Family oral history dating back 200+yrs said that my MacDonald family left from Glenurquhart. Along with others from the area, they sailed on the Ship Glasgow from Ft William on 3 Sept 1775, originally bound for Upstate NY. I spent a week in Drumnadrochit in 2006. At the Inverness Highland library and I believe I found the 1745 1st marriage record of my GGGG-GF John MacDonald, son of Duncan McEvanOg of Balcraggan to a Mary McGrigor, dau of Wm 'Dow' McGrigor of Culnakirk. A subsequent birth record was found in the Inverness OPRs for the 1746 birth of a girl named Christiana (Christy) to this couple. Even the family Christian names follow this naming pattern (Christy/Christiana, Duncan, Mary, Evan/Hugh, etc). After Mary died, sometime around 1752, John married Margaret Grant, also from Glenurquhart, who possibly had a brother named Peter Grant who also emigrated on the same ship and settled on a farm adjacent to my MacDonald’s in Nova Scotia. They settled in Nova Scotia in 1783 after their ship was boarded in NY Harbour by a British Man o' War [HMS Asia] and all aboard, predominantly from Glenurquhart, were impressed into the British Army for 8 yrs to fight against the American Colonists.
The family oral history said they were Glencoe MacDonald's who escaped the Massacre when the grandfather carried his young grandson away from the massacre and settled at Glenurquhart after the boy's father had been murdered; however, my DNA does not match any Glencoe MacDonald's. It is much more likely that they may have been aligned by marriage and visiting at Glencoe on that morning.
They are also listed in William MacKay's 1893 book on 'Urquhart and Glenmoriston' in the appendix for the 'Urquhart settlement in Nova Scotia'. [see attachment]
• A 4th son, Alexander, is presumed to have drowned at sea in Nov. 1777 while impressed in the British Army
• See attached 1772 Glenurquhart birth record for twin girls Ann & Helen [Ellen]
from the book "Rawdon and Douglas: Two Loyalist Townships in Nova Scotia", by John V Duncanson [see attachment]. "John (or Iain) MacDonald was born in Inverness-shire, Scotland. m. (1) Jannet, m. (2) Margaret Grant. John McDonald (Iain MacEoghainn Oig) was born at Glenurquhart (about 1720-1723) and belonged to the Glencoe McDonalds.
A personal search of the Inverness Scotland OPR for 1720-1755 Glenurquhart marriages shows a marriage on 22 June 1745 of a John McDonald, son of Duncan McEvanog in Balcgraggan to MARY, dau of Wm Dow (dubh) McGregor of Culnakirk. It is the only reference to a Gaelic McEvanog (MacEoghainn Oig) in the registry. If this wasn’t my Glenurquhart John, then my John only had common-law marriages
Alastair McLeod, the Inverness Highland Library genealogist strongly believes that this was my John McDonald. If correct, my John MacDonald was the son of Duncan of Balchraggan (he named his 1st son of his 1st marriage Duncan) and Duncan was the young boy carried from the 1692 Massacre at Glencoe by his grandfather. It must then be assumed that Duncan’s father was then Evan (Eoghainn), but he also believes the Nova Scotia spelling to be incorrect and Eoghainn was actually Eoghan. I do know that my Hugh/Ewen/Evan was later referred to in Bridgeville Nova Scotia as Eoghan Mor (Big Evan)
I have been searching for MacDonald’s from the Urquhart and Glenmoriston area who can show their MacDonald line back to 1650-1700 Urquhart and Glenmoriston, especially those who have a family history of an 'Escape from the 1692 Glencoe Massacre'.
Ben MacDonald
Arizona, USA