From: The Bratach (a northwest Sutherland, Scotland monthly) By: Donald MacLeod

Strathan MacLeod seeks forebears

BOB MCLEOD, an American making his first visit to the land of his forebears – his great-grandfather left Strathan, near Lochinver, in 1845 – did not find any relatives when he spent the best part of a week in Assynt last month.

“Well, it is disappointing to a degree” he admitted, “but I think it has been more than offset by what I found here – that the people are just so friendly that I feel that I have a whole family here now I really do” 

Bob McLeod, who with his wife Sandra was enjoying his last day in Scotland at the annual Assynt Highland Games when we caught up with him, was born and raised in North Carolina “My great-grandfather emigrated to Canada from Strathan in 1845,” he explained. “He settled in Kincardine Ontario and ended up having seven boys and two daughters. All but one of the boys became sailors on the Great Lakes.

“The only reason know about this -  that he came from Strathan – is because my grandfather’s younger son gave an oral history to my aunt who wrote all this down before she passed away.

“Near where I was born and raised in North Carolina, one of the first battles of the Revolutionary War was the Battle of Moor’s Creek. The army was let by a MacLeod and his sword now resides in Dunvegan. “

Before coming to Assynt, Bob and Sandra visited Dunvegan Castle on Skye for the famous MacLeod gathering. “We had all three chiefs together in the same place for the first time in 500 years – Harris, Lewis and Raasay,” said Bob. “Two of them live in Tasmania. And of course there’s the (senior) chief, John MacLeod of MacLeod – a wonderful gentleman.

“He was in Chicago in 2004 and we had the pleasure of him staying in our home the night before he left to come back to Scotland. He’s an opera singer, and I believe his son also is a professional musician and travels the world.

Though it was the McLeod’s first visit to Assynt and Scotland, it surely won’t be their last.

“Definitely not, “said Bob, who added they would be back for the next clan meeting at Dunvegan, and hopefully before then. “ Both Sandra and I have really enjoyed it,” he said.

Bob McLeod’s Assynt contacts are Durrant and Maisie MacLeod, Hillhead, Lochinver. “Bob McLeod had looked up the web and found our website address, ‘Lochinver Holidays’, “said Maisie. “He saw Lochinver and he saw MacLeod, so he got in touch.” Durrant traveled to his first MacLeod gathering especially to meet the couple, showing them round his native parish on returning.