The badge of the clan Grant was the pine or cranberry heath, and their slogan or gathering cry, “Stand fast, Craigellachie!” the bold projecting rock of that name (“the rock of alarm”) in the united parishes of Duthil and Rothiemurchus, being their hill of rendezvous. The Grants had a long-standing feud with the Gordons, and even among the different branches of themselves there were faction fights, as between the Ballindalloch and Carron Grants. The clan, with few exceptions, was noted for its loyalty, being generally, and the family of the chief invariably, found on the side of government. In Strathspey the name prevailed almost to the exclusion of every other, and to this day Grant is the predominant surname in the district, as alluded to by Sir Alexander Boswell, Baronet, in his lively verses—
“Come the Grants of Tullochgorum,
Wi’ their pipers gaun before ’em,
Proud the mothers are that bore ’em.
Next the Grants of Rothiemurchus,
Every man his sword and durk has,
Every man as proud ’s a Turk is.”
In 1715, the force of the clan was 800, and in 1745, 850.
Mackinnon.
The clan Fingon or the Mackinnons, another clan belonging to the Siol Alpine, are said to have sprung from Fingon, brother of Anrias or Andrew, an ancestor of the Macgregors. This Fingon or Finguin is mentioned in the MS. of 1450 as the founder of the clan Finguin, that is, the Mackinnons. Of the history of this clan, Mr Skene says, little is known. At an early period they became followers of the Lords of the Isles, and they appear to have been engaged in few transactions “by which their name is separately brought forward.”