In 1781 John MacLaurin, Lord Dreghorn of
Edinburgh, matriculated chiefly arms with this description. “BEARS
Argent a Sheepherds Crook Sable, CREST a Lady from the middle upwards ifouing out of the Wreath in her arms a Child both proper and habited Vert,
MOTTO Bi'se mac ant' Slaurie, "Be Thou the son of the crook"
SUPPORTERS two Tritons proper Matriculated. Rc Boswell Lyon Dep"
The lady with child in a green habit is the ‘
Mother Church and children’
John McLaurin’s "Sheepherds Crook Sable" is a reference
St Moluag’s Crozier” on the
Isle of Lismore.
Heraldsnet.org more accurate description "a bishop's crook in pale sable--M'LAURIN, Dreghorn", eludes to his ancestor
Laurence de Ergadia on Lismore circa 1300, as the Keeper of St. Moluag’s Crook.
John MacLaurin was well versed in family history, his father
Colin MacLaurin, had hand delivered to the
Advocate Library in Edinburgh, what is known today as
MS:1467, which he had collected that contained his ancestors genealogy “
Clann an Aba Uaine”, ‘the Children of the Green Abbot’.
"Mr. MacLaurin presented to the Society from the
Reverend Mr. Malcolme an old Irish Manuscript ", "This is a clear description of the 1467 ms,"
Ronald Black, 2011
John’s direct lineage contained a long line of Protestant Reverands from the
University of Glasgow. My ancestors were the Episcopalian cattle droving Jacobite sympathetic
Appin and Ardchattan McLaurin cousins.
Seventeenth century testaments in the
National Records of Scotland and other legal documents including John’s matriculation, link these contradictory McLaurin families who fought against each other during the
siege of Edinburgh in 1745. Colin MacLaurin a volunteer cannoneer aiming at the invading twenty-seven
Appin McLearans in the
Stewart of Appin Clan Regiment.
Illustration by William Semple
