By the end of the 17th century, however, the Maclachlans were fervid Jacobites. They are said to have fought alongside Bonnie Dundee at Killiecrankie in 1689.

At the Battle of Sherrifmuir on November 13, 1715, Lachlan Maclachlan of that Ilk, the 16th chief, was a colonel in the Earl of Mar’s Jacobite army.

The Earl of Argyll – head of Clan Campbell and Machlachlan’s neighbour across Loch Fyne – commanded the government troops at Sherrifmuir.

Some Campbells detested Maclachlan’s Jacobite sympathies, and it is said that a Campbell of Ardkinglass stalked him for five years, finally shooting him dead on September 23 1719.

Later in 1715, Lachlan was at Peterhead when James Stuart, the Old Pretender arrived on December 22, and he put his name to the Address of Welcome.

In the 1745 Rising, the Maclachlans once more supported the Jacobite cause, this time under their 16th chief, again called Lachlan.

Lachlan took a commission in the Young Pretender’s army, and went with him on his advance into England. On reaching Carlisle, the Prince was alarmed at the lack of English recruits, and Maclachlan was sent north to Perth to seek 3000 reinforcements. He was unsuccessful.

At Culloden in 1746, he headed a force of 297 men, made up of 155 Maclachlans and 182 Macleans who placed themselves under his command, as their chief took no part in the battle.

This force was assembled between the Macintoshes and the Stewarts of Appin, and was one of the last to receive orders to charge.

As Maclachlan was advancing on horseback at the head of his regiment, he was shot by a single cannonball and killed.

The details of his death were given in a letter to Bishop Forbes in 1748 by an Episcopalian minister, the Rev. John Maclachlan of Kilchoan.

John had been chaplain to all the clans in the Young Pretender’s army, and had been in attendance at most of the battles from Prestonpans to Culloden.

He concludes his letter by saying that he now lives “like a hermit”, because his parishioners were almost all killed in battle, scattered abroad, or cowed at home.

One of the Jacobites taken captive at Culloden was Major Alexander Maclachlan of Ladhill. Along with other captives he was imprisoned in Inverness under appalling conditions.

He was kept handcuffed along with other officers, and so tight were the iron bands that they eventually broke the skin of the wrists, burying themselves deep in the flesh until they disappeared. Each prisoner was half-naked, even though the weather was bitter, and was eventually allowed half a pound of uncooked oatmeal a day as a food ration.

Many died of course, but the bodies were not removed from the prison quarters, so that the living had to lie with the dead.

News of the defeat at Culloden eventually reached the Maclachlan lands – but in a tragic way. Stragglers from the fighting came back by way of Inveraray, on the west shore of Loch Fyne.

When they reached a point opposite Strathlachlan, the dead chief’s horse plunged into the water and swam across. As it struggled ashore riderless, all the Maclachlans knew that their chief had been killed, and that the Jacobite cause had been lost.

As punishment for his part in the Rising, the clan chief’s home – Castle Lachlan – was bombarded by a government boat until it became a ruin.

Lachlan’s horse refused to leave it, however, and eventually took up residence in the rubble-strewn cellars. It remained there until it died.

Everyone assumed that the Maclachlan lands would be forfeited to the Crown, but this was not the case. The late Lachlan Maclachlan had conveyed them to his son ten years previously, so they remained within the family.

On February 12 1747, due to the intercession of the Campbell chief – no longer Earl of Argyll, but Duke – Lachlan’s grandson Robert was granted a fresh charter to them.

This was a magnanimous gesture on the part of the Duke, as he had fought on the Government side during the Rising. Not only that, he did it in the face of fierce opposition from those in power in London.

But he had always been a good neighbour to the Maclachlans, even if some of the cadet branches of the family viewed them with distaste.

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Irish History

of Clan MacLachlan


Myth and legend

The McLoughlins of today and their various namesakes such as the McLaughlins can lay claim to a proud heritage rooted deeply in the ancient soil of Ireland.

The name was originally the Gaelic Ó Máoilscheáchlainn, or MacLochlainn, later appearing as O’Melaghlin.

One theory is that the MacLochlainn form derived from the personal name Lachlan, denoting ‘heroic, or warrior-like’, while other sources assert the name has Norse origins, first brought to Ireland in the eighth and ninth centuries A.D. by Viking invaders.

There is evidence, however, that the name was already in existence on the island before the Viking invasions and settlements.

The Ó Máoilscheáchlainn form is said to denote ‘descendant of Malachy’, while other sources assert it indicates ‘follower of St. Secundius.’

The anglicised form McLoughlin/McLaughlin became common in later centuries, with the ‘ou’ form found today mainly near Dublin, in Connacht, Leinster, and the south of the Republic, with the ‘au’ form more common in the north of the island.

There were two important and separate septs of what later became the McLoughlins/McLaughlins of today: these were the McLoughlins of Ulster and, further south, the McLoughlins of Meath.

There were also the McLoughlins of Galway who, despite originally being known in Gaelic as ‘Lochnaidh’, shared a common descent with the McLoughlins of Ulster and the McLoughins of Meath.

This was from the celebrated Niall Noíghiallach, better known to posterity as the great warrior king Niall of the Nine Hostages.

The dramatic life and times of this ancestor of the McLoughlins are steeped in stirring Celtic myth and legend.

The youngest son of Eochaidh Mugmedon, king of the province of Connacht, his mother died in childbirth and he was brought up by his evil stepmother Mongfhinn who, for reasons best known to herself, was determined that he should die.

She accordingly abandoned him naked on the Hill of Tara, inauguration site of the Ard Rí, or High Kings, of Ireland, but he was found by a wandering bard who took him back to his father.

One legend is that Mongfhinn sent Niall and his four brothers – Brian, Fiachra, Ailill, and Fergus – to a renowned prophet who was also a blacksmith to determine which of them would succeed their father as Ard Rí.

The blacksmith, known as Sitchin, set the lads a task by deliberately setting fire to his forge.

Niall’s brothers ran in and came out carrying the spear-heads, fuel, hammers, and barrels of beer that they had rescued, but Niall staggered out clutching the heavy anvil so vital to the blacksmith’s trade.

By this deed, Sitchin prophesied that Niall would be the one who would take on the glorious mantle of kingship.

Another prophetic incident occurred one day while Niall and his brothers were engaged in the hunt.

Thirsty from their efforts they encountered an ugly old woman who offered them water – but only in return for a kiss.

Three of the lads, no doubt repelled by her green teeth and scaly skin, refused. Fiachra pecked her lightly on the cheek and, by this act, she prophesied that he would one day reign at Tara – but only briefly.

The bold Niall, however, kissed her fully on the lips. The hag then demanded that he should now have full sexual intercourse with her and, undaunted, he did so.

Through this action she was suddenly transformed into a stunningly beautiful young woman known as Flaithius, or Royalty, who predicted that he would become the greatest High King of Ireland.

His stepmother Mongfhinn later tried to poison him, but accidentally took the deadly potion herself and died.

This legend relates to what was known as the Festival of Mongfhinn, or Feis na Samhan (the Fest of Samhain), because it was on the evening of October 31, on Samhain’s Eve, that the poisoning incident is said to have taken place.

It was believed for centuries in Ireland that, on Samhain Eve, Mongfhinn’s warped and wicked spirit would roam the land in hungry search of children’s souls.

The Festival, or Feast, of Samhain, is today better known as Halloween.

Niall became Ard Rí in 379 A.D. and embarked on the series of military campaigns and other daring adventures that would subsequently earn him the title of Niall of the Nine Hostages.

The nine countries and territories into which he raided and took hostages for ransom were the provinces of Munster, Leinster, Connacht, and Ulster; Britain, and the territories of the Saxons, Morini, Picts, and Dalriads.

Niall’s most famous hostage was a young lad known as Succat, son of Calpernius, a Romano-Briton who lived in the area of present day Milford Haven, on the Welsh coast.

Later known as Patricius, or Patrick, he became renowned as Ireland’s patron saint, St. Patrick, responsible for bringing the light of Christianity to the island in the early years of the fifth century A.D.

Raiding in Gaul, in the area of Boulogne-sur-mer in present day France, Niall was ambushed and killed by one of his treacherous subjects in 405 A.D.

But his legacy survived in the form of his sons who founded branches of what was known as the Hy Niall or Uí Neill dynasties.

One son founded the northern Uí Neill dynasty, and one of the clans that was a member of this mighty clan confederation was the clan of the McLoughlins of Ulster.

The McLoughlins of the ancient kingdom of Meath were members of the southern Uí Neill, founded by another of Niall’s sons, while the McLoughlins of Galway traced a descent from another son.

It was the McLoughlins of Ulster who also founded the great Scottish clan of MacLachlan, after a branch of the family settled in Argyllshire.

The McLoughlins/McLaughlins are in fact recognised to this day as a sept of Clan MacLachlan and accordingly entitled to share in its proud heritage and traditions, including motto, crest, and tartan.

Staunch supporters of the Royal House of Stuart, the MacLachlans were also at the forefront of Scotland’s long and bloody struggle against England for freedom and independence, with a MacLachlan Chief recorded as a supporter of the great warrior king Robert the Bruce.

The 17th Chief of the clan was killed at the battle of Culloden in April of 1746 after leading his clansmen in the abortive cause of Charles Edward Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie.

The namesake of the McLoughlins of Meath was Malachy, Ard Rí, or High King of Ireland from 844 to 860 A.D. while one of his successors was his son Flann Sionna, or Flann of the Shannon, who ruled from 876 to 941 A.D.

The power and influence of the McLoughlins steadily increased, through its association with the Uí Neill dynasty, but what ultimately proved to be the death knell of their way of life and that of many other native Irish clans was sounded in the late twelfth century in the form of foreign invasion – an invasion in which a McLoughlin chief played an unwitting part.

Precious legacy

Twelfth century Ireland was far from being a unified nation, split up as it was into territories ruled over by squabbling chieftains who ruled as kings in their own right – and this inter-clan rivalry worked to the advantage of the invaders.

In a series of bloody conflicts one chieftain, or king, would occasionally gain the upper hand over his rivals, and by 1156 the most powerful was Muirchertach MacLochlainn, king of the powerful O’Neills and Ard Rí of Ireland.

He was opposed by the equally powerful Rory O’Connor, king of the province of Connacht, but he increased his power and influence by allying himself with Dermot MacMurrough, king of Leinster.

MacLochlainn and MacMurrough were aware that the main key to the kingdom of Ireland was the thriving trading port of Dublin that had been established by invading Vikings, or Ostmen, in 852 A.D.

The combined forces of MacLochlainn and MacMurrough took Dublin, but when MacLochlainn was killed in 1166 the Dubliners rose up in revolt and overthrew the unpopular MacMurrough.

A triumphant Rory O’Connor entered Dublin and was later inaugurated as Ard Rí, but MacMurrough refused to accept defeat.

He appealed for help from England’s Henry II in unseating O’Connor, an act that was to radically affect the future course of Ireland’s fortunes.

The English monarch agreed to help MacMurrough, but distanced himself from direct action by delegating his Norman subjects in Wales with the task.

These ambitious and battle-hardened barons and knights had first settled in Wales following the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 and, with an eye on rich booty, plunder, and lands, were only too eager to obey their sovereign’s wishes and furnish MacMurrough with aid.

MacMurrough crossed the Irish Sea to Bristol, where he rallied powerful barons such as Robert Fitzstephen and Maurice Fitzgerald to his cause, along with Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Pembroke.

The mighty Norman war machine soon moved into action, and so fierce and disciplined was their onslaught on the forces of Rory O’Connor and his allies that by 1171 they had re-captured Dublin, in the name of MacMurrough, and other strategically important territories.

A nervous Henry II now began to take cold feet over the venture, realising that he may have created a rival in the form of a separate Norman kingdom in Ireland.

Accordingly, he landed on the island, near Waterford, at the head of a large army in October of 1171 with the aim of curbing the power of his Cambro-Norman barons.

Protracted war between the king and his barons was averted, however, when they submitted to the royal will, promising homage and allegiance in return for holding the territories they had conquered in the king’s name.

Henry also received the submission and homage of many of the Irish chieftains, tired as they were with internecine warfare and also perhaps realising that as long as they were rivals and not united they were no match for the powerful forces the English Crown could muster.

English dominion over Ireland was ratified through the Treaty of Windsor of 1175, under the terms of which Rory O’Connor, for example, was allowed to rule territory unoccupied by the Normans in the role of a vassal of the king.

Further waves of Anglo-Norman settlers descended on the island – at the expense of many native Irish clans such as the McLoughlins who were steadily pushed and dispersed from their ancient homelands.

Much of the McLoughlin territory in Meath, for example, was lost to the powerful Norman baron Hugh de Lacy, while more territory was lost through the English Crown’s policy of settling, or ‘planting’ loyal Protestants on Irish land.

This policy had started during the reign from 1491 to 1547 of Henry VIII, whose Reformation effectively outlawed the established Roman Catholic faith throughout his dominions.

The settlement of loyal subjects of the Crown continued throughout the subsequent reigns of Elizabeth I, James I (James VI of Scotland), and Charles I.

Ireland groaned under a weight of oppression that was directed in the main against native Irish clans such as the McLoughlins.

An indication of the harsh treatment meted out to them can be found in a desperate plea sent to Pope John XII by Roderick O’Carroll of Ely, Donald O’Neil of Ulster, and a number of other Irish chieftains in 1318.

They stated: ‘As it very constantly happens, whenever an Englishman, by perfidy or craft, kills an Irishman, however noble, or however innocent, be he clergy or layman, there is no penalty or correction enforced against the person who may be guilty of such wicked murder.

‘But rather the more eminent the person killed and the higher rank which he holds among his own people, so much more is the murderer honoured and rewarded by the English, and not merely by the people at large, but also by the religious and bishops of the English race.’

This appeal to the Pope had little effect on what became the increasingly harsh policy of the occupying English Crown against the native Irish – and the inevitable outcome was a series of rebellions.

In their rebellion against the Crown the McLoughlins joined forces with the ill-fated Sir Cahir O’Doherty.

A number of Irish earls had rebelled against the policy of plantation and penal policies against Catholics but, following their defeat at the battle of Kinsale in 1601 and the final suppression of the rebellion three years later in Ulster, their future existence hung by a precarious thread.

Three years later, in September of 1607 and in what is known as The Flight of the Earls, Hugh O’Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone and Rory O’Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnel, sailed into foreign exile from the village of Rathmullan, on the shore of Lough Swilly, in Co. Donegal, accompanied by ninety loyal followers. Cahir O’Doherty had meanwhile been knighted for his military service to the English Crown and appointed admiral of the city of Derry.

In the turbulent politics of the time he was accused of treason and, described as ‘that most audacious traitor’, he decided to rebel against the policy of plantation by attacking and burning Derry and killing its Crown-appointed governor.

The Crown’s vengeance for what is known as O’Doherty’s’ Rebellion was swift: Cahir O’Doherty was killed and his head lopped off and sent off in triumph for display in Dublin as a dire warning to others.

A number of rebels such as the McLoughlins who had supported O’Doherty were pardoned by James I (James VI of Scotland) in 1609.

But the Flight of the Earls had marked the collapse of the ancient Gaelic order of proud clans such as the McLoughlins, many of whom in succeeding centuries would seek a new life far from Ireland’s shores.

One enduring legacy of the McLoughlins comes in the form of one of Ireland’s greatest treasures.

Held in the National Museum of Ireland, in Dublin, this is the Bell Shrine of St. Patrick.

During their missionary work throughout the island the saint and his followers used consecrated hand bells, made of iron and quadrangular in shape.

The most precious of these bells was the one used by St. Patrick himself, and known as the Bethechon, or Bell of St. Patrick – believed to have been reverently excavated from his grave in 552 A.D. about sixty years after his death.

Miraculous powers were ascribed to the bell and it was Donnall O’Loghlin, or McLoughlin, Ard Rí of Ireland, who at some stage between 1091 and 1105 arranged for it to be encased in a specially commissioned shrine.

Standing at a little under eight inches in height, the beautifully executed and lavishly decorated shrine also bears McLoughlin’s inscription.

The O’Mellan, or O Melaghlin family (an alternative form of ‘McLoughlin’) were hereditary protectors of the bell and shrine, and towards the end of the eighteenth century a man who claimed to be ‘the last of his line’ transferred it to the care of another family.

The bell and shrine were acquired by the Royal Irish Academy in the nineteenth century, and later housed in the National Museum.

Meanwhile it is perhaps rather ironical that it was Donnall McLoughlin, a descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages – who kidnapped the future saint when he was a young lad – who was responsible centuries later for preserving a precious relic of the saint.

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Family History Mini Book


We hope you enjoyed reading this excerpt from this mini book on the Irish history of the MacLachlan family.

You can buy the full book for only
$5.08

112 Clan MacLachlan

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The Crests

of Clan MacLachlan

Clan MacLachlan (of that Ilk, co. Argyll)
Clan MacLachlan
Clan MacLachlan
Clan MacLachlan
Clan MacLachlan
Clan MacLachlan
Clan MacLachlan
Clan MacLachlan
Laughlin family
Loghlan family
Loghlan family

69 Clan MacLachlan

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Mottos

of MacLachlan

Brave and faithful
Remember your promises

Spellings

of MacLachlan

MacLaghlan
MacLauchlan
MacLaughlan
MacClachlane
MacClachlene
MacClaichlane
MacClauchlan
MacClauchlane
MacClauchlin
MacGlauchlin
MacGlauflin
MacHlachlan
MacKlawchlane
MacKlawklane
MacLachan
MacLachie
MacLachlainn
MacLachlane
MacLachlin
MacLackie
MacLauchan
MacLauchlane
MacLauchleine
MacLauchlen
MacLauchlin
MacLaughland
MacLaughlane
MacLaughlin
MacLawchtlane
MacLlauchland
MacLochlainn
MacLochlin
MacLoghlin
MacLouchlan
MacLoughlin
Makclachlane
Makclauchlane
Maklawchlane
Vclauchlane
Vclauchlayne
Lachie
Lachlan
Lauchlan
Lachaidh
Lachann
Lachillan
Lachlainn
Lachlane
Lachlann
Lachlanson
Lachlin
Lachy
Lauchland
Lauchlanesone
Lauchlein
Laughlan
Laughland
Laughlin
Lochlain
Lochlan
Lochlane
Lochlann
Loghlan
Lohlan
Louchelan
Ó Máoilsheáchlainn
O Melaghlin
MacGloughlin
MacGloughin

179 Clan MacLachlan

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