Contents and Introduction of 'The Gunns: History, Myths and Genealogy'
The Gunns:
History, Myths and Genealogy
The individual chapters can be downloaded as pdfs from latrobe.academia.edu/AlastairGunn
Alastair J. Gunn B.A., Dip.Ed., B.Ed.
The most interesting part of the Scots’ nation is the Highlanders,
the descendants of the aboriginal Celts[1]
the Gunns had been a branch of the purest aborigines of the north[2]
My fathers were Highlanders long ago…[3]
For Wendy, with much love.
First printing 2019. Copyright © Alastair Gunn 2019. Alastair Gunn hereby asserts and gives notice of his right under Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher (Alastair Gunn) except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.
This book is a print on demand book; it is possible that significant new information could be found which means I could produce a revised version of this text and perhaps even a second edition.
See http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/awgunn or http://clangunn.weebly.com/ for possible further information.
Contents
Introduction
1. A possible origin for the Gunns
1.1 Before the Picts
1.2 Gunns were Picts then Celts
1.3 Caithness place name origin; a discussion
1.4 So how did these Picts / Celts become Gunns?
2. The Gunns Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin myth
2.1 The Gunn surname is not of Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin
2.2 The supposed ‘Gunn Chief’ Snaekoll Gunnison did not have children problem
2.3 The supposed ‘Gunn Chief’ Ottar Snaekollson was not a Gunn problem
3. On the mythical ‘Gunn Chiefs’ from Ottar Snaekollson to Coroner Gunn
3.1 James De Gun / de Gunn (or Jakop / James Gunn)
3.2 Ingram Gunn
3.3 The knighthood ‘Chief Gunn’ problem
3.4 Conclusion
4. Why Gunns are not Clan Gunn
5. Diversion 1: The Gunn “Westford Knight” myth
5.1 The Zeno narrative is a work of fiction problem
5.2 Historic / general problems with the ‘Westford knight’
5.3 Archaeological objections
5.4 The AVM Runestone hoax
5.5 Summary
6. Diversion 2: Saint Donan / St Donnan and his Gunn non-links
6.1 St Donan’s life and why, logically, he would not have gone to the Kildonan area
6.2 On the word ‘Kildonan’ in Sutherland not being related to St Donan
6.3 ‘St Donan’s Church’? at Kildonan
7. The Gunn / Keith feud myth
7.1 Gunn / Keith / Mackay battles – or not?
7.2 Helen Gunn of Braemore story, supposedly set around 1410
7.3 Another Braemore Gunn story, perhaps from the late 1400s
8. Coroner Gunn of Caithness; the first Gunn in history
8.1 The position and significance of a Coroner
8.2 Coroner Gunn; name and life
8.3 Coroner Gunn’s death c. early 1450s
8.4 Coroner Gunn’s children
8.5 The supposed Coroner Gunn castle(s)
9. The Gunn family trees / genealogy
9.1 The 1896 Gunn family tree of Captain Alexander Gunn
9.2 Other early Gunn family trees / genealogical sources
10. MacHamish Gunns
10.1 On the use of the word MacHamish, ‘son of James’
10.2 Fourteen generations of MacHamish descendants from Coroner Gunn
10.3 Biographies of the first eleven MacHamish generations
MacHamish ‘owners’ of Killernan, Borrobol, Navidale and Kinbrace Estates.
Generation 1, number 1 - Coroner Gunn (Crunar) died 1450s
Generation 2, number 2 - James, eldest son of Coroner Gunn b 1420s
Generation 3, number 3 - William MacHamish Cattigh b 1450s
Generation 4, number 4 - The next William MacHamish b 1480s
Generation 5, number 5 - Unknown MacHamish b 1510s
Generation 5 - Alexander MacHamish, younger brother to Unknown?
An historical sweep -
Generation 6, number 6 - David MacHamish b 1530s
Generation 7, number 7 - Alexander MacDavid Gunn b 1560s, d 1624?
Generation 7, number 8 - William Beag, brother to Alexander MacDavid. b 1560s
Generation 8
Generation 8 - William ‘Mhor / Mor’ Gunn b. 1590? Alive 1624. Dwi.
Generation 8, number 9 - Alexander of Killernan and of Navidale dead by 1658
Generation 8, number 10 - John MacHamish in Navidale of Borroble. Alive 1652
Generation 8, number 11 - Donald the Scholar, Kinbrace / Osclay lines
Generation 8, number 12 - William Acheneccan / Acanaichan line
Generation 9
Generation 9, number 13 - John Gunn of Killernan and Navidale
Generation 9, number 14 - Catherine / Katherine b. no earlier than 1636. Alive 1676
Generation 9 - Alexander Gunn b. c 1638 dwi, married Christina Mackay
Generation 9, number 15 - Donald ‘Crotach’ Gunn in / of? Killernan, of Badenloch
Generation 9, number 16 - George Gunn of Borroble (Borrobol)
Generation 9, number 17 - William ‘Kinbrace’ Gunn from Donald the Scholar Gunn
Generation 9, number 18 - Donald Gunn from William of Acheneccan
Generation 10
Generation 10 - Alexander Gunn and brothers
Generation 10 - Children of Generation 9, number 14 Catherine Gunn
Generation 10, number 19 - Alexander Gunn of Badenloch, later of Wester Helmsdale
Generation 10, number 20 – George Gunn of Corrish
Generation 10, number 21 – Bessie / Esther Gunn
Generation 10, number 22 – Lt.-Col. William Gunn b. c. 1695 d. 28 May 1768
Generation 10, number 23 – Margaret Gunn daughter of Donald Crotach
Generation 10 number 24 – John Gunn ‘of Kinsuer and Guamhay’
Generation 10, number 25 - Adam ‘Kinbrace’ Gunn
Generation 10, number 26 - William Gunn (Acheneccan)
Generation 11
Generation 11 – William Gunn born circa 1757, died India 10 Sep 1780.
Generation 11 - Morrison Gunn, born c. 1758
Generation 11, number 27 George, son of George of Corrish
Generation 11, number 28 Alexander, son of George of Corrish
Generation 11, number 29 Unknown Mackay
Generation 11, number 30 Margaret ‘Netherlands’ Gunn
Generation 11, number 31 Alexander ‘Osclay’ Gunn
Generation 11, number 32 George Gunn of Acherelate and Strathmore
Generation 11, number 33 Alexander ‘Dalnaglaton and Strathmore’ Gunn
Generation 11, number 34 William ‘Kinbrace Houstry Dunbeath’ Gunn
Generation 11, number 35 Robert Gunn
10.4 The senior MacHamish line now
11. Further bits and pieces
11.1 MacRob / Braemore Gunns
11.2 The ‘Covenanters’, especially 1639-1640
11.3 Jacobite rebellions and Gunn non-involvement
11.4 The Clearances
11.5 Emigration
11.6 Gunn tartan
11.7 The fictional, traditional Gunn Crest badge and motto
11.8 Septs
12. Conclusion
Appendices
1. The senior MacHamish Gunns, a summary
2. The triple MacHamish descent from Coroner Gunn of the Osclay Gunns
3. Concerning the ‘inquisition’, the Clan Gunn Society of the 1820s and the manipulation of the MacHamish ‘Chief’ line
4. A reason why the Orkney Islands Gunn origin myth may have started
5. Concerning the Gunns, according to Thomas Smibert 1850
6. Helen (Gunn) of Braemore (a Victorian poem)
7. The modern invention of a Chief 2015
Bibliography
History, Myths and Genealogy
The individual chapters can be downloaded as pdfs from latrobe.academia.edu/AlastairGunn
Alastair J. Gunn B.A., Dip.Ed., B.Ed.
The most interesting part of the Scots’ nation is the Highlanders,
the descendants of the aboriginal Celts[1]
the Gunns had been a branch of the purest aborigines of the north[2]
My fathers were Highlanders long ago…[3]
For Wendy, with much love.
First printing 2019. Copyright © Alastair Gunn 2019. Alastair Gunn hereby asserts and gives notice of his right under Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher (Alastair Gunn) except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.
This book is a print on demand book; it is possible that significant new information could be found which means I could produce a revised version of this text and perhaps even a second edition.
See http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/awgunn or http://clangunn.weebly.com/ for possible further information.
Contents
Introduction
1. A possible origin for the Gunns
1.1 Before the Picts
1.2 Gunns were Picts then Celts
1.3 Caithness place name origin; a discussion
1.4 So how did these Picts / Celts become Gunns?
2. The Gunns Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin myth
2.1 The Gunn surname is not of Orkney Islands / Norse / Viking origin
2.2 The supposed ‘Gunn Chief’ Snaekoll Gunnison did not have children problem
2.3 The supposed ‘Gunn Chief’ Ottar Snaekollson was not a Gunn problem
3. On the mythical ‘Gunn Chiefs’ from Ottar Snaekollson to Coroner Gunn
3.1 James De Gun / de Gunn (or Jakop / James Gunn)
3.2 Ingram Gunn
3.3 The knighthood ‘Chief Gunn’ problem
3.4 Conclusion
4. Why Gunns are not Clan Gunn
5. Diversion 1: The Gunn “Westford Knight” myth
5.1 The Zeno narrative is a work of fiction problem
5.2 Historic / general problems with the ‘Westford knight’
5.3 Archaeological objections
5.4 The AVM Runestone hoax
5.5 Summary
6. Diversion 2: Saint Donan / St Donnan and his Gunn non-links
6.1 St Donan’s life and why, logically, he would not have gone to the Kildonan area
6.2 On the word ‘Kildonan’ in Sutherland not being related to St Donan
6.3 ‘St Donan’s Church’? at Kildonan
7. The Gunn / Keith feud myth
7.1 Gunn / Keith / Mackay battles – or not?
7.2 Helen Gunn of Braemore story, supposedly set around 1410
7.3 Another Braemore Gunn story, perhaps from the late 1400s
8. Coroner Gunn of Caithness; the first Gunn in history
8.1 The position and significance of a Coroner
8.2 Coroner Gunn; name and life
8.3 Coroner Gunn’s death c. early 1450s
8.4 Coroner Gunn’s children
8.5 The supposed Coroner Gunn castle(s)
9. The Gunn family trees / genealogy
9.1 The 1896 Gunn family tree of Captain Alexander Gunn
9.2 Other early Gunn family trees / genealogical sources
10. MacHamish Gunns
10.1 On the use of the word MacHamish, ‘son of James’
10.2 Fourteen generations of MacHamish descendants from Coroner Gunn
10.3 Biographies of the first eleven MacHamish generations
MacHamish ‘owners’ of Killernan, Borrobol, Navidale and Kinbrace Estates.
Generation 1, number 1 - Coroner Gunn (Crunar) died 1450s
Generation 2, number 2 - James, eldest son of Coroner Gunn b 1420s
Generation 3, number 3 - William MacHamish Cattigh b 1450s
Generation 4, number 4 - The next William MacHamish b 1480s
Generation 5, number 5 - Unknown MacHamish b 1510s
Generation 5 - Alexander MacHamish, younger brother to Unknown?
An historical sweep -
Generation 6, number 6 - David MacHamish b 1530s
Generation 7, number 7 - Alexander MacDavid Gunn b 1560s, d 1624?
Generation 7, number 8 - William Beag, brother to Alexander MacDavid. b 1560s
Generation 8
Generation 8 - William ‘Mhor / Mor’ Gunn b. 1590? Alive 1624. Dwi.
Generation 8, number 9 - Alexander of Killernan and of Navidale dead by 1658
Generation 8, number 10 - John MacHamish in Navidale of Borroble. Alive 1652
Generation 8, number 11 - Donald the Scholar, Kinbrace / Osclay lines
Generation 8, number 12 - William Acheneccan / Acanaichan line
Generation 9
Generation 9, number 13 - John Gunn of Killernan and Navidale
Generation 9, number 14 - Catherine / Katherine b. no earlier than 1636. Alive 1676
Generation 9 - Alexander Gunn b. c 1638 dwi, married Christina Mackay
Generation 9, number 15 - Donald ‘Crotach’ Gunn in / of? Killernan, of Badenloch
Generation 9, number 16 - George Gunn of Borroble (Borrobol)
Generation 9, number 17 - William ‘Kinbrace’ Gunn from Donald the Scholar Gunn
Generation 9, number 18 - Donald Gunn from William of Acheneccan
Generation 10
Generation 10 - Alexander Gunn and brothers
Generation 10 - Children of Generation 9, number 14 Catherine Gunn
Generation 10, number 19 - Alexander Gunn of Badenloch, later of Wester Helmsdale
Generation 10, number 20 – George Gunn of Corrish
Generation 10, number 21 – Bessie / Esther Gunn
Generation 10, number 22 – Lt.-Col. William Gunn b. c. 1695 d. 28 May 1768
Generation 10, number 23 – Margaret Gunn daughter of Donald Crotach
Generation 10 number 24 – John Gunn ‘of Kinsuer and Guamhay’
Generation 10, number 25 - Adam ‘Kinbrace’ Gunn
Generation 10, number 26 - William Gunn (Acheneccan)
Generation 11
Generation 11 – William Gunn born circa 1757, died India 10 Sep 1780.
Generation 11 - Morrison Gunn, born c. 1758
Generation 11, number 27 George, son of George of Corrish
Generation 11, number 28 Alexander, son of George of Corrish
Generation 11, number 29 Unknown Mackay
Generation 11, number 30 Margaret ‘Netherlands’ Gunn
Generation 11, number 31 Alexander ‘Osclay’ Gunn
Generation 11, number 32 George Gunn of Acherelate and Strathmore
Generation 11, number 33 Alexander ‘Dalnaglaton and Strathmore’ Gunn
Generation 11, number 34 William ‘Kinbrace Houstry Dunbeath’ Gunn
Generation 11, number 35 Robert Gunn
10.4 The senior MacHamish line now
11. Further bits and pieces
11.1 MacRob / Braemore Gunns
11.2 The ‘Covenanters’, especially 1639-1640
11.3 Jacobite rebellions and Gunn non-involvement
11.4 The Clearances
11.5 Emigration
11.6 Gunn tartan
11.7 The fictional, traditional Gunn Crest badge and motto
11.8 Septs
12. Conclusion
Appendices
1. The senior MacHamish Gunns, a summary
2. The triple MacHamish descent from Coroner Gunn of the Osclay Gunns
3. Concerning the ‘inquisition’, the Clan Gunn Society of the 1820s and the manipulation of the MacHamish ‘Chief’ line
4. A reason why the Orkney Islands Gunn origin myth may have started
5. Concerning the Gunns, according to Thomas Smibert 1850
6. Helen (Gunn) of Braemore (a Victorian poem)
7. The modern invention of a Chief 2015
Bibliography
Some key places in Gunn history.
Introduction
1.
It is, of course, a fine thing to seek Scottish ancestry, and engaging with all aspects of Scottish history and culture is to be encouraged – but it must be done in the full knowledge that much of the mythology about clans, surnames, tartans and the like is just that...[4]
In the early nineteenth century, nostalgia for a vanished age led to the revival or reinvention of Scottish ‘tradition’, a strand of folklore whose blend of the authentic and the bogus to this day affects perceptions of the country’s history…[5]
I have been interested in Gunn history for many decades not least as it was of importance within my family for many generations; assorted primary source material starting from before the Highland Clearances had been kept and many family trees created. When I was young the heroic Gunn ‘history’ was appealing but so were stories of giants and tigers and fairies at the bottom of the garden. With age I needed more; what academic evidence was there for the Gunn stories? The more I looked the more the supposed facts crumbled.
So this text is the result – it is as factual as I can make it however it is not the final answer. Although I have worked on the Sutherland Estate[6] papers in the National Library of Scotland I have not read all the relevant documents, one reason being that my knowledge of 1600s-1700s Latin is nil. And I am sure some Estate papers will have been wrongly filed. The next person exploring those documents could start by tidying up exactly when Gunns – and which Gunns - ‘owned’ Killernan, Borrobol and Navidale as I have not been able to tie down the exact years. And I strongly suspect that some Learable Gunns have a MacHamish (see chapter 10) link but I have not been able to solve that problem.
Much Scottish clan history is just Victorian mythologising[7] created by the cultural power of people such as Sir Walter Scott[8], and much Gunn ‘history’ is an example of this tendency. The first two Gunn books – namely Thomas Sinclair’s The Gunns and Mark Rugg Gunn’s History of the Clan Gunn – implicitly supported this mythological approach by regularly blurring actual events and people with legends and the historically impossible (which includes events wrongly attributed to particular Gunns). This text’s factual base will cause a problem for the myth believers who accept those books.
The key book for early Gunn facts is Sir Robert Gordon’s A Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland[9] – he lived from 1580 to c.1650. It’s really a history of Sutherland and Caithness with a solid dose of his family’s genealogy. His account stopped in 1630 so it is reasonable to assume that he wrote the manuscript about then. For Gunns the point is simple – Gordon’s Scottish facts should overall[10] be accepted as he was the person closest to the time and tried to write the truth as it was known. Later versions of events which embellish Gordon’s text should be ignored, but Gordon was reliant on oral accounts so occasionally his events can be questioned where they lack logic.
I have paid little attention to Gunn history beyond the 1800s[11] as for most Gunns their known, actual family history starts around that time. Gunns are, by origin, best viewed as a non-related tribe and are not a clan as I discuss in the first four chapters. This means that Gunns share a surname but rarely anything more[12] bar with known family members; to Gunns reading this text, unless you can demonstrate by supported genealogy do not assume that anybody mentioned in this volume shares any close relationship with you.
But this Gunn history is my family[13] history, see Appendices 1 and 2.
2. Concerning terminology
There are terminological problems associated with Gunn history.
Firstly, there is the Anglicisation / ethnic cleansing issue. The original Pictish / Celtic Gunns of northern mainland Scotland are hidden from history as they were replaced by the mythic Norse origin which gives Gunns white skins and blue-eyes. Coroner (of Caithness) Gunn – the first recorded Gunn in history - is often given the name George for no reason and his descendants[14] lose their Celtic names and become James or William, and so on. I have reluctantly decided to use Anglicised names (but not invented names such as George for the Coroner) as by doing so it is easier for readers to relate to earlier versions of Gunn history.
Secondly there are terms which have Scottish meanings which have not travelled elsewhere. The main two are –
Wadset / tack. A wadset was basically when a person paid the rent upfront for an estate for a set period of many years. The wadsetter could then charge rent from lesser people / farms on the estate to help with the cost of running the property. At the end of the agreed period the real owner had to return the original money within a set period (suggestions range from immediately[15] to forty years) or the wadsetter could keep the land.[16] Progressively wadsets fell out of favour and tacks replaced them. A tack is essentially a lease of an Estate with rent paid each year.
Historically the Gunns did not own land; land was owned by people like the Earl of Sutherland or the Earl of Caithness. Wealthy Gunns had wadsets of Estates from such people. The actual Gunn(s) who had the wadset were ‘of the Estate’; the rest of his family who lived there were ‘in the Estate’. So a ‘Gunn of Killernan’ was significantly more important than a ‘Gunn in Killernan’.
Coroner. Coroner Gunn was an important man but the Scottish position of Coroner does not match English or American coroners. I discuss the position in detail in chapter 8.1.
Finally, there are words (mainly place names and people) which have had varied spellings over the years; there are many. A few examples are Killernan / Kilearnan, Beag / Bheg, Mhor / Mor, Borrobol / Borobol, Snaekol / Snaekoll, Crotach / Croitach, Knockfinn / Knockfin and Achanakin / Acheneccan / Achneakans.[17] In most cases any usage or all usages are sound, given that soundness I have merely aimed for consistent usage except where I am quoting from a text.
***
[1] Page xxi, James Logan, The Scottish Gael, Volume 1.
[2] Page 173, Thomas Smibert, The Clans of the Highlands of Scotland.
[3] Les Murray, from ‘Four Gaelic Poems’ in Collected Poems.
[4] Dr Bruce Durie, ‘What is a Clan’ http://www.bletherskite.net/2013/10/04/what-is-a-clan-by-dr-bruce-durie/#comment-21492 accessed 1 May 2014.
[5] Page 8, J. Westwood and S. Kingshill, The Lore of Scotland A Guide to Scottish Legends.
[6] Mark Rugg Gunn points out these papers had not been looked at by him, see his page 7, History of the Clan Gunn.
[7] See http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/society/c_scottishidentity.html accessed 30 December 2012 for a discussion of this issue. One writer views the result of this mythologising as ‘clanland’ see page 128 Paul Basu Highland Homecomings: Genealogy And Heritage Tourism in the Scottish Diaspora. It can be argued that to be a member of a Clan Society requires a quasi-religious ‘leap of faith’ to accept the myths which a Society views as ‘history’ – and, like with religions, the people of the faith dislike analysis of their belief system. For more analysis of ‘heritage mythology’ as religion see pp. 200-203 Prof. Celeste Ray, Highland Heritage; Scottish Americans in the American South.
[8] ...‘the central dilemma of the Scottish historian: how to reconcile the legacy of Scott and the romantic movement with the methods, practices and concerns of history in today’s world’ - pages 17-18, Mathew H. Hammond, ‘Ethnicity and Writing of Medieval Scottish History’ in The Scotish Historical Review Volume 85 Number 1, No. 219.’The Scottification of Scottishness’ is Celeste Ray’s term. See page 29 ibid.
[9] Page 43, Mark Rugg Gunn, Clan Gunn says ‘We owe him a debt of gratitude for much of the local history would have been unrecorded but for his pen, and he lived near enough to the times to be to be able to paint a colourful and in the main accurate picture’.
[10] One can also occasionally question what Gordon wrote as events may have been shaped by retelling, the odd primary source may have been found since his time and he had a tendency to place his family in the best possible light.
[11] The modern ‘Clan Gunn Chief’ issue I discuss in Appendix 7.
[12] Celeste Ray in her Highland Heritage, page 80, writes that ‘clan names confirm belief in one’s kinship within the community and integrates clan history within one’s own perception of self and identity’; in other words, some people get self image by knowing they might be related to famous people.
[13] My father pursued a claim to be ‘Chief of the Clan Gunn’ from the late 1960s to the 1980s; this book shows his action was appropriate in that my family is the most senior living known line from Coroner Gunn which has always held the surname Gunn. But, as also discussed in this text, the idea of a ‘Clan Gunn Chief’ is just just wrong.
[14] The senior descendant line from Coroner Gunn is the ‘MacHamish’ line; that term is also an Anglicisation. See page 6 in my Key Issues for a Clan Gunn history for the early use of the word.
[15] Page 320, Earl of Cromartie, A Highland History.
[16] Drawn from Page xxii ed. R.J. Adam, Sutherland Estate Management 1802-1816, Volume 1.
[17] This spelling is in use in 1812. See page 103, ed. R.J. Adam, Sutherland Estate Management 1802-1816, Volume 1.
Introduction
1.
It is, of course, a fine thing to seek Scottish ancestry, and engaging with all aspects of Scottish history and culture is to be encouraged – but it must be done in the full knowledge that much of the mythology about clans, surnames, tartans and the like is just that...[4]
In the early nineteenth century, nostalgia for a vanished age led to the revival or reinvention of Scottish ‘tradition’, a strand of folklore whose blend of the authentic and the bogus to this day affects perceptions of the country’s history…[5]
I have been interested in Gunn history for many decades not least as it was of importance within my family for many generations; assorted primary source material starting from before the Highland Clearances had been kept and many family trees created. When I was young the heroic Gunn ‘history’ was appealing but so were stories of giants and tigers and fairies at the bottom of the garden. With age I needed more; what academic evidence was there for the Gunn stories? The more I looked the more the supposed facts crumbled.
So this text is the result – it is as factual as I can make it however it is not the final answer. Although I have worked on the Sutherland Estate[6] papers in the National Library of Scotland I have not read all the relevant documents, one reason being that my knowledge of 1600s-1700s Latin is nil. And I am sure some Estate papers will have been wrongly filed. The next person exploring those documents could start by tidying up exactly when Gunns – and which Gunns - ‘owned’ Killernan, Borrobol and Navidale as I have not been able to tie down the exact years. And I strongly suspect that some Learable Gunns have a MacHamish (see chapter 10) link but I have not been able to solve that problem.
Much Scottish clan history is just Victorian mythologising[7] created by the cultural power of people such as Sir Walter Scott[8], and much Gunn ‘history’ is an example of this tendency. The first two Gunn books – namely Thomas Sinclair’s The Gunns and Mark Rugg Gunn’s History of the Clan Gunn – implicitly supported this mythological approach by regularly blurring actual events and people with legends and the historically impossible (which includes events wrongly attributed to particular Gunns). This text’s factual base will cause a problem for the myth believers who accept those books.
The key book for early Gunn facts is Sir Robert Gordon’s A Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland[9] – he lived from 1580 to c.1650. It’s really a history of Sutherland and Caithness with a solid dose of his family’s genealogy. His account stopped in 1630 so it is reasonable to assume that he wrote the manuscript about then. For Gunns the point is simple – Gordon’s Scottish facts should overall[10] be accepted as he was the person closest to the time and tried to write the truth as it was known. Later versions of events which embellish Gordon’s text should be ignored, but Gordon was reliant on oral accounts so occasionally his events can be questioned where they lack logic.
I have paid little attention to Gunn history beyond the 1800s[11] as for most Gunns their known, actual family history starts around that time. Gunns are, by origin, best viewed as a non-related tribe and are not a clan as I discuss in the first four chapters. This means that Gunns share a surname but rarely anything more[12] bar with known family members; to Gunns reading this text, unless you can demonstrate by supported genealogy do not assume that anybody mentioned in this volume shares any close relationship with you.
But this Gunn history is my family[13] history, see Appendices 1 and 2.
2. Concerning terminology
There are terminological problems associated with Gunn history.
Firstly, there is the Anglicisation / ethnic cleansing issue. The original Pictish / Celtic Gunns of northern mainland Scotland are hidden from history as they were replaced by the mythic Norse origin which gives Gunns white skins and blue-eyes. Coroner (of Caithness) Gunn – the first recorded Gunn in history - is often given the name George for no reason and his descendants[14] lose their Celtic names and become James or William, and so on. I have reluctantly decided to use Anglicised names (but not invented names such as George for the Coroner) as by doing so it is easier for readers to relate to earlier versions of Gunn history.
Secondly there are terms which have Scottish meanings which have not travelled elsewhere. The main two are –
Wadset / tack. A wadset was basically when a person paid the rent upfront for an estate for a set period of many years. The wadsetter could then charge rent from lesser people / farms on the estate to help with the cost of running the property. At the end of the agreed period the real owner had to return the original money within a set period (suggestions range from immediately[15] to forty years) or the wadsetter could keep the land.[16] Progressively wadsets fell out of favour and tacks replaced them. A tack is essentially a lease of an Estate with rent paid each year.
Historically the Gunns did not own land; land was owned by people like the Earl of Sutherland or the Earl of Caithness. Wealthy Gunns had wadsets of Estates from such people. The actual Gunn(s) who had the wadset were ‘of the Estate’; the rest of his family who lived there were ‘in the Estate’. So a ‘Gunn of Killernan’ was significantly more important than a ‘Gunn in Killernan’.
Coroner. Coroner Gunn was an important man but the Scottish position of Coroner does not match English or American coroners. I discuss the position in detail in chapter 8.1.
Finally, there are words (mainly place names and people) which have had varied spellings over the years; there are many. A few examples are Killernan / Kilearnan, Beag / Bheg, Mhor / Mor, Borrobol / Borobol, Snaekol / Snaekoll, Crotach / Croitach, Knockfinn / Knockfin and Achanakin / Acheneccan / Achneakans.[17] In most cases any usage or all usages are sound, given that soundness I have merely aimed for consistent usage except where I am quoting from a text.
***
[1] Page xxi, James Logan, The Scottish Gael, Volume 1.
[2] Page 173, Thomas Smibert, The Clans of the Highlands of Scotland.
[3] Les Murray, from ‘Four Gaelic Poems’ in Collected Poems.
[4] Dr Bruce Durie, ‘What is a Clan’ http://www.bletherskite.net/2013/10/04/what-is-a-clan-by-dr-bruce-durie/#comment-21492 accessed 1 May 2014.
[5] Page 8, J. Westwood and S. Kingshill, The Lore of Scotland A Guide to Scottish Legends.
[6] Mark Rugg Gunn points out these papers had not been looked at by him, see his page 7, History of the Clan Gunn.
[7] See http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/society/c_scottishidentity.html accessed 30 December 2012 for a discussion of this issue. One writer views the result of this mythologising as ‘clanland’ see page 128 Paul Basu Highland Homecomings: Genealogy And Heritage Tourism in the Scottish Diaspora. It can be argued that to be a member of a Clan Society requires a quasi-religious ‘leap of faith’ to accept the myths which a Society views as ‘history’ – and, like with religions, the people of the faith dislike analysis of their belief system. For more analysis of ‘heritage mythology’ as religion see pp. 200-203 Prof. Celeste Ray, Highland Heritage; Scottish Americans in the American South.
[8] ...‘the central dilemma of the Scottish historian: how to reconcile the legacy of Scott and the romantic movement with the methods, practices and concerns of history in today’s world’ - pages 17-18, Mathew H. Hammond, ‘Ethnicity and Writing of Medieval Scottish History’ in The Scotish Historical Review Volume 85 Number 1, No. 219.’The Scottification of Scottishness’ is Celeste Ray’s term. See page 29 ibid.
[9] Page 43, Mark Rugg Gunn, Clan Gunn says ‘We owe him a debt of gratitude for much of the local history would have been unrecorded but for his pen, and he lived near enough to the times to be to be able to paint a colourful and in the main accurate picture’.
[10] One can also occasionally question what Gordon wrote as events may have been shaped by retelling, the odd primary source may have been found since his time and he had a tendency to place his family in the best possible light.
[11] The modern ‘Clan Gunn Chief’ issue I discuss in Appendix 7.
[12] Celeste Ray in her Highland Heritage, page 80, writes that ‘clan names confirm belief in one’s kinship within the community and integrates clan history within one’s own perception of self and identity’; in other words, some people get self image by knowing they might be related to famous people.
[13] My father pursued a claim to be ‘Chief of the Clan Gunn’ from the late 1960s to the 1980s; this book shows his action was appropriate in that my family is the most senior living known line from Coroner Gunn which has always held the surname Gunn. But, as also discussed in this text, the idea of a ‘Clan Gunn Chief’ is just just wrong.
[14] The senior descendant line from Coroner Gunn is the ‘MacHamish’ line; that term is also an Anglicisation. See page 6 in my Key Issues for a Clan Gunn history for the early use of the word.
[15] Page 320, Earl of Cromartie, A Highland History.
[16] Drawn from Page xxii ed. R.J. Adam, Sutherland Estate Management 1802-1816, Volume 1.
[17] This spelling is in use in 1812. See page 103, ed. R.J. Adam, Sutherland Estate Management 1802-1816, Volume 1.