Fraser

The accompanying text in 'The Clans of the Scottish Highlands' by James Logan begins as follows: "NA FRIOSALAICH - THE FRASERS Of the Norman descent of this clan it is asserted there can be no doubt whatever, and the Roll of Battle Abbey is cited as evidence that the knight from whom the whole Frasers are descended came over in the army of William the Conqueror, 1066. The exact period when the posterity of this warrior obtained a settlement in Scotland is not spoken of with so much confidence, but the convenient circumstance of David I having married an English princess, is found sufficient to infer the establishment of numbers of her countrymen on the lands of the native Scots. This is the assumed origin of many families, but no record is found, decisive of this opinion, respecting the origin of the Frasers; the name of the reputed founder of this clan, as it stands on the Norman Roll, is Frisell, and we find the Latin and Saxon chroniclers presenting the various orthographies of Frazier, Freshele, Fresale, Frizil, &c. The first, 'who is supposed to be found in charters, is Gilbert de Fraser, who lived in the time of Alexander I;' and Sir Andrew, who appears about 1290, is the first who occurs as a Highland proprietor. It is from his brother and successor Simon, that the chiefs have taken the well-known patronymic 'Mac Shimi'."