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If the Fletchers were arrow makers, as their name suggests, they may not have plied that trade since their ancestors were in Ireland. The name basically means 'son of the arrow maker' but that original tradesman could have lived many centuries ago. Why do I think they are ethnically Irish? Two things really. My father did Y DNA testing. He and his fellow Glen Orchy Fletchers all descend from an Irish haplogroup that is connected to Niall of the Nine Hostages, an Irish King of the past. Also, my father was a Gaelic speaker/reader (his mother was from the Isle of Mull) and he pointed out to me that the place names around Achallader were Irish Gaelic not Scottish Gaelic (I NEVER would have noticed!) pointing to the idea that Irish migrants settled this barren spot originally as opposed to Scots.
As for the castles, Achallader had a very short existence. It was built in the 1500s and burned less than 100 years later. It had several owners/occupiers, acquired at one point by reported treachery, and it is hinted that some of the planning for the Glen Coe massacre may have happened here. Some Fletchers must have been in the area during part of its ruination as the front door to the castle was spirited away by them and kept for perhaps another century in the home of some Fletchers nearer Inverary. In the early 1700s, Archibald Fletcher, the 9th chief of the clan, bought Dunans estate on the Cowal Peninsula and enlarged the mansion house there into a castle. The door was brought there and put on display. He is also credited with adopting the English sounding Fletcher surname but it may have been someone else.

The Clearances were a mixed bag. Certainly, many heartless landowners did clear the people from the land by force. It's well documented. In other cases, benevolent landlords paid the passage of their tenants so they could immigrate. Many were almost starving in overcrowded communities. Some folks begged to be moved elsewhere. Not a great time, I'm sure.
I don't think the Fletchers of Glen Orchy were cleared from the land. Not exactly anyway, although there is a legend about a Fletcher being tricked out of his land.
The Fletchers settled in Glen Orchy on land surrounding the now ruined Achallader Castle. Where did they come from? Likely Ireland maybe 1,000 years ago, maybe less. They basically squatted on traditionally Campbell land and created a cattle industry for themselves in a very barren place. They did business with their neighbours, the McGregors (my mother was a McGregor), McDonalds etc. and drove cattle to green islands (Mull, Islay etc.) and to market in Perth or Crieff. They are often to be found at ferry points too. In all, the small clan supported itself quite well over the centuries.

Mary

Thank you! That's probably all it is. No interesting insights there then. Oh well.

Thanks!

To expand on that, what would be the case in the event of an adoption? Would yet another birth registration be issued with a new surname?

Mary