Thank you both for your interest.
Stewie, your explanation for my grandmother's speaking some Portuguese is a good one. I had been thinking that my mother had been mistaken in thinking that her mother had been in Portugal. I thought that if my grandmother had learned some Portuguese it must have been in Scotland. I had pretty much dropped the matter.
It was only when I was contacted by a second cousin's wife, through GR, and she brought up the subject of Portugal, telling me that the McLarens were involved with the Legation to Portugal, that I thought that there must be something to my mother's story.
I might never find out the truth of the matter as I can't find very much on Portugal on the Web.
Thank you David. I will try the Libraries.
How I wish that I had asked my mother and her sister more questions when they were alive! They have left me some tantalizing mysteries. The Portugal connection, my grandfather's bankruptcy, and relatives in the Isle of Skye. I cannot find any Skye connection.
Regards
Researching:Stirlingshire-McDonald, Kay/Key, Dunn, Edmond, Watson, Scott. Perthshire- Kay/Key. Argylshire-McKinnon, Campbell, McLaren. Renfrewshire-Kennedy,Boyd, McLaren, McDonald. Northern Ireland-Boyd,Kennedy, Jamieson.