[6] In the early 19th century Ewen Macphee became a notorious outlaw, "revered and feared by locals and despised by the authorities".

[8] Martin, in his A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland of 1703, wrote that on the south side of the church of St. Columba on Oronsay, were the tombstones of MacDuffie (or Macfie, a former chief of the clan) and the cadets of his family.

[9][note 3] By 1587, atrocities committed between warring west highland clans had escalated to such an extent that Parliament devised what is known as the General Band in an effort to quell hostilities.

The band was signed by landowners throughout the Scottish highlands, borders and the islands, requiring them to be responsible for the men who lived within their lands.

[note 4] Despite the Governments actions to secure the peace, about this time Lachlan Mor MacLean of Duart ravaged the MacDonald islands of Islay and Gigha, slaughtering 500–600 men.

The siege was only lifted when Macdonald of Dunivaig and the Glens agreed with Maclean of Duart to surrender half of his lands on Islay.

Supporting Maclean of Duart were the Macleods of Harris and Dunvegan, MacNeils of Barra, Mackinnons of Strathrodle and the Macquarries of Ulva.

[14] The combined forces of Macfie and Donald Gigach MacIan, who was the leading man on the nearby isle of Jura, contributed a total of 64 men to the Macdonald rebellion.

[21] The Earl of Argyll later secured the submission of Colla Ciotach MacDonald, who was another chief of Clan Donald South.

Finally, in 1623, Malcolm Macfie was chased from Colonsay and pursued to Eilean nan Ròn (south-west of Oronsay).

As it hovered over Macfie's position, Colla Ciotach's men were alerted by its cry and spotted the clan chief on a ledge of rock at the edge of the sea.

Described as Scotland's last outlaw, he recognised no landowner, stole sheep, and raised a family upon a small island.

[27] Macphee was said to have been an able soldier but he soon deserted the Army and fled to his native Glengarry, where he hid living in Feddan with his sister.

The elderly woman who lived here managed to divert a stream each time either the Cameron or Glengarry men came to collect the rent.

[33] His Regiment then sent a troop of soldiers to arrest him for desertion, though just as Macphee was about to be taken handcuffed aboard a steamer at Corpach, he managed to escape and fled his captors.

[2] In 1968, Earle Douglas MacPhee of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada started a movement to have the Clan Macfie officially registered with the Lord Lyon King of Arms.

[2] On 10 May 1977, the Macfie Standing Stone on Balaruminmore on Colonsay was dedicated as a memorial to the last chief of the clan, who was executed against it in 1623.

[2] Following Earle MacPhee's death in 1982, Alexander (Sandy) Carpendale McPhie of Australia was appointed by the Lord Lyon King of Arms as Commander of Clan Macfie on 7 September 1989.

[2][35] In March 2008, the Lord Lyon gave permission for Clan Macfie to convene an ad hoc derbhfine to choose a successor to McPhie,[36] who had by then decided to step down.

[37] Iain Morris McFie was chosen to petition the Lord Lyon, and on doing so was later appointed as Commander of Clan Macfie.

The societies are located around the world in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, and the United States of America.

[45] There were never many MacCuishes on the Uists, and after a time Dubhsith ceased to be used as a given name there, though it carried on in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, taking the forms of Dushie, Duffus and even David.

[note 7] In the early 19th century, Skene found and transcribed a 15th-century Gaelic manuscript which gave the genealogies of many Highland clans.

He first published his transcriptions and translations of it in the early 19th century Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis, and later with revisions in the late 19th century—in his chief work Celtic Scotland.

[47] The following is Skene's versions of the genealogy attributed to the chiefs of Clan Macfie in the manuscript; first as in Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis secondly as in Celtic Scotland.

[48] In Celtic Scotland, Skene thought it was possible the mentioned Duffie/Dubshithe was identical to the lector of Iona recorded in 1164 within the Irish annals.

According to Somerled MacMillan, there were recently (1971) many MacNichols in Lochaber who were supposed to descend from the members of Clan Macfie.