MacAskill genealogy

MacAskill family history

The History of Skye mentions the MacAskills of Skye many times. Excerpts can be found on page 17 of Bill MacAskill's history.
The MacAskills (McCaskills too) had their origins on the Isle of Skye around the 13th century. There were several migrations from Skye in the 1700s and 1800s, to the Carolinas in America, to Nova Scotia, New Zealand, Australia, northern Scotland, Canada, and a few other places.
There are three good historys of the MacAskill/McCaskills:
1. Alisdair Murray from England has written a history of the MacAskills of Rudh an Dunain with wonderful details of the early years on Skye, complete with battles, MacLeod chieftans stealing other peoples wives...all the fascinating stuff...along with many photographs, drawings, and family trees. The first half is already online with more being added every week.
2. Bill MacAskill of Inverness, Scotland, has written a relatively Short History of the MacAskills who moved north from Skye to Assynt (around Lochinver). He also includes some background of life on Skye and the very early years. You can download a printer-friendly version in Adobe Acrobat format. (Caution: it's 28 pages and a 4 megabyte download.)
3. Finally, Andy and Dixie McCaskill wrote the definitive history of the North Carolina McCaskills, which we are busy converting from paper and placing online.
In the meantime, you may want to check the Tall Tales page for some interesting histories of MacAskills. Also check out our galleries , which give a sense of my family tree (I'm Chris MacAskill).
We also have a New York Times article about the Highland Clearances in Northern Scotland, near Lochinver. "Aye, it's a deeply ingrained feeling here, you must never lose sight of that."