Webedition 37/2

Posted here by Kind Permission of Bob and Peggy's daughters, Erin Feliciano and Lynley Force,
and supplied to the Mag by Dean Gilchrist deanotow1@earthlink.net Ocala, Fl. 352-854-1440

Approximately ten miles south of Tarbert along the western coast of the Kintyre Peninsula lies the small picturesque village of Clachan which is believed to be the oldest settlement in upper Kintyre. It is here that the Kilcalmonell Parish Church is located; the parish takes its name from St. Colman-Eala (“Colman of the Swans”), a contemporary of St. Columba. The small structure represents the oldest place of worship in continuous use in all of Scotland today. It is known that the parish church was first chartered by John MacDonald, Lord of the Isles, in May 1455, but when the present building was built is uncertain. Record indicates that it was repaired in 1756.

It was in this church that Angus Gilchrist who farmed North Loch Kiarran farm on Balnakiel Estate was serving as one of the four elders in 1754, and Angus (the younger) was serving as church treasurer in 1782. Several of the gravemarkers in the surrounding cemetery are inscribed with the Gilchrist name.

Taylor McMillan; Gilbert was the son of Donald and Margaret McMillan of Drumore farm located a few miles south of Clachan. The newly married couple, along with Malcolm who was four years younger than John and single, apparently embarked immediately for North Carolina in that on May 3, 1770 John purchased his first tract of land in what was then Bladen County. With favorable conditions travelling time on an ocean crossing was an approximate two and a half to three months.

Though most Scots who emigrated were quite poor, the authoritative LUMBER RIVER SCOTS by Dr. Edwin Purcell, states on page 464: “This Gilchrist family came to America with much more of the world’s goods than most of the Scotch people who came to this section. They seemed unusually well supplied with such things as clothing, books, and the best household furnishings of the day.”

The Gilchrist brothers also brought with them a letter of introduction to Colonel Alexander McAlester of Cumberland County written by the colonel’s second cousin Mr. John Boyd, who now held the lease to Balnakiel Estate:

Balnakile June 21, 1770

Dear Sir,

This ‘wile be delivered to you (by) Malcom MacIlchrist who with a ‘Bother of his ‘Caled John & Iver MacMurchy who is married to a sister of theirs are gone for America, and to that part of it where you remain ‘Caled Cape Fair in North Carolina, and they ‘Importund me to ‘recommend them to your protection & Care to See to get ‘themSelvles in a good way to their Satisfaction, I hereby ‘Chearfully Embrace the opportunity to write you by them & more Especially as! ‘flatter myself you Exert yourself to the ‘outmost of your power for their ‘behoof which! shall look upon as a Singular favour done me, our Countrymen are all upon the wing of leaving us & going for that New World of America if they go on at this rate we shall here have a thin Country of Inhabitants.

The MacGilchrists are Clever pretty lads and are ‘fite for Sea or land both of them ‘has good Education and are pretty much master of Numbers & writes a good hand & would pass for Gentlemen thefr Father I am persuaded you know for their Grandfather lived in Lochkiarran a place you knew very ‘wile in your young days. I hope they ‘wile turn ‘wile out, & that you’d have reason to be ‘oblidged to me for their ‘reccomendation I have No News worthy of your Notice from This Country to give My Father ‘dy’d the Second of ‘Aprile your Brother Hector from Arran was here at his Burial. He has always some ‘destant thoughts of going to America. I long much to hear from you & let me ‘Intreat you to give me a particular account from you of the Country & if the Accounts pleases me [it’s] more than probable that I may see The Country someday or then if! am spared.

I heartily Congratulate you upon the thoughts of Meeting with so many of your Country people this year in America, I wish you & them a happy Meeting and am with the greatest Sincerity regard & Esteem

Dear Sir

Your most Affectionate Cousin
& very Humble Ser.

John Boyd

[A copy of the original letter is provided at the conclusion of this chapter [of the book].]

A close analysis of the “McAlester Letter” written by Mr. John Boyd along with the names that were presented in the. 1674 mill dispute as being farmers on the McEachin - leased farms in central Kintyre and the inscription found on John McGilchrist Kilchenzie grave slab may well provide important clues as to the origin of the Gilchrist family that emerged in Kilcalmonell Parish in the early 1700’s. Determining the identity of the grandfather has long been regarded as the key to unravelling the mystery. And, of the six McGilchrists found recorded in the 1694 Kintyre Hearth Tax Report as farmers on Kintyre farms, John in Killarow has come to be regarded as the most likely “candidate.”

“Their father I am persuaded you know for their grandfather lived in Loch Kiarran a place
you knew very well in your young days. . .“

The excerpt from Mr. John Boyd’s letter establishes the fact that the brother’s grandfather, according to the verb tense, was dead at the time of their emigration, but their father was still alive. The nature of the excerpt gives no indication that Col. McAlester ever knew the grandfather, as indeed would have been the case in that he was born on Balnakiel Estate in 1714, the year following the death of John McGilchrist in 1713.

In 1687, Mary McNeill wife of John McGilchrist died having left a testament of her possessions dated July 7, 1686. John, born in 1653 according to his Kilchenzie grave slab, would have been about thirty-four years of age when Mary died and would therefore have been of age to remarry. This point is confirmed by the fact that Mary recorded only two children, Jonet (Janet) and Christian, yet it is known that John had at least two sons - John, the Younger, born in 1691 and Malcolm, a son who remained unmarried.

Is it possible that Angus Gilchrist (Sr.) of Kilcalmonell Parish could have been another son born to John (Sr.) in Killarow and his second wife? In 1754 Angus was listed as one of the four elders of the Kilcalmonell Parish Church in Clachan giving evidence of his having reached a mature age. Had Angus been born about 1694, John (Sr.) would have been about forty-one, John (Jr.) would have been three, and by 1754, Angus would have been sixty. In as much as Duncan, who moved the family to Drumleck farm following John and Malcolm’s departure appears to be the older son born in 1726, Angus would have been about thirty-two at Duncan’s birth. Angus would also have been about fifty when his last child, Malcolm, was born in 1744, and would have been about seventy-six when the brothers emigrated in 1770.

In analyzing the names of the farmers who provided depositions in the 1674 Kilchenzie mill dispute one discovers that living on Killarow farm was not only Neil McGilchrist but also Hector McAlester and Neil McBride (Mcbriden). Two generations later McBrides and Gilchrists were living on neighboring farms on the McAlester-leased Balnakiel Estate in upper Kintyre. Is it possible that John (Sr.) in Killarow and John McBride in Tangytavil, who was quite probably a son of Neil McBride, moved with their families to Kilcalmonell Parish in the early 1700’s? Concerning this point Mr. Ian MacDonald of Clachan states that following the forfeiture of the McEachin-leased farms in central Kintyre due to that family’s support of the 9th Earl of Argyll’s unsuccessful 1685 rebellion “the McGilchrists and McBrides as tenants would probably have prudently removed themselves and taken refuge in Kilcalmonell where they were unlikely to be molested by the McAlesters, the local land owners who supported King James VII (James II of England) --- the Stewart line of kings.” And, it should be remembered that the McGilchrists had a tradition of Stewart support.

It has been noted that John McGilchrist (Sr.) died in 1713 and John (Jr.) died in 1715. The Kilchenzie grave slab that bears this information also includes that “both [were] once in Kilarow” thereby presenting the distinct possibility that they may not have been living on Killarow farm at the time in which they died. Focusing on this possibility Mr. MacDonald writes: “John McGilchrist may well have been taken back to Kilchenzie for burial from Clachan; it was an old Highland custom to do this.” Angus therefore at the theoretical age of nineteen would have been able to assist his widowed mother in caring for the farm.

Though not entirely confirmed, the name “Malcolm” was found only in the families of John McGilchrist in Killarow and the later family of Angus Gilchrist in North Loch Kiarran on Balnakiel Estate. Regarding this point, Mr. MacDonald writes: “I would be of the opinion that the use of Malcolm as a forename would come from the McNeill side of the family.”

Hard-fast evidence that would completely confirm the theory relating the family of John of Killarow to that of Angus’ in North Loch Kiarran continues to elude the researcher, and may continue to do so because of the lack of early estate reqords for upper Kintyre. Nevertheless, based on existing findings, Mr. MacDonald affirms: “I firmly believe John McGilchrist (in Killarow) would be grandfather of John and Malcolm [who emigrated to North Carolina in 1770].”

The little village of Clachan, Scotland can be seen in its entirety in the above picture.
The very old Kilcalmonell Parish Church and cemetery can be seen at the left of the
picture, while the broad side of Mr. Ian MacDonald's two-storey house can be seen in the
distance to the left of the large tree

The Kilcalmonell Parish Church with its rebuilt bell tower and new bell.
The gravemarker inscription is #2 in Mr. MacDonald's list of "Kilcalmonell Church Cemetery"
gravemarker inscriptions at the conclusion of this chapter [of the book].

The preponderance of “John Gilchrists” from the families descended from Angus Gilchrist might also be considered as another possible tie. One such John Gilchrist was born in the 1750’s and in that he became a fanner on Drumleck there is the strong probability that he was a son of Duncan who was born in 1726. According to Killean and Kilchenzie Old Parish Record he acquired the farm of Achaglass, then later Bradge - both farms being in Killean and Kilchenzie Parish. That his wife was Catharine McMurchy of the neighboring McMurchy farm of Braintian is noted by the fact that her name is given with the births of their last two children. (The family’s genealogy is presented under the name of Kintyre’s Farming Gilchrists.)

From John and Catharine McMurchy Gilchrist came yet another John Gilchrist — born on Drumleck farm July 19, 1785. He married Margaret (Peggy) McBride on Feb. 19, 1811; she was born Feb. 1786 at Tangy Estate, Parish of Killean and Kilchenzie. In the same year of 1811 he became fanner in Killarow evidencing what would appear to be the return of two families to a farm on which both families’ ancestors once lived. He later became farmer of the newer, larger and much more productive Balevain farm. They both died on Dec. 21, 1836 and are buried in the Kilchenzie Cemetery along with several of their children.

With the close of the nineteenth century two distinct Gilchrist families had emerged in Kintyre; they were known simply as the “Fishing Gilchrists” who it is believed descended from the Killocraw/ Corputechan family, and the “Farming Gilchrists” who it is known were directly descended from the Kilcalmonell Parish Gilchrists. But, with the close of the twentieth century the family name of Gilchrist has all but disappeared from Kintyre. The “Farming Gilchrist” line ended in 1973 with the death of John Alexander Gilchrist of East Trodigal farm who was the great, great grandson of the John Gilchrist of Balevain farm (born 1785), and quite probably the great, great, great, great, great grandson of Angus Gilchrist, the farmer of North Loch Kiarran farm on Balnakiel Estate.

It can thus be determined that the Gilchrists were not a flamboyant, charismatic people, yet when the need for responsible leadership arose, they would accept the challenge. They were a family accustomed to hard work, as well as one that placed great emphases on integrity, the family, education, and the church. And, wherever they settled it was clearly apparent that they were well-liked and respected by those with whom they came in contact.

More next issue

Robert W. Gilchrist (1939 - 1998 ) of Titusville, Florida and his wife Peggy, were killed in a tragic automobile accident on April 8, 1998. Both were dedicated teachers and active members of the Park Avenue Baptist Church for over 30 years. Bob specialised in history. Shortly before the accident, he was a guest speaker at the dedication of the restored Mill Prong House near Raeford, North Carolina which was built by his 4th Great Grandfather, John Gilchrist, in 1802. Bob loved his family history, and had planned his third trip to Scotland to renew friendships and continue his research. He made many significant contributions to his heritage, and was honored by the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh with a request for a copy of his 1997 book. In his memory, portions of this 1997 book have also been placed on the internet at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~steve/robertwg/ in the hope that it will kindle the interests of others to follow his footprints and continue his quest for knowledge of the Gilchrist family.

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