The below information comes from renowned MacRanald researcher Earnest Gammon McReynolds:
Here's a listing of Macranald
derived names appearing on the west coast of Scotland:
Robert Reynaldi,
1433 Glascow, Latin form of Macranald.
Dungall M'Krenele
de Barnele, 1489 Carrick.
Malcolm Renaldi,
1494 Glascow, latin
form of Macranald.
Dougall Makrynnyll de Barneill, 1505 Carrick.
Sir Duncan M'Krenele,
1523 Crossraguel ( Carrick )
Duncan Makrinnyll,
1526 Carrick
Malcome McRyndill, James McCrynnell, William McCrunnell
and Andro Makcrunnell, 1526
Carrick
Malcolme McCrendill, 1530 Carrick
James McCrynnill of
Barneile, 1541 Carrick
Kentigern M'Crynnill, 1544
John McRynnell,
1624, 1628 Ayr
Hugh McCrindle, 1643 Maybole
Thomas McCrindle, 1643 Maybole
Janet McRonald, 1657
Ayr
John McRonald, 1657
Ayr
John McRinnell,
1661 Maybole
I believe the above names to all come from
one family group although this could be in error. Black indicated that these Macranalds may be descended from the Clanranaldbane
of Largie. At first glance, the earliest name in 1433
indicated that his family could not be descended from Ranald
Bain of Kintyre, since, later Clan Donald historians
claimed he was the younger brother of Donald Balloch,
who was but eighteen years old at the battle of Inverlochy
in 1431. In an old history from the Sleat Macdonalds, however, Ranald Bain
was said to be the illegitimate son of Iain Mor and the daughter of the Abbot Mackinnon of Iona.
The Maclean historians claim that sometime between 1387 and 1390, Iain Mor, the Mackinnon Chief and
Lachlan Maclean attempted a coup against Iain Mor's
brother Donald, then Lord of the Isles. This is said to have been instigated by
the Abbot Mackinnon and fueled by Iain Mor's
unhappiness with his inheritance from John, Lord of the Isles, in 1387. This
rebellion was found out by Donald and he raised a force which harried the
rebels. Iain Mor, Mackinnon
and Maclean fled to Galloway (Carrick).
The Macleans had
originated in Carrick, and probably had lands or family connections there. Donald 's force pursued the rebels and they were forced to
flee to Antrim. Here I would guess that Maclean brokered the marriage of Iain Mor with the heiress Marjory Bissett. By 1390, the rebels were forgiven when Iain Mor and Maclean returned with the
acquisition by marriage of the Glens of Antrim. Maclean historians are
discovering that their family appears to have had strong ties to Ulster
predating their appearance in Carrick during the thirteenth century.
For their parts in the insurrection,
Mackinnon was executed and the Abbot was imprisoned for life. It's easy to
expect this occurred since Iain Mor's
first wife, the Mackinnon girl, had to be dumped to get the prize in Antrim.
The Mackinnon's lost out to Macdonald greed for land. It is my belief that Ranald Bain was born to the Mackinnon woman before 1390,
since further association after Iain Mor's
wedding to the Bissett heiress and the retaliation
against the Mackinnons would make that little likely.
In this light Ranald Bain would have been in his
forties at the battle of Inverlochy in 1431,
certainly old enough to have a son Robert in 1433. It should be noted that Ranald Bain was the main battle commander at Inverlochy and through his achievement there was granted Largie in Kintyre by Donald's
successor Alexander, Lord of the Isles. For his part in the affair of Iain Mor, Maclean was granted a
handsome endowment of lands by Donald. Again, evidence that
the fruitful marriage in Ireland had been brokered by Lachlan. Since the
Macleans had originated in Carrick, it is interesting
to suppose that some lands there were acquired to provide for the young Ranald Bain. The Macranalds there
were in possession of Barneil, Neil's Hill. An
ancestor of the Macleans living in Carrick was Neil
Mac Gillean. After the granting of the lands of Largie in 1431, such lands that Ranald
Bain may have had in Carrick would probably have passed to a junior cadet of
his house. That the Lord's of the Isles had land
holdings in Ayrshire and Carrick is later shown in the land listings at the
first forfeiture of the Lordship in 1476. Donald Balloch
was witness to Kennedy charters in this region about the same time.
Another interesting parallel shows up in the
above story. That of Ranald losing the greater
inheritance to his brother Donald occurred of course in the case of Iain Mor's father John, Lord of the
Isles, when the children of Amy MacRuari lost the
inheritance of the Lordship of the Isles to the children of Margaret Stuart.
Last year I encountered a woman descended from the Ronald family of Ayrshire. A
tradition of that family which has survived to this day was that they where descended from a Ranald
who had lost his rightful inheritance to Donald. They claimed to be Clanranalds but maintained that their tribe had always been
small and unable to exert their claims to a greater grant of lands. This would
not be true for the Clanranald descended from the MacRuaris, since this tribe was numerous in the early days
of the Clan Donald. It would be true, however, for the Clanranaldbane
of Kintyre. One more tradition should be mentioned,
that of our family claiming direct male-descent from John, Lord of the Isles
and Margaret Stuart. Ranald Bain, son of Iain Mor, descended from Margaret.
Robert Reynaldi in 1433, if truly derived from this
house, would have had the given name of his great-grandfather, Robert II of
Scotland.
Note that many of the later references to Dougal Macrynnill are to an
earlier testament as to the extent of properties. These references occur long
after Dougal died, c. 1524.
I have continued with an extended vacation after my return and have not begun
to dig into the records again. The translator whom I had lined up couldn't
handle the Medieval latin. Not only that, she claimed that the spelling was as poor as
Scottish transcritptions of English or Gaelic.
I have another candidate lined up. This one is a retired professor of ancient
languages.
I believe the most significant thing
manifested in these records is the clear occurance of
the given names which were used by the early McReynolds emmigrants
to Ulster. I have no doubt that the family Macrynnill,
in and about Girvan in Carrick is our rootstock. This family appears to have
come late to the region of Carrick, since I have found no reference to them
which predates 1489. I did write off to an outfit in Canada for their
information concerning this family. They exhibited no earlier reference than
that of Dugall in 1489. They did, however, claim that
arms had been matriculated for one of this family. Examination
of these arms show that they are a differentiation of those of the Clanranald of Moidart, Morar, etc. This is interesting, but could easily be an
assumption. It is interesting to note that the sixth chief of Clanranald was Dugall Macranald, a contemporary of our Dugall
in Carrick. The sixth of Clanranald was not a chief
held in high esteem by the clan. He was murdered at about the same time our Dugall died. The sixth chief appears to have had numerous
wives or liaisons. One woman was an Obeolan whose
sister was married to the Maclean chief. Barneil was
the property of the Macleans. I will begin looking
into this shortly.