User:Gaelteach
The official Laphroaig website at <http://www.laphroaig.com/home.asp> touts a book called The Legend of Laphroaig by Marcel van Gils. To find out more about this book, go to <http://www.laphroaigcollector.com/boek.htm>. On his website, Marcel van Gils, who wrote the book on Laphroaig apparently sanctioned by the company, states:
It is widely assumed that the early Johnstons on Islay were from MacIain (MacDonald) stock, evicted from their ancestral lands in Ardnamurchan by Clan Campbell in the early 17th century. Rent rolls, birth records and grave inscriptions on Islay show that a sizeable number of Johnstons were already living on Islay before the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. They "anglicized" their name for safety reasons in the 17th century. Recent DNA research shows clear similarities between DNA material of both Johnstons from Islay and MacDonalds from Ardnamurchan. <http://www.laphroaigcollector.com/history.htm>
So the story about the Johnstons leaving Ardnamurchan in the mid eighteenth century after the 1745 rising may also be in error. Marcel van Gils said that the Johnstons "anglicized" their name in the 17th century. MacIain is the original Gaelic name which is often anglicized as Johnson or Johnston. The fact remains that the official Laphroaig website still says they were McCabes, so I understand the reluctance to change the information on Wikipedia at this time. I have written to Marcel van Gils to find out his opinion on the information on the website, however. By the way, the reference that I gave the first time, <http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jhb/whisky/smws/laphroa2.html> was from the marketing department of Allied Distillers, the owners of Laphroaig in 1995.