``Clann Shinclair -- The Sinclairs''
``It has been been maintained that the Sinclairs are not,
strictly speaking, a Gaelic clan, the surname being originally
from France. William, son of Comte de Saint Clair, a relative
of the Conqueror, who came over with him in 1066, settled in
Scotland soon afterwards, and was progenitor of all the name in
that country. The ancient Earls of Caithness were, however,
an original race, the first recorded of whom is Dungald, who flourished
in 875, and Sir William Sinclair, of Roslin, which was the first
possession of those of the name in Scotland, having married a
daughter of the Earl of Strathern and Caithness, by this early
connexion with a Highland district, and holding so high a feudal
position, they have fully acquired all that confers on them the
rights of chiefship.''
>From *The Clans of the Scottish Highlands*, by R.R. McIan,
text by James Logan, Crescent Books, New York, ISBN 0-517-482843,
originally published 1845 and 1847.
John S. Quarterman <jsq@mids.org>
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