Ancestral Lines of Chester Everts Howell - (PDF ... - Adkinshorton.net

FLETCHERMembers of the Clan Fletcher claim descent from the first Scottish King,Kenneth MacAlphin, whose reign was from 841 to 846 A. D. after he had subduedthe Picts. The Fletchers in the early days were to be found in the regionaround or near Glen Orchy where tradition, according to the many times repeatedtale, says they were the first who "raised smoke to boil water inUrchy", the ancient mode of acquiring rights to land. Thus the Fletchersantedated the Clan McGregor, at one time also inhabitants of the Glen, and ofwhich Clan the Fletchers are sometimes named as a sept or branch. GlenOrchy is a wild but very beautiful glen whose waters flow into Loch Awe southwestfrom Loch Tulla on the eastern edge of Argyllshire near the Perthshireborder.Before about 1700 the Fletchers were referred to in legal documents bytheir Gaelic name, the Mac-In-leisdars (or some variation of the spelling ofthis name). The word leisdar means arrow in Gaelic, the whole word meaningMan-of-the-arrow. Flechier and Fletcher are translations of Leisdar intoEnglish by way of Norman French which after the Battle of Hastings graduallywas woven into the English language.Calling to mind the meaning of the Fletcher name and the Glen settingfrom which they came are the Clan symbols; the crest which shows two armsdrawing a bow; the badge shaped like a pine tree and the tartan a combinationof green and blue with black and a narrow red stripe, a reminder of thegreen of the Glen and the blue sky overhead on a sunny day.In 1587 the Fletchers, who by that time were clustered quite closely aroundAuchallader in Glen Orchy, lost the superiority to their land (their right to fullownership) to the powerful and ruthless Sir Duncan Campbell, a neighbor whoaccording to the many versions of the affair acquired these rights unlawfullywhile posing as a friend. It is claimed by those who have studied the ancientland records that there are no documents which show the transaction waslegal. However the Fletchers continued to live in the region, spreading fromAchallader (2 spellings) as their numbers increased, until by 1750 they wereliving near Kilchurn, Baalieveadan, Clachandysart, Strommanessig,Knockinty, Larigs, Invereigh, Arreschastellan, Inveroran and at Cambuslaimhand at Pubyl in Glen Lyon; all of these in Campbell territory.The history of the Clan Fletcher from the earliest, found in written recordof Angus Maclnleistar in 1450, to Archibald the 9th chief in 1745 is one ofretaining life and property largely by the sword. In the Glen are buried,mostly without markers, many centuries of Fletchers.The names of the early Fletcher Chiefs have been identified as follows:Angus I in 1450Nycole IIJohn IIINicole IV-Archibald VPatrik VIJohne VIIArchibald VIII (1610-1720)103