It was, on the contrary, placed absolutely beyond dispute by the evidence produced at the Allangrange Service in 1829 that the eldest and only surviving son of the Hon. John Mackenzie of Assynt was not Murdoch but Kenneth, and there is no trace whatever of his having had any son but Kenneth. In an original Precept issued by the Provost and Magistrates of Fortrose on the 30th of October, 1716, the son of the then late John Mackenzie of Assynt is designated "Kenneth Mackenzie, now of Assynt, grandchild and apparent heir to the deceased Isobel, Countess Dowager of Seaforth, his grandmother on the father's side." In the same document Kenneth is described as her Ladyship's "nearest and lawful heir," conclusively showing that he was her son John's eldest son. It is thus fully established that Captain Murdoch Mackenzie's genealogical chain fails at the very outset - is broken in its initial link. The Hon. John Mackenzie of Assynt had only one son. His name was Kenneth, not Murdoch, and he died without issue. If any additional proof be required to show that the male line of the Hon. John Mackenzie of Assynt has long been extinct, it will be found in the fact that on the death of Earl Kenneth, known as "the Little Lord," in 1781, the succession to the representation and ancient honours of the family of Kintail and Seaforth, devolved upon the heir male of Colonel Alexander Mackenzie of Assynt, who was the fourth son of Kenneth Mor, third earl, and a younger brother of the Hon. John Mackenzie of Assynt, apart altogether from the conclusive parole evidence given by very old people at the Allangrange Service in 1829. This effectually disposes of Captain Murdo Mackenzie. Now as to the more plausible but equally baseless claim of Captain William Mackenzie of Gruinard, and his cousin, the late Major-General Alexander Mackay Mackenzie of the Indian Army. Captain Murdoch Mackenzie's claim having failed, we must go back another step in the chain to pick up the legitimate succession to the honours of Kintail and Seaforth. Here we are met on the way by another claim, put forward by the late Captain William Mackenzie of Gruinard, in the following letter addressed to George F. Mackenzie, then of Allangrange: 11 Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, London, 24th October 1829.