Author Topic: Donald of Clashneach & Mary Mackay  (Read 23200 times)

Offline AlanWatson

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Re: Donald of Clashneach & Mary Mackay
« Reply #9 on: Wednesday 01 July 15 11:57 BST (UK) »
The John Clarke who married Joanna Falconer was the son of the James Clarke who married Margaret Mackay.

Alan

Offline djct59

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Re: Donald of Clashneach & Mary Mackay
« Reply #10 on: Wednesday 01 July 15 21:48 BST (UK) »
IanB: I'm going to have a closer look at that stone to make sure the last digit is indeed a "5", for the reasons regarding the ages of Margaret's children that I mentioned higher up in the thread. It might also be correct that the stone was erected decades after the parties' deaths, and that the mason might have made an error (or the transcriber - she misread one of my g-g-grandmothers as dying in 1908 when she passed in 1903).

Incidentally, Captain Alexander Clarke was the Paymaster of the Reay Fencibles during their Irish campaign.

Offline IanB

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Re: Donald of Clashneach & Mary Mackay
« Reply #11 on: Thursday 02 July 15 15:30 BST (UK) »
Good idea. I looked at the photograph. The stone appears to be very weathered and that date was not legible.
 Some women did appear to have long child-bearing years. For example, my 2x greatgrandmother was 41 when she gave birth to her 9th child.
Morrison, MacKay, MacCulloch, Sutherland, Dingwall, MacLeod, Donn, Calder,Blyth/Blythe; Baxter; Woodburn;Fleming;Hobkirk

Offline Jeanette13

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Re: Donald of Clashneach & Mary Mackay
« Reply #12 on: Wednesday 09 March 16 02:33 GMT (UK) »
James Clarke & Margaret Mackay were my  4x great grandparents and John Clarke 1770-1837 who married Johanna Falconer 1773-1858 was their 7th son and 9th child. Their youngest son Donald Robert Clarke 1815-1883 kept a diary from the age of 12 until his marriage, I am currently transcribing it and think this entry may be of relevance. It is dated the 28th of October 1835.
"This being Saturday, I took a run out to Musselborough by one of the Railway Coaches to visit a Mr John Ross, a very old gentleman a native of Durness. He entertained me very much with his stories of olden times. He left Durness in 1778 to join the 71st Regt. He says that Rob Donn was the last person he shook hands with in Durness at the top of the Balloch Mor. He remembers very well my great grandmother “Bean mhor Chlasneach” widow of Donald Mackay alias MacConil of Clashneach, lived to 105 years. Her son George was a Councillor in Madras & one of the most influential men in that Presidency. My grandfather James Clarke, he recollected perfectly. Mr Ross thinks he was at the battle of Prestonpans (21 Sept 1745 JG) in Lord Loudon’s ……..He says that he had the salmon fishing of Durness & that every person that crossed the Cruive at Gruisie got a salmon. Mr R remembers when the only gravestones in the churchyard of Durness were those over the graves of Kenneth Sutherland of Keoldale & his descendants among whom was the famous Isbal N’ic Aoidh. Mr Ross is remarkably kind. I promised to repeat my visit. Remained till Evg of next day."
On the 27th February 1838 he recorded
"I went out to Musselburgh to visit my friend Mr Ross. He says that most of my grandfather’s family were at school with him at Durness. The young men he says were the stoutest, handsomest he ever saw. He was intimate with my uncle George, Lieut in the H.E.I.C.Service, who fell in action 10 Sept 1780 at Genl Baillie’s defeat. The 71st (at that time the 73rd) were near the ground about 12 months, afterwards when some of the Durness men went to see the spot there my uncle fell. Mr Ross was 41 years in the 71st & 20 of these in India. He says that most of the great people were in his early days buried in the Churches in the Reay Country. My Greatgrandfather & great grandmother are buried in the Church of Durness, he thinks at the side of the wall near the Balnakiel Seat. He recollects when the only seats in the Church were the Clergyman’s, my grandfather’s & the Balnakiel. The rest of the people brought stools or stones or piled up old bones & sat on them. Not a hat entered the Church on Sunday but the Minister’s & that was a coarse one! Young men indeed never thought of wearing even a bonnet till they were married & then the bonnet used to come with the whisky for the wedding. Knotty-playing & Dancing were the great accomplishments for young men.
Mr R remembers seeing my grandfather, one of the most opulent men in the parish, set off to visit the Hon Capt Mackay of Skibo, Lord Reay’s father. “He was well mounted, booted & spurred” says he, “with a pair of hose under his boots reaching a little above the calf of the leg. His breeches, which had recently come into fashion, did not nearly meet the boots or hose, so that the whole knee was bare & exposed to the weather. On his head he wore a broad blue bonnet.”  This was previous to 1778 in which year Mr Ross left the country & did not revisit it till 1822."

On another visit on 18 October 1836 he wrote
"Dined with Mr Ross & walked afterwards into town. Mr R thinks my grandfather James Clarke was at this battle of Prestonpans in the 21st Regt under Lord Loudon. If he was there at all, he must have been on the side of the Royal forces, & his grandson cannot help thinking, on the wrong side."


Offline IanB

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Re: Donald of Clashneach & Mary Mackay
« Reply #13 on: Wednesday 09 March 16 03:00 GMT (UK) »
Thanks for posting. A very interesting read.  IanB
Morrison, MacKay, MacCulloch, Sutherland, Dingwall, MacLeod, Donn, Calder,Blyth/Blythe; Baxter; Woodburn;Fleming;Hobkirk

Offline djct59

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Re: Donald of Clashneach & Mary Mackay
« Reply #14 on: Wednesday 09 March 16 22:48 GMT (UK) »
Jeanette13: Thanks for posting this. May I perhaps add a few comments?

The Reay MacKays and the gentry of the parish of Durness were staunchly pro-Government at the time of the '45; Reverend MacDonald's diaries kept in the National library are very disparaging of the rebels, so James Clarke would unquestionably have been on the government side at Prestonpans.

I was interested in your reference to Rob Donn bidding John Ross farewell at Beálach Mór. While it's some distance from the modern road that runs by the Kyle of Durness, the old village tradition is that the path into the village was some distance to the East, entering the modern village at Sangobeg. Your reference to this being the departure point certainly supports that, although parts of the route further south do look difficult for a sheep drover.

There is a pool on the River Dionard used to this day by fishermen close to Grudie; there's a bridge there now but it wasn't built till the mid-19th century.

There was a John Ross fathered a child out of wedlock in 1768 at Achuharaset, which I believe may be another name for Grudie, or at least a settlement close to it; I suspect this might be the man who met Donald Clarke many years later.

Offline wilros

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Re: Donald of Clashneach & Mary Mackay
« Reply #15 on: Tuesday 04 June 19 14:19 BST (UK) »
This thread is three years dormant, but I am posting a reply regarding, first, Quartermaster John Ross of Musselburgh, retired from 71st Highlanders Regiment of Foot. I can clarify his origin. I'm a descendant of his younger brother, also named John Ross. QM John is the first son of Hugh Ross and Jean Manson of Borley, who are buried at Balnakeil. Hugh and Jean are my 4x great grandparents. QM John installed a separate stone monument at Balnakeil honoring his parents [  https://public.fotki.com/rhemusaig/burial_grounds/durness_parish/durness_balnakeil/bk024x.html]. QM John Ross died in Musselburgh in 1837, and his 4 page will was filed with the Edinburgh Sheriff Court [ Wills and Testaments Reference SC70/1/55, Edinburgh Sheriff Court Inventories, images 407-409, 3 May 1837]. There is a stone monument honoring QM John Ross in St Michael's Churchyard, Inveresk. Meanwhile, my 3x great grandfather John Ross is also a son of Hugh Ross and Jean Manson of Borley. This younger John Ross is in the Durness birth register on 16 May 1775, and he married Robina Mackenzie in Kinlochbervie, Eddrachillis Parish on 23 March 1811, they emigrated to Nova Scotia, and together they raised 10 children on Boularderie Island, Nova Scotia. Both John and Robina are buried in Man O War Point Cemetery on Boularderie. Back to QM John Ross. The diary narrative has some minor date flaws, for example "On the 27th February 1838 he recorded..." must the wrong year, because QM John Ross was buried in 1837. Regarding the possible connection to John Ross who "fathered a child out of wedlock in 1768 at Achuharaset" this is Rev. Thompson's entry for "John Ross, alias MacEnvicoun, in Achucharaset" which is unlikely to be QM John Ross, because in 1868 Rev. Thompson would have described him as "a young lad" and also "alias machustian" rather than "MacEnvicoun." But I really do have a question. William the younger brother of QM John Ross fathered a child out of wedlock in 1780 ("William Ross alias machustian mac Eunicoun a very young lad unmarried in Borley and Janet alias nin lye roy, a single woman in Borley"). My current Ross of Borley brick wall is with William Ross, specifically, how to identify the mother of the child that Rev. Thompson describes as "Janet alias nin lye roy" - who were her parents and siblings, did she have any further children, etc. Borley in 1780 seems to me to be too small for "Janet alias nin lye roy" to be very well hidden. The child, Donald, is easy to follow, its the mother I want to trace. Btw, thanks very much for the long running and fascinating thread about the Durness Parish register. It is fun to compare the transcriptions of Hew Morrison with the actual words of Rev. Thompson.
Ross, Manson, Mackenzie, Mackay, McGregor, McColl, Chisholm, McLellan, Grant, Calder, Sinclair, Carpenter, Bowen, Carothers, Wilson, Renwick, Gillette, Warner, McBride, Struthers, McKee, Hogg, Dunbar, Anderson

Offline djct59

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Re: Donald of Clashneach & Mary Mackay
« Reply #16 on: Tuesday 04 June 19 22:02 BST (UK) »
Wilros: Sorry, I'm a bit confused here. As I read it -

QM John Ross was born in 1775 and died in Nova Scotia circa 1837.

His younger brother William was born in Borley in 1781, so cannot have fathered a child in 1780.

However, we know that Jean Manson had a daughter Marion/Merran who died on 29th July 1788 aged 29, so was born circa 1759. This means that Jean and Hugh could have had a son before records were kept in 1764, who would be about seventeen or eighteen in 1780.

"Janet nin Iye Roy" (daughter of Aiodh with the red hair) was presumably also born before 1764, and possibly a MacKay, although there is a Florence Morison "nin Iye Gauloch" in Cnockbreac, less than 400 yards from Borley gives birth out of wedlock to a child Iye baptised in April 1780. The father Donald Reid is listed as married to someone else in April but marries Florence in July 1780!.

Iye Morison was in Croispol (again a few hundred yards from Borley) when his daughter Mary was born in 1769.

If Janet nin Iye was a Morison, she does not reappear in the Durness records. Florence has another child but there's no verifiable record of Mary nin Iye post 1769.

Offline Jeanette13

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Re: Donald of Clashneach & Mary Mackay
« Reply #17 on: Wednesday 05 June 19 08:35 BST (UK) »
In D R Clarke's diary, he said on 17 March 1837 "Another friend is gone – old Mr Ross of Musselborough by whom I was so hospitably entertained 2 months ago."
The first mention of "Mr John Ross"  was on 28 November 1835 and again on 27 Feb 1836. If I wrote 1838 it was a typo. Sorry. Jeanette