The Morrisons shared Lewis in the Hebrides with their earliest neighbours the MacLeods and MacAulays. They took their name from a chief Maurice, after being earlier known as MacGilmore from some `son of a devotee of Mary,` but the change occurred before the Reformation. For a period ending with the MacKenzies taking charge of Lewis in 1613. Morrisons held the strenuous post of hereditary Brieve, or arbitrating judge, in the `Long Isle,` though in the face of the powerful MacLeods this was a source rather of feud than of justice. Branches of the clan became settled in Harris, Skye, the Northwest mainland, and Aberdeenshire. A Perthshire group claim as its ancestors the Buchanan Clan`s Maurice. Septs: BRIEVE GILMORE GILMOUR JUDGE MACBRIEVE MORISON -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scottish Surnames some showing Clan or Sept connection and approximate District or Century earliest known in Scotland. Information from the Revised Second Edition "Scots Kith and Kin". Sept: A Division of a Family, especially a Division of a Clan.