THIS family is descended from Hector Mackenzie, Portioner of Mellan, third son of Alexander Mackenzie, V. of Gairloch, by his first wife, Margaret, daughter of Roderick Mor Mackenzie, I. of Redcastle, by Florence, daughter of Robert Munro, XV of Fowlis. Hector, who was a Cornet in Sir George Munro's Regiment, married a daughter of Donald Maciver, of whose issue "a small tribe in Gairloch." [Gairloch MS. Hector, his three sons - John, Murdoch, and Duncan - and a grandson, Kenneth, are referred to by name in the Records of the Presbytery of Dingwall under date of 6th August, 1678.] That Mellan Charles was not a permanent possession of any member of the Gairloch family is obvious from the fact that another Hector, the second son, by the second marriage, of John Roy Mackenzie, IV. of Gairloch, and uncle of Hector, third son of Alexander Mackenzie, V. of Gairloch, of whose descendants we now treat, occupied it in the preceding generation, and from the further fact that Charles Mackenzie, I. of Letterewe, eldest son by his third marriage of Kenneth Mackenzie, VI. of Gairloch, who would come of age about 1670, is described as "of Mellan," which he possessed along with Loggie-Wester, until he exchanged both places with his eldest half-brother, Alexander Mackenzie, VII. of Gairloch, in 1696.
The sons of Hector, Portioner of Mellan, joined in the Rising of 1715, and on that account found it necessary to leave their native county, crossing in an open boat from the Black Isle to the town of Nairn, from which they naturally found their way to the neighbourhood of their kinsmen in the upper districts of Morayshire and Inverness-shire, a place in which several of their relatives held influential positions in the Episcopal Church, and in other situations. The Rev. Murdoch Mackenzie, Hector's second cousin, descended from John Glassich Mackenzie, II. of Gairloch, and Episcopal minister successively of Contin, Inverness, and Elgin, had only very recently, in 1677, been transferred from the Bishopric of Moray to that of Orkney, while several of his near relations were still in the district, among them the Rev. Hector Mackenzie, the Bishop's nephew, and third cousin of Hector's son John, who was minister of Kingussie from 1670 until he was translated to Inverness in 1688. There were also several intermarriages between them and the families of Grant of Freuchy and Grant of Easter Elchies and Edenvillie. Some of Hector's sons are found not many years after in the Strathspey district, John, the eldest, having two farms on the estate of Edenvillie, in the parish of Aberlour. Hector of Mellan's descendants continued Episcopalians for some time after settling there.
I. HECTOR MACKENZIE, Portioner of Mellan, son of Alexander
Mackenzie, V. of Gairloch, married a daughter of Donald MacIver,
Lochbroom, with issue -
1. John, who engaged in the Rising of 1715.
2. Murdoch, married, and had a son Kenneth.
3. Duncan, of whom there is no further trace.
4. Mary, who married her cousin, Alastair Mor, son of Alexander Cam Mackenzie, fourth son of Alexander, V. of Gairloch, with issue.
Hector was succeeded as representative of the family by his eldest son,
II JOHN MACKENZIE, the first of the family who settled in Aberlour. He married Margaret Mackenzie, a relative of his own, died on the 9th of August, 1772, and was buried at Aberlour, leaving issue - an only son,
III. HECTOR MACKENZIE, who, on the 5th of May, 1721, married
Elspet Stronach, with issue -
1. William, his heir and successor.
2. John, born 7th April, 1728, and died without issue.
3. Alexander, who was born on the 28th of February, 1731, and died without issue.
4. Margaret, who died without issue.
On the 3rd of June, 1723, it is recorded in the Session Records of the parish of Aberlour, that "Hector Mackenzie, in Netherton of Edenvillie, gave in a boll of meal, which his deceased father had appointed to be distributed among the poor of the parish."
Hector died on the 9th of March, 1732, was buried at Aberlour, and succeeded as representative of the family by his eldest son,
IV. WILLIAM MACKENZIE, who was born on the 26th of March, 1725. He left Edenvillie, and settled at Lyne of Carron, and in 1763 married Grizzel Dean, Knockando, with issue -
1. John, who was born on the 28th of February, 1764, and died without issue, in 1838.
2. William, born on the 2nd of March, 1769, and married, with issue - one daughter, Grace.
3. James, born 26th of May, 1771, and died in 1783.
4. Alexander, born on the 7th of January, 1774, and died in France, without issue.
5. Thomas, who on the death of his eldest brother, John, in 1838, became the representative of the family.
6. Hector, born on the 8th of May, 1778, and died in 1814, without issue.
7. James, a clergyman, born on the 26th of September, 1785, and died without issue, in 1811.
8. Elspet, who married John MacConnachie, Tombain, with issue.
9. Margaret, who died without issue, in 1812.
William died in June, 1813, at Lyne of Carron, was buried at Aberlour, and succeeded as representative of the family by his eldest son,
V. JOHN MACKENZIE, who died without issue in 1838, when he was succeeded as representative of the family by his eldest surviving brother,
VI. THOMAS MACKENZIE, who was born on the 12th of April, 1776, and married on the 26th of July, 1821, Ann Grant, great-grand-daughter of Ludovick Grant, grandson of Sir John Grant of Freuchy, with issue -
1. William, his heir and successor.
2. John, born on the 18th of November, 1823. He is unmarried.
3. Grace, married John Shand, Rinnachat, without issue.
4. Penuel, who married Patrick Shaw, Benstaak, with issue - several sons and daughters.
5. Margaret, unmarried.
Thomas died at Lyne of Carron, on the 5th of February, 1861, aged 85, when he was succeeded as representative of the family by his eldest son,
VII. WILLIAM MACKENZIE, who was born on the 3rd of May, 1822. He founded the Distillery of Dailuaine in 1851, one of the most extensive malt distilleries in Scotland. He married on the 5th of October, 1844, Jean, daughter of William Thomson, Knockando, with issue -
1. John, born on the 28th of July, 1845. He was drowned at sea, without issue.
2. William, born on the 9th of October, 1846. He went to the West Indies and died there unmarried, on the 10th of December, 1893, at Paramaribo, Surinam.
3. Thomas, who succeeded his father in Dailuaine.
4. Alexander, who was born on the 11th of July, 1851. He is in South Africa, and still unmarried.
5. William Grant, born on the 21st of June, 1859, and still unmarried.
6. Lewis Grant, born on the 10th of January, 1862. He went to California, and is still unmarried.
7. Ann.
8. Jane.
9. Margaret.
10. Grace Penuel, who married Dr Robert Cochrane Buist, Dundee, with issue - a son and daughter.
11. Mary Forbes.
William died at Dailuaine, on the 17th of May, 1865, and was succeeded there by his son,
VIII. THOMAS MACKENZIE, now of Dailuaine, and since the death of his elder brother William in December, 1893, heir-male of the family. Born on the 18th of March, 1848, he on the 30th of October, 1877, married Emily, daughter of Edwin Holt of Rosehill, Worcestershire.
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