The Mackenzies of Letterewe were descended from Charles, the eldest son of Kenneth Mackenzie, sixth laird of Gairloch, by his third wife. By his father's marriage-contract Charles Mackenzie got Logie Wester, which in 1696 he exchanged with his half-brother Alexander, the seventh laird of Gairloch, for the lands of Letterewe. Letterewe continued in this family until Hector Mackenzie, in 1835, sold the estate to the late Mr Meyrick Bankes of Winstanley Hall, Lancashire. The present representative of the Letterewe family is Mr Charles Mackenzie, a lawyer in the United States of America; their representative in this country is Mr John Munro Mackenzie, of Morinish and Calgary. The present Letterewe House is an enlargement of the older residence of this family. The Mackenzies of Lochend, or Kinloch (now Inverewe), sprang from John Mackenzie of Lochend, third son of Alexander, the seventh laird of Gairloch, by his second wife. They were tacksmen of Lochend, which belonged to the Coul Mackenzies, by whom it was ultimately sold to Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie in 1863. The old Lochend House stood where the walled garden of the present Inverewe House is. The Mackenzies of Gruinard sprang from John Mackenzie, a natural son of George, second earl of Seaforth and fourteenth laird of Kintail, who, with Captain Hector Mackenzie, conveyed the news of the defeat of the Royalists by Oliver Cromwell at the battle of Worcester, in 1651, to his father in Holland, where the latter was at that time living in exile. This family produced several distinguished soldiers, especially Alexander, a colonel in the army, who served with the 36th Regiment throughout the Peninsular War. John Mackenzie, the fifth laird of Gruinard, who was a captain in the 73d Regiment, sold the property, which included Little Gruinard, Udrigil, and Sand, all in the parish of Gairloch, to the late Henry Davidson of Tulloch, who resold it to Mr Meyrick Bankes. William Mackenzie, the sixth head of this family, was a captain in the 72d Regiment, and is said to have been the handsomest man in his day in the Highlands. The Gruinard family increased rapidly. The first laird had eight sons and eight daughters, who all married. George, the second laird of Gruinard, was twice married; by his first wife he had fourteen sons and nine daughters, and by his second wife four sons and six daughters,--making the extraordinary total of thirty-three children, nineteen of whom at least are known to have married, and most of them into the best families of the north. The Gruinard family resided at Udrigil House, and subsequently at Aird House, both of which they built. There was a family of Mackenzies settled at Kernsary who were descended from Murdo Mackenzie, fifth son of Colin Cam, the eleventh lord of Kintail. Murdo had a son and daughter. The son was killed in 1645 at the battle of Auldearn, where he commanded the Lews Mackenzie regiment.