Captain David Ross of Balblair - Y-DNA of American Ross lines descended from David Ross 2nd of Balblair

Hi Kellly. This is from memory so someone can check it out.

I think the Hugh Ross identified as the brother of George Aeneas Ross was actually his uncle. Sasine dates were about all they had and Reid I think identified the wrong Hugh Ross. For example, the 1701 date if I remember correctly was the sasine date that his own son David inherited from him. To inherit 21 was required, and sometimes more than that. So 1701 minus 21 makes a 1690 birth for the son of Hugh Ross. That puts his birth about the same as George Aeneas Ross. Not possible if I have calculated this right -- thus Hugh sasine of 1701 was an uncle not brother of George.

The reason we have the birth date for George is he told us that. It was not known I presume in Scotland and sasine dates were all they had. I think Reid just identified the wrong Hugh Ross due to lack of data. If the Hugh Ross identified by Reid was dcd in 1701 I do not know. What other information he had about Hugh Ross I do not know -- I assume Reid had something else.

p.s. Reid said as I remember Andrew was most probably the father of Adam Ross, Laird of Balblair and Hugh, sasine 1701, was probably a son of Adam. That sounds like someone identifying characters from a list they had. He is more sure about one person than the other. So did he have a list? I read somewhere once that Reid had an earlier document. Does anyone know what it may have been? That would help.

Hi Vaughn. I figured you would know something about this.

The 1701 date made me curious, too. It doesn't seem to fit.

Wouldn't it be crazy if David & Margaret didn't even have a son Hugh after so many trees have been connected to him?

It's unfortunate that the biography that George Aeneas wrote for his son didn't say anything of his brothers.

The Rossiana book is available online now, thank goodness.

https://archive.org/details/rossianapapersdo01read/page/n7

Major Harmon Pumpelly Read says he took the genealogy section from Francis Nevile Reid, but updated it based on corrections Reid made in later publications.

I thought I saw somewhere the explanation that it was an old manuscript that Reid found that he based it on, but I can't found it now. Maybe I'm thinking of another book.

I did find this...
"David Ross on the 8th March, 1707, had disponed Balblair, reserving a life
rent to himself and his wife, to his grandson Andrew (son of his own eldest
son Andrew), and the heirs male of his body whom failing to the other
heirs male of Andrew, whom failing to the Rev. George Ross and the heirs
male of his body, whom failing to Hugh Ross third lawful son of the said
David and the heirs male of his body."

https://archive.org/details/rossianapapersdo01read/page/130

I'm not really sure if this is the text exactly as it appeared in the sasine or if the person that wrote the letter was paraphrasing. But they make it sound like the sasine that mentions "Hugh Ross the 3rd son" was actually dated 8 Mar 1707 & included him in a way that made it clear that he was the son of David Ross.

I wrote to the Register of Sasines to see how you go about getting a copy or a transcription of original documents, but I haven't heard back yet.

Yesterday I read & reread an old post you wrote on an Ancestry message board & you kept referring to Adam Ross & Margaret Stronach. But I think you meant David Ross & Margaret Stronach. Is there also an Adam somewhere that I should know about?

Erica Howton mentioned several Scottish researches on Geni that might be able to help us learn more from the Scottish archives.

Private User do you have a reference for the origins of James P. Ross, I?

Do we know who the wife was of Hugh Ross, in Balblair ? I dont think she was Margaret Robison

Hi Kelly. The Rosianna papers if I recall talk about two of the name John Ross in Pennsylvania who each obtained genealogy from Scotland and England...some of it the same for each John Ross. But both genealogies were lost or stolen. One was John Ross of Philadelphia son of Rev George Ross and the other was a descendant of Murdoch Ross. The name Murdoch Ross may be a cousin of some sort whose descendant John came from Balblair (according to Wikipedia) to Philadelphia. I wonder if that old genealogy is still in Scotland or England? I think you mention some possible contacts over there. That would be quite a find. Thanks for sourcing the name of Hugh Ross as a son...really helps. Maybe they just got the order of the sons wrong. Things like that happen. Or Hugh was dcd so George living was next.

Regarding Margaret De Barclay, Familysearch listed her name as the wife of Hugh Ross of Martin County. However, the several sources for that referred to the earlier Margaret De Barclay of Balblair. So much for that. Wikipedia has her name as Margaret De Graham. But De Barclay is from a record of income from a rent for Hugh Ross and Margaret De Barclay in the 1300's. Some assumed they were two sons named Hugh, and De Barclay was the wife of the second Hugh Ross. But Alexander MacKenzie in the old MacKenzie History said that the Lairds of Balnagowan were from the second son of the Earl, quoting Sir Robert Gordon. That would change things including the mother of Hugh. I have suggested that De Barclay may have been just a place name...same Margaret.

David Ross as wife of Margaret is a senior mistake some of us make. Let me know of any others please.

Greetings Erica. I think the wife of Hugh Ross suggested by Reid as the Hugh Ross, son of Adam Ross, was born maybe 1160-70 or so...just a guess. Don't get the Margaret you mention.

Hi Erica. I see a Find-a-grave reference to James Patrick Ross -- for James P Ross --mentioned above, but don't see that it actually says Patrick. A source elsewhere for James P could be that of Margaret Ross, first married to Hugh Ross, who remarried James Priest in Hampton, Elizabeth City Virginia in 1702 by their records -- who would be step-father to young sons Francis, Hugh, and William Ross. Margaret and Hugh Ross had a known grandson James Ross.

Erica Howton I have a section on James P. Ross, I.

http://thefryingpan.net/charts/ross-rose-ydna.html#margaretbarclay

You will often see Hugh Ross, in Balblair married to a Margaret Barclay, like it is here... Margaret Robison.

Someone, a long time ago, said that there was a Hugh Ross who married Margaret Barclay & lived in North Carolina & was the son of Hugh Ross & Margaret Graham, d/o David Graham, who was the son of William de Ross & Euphemia de Baliol. But these people lived in Scotland in the 1400s, not NC in the 1700s.

So people morphed it into Hugh Ross, in Balblair, the son of Capt. David Ross, 2nd Laird of Balblair that was married to Margaret Barclay.

But it was Margaret Graham, of Ury who was married to Hugh Ross, 1st of Balnagowen 600 years ago.

Margaret Graham, of Ury should be Margaret Barclay. Hugh Ross, 1st of Balnagowen's mother was Margaret Graham, so it's confusing. Of course. Haha.

http://www.thepeerage.com/p56242.htm#i562414

Or maybe there are other sources that say Margaret Graham, not Barclay.

Either way, they lived 600-700 years ago.

The existing profile for Margaret Robison of North Carolina has her father as John Barclay, but no sources. I've never seen anything on him. Maybe there is something somewhere.

But typically when you see this Hugh Ross who married Margaret Barclay & lived in North Carolina it's just a repeating of this old data that got a very old Scotland family somehow convoluted with a family living in America.

Les Ross has done the research here & says that James P. Ross, I is actually the grandson of Hugh Ross, 'the Immigrant' & his wife Margaret Priest.

So I think that's probably the Hugh & Margaret that everyone means to be referring to.

Several descendants of James P. Ross, I have done the Y-DNA testing. They prove the line back to James P. Ross, II & Henry Ross of Guilford County. Descendants of both of these men are a match to each other. And they are thought to be the sons of James P. Ross, I who left a Will dated 1 Nov 1788, in Rowan County, North Carolina.

So I think James P. Ross, I is a duplicate of James P. Ross, I.

James P. Ross, I has the correct parents according to Les Ross's research.

Hello again Kelly. That was quite a summary linked of various Ross families. Thank you for your wonderful work.

I found something possibly about Isaac Ross to Wester Ross, so let me edit this note and do it again.

One thing I had noticed from your material was that Isaac Ross had a location connection to Edinburgh, Scotland, Middlesex New Jersey, Abbot Creek, Rowan, North Carolina, and Mecklenburg, North Carolina with other Ross families. For example, George Ross was in Edinburgh, ported in New Jersey, then traveled to Delaware. His son John Ross was in Lancaster and Philadlphia, and the name John Ross appears on the will of Dr. Alexander Ross of Ross Hall, Middlesex New Jersey, Kingston, Jamaica, and Scotland. Dr. Alexander Ross had a sister Jean with a friend in Edinburgh stated on her will (lastly of New York). And the name Isaac Ross is found several times in Essex, New Jersey with later descendants of George Ross, POW of Cromwell, captured in Edinburgh. The name Abigail, child of Isaac Ross, is found with Abigail Ailling of Essex, NJ and her husband John Ross. And descendants of Hugh Ross and Margaret Cheeley of Virginia were in Mddlesex, NJ, Mechlenburg and Guilford, NN, and Rowan, NC. Maternal DNA should be studied as well as paternal. The use of surnames could be taken from either parent in early Scotland if from the same clan.

I think you said that George Ross, POW of Cromwell and Isaac Ross were reported on the RossDNAProject to have a connection to a Matheson Clan Chief. I read that the Mathesons of Wester Ross received a charter from William, Earl of Ross. The new thing I found was the Mathesens also claim to be from Gilleoin from the 12th century. The Rosses claim to be from a Gilleoin tn the 10th and another Gilleoin at a later time (MacKenzie History). I already forgot the Matheson history that was from.

Update: Not implying Isaac Ross and George Ross, Cromwell POW, were Mathesons, just that their male DNA was with those related to the Ross Clan very early. And it has been noted that Cromwell prisoners often helped other family members migrate from the old country. So I am looking at that.

Hi Vaughn.

You have mentioned these Wills of Alexander Ross & his sister Jean to me before. I feel bad that I don't have more answers about it yet. But I do think it's very interesting.

I went through all the books of New Jersey Wills that I could find & entered all the Rosses into my database.

https://archive.org/details/documentsrelatin23newjuoft/page/n8

I didn't come across anything that sheds any more light on Alexander Ross & his sister than what you've already told me, so I just kept on going with the project to work through all of the Ross DNA evidence in hopes that it would provide more clues.

This is what I think is interesting so far. You've already hit on some of it.

- Y-DNA says that Isaac Ross, Sr. is a match to George Ross of Elizabethtown. So definitely some relation there.

- Y-DNA also says that James Ross of Anson County is a match to Isaac Ross & George Ross. So these 3 lines connection somewhere.

- The Y-DNA says that they connect within the last 450 years or so.

- People often say that James Ross of Anson County is the son of William Griffin Ross, Jr. & Mary Polly Ross. The Rev. War pension app of James Ross of Anson County says that his birth date was 8 Jun 1761 and The biography of Elder Reuben Ross says that the birth date of James, the son of William Griffin Ross, Jr. & Mary Polly Ross, is 19 Mar 1769, so not the same James. There are also other discrepancies that support these being 2 different men.

https://revwarapps.org/w5722.pdf#page=2
https://archive.org/details/lifetimesofelder00ross/page/22

- Brashear says that James Ross of Anson County is the son of William Griffin Ross, Jr.'s brother Hugh Ross, Sr.. He gives lots of evidence pertaining to Anson County that makes this seem plausible.

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/ross/13112/

Here's the thing, though...

Your James P. Ross, I is thought to be the cousin of William Griffin Ross, Jr. & Hugh Ross, Sr.. And James P. Ross, II & Henry Ross are thought to be the sons of James P. Ross, I. And descendants of these two sons have done the Y-DNA testing.

http://www.thefryingpan.net/charts/ross-mrca-chart-reorganized.html#20

They are not a match to James Ross of Anson County, Isaac Ross, Sr., & George Ross of Elizabethtown.

http://thefryingpan.net/charts/ross-mrca-chart-reorganized.html#18

So something's up here.

Either James Ross of Anson County is not related, at all, to James P. Ross, II & Henry Ross. Or James P. Ross, II & Henry Ross somehow inherited a Y-chromosome that wasn't actually Ross. Like.... someone had an affair & these two boys ended up with the Ross name, but don't actually have Ross DNA.

I can't say now exactly what happened. But obviously this casts some doubt on the trees as we have them now.

So, I'm not sure what to make of Alexander Ross & his sister Jean. For a minute, when I first saw that Alexander Ross was a doctor in Jamaica, I thought he was the same person as Andrew Ross, 4th of Balblair, but then I realized it's Alexander, not Andrew. I thought maybe we had a connection to Balblair for a second.

The DNA seems to be creating as many questions as it's answering.

But I think the Mathesons is a great piece that might help us here.

James Ross of Anson County, Isaac Ross, Sr., & George Ross of Elizabethtown all match descendants of Chief of Clan Murdoch Buidhe Matheson. And the DNA says that the connection is within the last 450 years, so not as far back as we might expect.

Descendants of other Scottish Prisoners of War are also matches to this group...
George Brush/Bruce of Woburn, William Thompson, of Kittery, & Alexander Tompson who lived somewhere near Wenham, Essex County, Massachusetts.

So, it's very interesting that all of these men with different surnames, but all fighting on the Jacobite side & exiled to America, carry the same Y-chromosome. How did that happen?

So, James Ross of Anson County, Isaac Ross, Sr., George Ross of Elizabethtown, George Brush/Bruce of Woburn, William Thompson, of Kittery & Chief of Clan Murdoch Buidhe Matheson all descend from the same man who lived within the last 450-500 years.

http://thefryingpan.net/charts/ross-rose-ydna.html#mathesonbruce

That’s pretty cool. Now we need to understand the history of Clan Murdoch?

The John Ross of Guilford County tree just expanded.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Matheson

As the Lords of the Isles lost power so did the Mathesons.[3] The Mathesons then found themselves involved in the feuding between the Clan MacDonald and the Clan Mackenzie.[3] Iain Dubh Matheson was killed defending the Mackenzie stronghold Eilean Donan Castle, of which he had become constable of after marrying the widow of Sir Dugald Mackenzie.[3] Dougal MacRuadhri Matheson sat in Parliament and was Prior of Beauly between 1498 and 1514.[3]

According to the MS Account of the Gunns a historic manuscript, the Clan Matheson fought alongside the Clan Mackay and the Polsons at the Battle of Torran Dubh in 1517 against the Clan Gunn, Clan Ross and the Murrays of Aberscross.[5]

All genealogies of the clan agree that the next chief was the undisputed Murdoch Buidhe (yellow haired) who died in about 1602.[3]

https://www.scotweb.co.uk/info/matheson/

18th century

The Mathesons of Lochalsh had been baillies to the Earl of Sutherland since the late fifteenth century, when they had settled on the north side of Loch Shin. During the early Jacobite Uprisings Donald Matheson of Shiness who was chief of the branch of Clan Matheson who resided in Sutherland fought against the Jacobites during the rising of 1715.

Dugald Matheson’s son (Ian Og Matheson) had extensive lands in Lochalsh. He left these to Alexander, the eldest of his three sons, who purchased more land in Lochalsh. Ian Og also had a fourth son, who was killed at the Battle of Glenshiel in 1719.

However John, second of Bennetsfield, was, unlike his Lochalsh-Sutherland cousins and a Jacobite who fought at the Battle of Culloden. When the prince’s army was defeated, John escaped and, according to story, fell into the hands of Hanoverian officers who were unaware of his Jacobite sympathies. He gave them some advice on the location of sound building stone, and returned safely to his home as a result.

Private User i hope you have a moment to look at http://thefryingpan.net/charts/ross-rose-ydna.html#mathesonbruce (and other pages of the site). Im reading in snips but the charts make it easy to follow.

OMG Yes Erica Howton! A whole new thing to research! Haha.

Before we go too far down the Matheson road, though, I wan to be VERY clear that descendants of James P. Ross, II & Henry Ross do NOT match descendants of James Ross of Anson County, Isaac Ross, Sr. & George Ross of Elizabethtown.

So we don't really know what was going on in North Carolina. The Guilford County Rosses might actually be a genetically different Ross family than the ones related to the Mathesons. We really need more descendants of Hugh Ross, 'the Immigrant' to test to know for sure.

But so many things that you've said already are interesting. If we go all the way back to the beginning of what we know, to the early Clan days, Clan Ross was actually in the same area as the Mathesons of Loch Alsh. According to legend, Fearchar Mac an t-Sagairt, Earl of Ross is descended from the early abbots of Applecross Monastery, which wasn't very far from Loch Alsh.

I think Clan Matheson & Clan Ross were actually friendly back then.

But, like you said, by 1517 they were fighting against each other, and they were not on the same side of the Jacobite Risings.

The thing that's important here, though, is that we don't know if any of these Rosses that we're talking about are direct genetic descendants of Fearchar Mac an t-Sagairt, Earl of Ross & the early Earls of Ross. We don't know yet which group in the Ross Project represents this family.

http://thefryingpan.net/charts/ross-rose-ydna.html#clanrossdna

So we can't really just go by the known history of the Clan because the Ross men who match the Mathesons might have a different history than the early Clan Chiefs.

And the DNA is saying that the Ross & Mathesons that have tested share a common ancestor who lived within the last 450 years, but it's possible that they shared the same line for many years before that. We need more men to do the Big Y testing to know more.

Erica, nice chart but sheds little or no light on the Westerly, RI Rosses. All that's certain is that they don't fall within any of the common parameters.

Private User you're absolutely right. I'm focusing on all the DNA groups that have attempted to connect themselves all the way back to the original Earls of Ross. So far, I haven't come across anyone attempting to do this with the Rhode Island Rosses.

I also think you correct in your thinking that, when we do finally figure out which DNA signature represents these original Earls of Ross, it won't be a haplogroup I subclade. I think it's more likely to be an R1a or R1b subclade.

Hi Maven. It was from your comment about the use of clan names I thinking when I said Isaac Ross might be from the maternal line.

Farquhar Mac Taggart, Earl of Ross actually started in Wester Ross before he became Earl of Ross if that helps. Some say he started in Tain -- not so. Again that is from Alexander Mac Kenzie Editor of the old Celtic Magazine.

Here is a list of Alexander MacKenzie books including the MacKenzie History. MacKenzie identifies a Gilleoin on a geneology graph of three clans about the same time as Earl Gillandres (or Gillander), 1 of 6 Celtic Earls:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/539403.Alexander_Mackenzie
https://archive.org/details/historymackenzi00mackgoog/page/n64/mode...

I wonder if it is the same Gilleoin as the Matheson Gilleoin ... might be.

MacKenzie says Farquhar is grandson or great grandson of Earl Gillandres. That adds one more generation than on his graph.

Mackenzie in narative has Malcolm MacHeth and Earl Gillandres in what would be the same generation. All of that would be on the family line of David Ross.

Oh no Les Ross. I came to comment on your comment about Bill Clinton & Donald Trump, but it's gone.

But you're already going down the same road that I was going to go down, so I'll just add to it.

You mentioned the Rosses of Halkhead.

http://thefryingpan.net/charts/ross-rose-ydna.html#1lordross

Interesting that, even though technically Clan Ross, genetically they are probably more closely related to Hugh de Rose, 1st Laird Kilravock. Both of these families are thought to have come from the town of Ros in Normandy. Their ancestors came to the south of England with William the Conqueror. Is that what you have?

Y-DNA has confirmed that the Rose of Kilravock family did indeed come from the west coast of Normandy through the south of England.

http://thefryingpan.net/charts/ross-rose-ydna.html#clanrose

So, what do we know about the deep genetic ancestry of the original Earls of Ross?

I haven't found anyone yet that has tested & can prove descent from them, so I can't say what their haplogroup would be.

But, Les Ross, you're going where I would go with it. Looks like I need to look up this Alexander Mackenzie. He has definitely written a LOT of books.

That's such a great chart. I haven't seen it before.

It really clarifies that Malcolm MacEth, Earl of Ross is not a direct ancestor of Fearchar Mac an t-Sagairt, Earl of Ross? So many charts have him listed right above Farquhar as the 1st Earl & then the next Earl, that I think people have assumed a paternal relationship. But it's just not the case.

More importantly, I wonder if we can find a group at the Mackenzie project that shares that same haplogroup as one of the groups at the Ross project & that would help us narrow down who the descendants of these early Earls are.

This deep history is the next thing I want to go through. I found a post that you wrote called 'Ross and Viking Nordic History', so I was going to start there. Seems like we could match that with haplogroups.

Project on Malcolm MacEth, Earl of Ross vs Malcolm MacAlexandair: https://www.geni.com/projects/Malcolm-MacEth-vs-Malcolm-MacAlexande...

So, this is interesting Les Ross. I looked up the Mackenzie Project at FamilyTreeDNA. They have a group they call the 'MacKenzie Core' group. Three of the men in this group have genealogies going back to Alexander Mackenzie, 6th of Kintail, Chief of the MacKenzies, who is said to have died at the age of 90 in 1491.

The group at the Ross Project whose haplogroup is closest to this Mackenzie group is the 'Rose Clan, Ross Clan and George Aeneas Ross Branches'. I hate to even use that name here because, as far as I can tell, there is no proof that anyone in this group is descended from George Aeneas. The name seems very misleading to me. My whole project began because I was trying to figure out why this group would be called this & I still haven't figure it out.

I haven't found any clue anywhere that Clan Rose would share a Y-chromosome with the original Earls of Ross. It just doesn't seem like they would based on the histories of the Clans. But maybe whoever named this group wasn't thinking about the original Earls of Ross when they used the term 'Clan Ross'. Maybe they were thinking about these Halkhead Rosses who might actually be related to Clan Rose.

This Mackenzie haplogroup connection is the first thing I've come across that even suggests that there might be some genetic connection between the original Earls of Ross & the Roses of Kilravock. I think there's still a long way to go before we make that assertion, but this is very interesting. Makes the whole think entirely more confusing than it already was. Haha.

Hi again Kelly. Any questions about Ross DNA should go to Maven and Erica. They may know as much about Ross DNA as anyone in the world. I saw that section on the Ross DNA site and didn't get it.

Sorry about Bill Clinton. He is from the Ross, Halkhead Lords (Wikipedia). About the only thing the Lowlander Ross had in common before some of them combined with the Highlander Ross Clan was the meaning of the name. After the two families combined I assume they intermarried with some of the local Highlander clans and it would be hard to tell them apart. And thus the ancestry would be similar from the wives lines. The Halkhead Ross now of Ross-shire would have the same Highlander ancestry. The other way would possibly be for the male DNA. The name Ross was associated with the Earls. At that time the Ross Clan was not large and many of them had joined the MacKenzies.

About the name, Ross-shire was from the Gaelic Rois, and Ros was from the Gaelic or Norman Ros. They only used one name for headland there and with the changes of languages I think the original meaning would be lost -- thus promontory replaced it. The original name was from hross the Viking's word for great horse, who named the place Ross. The Norman Halkhead Ross were from rots or Ros in Normandy, France. Name dictionaries say red hair, or someone who looks like a horse -- someone with red hair like the horses mane perhaps. The first use of Ross was from the Greek Pyrois, the fiery horse of the sun. Fiery was yellowish or blond to the Greeks, but orange red to the Norman Vikings. The German name Ros means someone who is associated with something red for the first person on that line. For example it could be a red house or maybe a horse. Rose was Nordic for horse or combined with Latin for red rose. I have posted about this before. Thus sun myth for fiery and horse are in play for the name Ross.

The above MacKenzie History quotes Reid who said Earl Gillandres was a generation before Farquhard, Earl of Ross and Makenzie History lined-ed up that way, but another manuscript he says added a couple more generations -- not sure which ones. Thus Reid would be off some. One or two generations, depend on whether Earl Gillanders was a mere youth or a more experienced man in 1160 when he was 1 of 6 Celtic Earls. I go with the experience given the events of 1160. MacKenzie says Grandson or Great grandson for Farquhar. He only lists one but great grandson instead of grandson would be another generation after Farquhard on the graph. These old scholars were careful of not putting down names if they didn't know them.

The above site, Project of Malcolm MacHeth, has either the MacEths, one of whom was the father of Lulac, Princess of Moray or the King as father of MacHeth. I assume that is Alexander. MacEth line is according to the MacKays who say on some of their sites and name sites they are from Malcolm MacHeth Earl of Ross. The MacKays don't get quoted much about their own version of history. Thanks for the good summary.

When I first saw a quote about Malcolm MacHeth from England being the informal son of the King, I thought maybe they knew something or maybe it was just an after battle insult as MacHeth had caused them a lot of trouble in England. In any case finding the real illegitimate son of the King -- about whom very little is known -- does not justify taking away everything Malcohm MacHeth had, including his wife, the sister of Sommerled. There are good sources for his wife as the sister of Sommerled, which Reid in Celtic Scotland agreed with. Reid also said the father of Malcohm MacHeth was Angus MacHeth and that Malcolm could have fled to relatives in the Isle of Skye from Moray after the death of his father. Interestingly, the Isle of Skye is within view if Applecross the home base of the O'Beolans, the local nobles. So could Malcolm's mother have been an O'Beolan from Skye? Is that where the name O'Beolan is from associated with MacHeth? You can tell me. The prolific Ross scholar, Douglas Ross, FSA, with the greatclanross,org says that it was the daughter of MacHeth who married an O'Beolan Priest. Thus Farquhard, Earl of Ross would be from MacHeths daughter. Before the Normans the ancient Scots honored the maternal line the same as the male line for peerage, such as Earl.

p.s. Some say Malcolm MacHeth lied about his family history to become Earl. Where is the proof for this. The King and his court would have to be pretty dumb to fall for that. They would know.

The whole Malcolm MacEth question was discussed to bits a few years ago - try searching the Discussions for him.

Here's a couple of them:
https://www.geni.com/discussions/151557
https://www.geni.com/discussions/152098

We also went up several blind alleys regarding Ethelred, younger son of Malcolm III Canmore, and the mormaerdom of Fife.