Spelling variations: McClaren, McClarin, McClaron, McClary, McLaurin, McCleary.

"Mc" means "son of"; "Claren" means "cleric" or clergyman".

The McLARENs are said to have originally been part of the Clan LABHRUINN (the "bh" is silent, pronounced "LAREN".) Tradition relates that the Clan descended from Lorn, son of Eric who landed at Argylshire, Scotland in 503 AD.

Scottish historians tell us that the Clan McLAREN held land in Scotland as early as the 12th century. They are listed on the first "Roll of Clans", which was taken in 1587. They are said to have been a war-like clan which had a bit more than their fair share of feuds with their neighbors.

A female McLAREN married into the Scottish Royal House of Stewart in 1440 and from that day forward, the alliance between the Clan McLAREN and the House of Stewart was close and strong.

After the death of Queen Elizabeth I of England, King James IV of Scotland assumed the throne of England. The Stewarts held both countries for awhile, althoght they ruled Scotland separately with it's own Parliament. The two countries were combined as Great Britain in 1707, under the rule of Queen Anne, and was governed by one combined Parliament which met in London. This proved to be the Stewarts undoing. When Anne died without heirs in 1714, this Parliament voted to take the crown from the House of Stewart and pass it to the German House of Hanover.

Needless to say, the Stewarts were bitterly opposed to such a move and a civil war ensued. The McLARENs sided with the Stewarts and furnished them with an army at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Ninety-two of their 400 man army died there.

Terrible retributions were taken against the Clan at that time. Several of them were banished to the Colonies and others escaped death sentences to come here. The first of the Clan on American soil was John McLAREN, settling near Fayetteville, NC in 1718.

An exiled member of the Stewart Clan tried again in 1745 to overthrow the reigning monarch and take back the throne. The McLARENs participated again and suffered another terrible defeat.

The British Government made every effort to abolish this and other warring clans and no means was considered too cruel. All of their property was confiscated and given to those who had defended the crown. Every effort was made to exterminate them, man, woman and child. The only means of survival for any of them was to hide out in the many highland caves where the weaker ones died of starvation and exposure.

A few lucky ones escaped and sailed under assumed names to the American Colonies, including our first American, Daniel McLAREN was probably among them. He begins to show up in the records of the Cape Fear area of North Carolina early in 1747. He and his family spent the next few years living in the Fayetteville, NC area near the aforementioned John McLAREN. At the time of this writing, no family connection has been found.

Family outline of Daniel McLAREN