Eveleen McQuillan

But the son [of James, The MacDonnell of the The Glens] who is most remembered by his history is the youngest, Somhairle Buidhe, Anglicized as Sorley Boy (ca. 1505-90) . . . Somhairle also grabbed the lands of another nephew, Gille Easpuig, who was the son of another older brother, Colla Mail Dubh of Kenbane. Gille Espuig’s mother was Eveyln Mac Quillan, the daughter and heiress of The Mac Quillan, the Lord of Dunluce. Through her he was the heir to his maternal grandfather’s property. His father, Colla Maol Dubh, had died. Colla’s elder brother, James, the sixth chief, had then appointed their youngest brother, Somhairle Buidhe, as the Lord of the Route, to look after his lands in Antrim during his absence in the Isles. He was attempting to salvage what he could his Hebridean inheritance following the collapse of the Lordship of the Isles and the encroachment of the Clan Diarmuid (the Campbells) into his territory. Somhairle fought and defeated those MacQuillans who resented the loss of Dunluce through female heir to Gille Easpuig MacDonnell. No sooner had Somhairle obtained possession of the MacQuillan lands than Guille Easpuig was killed. A bull at his birthday celebrations had gored him, and it was reported that a surgeon sent by Somhairle’s family then poisoned him. Whatever the truth of the manner of his death, his widow gave birth to his sole heir, Colla Ciotach, and fled across the Moyle Sea with her child to safety on the Isle of Colonsay, while Somhairle took possession of Dunluce for himself. The heirs of the line of the MacQuillans, who built the Castle of Dunluce, however, are today the line of current chief. Unlike the McDonnell earls of Antrim, Somhairle is also a descendant of the MacQuillans of Dunluce.

• Peter Berresford Ellis, Erin’s Blood Royal (2002), p. 252.
• Updated from MyHeritage Match via father Edward Macquillin by SmartCopy: Sep 26 2014, 9:14:13 UTC