Welcome back, Diamond Sue,
Thanks for all this. Very helpful. I didn't know about the 2005 reprint of Clan Gillean with Sinclair's annotations and will order it. I've been using an earlier edition.
First, to answer your question regarding the confusion regarding the parentage of Rev. John McLean (brother or son of Lachlan, 3rd of Grishipol?) the clarification I can provide is involved and set forth in detail in a 40 page research document I've prepared on the Macleans of Auchnasaul and Grishipol which I would be happy to send as a PDF attachment to an e-mail. In short, the Ardgour MS (c. 1783, printed 1872) correctly stated he was the son of Lachlan, the position taken by Maclean-Bristol in From Clan to Regiment (Table

. Seneachie (1838) using (often verbatim) Ardgour confused the lineage by inserting a brief comment on Charles the cattle drover in the wrong place in his draft. MacLean (1889) and Sinclair (1899) understandably misconstrued Seneachie and made Rev. McLean Lachlan's brother. Most subsequent historians relying on the latter two more recent and "most authoritative" clan histories perpetuate the error. I'm not sure what this forum allows regarding contact information, but if you can provide your e-mail address by some confidential means I would be happy to send the note.
As to Charles the cattle drover's wife, since Sinclair does not identify "Mary" as one of the six daughters of Neil of Drimnacross in his discussion of that family, I suspect his earlier annotation giving her as Charles' wife is a slip of the tongue and he is correct in identifying her in the later annotation as Janet.
My primary research interest at this time is in the Macleans of Auchnasaul and Grishipol who went to northern Ireland in the late 17th century. The research note I refer to above contains all I have discovered to date on these two Coll cadets, but little is known about their family members who went to Ulster, other than Rev. John McLean from the Grishipol family. The clan histories referred to above mention descendants of Ranald, son of Allan, 1st of Auchnasaul, and of John and Hugh, sons of John, 2nd of Grishipol, settling in Ireland. Would you take a look at Sinclair's annotations to see if he adds anything about the Auchnasauls and Grishipols who went to Ireland?
Kind regards,
Douglas McLean