My recent research has been focused on the Campbell paternal line. The breakthroughs in Y-DNA (see prior articles) have uncovered more deep ancestors.
One such discovery is my link to the Craignish branch of the Campbells. The Craignish line started with the second son of a Campbell on the main (Argyll) line in about 1130. Somewhere along the Craignish line, a non-inheriting son (or a bastard) started the branch to me.
My common ancestor on the Craignish line is estimated to be in the 1400-1600 period. Interestingly, the genealogy of Craignish is fairly well documented in this period. In 1720, one of the Craignish family put to manuscript the history as he had come to know it. It has been published as The Manuscript History of Craignish. (see link below)
One of the more interesting stories in his account (and one whose accuracy has been questioned) is the story of Christian, the daughter of Dugall Campbell of Craignish, who lived in about 1350. Just remember, if you are in the haplogroup FTA93117, you are related to these people.
This Dugall had no sons, so on his death, the clan lands would move to his brother, Malcolm, or to Malcolm's eldest son, Ronald.
The deadly nature of family quarrels is illustrated by the story of Finguala, the sister of Dugall. Finguala's husband had a quarrel with Dugall. The dispute led the husband to attempt an ambush of Dugall, which backfired, resulting in the death of Finguala's husband. (p 214).
The manuscript's author, Alexander Campbell (abt 1670-1725), referred to Dugall's daughter as "the Notorious Christian." [Note that this Alexander lived concurrently with my line's first American, Robert Campbell of Newark, NJ].
Christian married McDougal of Lorne and by him had a son. This son supposed that the Craignish lands were his inheritance and proceeded to demand rent from the inhabitants. Christian's cousin, Ronald (son of her father's brother), defended what he saw to be his inheritance. In one of the skirmishes, Christian's son was killed.
After the death of her son and first husband, Christian married Alexander McNauchton. Upon his death, she received a third of his Barony.
But Christian was not done. She courted a younger Iver Campbell, head-servant of the Chief of Clan Campbell. By convincing him to "ly with her" in a wood near the Strath of Craignish and subsequently "happened to be with child", she obtained the Clan Chief's approval for her marriage. But the approval was at the price of signing over the deeds to the lands of her father to the Chief (which she had no right to do.) But who was to question the new owner, the Chief, the most powerful man in the Highlands?
Thus, Christian defrauded her cousin, Ronald, and his descendants (I guess that is sort of me) of their rightful inheritance. It left a bitter taste in the mouths of Ronald's descendants for years to come.
The Manuscript History is here: https://digital.nls.uk/scottish-history-society-publications/browse/archive/126513622
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