The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

3/6 THE HIGHLANDERS [part ii
those parts which more immediately bordered on the Lowlands.
It is accordingly the eastern and southern boundary of the
Highlands which would naturally become exposed to the
encroachment of the Lowlanders and their barons, and in which
we might expect to find clans which are not of pure Gaelic
origin. The first of the these clans is that of the
Steivarts.
In the present state of our information regarding the
Stewarts, the question of their origin seems to have been at
length set at rest, and until the discovery of new documents
shall unsettle this decision, there seems no reason to doubt that
they are a branch of the Norman family of Fitzallan. The
proofs which have been brought forward in support of this
conclusion are too demonstrative to be overcome by the
authority of tradition alone, however ancient that tradition may
be, and until some important additional information be discovered,
we must look upon the fabled descent of the Stewarts from the
thanes of Lochaber, and consequently their native origin, as
altogether visionary.
The whole of the Scottish Stewarts can be traced to Renfrew-
shire as their first seat, but still, in consequence of the great
extent of territory acquired by this family all over Scotland, a
considerable number of them penetrated into the Highlands,
and the amount of the Highland families of the name became
in time considerable. Those families of the name who are
found established in the Highlands in later times are derived
from three sources, the Stewarts of Lorn, AthoU, and Balquidder.
The Stewarts of Lorn are descended from a natural son of
John Stewart, the last lord of Lorn, who, by the assistance of the
Maclarins, a clan to whom his mother belonged, retained forcible
possession of a part of his father's estates ; and of this family
are the Stewarts of Appen, Invernahyle, Fasnacloich, &c.
Besides the descendants of the natural son of the last lord of
Lorn, the family of the Stewart of Grandtully in Atholl is also
descended from this family, deriving their origin from Alexander
Stewart, fourth son of John, lord of Lorn.
The Stewarts of Atholl consist almost entirely of the
descendants of the natural children of Alexander Stewart,