Colin Fitzgerald. Colin Cam was a second son, his eldest brother,
Murdoch, having died during his father's life and before he attained
majority, when Colin became heir to the estates. It was then, as
now, a common custom to name the second son after some prominent
member of his mother's family, and this was, no doubt, what was
done in the case of Colin Cam, the first Colin who appears - as
late as the middle of the sixteenth century - in the genealogy of
the Mackenzies. His mother was Lady Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of
John, Earl of Atholl, by Lady Mary Campbell, daughter of Archibald,
second, and sister of Colin, third Earl of Argyll. Colin Cam
Mackenzie, XI. of Kintail, and the first of the name in the family
genealogy, was thus called Colin by his mother, Lady Elizabeth
Stewart, after her uncle Colin, third Earl of Argyll.

It scarcely needs to be pointed out how very improbable it is that,
had Colin Fitzgerald been really the progenitor of the Mackenzies,
his name would have been so completely ignored as a family name for
more than three hundred years in face of the invariable custom among
all other notable Highland houses of honouring their direct
ancestors by continuing their names as the leading names in the
family genealogy.

It is believed that no one who brings an independent, unprejudiced.
mind to bear upon the question discussed in the preceding pages can
help coming to the conclusion that the Colin Fitzgerald theory is
completely disposed of. It is indeed extremely doubtful whether
such a person ever existed, but in any case it has been conclusively
proved by the evidence of those who claim him as their ancestor
that he never could have been what they allege - the progenitor
of the Mackenzies, whom all the best authorities now maintain to