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Isle of Mull, Scotland

The following is from the book Mull Family Names for ancestor hunter written by Jo Currie

"One of the more illustrious of Mull names, since it was that of the family of hereditary physicians who practised at Pennycross, at the head of Loch Scridain in the 17th century, one of the few families to hsve recorded pedigrees from an earlier period. A grant of lands at Pennycross was made in 1572, and again in 1603, to a surgeon of this family, by MacLean of Duart.  The Beaton medical manuscripts, in Gaelic, are preserved in the National Library of Scotland, and the Beaton pedigree is in the Laing Manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library.  Malcolm Beaton, or MacBeatha, a physician, was reputed to have been on the Spanish ship, San Juan de Sicilia, when she was blown up in Tobermory Bay in 1588.  He survived. John Beaton, born in 1594, son of Malcolm, was also physician to the MacLeans of Duart, and had three sons, one of whom, John, became minister of Kilninian Parish in about 1670.