Heather McFarlane has, like other of you great folk out there, been so kind and thoughtful as to send me a great deal of material and information for the Magazine. This page is dedicated to some of the e-mails between us and then, on page 5, two of her treats. I know that you will enjoy and learn from them, as much as have I.
Heather sent me some hard copy journals including; People doing business in Campbeltown & Inveraray; Mary MacNeill and Killean Parish; Fourteen Argyll Wills and An Index to the Records of Confirmations of Argyll. (She has also e-mailed me some articles, the first of which I can share with you now.) Heather, by the way, is searching for a copy of 1792 Kintyre Census - one of A.I.B.'s numerous works. I e-mailed Heather to express my greatest thanks for the journals - Ian:
Dear Heather,
Your package of 4 Kintyre Projects arrived with me on 6th January, after having been in Campbeltown! You are probably not aware that I do not, in fact, live in Campbeltown, but in the south-east of England. Angus, bless him, was kind enough to redirect the package to me. And what a package!
I am amazed at all the work that you have put in to your projects. With my limited copying facilities here I will not be able to do justice to all of your stuff, but I hope to post at least some of it - as much as I possibly can - on the Mag site.
I spoke to Angus Martin on the telephone, and he has expressed an interest in your work. I have told him that, when I have extracted what I can I would, with your permission, send your Projects back to Campbeltown for use in the Society's Library and, perhaps, the hard-copy, bi-annual Magazine.
I have asked my brother, Alex, who
still lives in Campbeltown, to find me a copy of the 1792 Kintyre Census.
He has, so far, had no luck. I am now going to try an old chap I know who
runs a book finding service. If he cannot find a copy, there will not be
one around. Nevertheless, I will keep trying - I
promise.
Ian
....and she replied:
Thanks, I am proud of these. Especially the one in the Mary MacNeill one, where I showed conclusively that (a) illegitimate children were rare in Killean; and (b) using a nickname to identify a father was without precedent!!
I sent copies of these to Elizabeth Marrison, as well as the Campbeltown Library. I will send some to Angus Martin, too, if you think he will find them useful - I was under the impression that he was interested in fishing history.
Anyway, I am really interested in getting the feel of the world Mary MacNeill lived in. Obviously, I only have records available through the Latter Day Saints, but they have been most informative. I am working on the Index to Land Titles and Seisins, copying out entries that are of interest, both in Knapdale and in Kintyre. Since I received a letter from Ian MacDonald of Clachan, I have gathered info on the MacAlisters - they were obviously local men of standing.
I think the Wills are fascinating. I stumbled upon the will of Hector MacNeill of Drimdrissaig, and then really got into the whole microfilm, and ended up indexing it, because it was so difficult to find anything on the film. As I went through it, I came across relevant people (Lachlan MacNeill, Mary MacNeill, etc.), but then, there was Lucy Campbell! Rich! And something like a fairy godmother, sprinkling money here and there. And as I transcribed her will, it became clear that she was a kindly person, too: her concern for the blind Catharine Currie; and the care she took over her servants dividing up her clothing, so they would not have a fight. I have been trying to find out more about her, and Ian MacDonald of Clachan went to the cemetary, and found her tombstone, with mother and father noted. Apparently her bequest to the Kilcolmonel Parish still exists. I think Lucy might be a worthy subject of interest.
The other Will that really caught my (admittedly vagrant)
interest is that of James Maxwell, Chamberlain of Mull: it looks
to me like the man liquidated his estate, and divided it among his heirs.
I think that is
unusual, and would like to find out more, but have so
far received little information about this. I have sent letters of
inquiry to a couple of people on Mull, hoping that they may know about
this.
Aside from your wonderful website, Kevin Byrne,
of Colonsay, is of great help. He owns the publishing company, House
of Lochar. He seems to have found your website, and discovered some
useful items about the MacNeills. He has said that he may have a copy of
the 1792 Census, and if so, may send
it to me.
I love this saying: "Home is, if you go there, they
have to take you in." And that is the next thing: to study the marriage/births
of South Knapdale, to find any connections with Killean. (According to
the Marriage records of Killean, out of 588 marriages between 1783 and
1810, 133 were to people
from another parish, 1 from HM Nave, 1 from Cardross,
1 from Ayr, 1 from Jura, 1 from Kildalton, 2 from Knapdale,
and the rest from Kintyre areas). I have the birth/death/marriages of Gigha,
too, which I think must have been close to my MacNeills. Mary's son,
Hector, married a Galbraith in South Knapdale, and I note that there were
a lot of Galbraiths on Gigha.
Another historian is Sir Wm Lithgow of Ormsary. He is having people work on a history of Ormsary estate, and has said he thinks that that estate was partially supported by money from Campbell interests in slave plantations in the Caribbean, and that when slavery disappeared, and sugar lost its high profit margin, Ormsary suffered.
However, I would like to know if there is such a thing as DEATH registers for Killean. The LDS films the marriages and births, for religious reasons, and had no real use for death records. But I do assume these exist at the SRO somewhere.
Anyway, I hope other people will find these indexes useful. It is nice to have other historians to talk to sometimes.
Yours.
Heather McFarlane
I replied to Heather...
See you, McFarlane,
I am not worthy. Every e-mail you send makes fascinating reading. I, admittedly, am not as excited by genealogy as much as some of the folks out there but, when I read your stuff, I do find my blood quickening, and the wee hairs on the back of my neck stirring!
With your permission, I'll put up a Heather McFarlane page - or any designation you would prefer - on the February Mag. I'll use as much of your great stuff as I can easily scan (the long pages will be impossible).
With super people such as yourself, the Mag will continue for a wee bit longer.
Angus, I am sure, would love to have a copy of your work. Far from just being interested in the fishing, he is a historian of some repute himself.
I'm pleased that you may have a copy of the 1792 Census coming. I have set a bookfinder chap I know to searching for it. If there is a copy available for purchase this side of the pond, he'll find it. I'll keep you informed.
OK, my friend. Once again, thank you for all your kindness. If you have a special title for your online Mag page just let me know.
Again, from Heather....
I am HONOURED!!! I would send info via floppy disks,
or email, but am not sure how. My
program is Corel Wordperfect and Paradox.
Another thought. I was so amazed by Kintyre and Knapdale. I visited there with my sister and 2 nieces in 1997 and with my sister in 1998. It is very beautiful, of course. But it so empty of people!! Like a ghost town.
My father has a construction lot, with shops that he rents: to Pete WALSH, Don FRIZELL; Don and Fred CUMMING; Bonnie BRETT (whose forebears include a Glass). His regular visitors include Neil DUNCAN and Gordie MACINTYRE.
The events of the Highland Clearances are, I think, a study of social engineering gone awry. Canada did very well. And the west of Scotland remains empty. Campbeltown has no jobs for people like you and Johnny MacKinnon. Yet, Nathaniel MacNair had financial interests in THREE ships that, when he died in 1841, were in Sidney, AUSTRALIA; Mobile, ALABAMA; and Bombay, INDIA!!
Cheers,
Heather
Who, me, complain!...
Hi Heather,
Thanks for the e and attachments. I received the Lucy Will, OK, but could not read the .rsl attachment. What was it, and can you send it in any other format?
You are the bee's knees!
Ian
A fine wee lass, a bonny wee lass.....
Ian, the .rsl is a "report" in the Corel Paradox data processing format, and I don't know how to change its format. It was the list of names I associated with Lucy's will.
Ian MacDonald of Clachan looked
at her tombstone in Gartnagrenoch - and it says: that Lucy
was born in 1760, in Ardchattan, the daughter of Ann Campbell and
Mr. Donald Campbell of Ballimore. She lived 9 years in Leumnamuick, presumably
with the Rev. Archibald MacNeill, who had married her aunt.
Archibald was the Minister of Kilcalmonell.
I have come across a couple of Land Title and Seisins records, mentioning Archibald MacNeill, and a "Lucy Campbell, relict of same" - I thought "Relict" referred to widow. Perhaps it also means "heir"?? Or, Lucy's aunt was named Lucy, too???
Heather
More......
...Try another thing: it serves as an explanation as to what I was doing. To expand on this, we had realized that Hector Lang was a "natural" child, but the general opinion was, he was born at a time when most of the eligible men had disappeared into the armed forces (Napoleanic wars, etc.), so illegitimacy was not that uncommon. Another theory was that many marriages were "handfast" affairs, outside the church, which charged money for regular marriages.
The other problem I had was this name, "Red Ling" (Lang) - How common was the use of a nickname here??
Hence the list. Proving that illegitimacy was rare indeed, at least insofar as baptised children were concerned. And the use of a nickname for the father was without precedent, in Killean Parish.
I suspect at this point that Red was a smuggler.
I also found out, during this project, that Mary MacNeill had been married before, in 1800, to Malcolm MacCallum, and had had a child, Niel. Both of whom I presume were dead by 1809 (I have to look at the Killean death register here.)
Also, Mary had a brother, Niel, and I am very sure this Niel MacNiell was the fellow who is the husband of Catharine Watson, of Claongart. There is a Robert Watson, of Claongart, listed as an Elder of the Parish Church, in 1805. Out of this, I conclude that Niel and Catharine were an up and coming couple. As, I have not doubt, was Mary MacNiell and Malcolm MacCallum, in 1800.
But, when Mary had her son Hector (my g g g grandfather), in Druimnamuckloch, in 1809, she was giving birth to a natural child, on a farm that had had no such event since at least 1785.
So, it becomes clearer to my, why Mary would move out of Killean Parish.
The Next question is, why would she go north, to Knapdale???
Heather
........Also, have you talked with Kevin Byrne on Colonsay, of the House of Lochar?? He is very interested in MacNeills, and was interested in your website, too.
Heather
I e'd
Thanks Heather,
I've got MS Office 2000 with all the bells, flashes and whizzbangs, and I still can't read your .rsl. But I know a man who can!
I've not spoken to Lochar. Does he have a website or an e-mail address?
Ian
Back she came......
Byrne, Kevin
E-mail Address(es):
hotel@premier.co.uk
Byrne, Kevin
E-mail Address(es):
byrne@colonsay.org.uk
bookshop@colonsay.org.uk
Business Information:
Company: House of Lochar
Address: K&C Byrne Partnership
Homefield
Isle of Colonsay
Argyll
PA61 7YR
United Kingdom
Phone: 011 44 1951 200320
Fax: 011 44 1951 200242
Hi, Ian, the above is all my info re Kevin. He is VERY impressed with your website, and is about to take a course to help him use his own House of Lochar thing (I think) to develop something on Colonsay.
The website is www.colonsay.org.uk/lochar.html
He has written a book on Clan Donald of Colonsay, called "Colkitto!"
I am going to Skagway today, for 3/4 days. Did you hear about our meteor? Yup, it came screaming out of the sky a few days ago. I didn't see it, but Dad did: he said it was bright, like a thousand welding torches. They are still looking for the landsite.....
Cheers,
Heather
Page 2: Janet and Marie Morrison's 1999 Trip to Scotland - Part Three
Page 3: A Series of e-mails from Heather McFarlane
Page 4: An American Lady in Southend, 1878 - Part Two
Page 5: The Heather McFarlane Page
Page 6: The War-Time Record of the Campbeltown Fishermen
Page 7: The Press Gang
Page 8: By Hill and Shore - Part Two