MacKinlay

The MacKinlay sept of the Clan Buchanan

McKinlay, Donleavy, Finlay, Findlay, Findlayson, Leavy, Macinally, McInally, McKinlay, MacDonleavy, McDonleavy, MacIndlay, McIndlay, Macinle, McInle, M’Kandlay, M’Keandlay, M’Kinla, Makkinla, McUinlay, McUnlay, MacUinlay, MacUnlay, MaEnlea.

The name is the Gaelic form of MacFinlay and Finlayson, both of which mean “son of Finlay”. In Gaelic the name is MacFhionnlaigh. This name is distinctively a Scottish name, unlike most other Scottish names beginning with Mac, this name is not a common one.

The records indicate that the MacKinlays of Buchanan are descended from Finlay, a cadet of Buchanan of Drumikill. Finlay is believed to be the third son of Robert, second Laird of Drumikill.

A large number of the members of the MacKinlay sept migrated to the North of Ireland and became settlers in the Scots Plantation of Ulster (the Ulster Scots). This accounts for our being able to find these names to be fairly common North Ireland.

Shane Watson has also written an excellent exposé of the McKinleys in our July 2024 Buchanan Banner – available for free to any of CBSI Wardens at the Buchanan Banner Index page…

The most notable MacKinlay would have to be 25th president of the United States, William McKinley; serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901.

He presided over victory in the Spanish–American War of 1898
Gained control of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Cuba;
Restored prosperity after a deep depression;
Rejected the inflationary monetary policy of free silver, keeping the nation on the gold standard;
And raised protective tariffs to boost American industry and keep wages high.

He was shot on September 6, 1901, by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. McKinley died eight days later and was succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt. As an innovator of American interventionism and pro-business sentiment, McKinley is generally ranked as an above-average president, although his take-over of the Philippines is often criticized as an act of imperialism.

The MacKinley Tartan, according to LochCarron

Heatmap of surname **MacKinlay and relations**, created from the **United Kingdom 1881 census** and the Griffith Valuation for 1853-1865. By **Scaled Innovation**. Click to enlarge.

An old graveyard near Callander

EXTRACT. As uncovered and described by thehazeltree.co.uk – 2014

Google street view of the site. Click to enlarge

As you drive along the A84 between Callander and Strathyre, you catch sight of a small walled enclosure with a rusting iron gate. You can tell it’s a graveyard, because there’s one gravestone just visible in the long grass; but that’s all you see, because it’s a busy stretch of road with nowhere to pull off, and there’s a sharp bend coming up.

… I’d hardly taken a couple of steps when something in the boundary wall caught my eye. It was a square of dark pinkish stone, placed as if to create a memorial of some kind, with an engraving on a stone beneath. It said: “Fragment of cross found near this spot AD 1932”.

… Having reached the standing gravestone via a very roundabout route, I studied the carvings on the back. In the centre is a lovely, simple flower motif – perhaps a clan badge – and in the upper corners are two rams with very finely carved horns. The scrollwork is elaborate and beautiful.

Below all this, almost at ground level, is an inscription in Gaelic. The words are obscured by weathering and lichen… On the other side, the inscription is clearer. It says:

Sacred to the memory of James McKinlay
Tacksman at Inverchagernie
who died Feb 4th 1805 aged 65
[illegible line]
Elenora Cameron
[and their son]
Peter, who died on 4th of June
1828 aged 31

*Headstone of James McKinlay, died Feb 4th 1805*

Full story at https://thehazeltree.co.uk/2014/09/09/an-old-graveyard-near-callander/

Pinkish stone in the wall, with an engraving on a stone beneath: “Fragment of cross found near this spot AD 1932”.

It was only when I got home and did some research... that I turned up some fascinating nuggets.

Firstly, there was indeed a chapel; it was dedicated to St Bride. Chapels of St Bride have a special interest for me, as I’m always drawn to the connection between St Brigit of Kildare, an early Irish saint, and the much earlier pagan goddess known as Brigid, ‘the shining one’ (the word ‘bright’ comes from the same root). Suddenly, ‘ancient’ history becomes recent, and you’re swept back thousands of years, when worship was out of doors, in a stone circle, with the full moon rising.

The second thing I discovered is quite astonishing. For generations, this graveyard has been the traditional burying place of the McKinlays of Annie, a farm nearby; and the people who lie in this serene little place are the forebears of William McKinley, 25th President of the United States of America.