Family Tree

The 'McLean' name and all its variations (MacLaine, MacLean, McLane, etc) all originate from the same Clan in Scotland. There are various theories on the origins of the MacLean name and clan. One even says that the original MacLeans began in Ireland and moved to the Scottish Isles in the 9th and 10th Century to get away from Norse invaders. However it seems the most consistent are that 2 brothers from the 1300's were descendants of a great warrior named Gillian of the Battleaxe from the late 1200's . These brothers both bore the Gaelic name of MacGhille Eoin meaning "son of the servant of (St) John". They split in the late 1300's and went separate ways, one becoming MacLean of Duart and the other MacLaine of Lochbuie. The MacLean Clan lands were originally on the island of Mull but extended to Coll, Tiree and Jura, part of the Inner Hebrides archipelago on the West Coast of Scotland. There is evidence of MacLeans on the Scottish Mainland in Morven and Argylleshire in general but these are all around the same area and it is proposed that some people in the area even just changed their name to MacLean for protection. It is said the MacLeans were known as great warriors of their time, and master shipwrights with even the great Kings of Scotland befriending them for their knowledge and expertise on the sea.

Their peak of power came around the late 1300's when the Chief Lachlan MacLean married the daughter of the Lord of the Isles and as dowry was given a massive chunk of land on Isle of Mull. It was there that a castle was built named Duart Castle which for many years was a base for them in their battles. Sources say there was a structure in place before the castle was built but Duart Castle itself was a massive expansion of this. In a very brief, possibly inaccurate summary of some centuries to pass;

There were a lot of battles fought for land, and for loyalty to often changing groups. Major conflicts were first against McDonalds then they fought alongside McDonalds against Campbells and eventually in the late 1600's Duart Castle was taken. In the early 1900's it was bought back by a MacLean and is currently an ancestral historical site for MacLeans of all spellings to come see artefacts and stories about their ancestors.

Variations in spelling occur for many reasons including translation, illiteracy, verbal mispronunciation, intentional disbanding and many more. There is evidence that our ancestry were McLeans (not MacLeans) as far back as the 1700's. Which means the spelling was changed for one reason or another before that time.

Our direct McLean family can be traced back to living on the islands of Mull, Coll, Tiree and Morven area in the early 1700's. It seems moving between them even within a generation was common.

The McLean Tartan, Badge and history is well known and documented but there is no physical evidence of our involvement with these other than our surname and our proposed ancestry. Perhaps this is because Generation 1 of John McLean was born to a McLean who abandoned him and he grew up with McDonalds thus carrying only the McLean namesake and none of the history or stories or anecdotes from Scotland. Maybe our distant relatives of John's half brothers and sisters could tell us?

About this site:

Welcome to the McLean Family Tree. This site is set out this way to best publish all the known information about people within the extended McLean Family including those who married into it. The generations (Gen 1, etc) refer to the generations of McLean that were born in Australia. Since John McLean who was born 1855 in Australia had Scottish parents, he is listed as the first generation of Australian born McLean's as a logical starting point.

See below for a list of all the people in this tree in alphabetical order to help find a specific person

Use the sidebar on the left to navigate through people in the tree. You will notice spouses are listed as subheadings to direct McLean relatives. This is for organisational purposes only.

Where possible, each page contains each person's Direct relatives, a photo of their face, their birth/death info and a writeup on their life. To propose an edit or change to certain photos or information, please use the Add to the Tree link

GEDCOM

If you would like to download a copy of the latest GEDCOM you can do so here. A GedCom is a file containing all the names, relationships, most births, deaths, marriages and a few other bits of information. You can open it in any Genealogy software to help you see a different layout of the tree. It also has the Matriarchal sides of some family members that I could find in my research.

McLean GEDCOM (Current as of July 1st 2013)

References

MacGhille Eoin

http://www.scotclans.com/scottish_clans/clan_maclean/history.html

Map of Scottish West Coast

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genmaps/genfiles/COU_files/Sco/ARL/condor_arl-but-dnb,wisles_1786.html

MacLean Badge

http://www.houseofnames.com/maclean-family-crest

Gillean the Battleaxe

http://www.rampantscotland.com/clans/blclanmaclean.htm

People List