Ancestry MacLean's maternal great-grandfather was Neil Lamont, who had been chief bard to the
Chief of Clan Maclean of Coll. On his father's side, MacLean was related to the famous Tiree poet Gilleasbuig Làidir MacGilleain.
Early life Iain mac Ailein was born on January 8, 1787, at Caolas, on the island of Tiree, in the
Inner Hebrides of
Scotland. He was the third son of Allan MacLean and Margaret MacFadyen. During his early life, MacLean worked as a shoemaker and small scale merchant. His grandson,
Presbyterian minister and
Canadian Gaelic scholar Rev. Alexander MacLean Sinclair (1840-1924), later wrote that he was also a
seanchai and that, "his powerful memory ensured that his stores of information connected with the
Highland clans and poets were very great." According to his grandson, "Nature gave the poet a mind of great capacity; but evidently it did not intend that he should become a wealthy man. He never attended regularly to his work; his mind was not upon it. Poetry occupied his thoughts when pegging sole-leather in Scotland, and cutting down trees in America; it took complete possession of him. He was a good poet; but a poor shoemaker, and a poor farmer. He was very fond of company. He was clannish, and took pleasure in visiting his friends and acquaintances." On July 19, 1808, Iain Mac Ailein married Isabella Black in
Glasgow. In 1818, Iain mac Ailein published the poetry collection,
Orain nuadh Ghaedhlach, le Iain Mac Illeain, ann an Eilean Tirreadh ("New Gaelic Songs Collected by John MacLean on the island of Tiree") at
Edinburgh, with a dedication to his employer, Alexander, the 15th Chief of Clan MacLean of
Coll. Iain mac Ailein's book consists of 22 poems of his own and 34 by other major Gaelic poets, including poems by
Alexander MacKinnon and
Mary Macleod that can no longer be found elsewhere. One of Iain mac Ailein's primary sources, according to Robert Dunbar, was a handwritten manuscript of Gaelic poems which Dr. Hector Maclean of
Grulin,
Eigg had made between 1738 and 1768. The manuscript was gifted to Iain mac Ailein by the Doctor's daughter and contains an additional 104 pages of material, including fourteen of Iain mac Ailein's own poems. The manuscript is now in the
Nova Scotia Archives.
New World It is still not known why he chose to emigrate. Iain mac Ailein, as "one of the last professional poets to enjoy any patronage from a chieftain", had a very privileged life compared to other Highland
tenant farmers. It is known that Iain mac Ailein was able, by using his published book as security, to secure passage for himself and his family to the
New World. In August 1819, the MacLean family set sail from the port of
Tobermory, on the
Isle of Mull, aboard the ship
Economy and arrived at
Pictou, Nova Scotia on about October 1, 1819. According to Effie Rankin, "''A' Choille Ghruamach'' ('The Gloomy Forrest') probably contains the most detailed and vivid account of pioneer life which exists in Gaelic. In this dirge, John MacLean bemoans his fate in the Canadian wilderness, where winter's cold is dreadful, summer's heat is equally oppressive, and always everywhere broods the menacing and invincible forest." MacLean Sinclair later wrote, "When the poet sent to
Tiree his song on America, his friends were greatly distressed about him. They offered to send money to bring him back. MacLean of Coll, his old friend, wrote him a kind letter asking him to return, and offering him a piece of land free of rent. A more truthful poem than his description of America was never penned; yet it is almost a pity that he sent it home. It was no doubt the means of keeping many person's from emigrating." According to Michael Newton, however, MacLean's ''A' Choille Ghruamach
, which is, "an expression disappointment and regret", ended up becoming, "so well established in the emigrant repertoire that it easily eclipses his later songs taking delight in the Gaelic communities in Nova Scotia and their prosperity." The song remains very popular among Gaelic-speakers in both Scotland and Nova Scotia and is often referred to by its first line, Bithibh Aotrom 's Togaibh Fonn'' ("Be Light-hearted and Raise a Tune"). In 1827, Iain Mac Ailein received a gift of a large and beautiful drinking horn from William Forbes. Iain Mac Ailein celebrated the gift in his poem
An Adharc ("The Drinking Horn") and later gave the horn as a gift to his close friend Fr. Colin Grant. and played a role in mobilizing his fellow Nova Scotia Gaels as voters. According to Michael Newton, "This election played out the tensions between two major provincial bodies, the popularly-elected Colonial Assembly and the Crown-appointed Council. Both of these governmental groups had been dominated by a small elite group consisting of settlers from England and
anglophone Loyalists who had relocated to Nova Scotia in the aftermath of the
American Revolutionary War. As his grandson... comments in the notes to the song, the
ethnic slurs against Gaels that emerged during the campaign galvanized MacGill-Eain into exercising the social role of the poet to call for political and ethnic solidarity." According to Sinclair, "He took no special role in the election, until he was told that one of the
Liberal candidates had made some insulting references to the Highlanders. He then went to work and composed this song. He spent the greater part of the night at it. He sang it [the] next day. Thousands were present. It had a most exciting effect. It's a real
brosnachadh-catha" After he learned of the death of his former patron in 1835, Iain mac Ailein composed the lament, ''Marbhann do dh'Alastair Mac-Gilleain, Tighearna Chola'' ("An Elegy for Alexander MacLean, the Laird of Coll"). Following the
Disruption of 1843, Iain mac Ailein and his family joined the Nova Scotia branch of the
Free Church of Scotland. Despite this fact,
Presbyterianism in
Nova Scotia was considerably less strict than in
an t-Seann Dùthaich ("the Old Country") and, "most of the stern traditions and harsh penalties of
the Kirk", were never enforced in the New World. Almost certainly for this reason, Iain mac Ailein felt able to build a very close friendship with Colin P. Grant, the
Roman Catholic priest assigned to St. Margaret of Scotland Church in
Arisaig. Iain mac Ailein died in
Addington Forks, Nova Scotia on January 28, 1848. He became the first person buried in the Glen Bard Cemetery, where his grandson, Sinclair, also lies buried. In a
Canadian Gaelic elegy composed for Iain mac Ailein's death, fellow Antigonish County poet John MacGillivray lamented: :''Chaill sinn tuilleadh 's do bhàrdachd,'' :''Ged a tha sinn 'ga h-ionndrainn,'' :''Chaill sinn t' fhiorachadh sàr ghasd.'' :"We have lost more than your poetry, :Though we certainly miss that, :We have also lost your most excellent knowledge " ==Legacy==