Looking for any information on Neil McCallum born Campbeltown 1797. His wife was Flora McDonald dob1811 Campbeltown. Regards Gordon

MacCallums: There are two points about 'Homeland' of MacCallums. One is that, as with any 'Mac' name it is never very clear whether originally it was a family patronymic or an individual's partonymic - as in "Sons of" or "Son of". In my own family of the MacConnochie (Campbells) it was a family patronymic, beginning with a Duncan Sceodnasach who was a witness in Ardsceodnish (Kilmartin) in circa 1355 (actually not that year; Glassary Writs in Highland Papers). Then there is the individual patronymic like the Lachlan MacConnochie whose son was Duncan MacLachlan, alias Campbell. So some MacCallums may be sons of one Calum and some of another and they do not all necessarily descend from the same one. Surnames only gradually became fixed in the Highlands and Islands as people needed written records. Obviously those of a kindred responsible for other people tended to adopt a family patronymic earlier than those who were responsible for their own family alone. The second point is about the Mid Argyll MacCalums (some now Malcolms) who in a sense have a 'homeland' in Mid Argyll from very early on when they were known as MacIsaacs or MacKessacks and had the lands of Largie just south of Kilmartin (still incidentally farmed by a descendant, Iain Malcolm). On record the lands were known as 'Largie-MacKessac' in the earlier records. In the 18th century the family were involved in the West Indies trade and made a fortune, changed the name to Malcolm and built old and then new Poltalloch (Michael Davies - recently of A&B library Dunoon is coming out with a work on them). This angle on the origins of the Mid Argyll MacCallums is put forward by Alastair Campbel in his 'The History of Clan Campbell' - Edinburgh Univ. Press. There is another long recorded Malcolm family (I understand in the NE) who are not related at all. But there is a distinct possibility that MacCallums from Mid Argyll could be related to the very early MacKessac original incomers - it is thought leaving the Isles for sanctuary on the mainland perhaps. Diarmid Campbell in Kilmelford, Argyll