Clan MacThomas

Clan MacThomas
Crest: A demi-cat-a-mountain rampant guardant Proper, grasping in his dexter paw a serpent Vert, langued Gules, its tail environing the sinister paw
Motto	Deo juvante invidiam superabo (Latin: God help overcome envy)
Profile
Region	Highland
District	Perthshire
Chief
Andrew Patrick MacThomas of Finegand,
The Chief of Clan MacThomas. (MacThomaidh Mhor.)
Allied clans Chattan Confederation
Rival clans Clan Farquharson Clan Gregor

Clan MacThomas is a Highland Scottish clan and is a member of the Chattan Confederation.

The progenitor of the Clan MacThomas was Thomas, who was a Scottish Gaelic speaking Highlander. He was known as Tomaidh Mòr and it is from him that the clan takes its name. He was a grandson of William Mackintosh, 7th chief of Clan Mackintosh and 8th chief of the Chattan Confederation. Thomas lived in fifteenth century when the Clan Chattan had become so large that it was unmanageable, so Thomas took his clan from Badenoch, across the Grampian Mountains to Glen Shee where they re-settled. Here they flourished and became known as McComie, McColm and McComas which are phonetic forms of the Gaelic. The Clan MacThomas was described in a roll of the clans, in the Acts of Parliament of 1587 and 1595, and they were known to the government in Edinburgh as Macthomas.

The early chiefs of the Clan MacThomas ruled from the Thom, which was opposite the Spittal of Glenshee on the east bank of the Shee Water. This is also believed to be the site of the tomb of Diarmid, of the Fingalian saga. In about 1600 Robert Mccomie of Thom, the fourth chief was murdered and the chiefship then passed to his brother John Mccomie of Finegand. The settlement of Finegand was about three miles down the glen and became the new seat of the chiefs. The name Finegand is a corruption of the Gaelic, feith nan ceann which means burn of the heads. This is said to be a reference to some tax collectors who were killed and whose heads were thrown into the burn.

The seventh chief was John Mccomie (Iain Mòr) who has passed into the folklore of Perthshire. Tax collectors, particularly those of the Earl of Atholl seem to have been offensive to him. The Earl employed a champion swordsman from Italy to slay Mccomie but the swordsman was himself slain by Mccomie.