WHERE THEY CAME FROM

In contemplating creating this blog I have wondered where exactly to start 

Do I commence with the discovery that McCuaig’s and McLeod’s were the same family?
Do I begin by sharing my own McLeod / McCuaig ancestry? 
Do I start with the ancient legends that explains how McLeod’s became McCuaig’s? 
Do I share details of the ancestral Scottish home of the McCuaig’s? 
Do I address the missing parish registers that make McCuaig research more difficult? 
Do I introduce myself and explain why I feel that I am qualified to share not only mine but other McCuaig researchers findings? 

     I will probably deal with most of these topics (and more) but I am not sure in exactly what order.

Together we shall see what shall unfold !

          If you are a descendant of a McCuaig you find yourself  among a very select group.  It appears that McCuaig’s originally hail almost exclusively from the Isle of Islay which is found  in  the Southern Hebrides of Scotland and is often referred to as the Queen of the Hebrides.

Image from Wikipedia page ISLAY

    The Isle of Jura, Colonsay, the Kintyre peninsula and Northern Ireland are Islay's neighbours. Islay is pronounced Eye - laaaa. There is evidence that the island appears to have been inhabited from the most ancient of times  

     On the site http://www.islayinfo.com/it is stated that St Columba's biographer, wrote Islay's name as "Ilea", and described Islay as an inhabited island.  The name was later transformed to Islay through anglicized spelling. In Gaelic the island's name is spelt ÌÌle and pronounced EE-leh by native Gaelic speakers.    

        According to Wikipedia Islay recorded history begins with a document relating to St Columba who probably passed through Islay on his way  to establish the monastery on the Isle of Iona in the 6th century.

     From the 14th to the 16th centuries, Islay, along with the rest of the Hebrides Archipelago and much of the west coast of Scotland, was controlled by Clan Donald, whose chief became known as the Lord of the Isles.

     The MacDonald Lords commanded a strong semi-independent maritime kingdom during the Middle Ages, and considered themselves equals of the kings of Scotland, Norway, and England.  John Macdonald II forfeited his estates and titles to James IV of Scotland in 1493. 

     In 1726, the island was purchased by Daniel Campbell (d. 1753) of Shawfield. It remained in his family's ownership until 1853 when it was sold to James Morrison, the grandfather of the first Baron Margadale. 

     Starting in the 1830s, the population of the island began dropping from its peak of 15,000 as a result of the Highland Clearances. Today's population is about 3,000. Most emigrants from Islay made new homes in Ontario, Canada, the Carolinas in the United States and Australia.  (Read the whole article on Wikipedia at  hhtp://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Islay  ). Note: if the page doesn’t create just type Islay in the search field and it will appear shortly

So you can see that we have spread all over the world