Need advice/help; I'm sorely confused...

[Derek Conley]

Good day all,

I recently contacted the Stewart Society inquiring about joining, etc. In my message to them, I obviously listed my surname and stated how it's always found under the sept lists for Stewart of Appin. I'll show a few quick links below to illustrate (for all of them, just scan down for "Conley) :

http://www.4crests.com/clafaf.html

http://www.men-in-kilts.com/mill-tex...e-index-c.html

http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...z/stewart.html

Those are just a small amount of links.

I received a response from the Society, and the e-mail is listed below:

"Dear Mr Conley,

I do not have a note of the name Conley being a Sept of the Stewarts of Appin, however it is associated with the name McLay, McLea etc. The Gaelic rendering of the name is Mac-an-Leigh. They are connected with the Livingston of Bachuil whose ancestor Donald Livingston succeeded in saving the clan banner of the Stewarts of Appin at the '45 and which the Stewart Society presented to the Nation and is in the Royal Museum of Scotland.

You will find details of joining the Society on our web-site www.stewartsociety.org

I would think that Conley is an anglised version of the Gaelic.

Kind regards,
"



So... can you see my confusion? I'm posting here as I've no clue what do to at this point; I did e-mail back and listed a few of those same links in hopes they can help clear this up a bit.

I'm just lost! I've been told of the Stewart of Appin link for years; Conley is always listed under that.

Doing some research, I believe the responder, by saying "Conley" is the anglised version may be also be referring to "MacOnlea" or "McOnlea".

I refer then to the The Clan MacLea - the Highland Livingstones page, and please see the first sentence, mentioning "McOnlea".

I apologize for the length of the post, but I appreciate it if you've read this far. Any and all input/advice is welcome at this point!

EDIT: Upon referencing this page's list, I note that "MacLeay" and "Livingstone" are listed as septs of Stewart of Appin. Now perhaps the "Conley" association with those clans has since, over the years, morphed into being listed as its own sept in and of itself?

I'll also cite this (From the same link as above)
"The Adherents or "septs" of Appin stem from families that lived in Lorn prior to the Stewarts gaining the Lordship. These were/are the MacColls, who descended from Black Solomon, son of Coll, son of the Lord of the Isles, The MacLeays or Livingstones (anglicized from MacLeay), who were reported to be on Lismore in 1130, but who's heritage is so old that know one really knows their beginnings..."

My point here is that on other pages, it's been mentioned that listing "MacLay/MacLea/Livingstone, et al" as septs of Stewart of Appin may be in error due to the clan being much older. Again, I citeThe Clan MacLea - the Highland Livingstones page, last sentence, for reference.

I need asprin.