Orgins

The name of this clan is correctly spelled with a small n as it is not MacNab ("son of Nab") but Mac-'n-Abba ("son of the abbot").
The Clann an Aba, "children of the abbot," are, according to the traditional Alpinian descent, the senior of the four stem clans in the Siol Alpin family of seven. Like the MacKinnons, they were one of the ancient "sacred" clans and were hereditary Abbots of Glendochart and the heirs of St. Fillan, who was one of the DALRIADIC PRINCES, as indeed were several of the early hereditary abbots. Like the other clans which were founded by the close descendants of King Alpin, they were equally descended from all Alpin's Scottish ancestors back to the first Dalriadic king and beyond. The Dalriadic kings, of course, traced their line back through the Irish kings to Gathelus, who was none other than the son of Calcol who was the son of Zarah (see I Chronicles 2:6).
The clan's possessions from an early time were on the shores of Loch Tay, and the Macnabs were friendly with their neighbours the MacDougal lords of Lorn and supported them (and the Comyns) against Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn. As a result, much of their land became forfeit to Bruce after having been ravaged and burned.
The clan survived Bruce's revenge, however, and GILBERT MACNAB of Bowain managed to obtain a charter for his barony of Bowain lands from Bruce's son, King David II, in 1336.
Gilbert's son FINLAY who died in the reign of James I (1406-37) was a well-known bard who is said to have composed some of the Gaelic poems later attributed to Ossian (and which, strangely enough, were constantly read by Napoleon Bonapart!).
Finlay- the bard's grandson - (FINLAY THE 4TH) was able to expand the clan's possessions and obtained charters from James III and James IV.
FINLAY MACNAB THE 5TH witnessed a charter in 1511, and FINLAY THE 6TH unwisely mortgaged some of his lands to an ancestor of the Campbell Earls of Breadalbane in 1552.This move led to trouble with the Campbells, who tried to use the mortgage to turn the Macnabs into a Campbell sept.
FINLAY THE 7TH was the Macnab who signed a bond of manrent with Lachlan MacKinnon of Strathardale in 1606, setting out their COMMON ANCESTRY among other things. He is also the subject of a grim clan story:
During the reign of James IV the Macnabs and the Neishes, in the vicinity of Lochearn, were bitterly feuding. Skirmishes between the clans had been frequent, and at length a pitched battle was fought between them in the confines of a glen north of the foot of Lochearn. For this battle all able-bodied men of both clans turned out, and no quarter was asked or indeed given.Victory went to the Macnabs with a small remnant of the Neishes escaping; and their chief fell, covered with wounds, after many of the Macnabs had been slain by his sword. A large stone marks the spot where he fell, and on this, some say, the stains of his blood can still be seen. What happened next is found in the Antiquities of Stratearn:
On an island in Lochearn the remnant of the Neishes took shelter; their head was an old man, a near kinsman of the late chief, and they lived by plunder. In the time of James V the chief of the Macnabs, who lived in Kennil House, sent a gillie [servant] to Crieff for provisions at Christmas time; but on his return he was waylaid and robbed by the Neishes. Macnab of that Ilk, whose eldest son John was ironically known as Ian mian Mac an Aba, or "Smooth John Macnab," had twelve sons, all men of great strength. These young men were gloomily meditating revenge in the evening, when their father entered and said, "Bhe' n oidch an oidch, n'an bu ghillean na ghillean" (The night is the night, if the lads were the lads). The dark hint was taken; each belted on his arms, and led by their brother John, they carried a boat on their shoulders from Loch Tay to Lochearn, on which they launched it, and rowed over to the island.
In the house of the Neishes all was dark and silent. Smooth John dashed open the door with his foot; and rushing in, the twelve brothers put every man therein to the sword save one and a boy, and cutting off their heads, returned with all the plunder they could collect to Kennil House. There Smooth John held up the head of the chieftain of the Neishes, exclaiming, "Na biohd fromgh,oirbh!"(Be in fear of nothing); and old Macnab, while contemplating the bloody heads with extreme complacency, said, "The night was the night, and the lads were the lads!" - Perth, Scotland. !836.
This Iain Mion or SMOOTH JOHN became chief and supported Charles I and Montrose, and fought for Charles II at Worcester in 1651. He was killed in 1653 attacking Cromwell's troops in Breadalbane. Earlier, he had a lucky escape from execution following the Battle of Kilsyth in 1645.
Author Menteith,in his History of the Troubles, notes that when Montrose was under arms for the King in 1645 "the clans of Mackgregor and Macknab, with a good number of the Farquharsons of the shire of Mar" joined him at Fordoun in 1645. In the following year JOHN MACNAB with his clan and with Lord Napier and Drummond of Balloch, garrisoned Montrose's patrimonial Castle of Kincardine for the King. Hearing of this, Major-General Sir John Middleton surrounded the castle with a body of infantry and cavalry as well as a battering train from Sterling, and trained the guns on the castle from the opposite side of the glen. For 14 days the Macnabs held out and defended the castle, until the concussion of their firearms caused the water in the castle's well to subside. On the night of March 14, cutting their way through Middleton's guards, they escaped from the castle to join Montrose. John Macnab was captured by Middleton's soldiers and sent to Edinburgh where he escaped to die on the field of Worcester.
During Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth the Campbells finally managed to gain possession of the Macnab estates. Some of the lands were recovered in 1661 after the restoration of Charles II, and ROBERT MACNAB of Macnab poured oil on troubled waters by marrying Anne Campbell, thus intelligently playing the Campbells at their own game.
The eldest son of Robert was an officer in the Black Watch (a famous Scottish infantry regiment raised by the British army in 1725 to control lawlessness in the Highlands).This put him on the Hanoverian side during the Jacobite uprisings, and he was taken prisoner by the Jacobites at the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745.The clan, however, did not share his politics and fought for the Stuarts under Macnab of Inshewan.
Probably one of the most spectacular of the Macnab chiefs was certainly FRANCIS, who died on May 15, 1816. He was the complete Highland chief of fiction - tall and immensely strong. He was full of self-esteem and vinegar, as befitted the descendant of ancient kings, a man born out of his time! He is said to have wooed one lady with the boast that he had the most beautiful burial ground in the world - the island of Innis Bruie in the River Dochart - which was the burial place of Macnab chiefs.
Charles MacKinnon mentions two stories that illustrate the character of this man:
On one occasion, when he was marching at the head of the Breadalbane Fencibles of which regiment he was colonel, the baggage carts contained much whiskey on which no duty had been paid. Some excisemen fell on the rear of the column and attempted to search the baggage carts. Macnab hurried to the scene. When they said they were on the king'sbusiness, he pointed out that so was he, and promptly demanded to see their commissions as excisemen. They were not carrying them, and Macnab gleefully denounced them as highwaymen and footpads and gave orders to his soldiers to take aim and fire. The excisemen beat a hasty retreat, and the chief resumed the march, telling his men, "Proceed, the whisky is safe."
The other story concerns a sheriff's officer who arrived at Kinnell House to serve a summons on him (one suspects that many summonses were taken out but that not many were served). Macnab got the man roaring drunk and put him to bed, the summons unserved. He then hung a fully clothed dummy from a tree facing the bedroom windows. When the sheriff's officer woke next morning, bleary-eyed and hung-over, he demanded in alarm from the housekeeper who was hanging from the tree. "Oh," she said cheerfully, "just a wee misguided bailie who came here trying to serve the laird a summons." The officer left hurriedly with the summons and without breakfast! - Scottish Highlanders, p. 208
Francis, typical of his style, let others pay for his fun. At his death he left numerous illegitimate children and debts amounting to 35,000 pounds.
A prominent Macnab (of infinitely better character!) - SIR ALLAN - became Prime Minister of Canada in the 19th century. ARCHIBALD MACNAB of Macnab (bom in 1881) became a distinguished ambassador and Governor in India. The last descendants of the ancient chiefs are now settled in Canada.
The old burial place of this clan on the island in the River Dorchart, picturesque with its shady pine trees and grassy spaces, contains the remains of an ancient chapel. But, save one, no stone or memorial can be found there. It is a little marble slab built into the wall, to the memory of a son of Macnab - FRANCIS MAXIMUS MACNAB - Lieutenant of the Gordon Highlanders, killed at Almeida in Portugal during the Peninsular War.

By John D. Keyser
- http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/highlanders2.html


Here are some additions this particular version leaves out. Kenneth Macalpine's younger son is seemingly only known as Abaruadh, or the Red Abbot. This is the man that began the Macnab clan or that we Macnabs can look back to. I pulled the name off the below site.

-http://heraldry.celticradio.net/search.php?id=127&branch=Abercrombye&PHPSESSID=15d5b0f1f4a6ecfe22f5edfdcdbdc753