Clan Links
Clan Links
Any Clan History book, Clan Map or historical Pamphlet detailing the various Clan Septs, will inform the reader that the Grewars are a Sept of the Clans Drummond, MacGregor or Fraser. This begs the question as to what exactly is a Scottish Clan?
What is a Scottish Clan?
Frank Adam, (Revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney) defines a Clan as:
A social group consisting of an aggregate of distinct erected families actually descended, or accepting themselves as descendants of a common ancestor, and which has been received by the Sovereign through its Supreme Officer of Honour, the Lord Lyon, as an honorable community whereof all of the members on establishing right to, or receiving fresh grants of, personal hereditary nobility will be awarded arms as determinate or indeterminate cadets both as may be of the chief family of the clan.
To clarify, a clan is a group of families, who are either descended or claim to be descended from a common ancestor. The Chief of the Clan is the person entitled to the undifferenced coat of arms of the original founder of the clan. All other heads of the connected branch families must bear arms with a difference to the Chiefly arms as cadets or branches of the central chiefly family.
Membership of the Clan
Numerous Clan texts state that anyone bearing the surname of the Chief or one of its Sept names may become a member of the Clan. In truth, anyone of any name can become a member of a Clan providing the Chief accepts him or her for membership. In practice, the Chief may ask for a connection with the clan, either historical or contemporary. An important distinction is that membership of the Clan (and of the Clan Society) are not one and the same. The Clan Society is a separate legal entity from the Clan, but if granted arms by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the Clan Society can be assumed as a corporate Cadet branch of the Clan.
What is a Clan Sept?
During the 19th Century and prior to this, the term "Sept" had a very specific meaning. We have already seen that a Clan is a group of related families, who either are related by blood or claim to be so. All noble families or branches who descend from the common ancestor except for the Chiefly family are a Sept of the Clan. For example, MacIntosh of MacIntosh is the Chiefly family of MacIntosh, but the Farquharsons of Invercauld are descended from this Chiefly family and are therefore a Sept of the Clan. From our definition of a Clan, it should be noted that the families which make up the clan can be actually blood related to the Chief or claim to be blood related. Sometimes, in the war torn highlands of the 16th Century, for example, small Clans sought to ally themselves with larger clans, for the purposes of Military protection and sometimes economic support. This was achieved by the Chief of the smaller Clan swearing a bond or oath of Manrent to the Larger Chief. This "assumed" his clan as being part of the larger clan. The hereditary nature of clans being so important and the honor of the acceding Chief at stake, a story was often concocted to justify this giving up of sovereignty. It was not uncommon for an ancient unprovable blood tie to the High accepting Chief to be claimed and in many cases, this was followed by a marriage to the High Chief's daughter, so that a true blood tie was established. These ‘"assumed" clans who claimed a blood relationship to the chief became Clan Septs of the Larger clan, but still retained a degree of autonomy and in most cases a different surname from the Chiefly family.
During the 19th Century, the Cult of Sir Walter Scott established a revival of all things Highland. In circumstances which were quite ironic, the very Clans which had been outlawed by the Crown a century previously, were accepted and patronized by the same Crown. One area of this revival was a renewed, and in many cases ,invented interest in Tartan. Suddenly the garment, which was banned under an Act of Parliament in 1746, was now the height of fashion on the streets of Edinburgh and London. At the time the Acts banning Tartan were repealed in 1782, Clan Tartan’s did not as a general rule exist, or not at least to the same extent today. District Setts were common, which were traditional patterns in a given area due to the natural plant dies available there. The only other Tartans were those restricted for use by the Chiefs of Clans and their immediate families. The former district and Chiefly Setts were subsequently adopted as "Clan Tartans" in many instances following the repeal of the Acts of Proscription. The problem faced by the Tartan Industry was that the Tartans which were assigned to Clans, and they were few in number, were only suitable for a small percentage of the population. The reality being that most people in Scotland were not linked to any Clan and were not therefore eligible to buy Clan Tartans. The Clan Septs provided a useful vehicle to allow someone who did not possess the Surname of a Chiefly family to become linked to a given Clan and eligible to purchase the Clan Tartan. The term Sept as referring to a non-genealogical or assumed branch of the Clan was extended to refer to a particular name, such as Grewar, having any connection whatsoever, regardless of how incidental or remote this link was.
The original Sept list was published by R.R. MacIan, The Clans of The Scottish Highlands, 1845, it was inaccurate, based upon tenuous evidence, politically motivated and arbitrary in nature. Likewise it sought to redefine the term Clan Sept, into something so broad that it ceased to have any meaning.
The heraldic Authority in Scotland, The Court of the Lord Lyon, does not to this day recognize a List of Clan Septs and no official list exists. This is however balanced against an unwritten rule that no Chief will adopt a name as a Sept of its own Clan if it is already adopted by another Clan. In reality, it would appear that the Sept List is definitive and "set in stone" regardless of guidance to the contrary, while this convention remains. Although theoretically new septs could be assigned to Clans as new family names move to Scotland, the existing Clan Septs are unlikely to "switch allegiance" and the correct position obtained, regardless of how fanciful the claims of a connection were in the first instance. In defence of MacIan’s Sept lists of 1845, this was not intended to be "set in stone" but rather to point someone in the general direction of where they might find a link with a Clan. This was based upon an understanding that individuals would also carry out their own genealogical research and establish their correct Clan links themselves. Instead, the list was interpreted literally to mean that if the lists stated that the Grewars, for example, are a Sept of the MacGregors then all Grewars regardless of where in Scotland they originated, are a Sept of that Clan. This is not the use that the Sept lists intended to provide.
What Clan Do the Gruers / Grewars Belong?
The "Unofficial Clan Sept Lists" would lead us to believe that the Grewars / Gruers are a Sept of the MacGregors, Drummonds or Frasers. More than one Clan is stated as the Grewars / Gruers, MacGrewars and MacGrouthers originated from different localities and would have had different links to Clans depending on where they lived. The position with regards to each is detailed as follows:
The Drummonds
Despite a well documented relationship with the MacGrouthers of Meigour and associated families with the Earls of Perth, (Drummonds) Clan texts appear to generalize all MacGrudaire related names including the Grewars / Gruers as belonging to, or potentially being connected to this Clan. Although in a very small number of instances there possibly were Grewar connections, historically it was the MacGrouthers who followed the Earls of Perth and some MacGrouthers fought for ‘Perth’ who played a senior and active part in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. To Claim the Grewars / Gruers of Braemar and Glenisla as a Sept of the Drummonds is very much mistaken and can be based upon no real or credible evidence.
The Frasers
Frank Adam1 , deals with the MacGruers of the North as an entirely separate name, but his lack of explanation suggests he agrees the original origins concur with those above. Of the McGruers he continued that:
MacGruer – The MacGruers were hereditary standard bearers to the chiefs of Clan Fraser.
One legend surrounding the MacGruers, was that the Chief of the Clan a Gruer Mor, Laird of Port Clair (Fort Augustus), swore vengeance against Laurence Grant of Foyers, who had insulted his wife. He rallied his galleys and sailed across Loch Ness to battle against the opposing clan’s galleys about a mile west of Foyers at Camus Mharbh Dhaoine (The Bay of the Dead Men) to make Foyers pay for his insolence. Gruer Mor won the day and became Laird of Foyers and Boleskine, and his descendents became known as the MacGruers, as a Sept name or in the Gaelic Bun Sloinne.
Gruer Mor is often portrayed as the Chief of a Clan McGruer, but more accurately, it would appear from records surrounding the ownership of Boleskine, that Gruer Mor (as this legend names the Chief) was a Christian name and that he was a Fraser, and loyal to the Chief of that name. Those who called themselves MacGruer did so to show loyalty, kinship and gain the protection of their immediate chief, but in actual fact through his loyalty to the Chief of the Frasers, these MacGruers were in fact Frasers. This practice was common throughout the highlands. For example the Farquharsons who feature heavily in the story of the Gruers, were named after Farquhar their original ancestor, but were originally Shaws from Rothiemurcus, and through the Shaws, MacIntoshes.
As early as 1541, a William Fraser is on record as Laird of Foyers and Boleskine, and that branch of the Frasers later became the Hereditary Standard bearers to the Frasers of Saltoun, the most senior branch of the clan. In 1544, the MacGrewars fought for the Frasers at the Blar Na Leine (The battle of the Shirts), where the clansmen removed their plaids and fought in their shirts due to the hot weather. The Frasers and their allies were routed and some accounts suggest that the MacGrewars were almost annihilated. Despite the losses sustained by the MacGrewars, the name was still relatively common in this area by the 19th Century.
Birth and marriage records relating to the name MacGruer in the north of Scotland, around Loch Ness, verify a link between the MacGruers and Boleskine, where virtually all MacGruers listed appear to have originated in this small locality. That the name is distinct of the Gruers of Braemar and Glenisla is almost a certainty, but there is a possibility that one or more of the small number of Gruers who had at one stage been MacGruers, and inhabitated the area surrounding Boleskine, migrated to Glenisla or Mar in ancient times, thus forming the first Gruer family in this area.2
The Clan Gregor (MacGregors)
Perhaps the greatest association claimed between any Clan and the Gruers is in relation to the Grewars and the MacGregors. The main argument put forward for the Gruers being connected with the MacGregors is that after the name MacGregor was proscribed or made illegal, from 1604 until 1774, where it was perfectly legal to kill a MacGregor without penalty, that many MacGregors changed their names from MacGregor to an alias. It is often proposed that one of the pseudonyms employed by the MacGregors was MacGruer MacGrewar, MacGrouther, MacGruder, Grewar and Gruer and that many did not change their names back to MacGregor after the ban on the name was lifted, thus remaining with their assumed names.
Despite these claims, there is not one single documented instance of this happening in practice. Instead, what is documented was that most MacGregors who assumed names of the most powerful nobles in the areas they moved to. We find in Atholl the names Campbell, Murray and Graham were adopted and around Braemar, Erskine (The name of the Earls of Mar) and Gordon (the name of the Marquises of Huntly) was preferred. The reason for adopting the names of the powerful nobles of the area was to gain advantage in business, obtain military protection when required and increase the likelihood of land acquisition, by lobbying the nobles in question.
During the period by which Clan Gregor (and all those bearing the name) were outlawed, they were not the enemies of everyone and a number of MacGrewars were fined for reset (harbouring) members of Clan Gregor, in Doune, at the Stewartry of Menteith in1612. As the MacGrewars helped the MacGregors, it was assumed that the MacGrewars and MacGregors were somehow allied and part of that Clan. The reality being that many people of many different Surnames were also fined for harbouring MacGregor fugitives and the only link with the MacGrewars and the MacGregors was that they happened to live in the same area and in at least one instance the MacGrewars were friends with, or married to MacGregors and sought to help them. This is not, however, sufficient to establish the MacGrewars, Grewars or anyone else as a Sept of that Clan.
Perhaps the greatest argument against the Grewars being a Sept of Clan Gregor is the antiquity of the name. MacGruers are on record from as early as the 15th Century and first documented references to Gruers in Braemar and Glenisla start in 1524. This is over one hundred years prior to the first Acts proscribing the Clan Gregor.
Although records do exist to link the Clan Gregor in some instances to the MacGrewars and Gruers, in only one instance has a claim being made of any antiquity where a Grewar family from Glenisla has a tradition in their family that they were once MacGregors. No documented evidence exists to prove these claims. The fact that the Gruers are well documented in Braemar and Glenisla from at least the 16th Century and at least one hundred years prior to the Proscription of Clan Gregor, does suggest that the traditions linking the Grewars to the MacGregors are more myth than reality. Any links with Clan Gregor and the Grewars would need to be viewed on a case by case basis with evidence provided to establish any link.
Clan Erskine
Clan texts often link the Grewars with the MacGregors, Drummonds or Frasers but in reality, other Clans can claim a link to the Grewars. The oldest family of Gruers in Braemar were feued the lands of Auchallater in 1632 by the Earls of Mar. During the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion, Donald Gruer of Auchallater and his son Alexander fought under the Earls of Mar during the Rebellion. The fact that this family were vassals of the Earls of Mar and arguably one the oldest Gruer family in Braemar, the Gruers of Braemar could be regarded on this basis as a largely unacknowledged Sept of the Erskines. The Aberdeenshire Poll Tax Records of 1696 refers to several Gruers who tenanted the Earl of Mar's Lands and would have been loyal to him and could be called up for Military service by the Earls of Mar.
Clan Farquharson
The Gruers who owned the lands of Auchallater in Braemar from 1632 descend from a John Gruer of Auchallater who was was married to Isobel Farquharson, a granddaughter of Finlay Mor’s elder brother. Finlay Mor Farquharson was the original founder of the Clan Farquharson and in Gaelic that Clan is known as Clann Fionnlaigh. This marriage into the Chiefly family, it could be argued, made the Gruers of Auchallater and their descends an "intaken tribe" eligible for the protection of the Clan Farquharson and a largely unacknowledged Sept of this Clan.
At the end of the 17th Century all Clan Chiefs were made to sign a bond of good behaviour and to name all of their tenants. If any of the tenants caused trouble for the Crown the Chiefs would lose the bond or money they had previously deposited with the Crown in Edinburgh. In the bond made by Farquharson of Invercauld, the Chief of the Clan, a number of Gruers are mentioned as tenants (and therefore the responsibility of) the Chief of the Farquharsons and part of that Clan.
In the Forest of Birse, East of Braemar during the 18th and 19th Centuries references are made to sons of Gruers being Christened as Farquharson Gruer to demonstrate their allegiance to the Farquharsons of Finzean and through this Chieftain to the Chief of Clan Farquharson.
Clan Ogilvie
From 1524, a John Grewyr occupied the lands of Meikle Forter and later Dalvanie. By 1588, Lord Ogilvie feued these lands to John Gruer’s eldest son, also John Gruer. In return for the lands, military service would have been required of John Gruer, his family and tenants. This, it could be argued, constitutes these Gruers and their descendents as a Sept of the Ogilvies.
Conclusion
As referred above, which Clan someone belongs to is not merely based solely on their Surname or the Clan Sept Lists. Anyone may join any Clan where the Chief accepts them as a member, regardless of the strength of any links to that Clan. Further Genealogical research may be required to identify where your Grewar ancestors originated from and then to determine whether any links existed with the Clans of that area. This will also then determine the tartan you are eligible to wear.
1The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, by Frank Adam,
revised by Thomas Innes of Learney, Lord Lyon, Edinburgh, 1952, P306.
2It is puzzling that virtually no ancient records, other than folklore appear
to exist in the relation to the McGruers. This may be due to the Chiefly family infact
being Frasers, and McGruer their bun Sloinne or Sept name, and that the Chiefly line
would be referred to as Frasers in official documents.
