This is the clan of my family, but I can also trace Clan Buchanan and Clan Donnachaidh going back two generations or so. The Beatons offer some surprise as they were not original Scots from the ancient Gaelic kingdom of Dal Riata, the migrants came bearing this name during the Scottish Wars of Independence and a Patrick Macbeth is recorded as the principal physician of Robert Bruce, the famous warrior, and the king of Scotland. The Beatons were medical people, and their name is derived from ' son of life' in Scots Gaelic and 'son of seed' in Irish, so they are known for their nurturing and medical qualities. Of course, they were not originally called Beaton as this is an Anglicised version of Macbeth. Macbeatha is actually the original spelling. Macbeth the famous king of Scotland was not a Macbeth, he lived in a time before the migrants came from Ireland, and Macbeth was his first name, well a variation, Macbethad. The Beatons were the principal kindred of Clan MacLeod and Clan Donald for nearly 500 years.
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