First found in on the Isle of Iona, where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Significant portions of the populations of both the United States and Canada are still made up of the ancestors of Dalriadan families. Some of those in Canada originally settled the United States, but went north as United Empire Loyalists in the American War of Independence. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the ancestors of many Scots on both sides of the border begin to recover their collective national heritage through clan societies and highland games. Some of the first North American settlers carried this name or one of its variants: William Dowie who settled in Philadelphia in 1839; Edward Dowey settled in Philadelphia in 1876 with his brother Patrick.

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