The origin of the name MacCallum can be traced all the way back to the arrival in Scotland of St Columba from Ireland.Columba was a pupil at a monastic school at Clonard Abbey, which is found in modern County Meath. Twelve students who studied there became known as the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. Columba was one of these. He became a monk and was ordained as a priest. Around the year 560, he was involved in a dispute over a manuscript. This disagreement led to the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne in 561, during which many men were killed. A synod of clerics and scholars threatened to excommunicate him for these deaths, but he was allowed to go into exile instead. Columba suggested that he would work as a missionary in Scotland to help convert as many people as had been killed in the battle. He settled in Iona and is regarded as the man who brought Christianity to Scotland. The Gaelic versions of MacCallum are Mac Chalium or Maol Chalium. They are translated as devotee or son of Columba. There is no evidence to suggest a blood relationship so it is generally accepted that the original MacCallum was a close follower of St Columba.
Nearly 900 years after the time of St Columba would pass before an official record of the MacCallums would exist.
They had been living peacefully in a part of Argyll known as the Lorne. The clan seat was in Colgin, a few miles outside Oban. Descendants of these MacCallums were involved in a legendary incident which could have been considered comical, had it not resulted in a large number of needless deaths. In the fourteenth century, according to the story, the Laird of Colgin has 12 sons. One day a woman of the MacDougall clan who lived locally placed a curse on his family. The boys began to die and eventually only three were left. Their father, desperate to save his surviving sons, decided to send them away from home. He saddled up three horses and placed a bag with food and possessions on each. The three boys were given a horse each and told to leave and make their future wherever the bag fell off the horse.
One bag fell off on MacCallum’s land so the first boy stayed at home. The second boy ended up in Glenetive, northeast of Oban while the third headed south and settled in Kilmartin, which is between Oban and Lochgilphead. The boys married and had families. Their families multiplied and through time became quite sizeable.
One day a group of 30 Glenetive MacCallum men decided to visit their cousins in Kilmartin. Coincidentally, the Kilmartin branch decided to visit their cousins on the same day and 30 of them set off. The two groups, who were not acquainted with each other, met at a narrow Highland pass and neither would move aside to allow the other to go through.
Before long tempers flared and a full scale pitched battle erupted. Only two men survived, one from each side. Exhausted by the conflict they agreed to sit down and have a rest from fighting. During the course of the conversation it emerged they were related. From that moment on the MacCallums became known as “The descendents of the 60 fools”.
There is another version of this legend for which, historically, there is a degree of proof. This time, so the story goes, the Chief of the MacCallums had 12 sons, one of whom was wanted by the wife of a nearby laird. The chief refused to entertain her and in response she cast an evil spell on them. One by one they began to die until only three boys were left. The father, fearing for their safety, ordered each to fill two saddlebags with possessions and supplies. He then bound together heather to make ropes and tied the saddlebags onto three horses. His sons were sent on their way and told to keep riding south until the ropes tore and the saddlebags slipped. The first son’s bags fell off at Kilmartin near Lochgilphead. He settled there and to this day there are McCallum families in this area. The present clan Chief lives at Duntrune Castle near Kilmartin at the edge of a rocky promontory on the shore. The second son ended up at the village of Clachan, in Kintyre, about ten miles south of Tarbert, Loch Fyne. His descendants settled in the area and still live there. The third brother continued down Kintyre. As he passed Campbeltown, he saw the sea coming into view and began wondering if he was destined to end up in the water! But 100 yards from the beach his rope finally snapped and he started his new life at Southend. The McCallum family are well known in the area. They include Ronald McCallum who was the personal piper to the Duke of Argyll and a number of highly-skilled and highly-thought-of tradesmen.
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