Cille Choirill Brae Lochaber: Archibald Mcdonald & Ann Gillies

[LindsayMC]

I was interested to read the post written by Unachan that a tree had been prepared by Father Andrew MacDonell. I am descended from Annie McRae who married Archibald MacDonell and their family (except for Archibald who by then had died) appeared in the 1841 Fort August census under the name 'McDonald'. The family emigrated on the ship 'Asia' to Australia and subsequently moved to the Rangitikei district of New Zealand. There is a tree in existence that we are aware of but it shows the  connection with the McRaes instead of the MacDonells. Is it possible to obtain a copy of the tree that Unachan has so that we in NZ can compare the two ?  Regards, Lindsay Campbell

[Sarah63]

Dear Kath,

Thank you so much for coming back to me...My family always believed that Father Coll had another sister that isn't on your geneology called Clementina who married Allan macdonald of Aonachan (unachan) iin 1838 ,which I believe is the old name for Spean Bridge. So we believe that Angus Mor Drochaid had 6 children, not 5.
Clementina died in 1841 or thereabouts, she had one child called Angus who is my great great grandfather. Apart from word of mouth the only proof that I have that father Coll and Clementina were brother and sister is  an article published back in the 195O's. It states that father Coll seem to decide overnight to become a priest after the death of  his favourite sister.
Catherine lived for many years, her first daughter born in 1842 was called Clementina, possibly in memory of her dead sister. Flora and mary I do not know when they died. However if they died after 1843 it would substantiate what we believe further.

It is ironic that due to the information on the web that misses off Clementina  I feel that I have to prove where she fits in. I'm also dubious as to the primary souce of the family trees floating around on the web as people are lifting information from family trees , not naming the source and the mistakes are being replicated over and over again. For example Father Coll was a catholic priest, to my knowledge a catholic priest is always called Father, not  Reverand.
 I myself made a mistake on another branch of the family. I assumed that a child was the child of the mother and the father...it was only when I obtained the birth certificate that I found out that she was illegitimate...which from a family tree perspective makes a big difference. However people had copied my information and I have noticed they haven't updated and corrected their trees.

If you would like further information on my branch of the family please  contact me on the ancestry.co.uk  website my user name is ohelen and then I can open up my tree for you to see. Angus ( son of clementina) had 11 children so it has become quite a big family .
May I ask where you obtained the geneology below?

If you have any information or hear anything that could help me find Clementinas place in history I would be truly grateful. My mother is so frustrated as she says why would anyone say someone was their uncle if he wasn't ? But as a researcher  I do not believe  word of mouth is sufficient...and without a little more proof I do not feel that I can bolt on Clementina to the family without something more tangible.   I was always told that one family member had died back in 1904 of Syphillis, his name was whispered and the sense of disgrace palpable. I obtained a copy of his death certificate...he died of Pythisis,  which was a  Victorian medical term for tuberculosis..  Poor man ...so you can see why I don;t always trust word of mouth..yet there is an essence of truth there.  Middle class families did tend to keep quiet about TB as it was percieved as a working class illness, so if they were saying Pythiis in hushed tones, I suppose you can see how assocaiation and chinese whispers turned it into Syphillis !

Unachan is desended through Angus  mor Droichoid brother Archibald and mary mackillops mother was the daughter of a third brother called Donald. So this makes my clementina the cousin of mary mackillops mother, Flora. I am sure that unachan will be in touch, as you see from a previous post he is away from home working at the moment., but he does know alot about this family, and I believe that he has done alot of research.
Please do contact me on ancestry if you want to see my tree and  I will keep you updated as to what I find...

very best wishes, helen

Hi Helen, I too am trying to verify this Clementina Macdonald, we have the same family story. My grandmother Lilian Macdonald (Newark) was the daughter of Angus macdonald (Newark) who in turn was the son of Angus macdonald (Unachan). We have similar anecdotes of Angus' mother who died in or just after his birth, his father then resenting him and remarrying, of Angus taking a beating at the hand if his father after a fight with stepbrothers and going to live with his priest uncle. Have you had any joy in proving connections a lot of the trees floating around have lots of errors in them so I know finding definitive answers isn't going to be easy.
Any help would be really great
Thanks
Sarah

[Gus58]

I just posted this elsewhere, but it may have some implications here. "all above info could be wrong, my 3rd great grandfather is Archibald of Uriarra Canberra, but my fathers dna test suggests we are of the Clanranald line" which to my understanding is NOT the Cranachan McaDonalds. I would like to find a close relation of Mary McKillop (as she was a Cranachan) and compare dna to our line. Cheers, Angus McDonald, son of Donald Hedley, son of Alexander Hedley, son of Alexander Joseph, son of John, son of Archibald.

[Dominus Insularum]

The Cranachan line is part of my line via my Aunty Mary...They are related to the MacDonalds of Keppoch which includes Somerled 1113 to 1164...John of Islay Dominus Insularum 1336.....his father Aonghas òg who helped his relation Robert the Bruce consolidate his power via the family fleet at Lagavulin bay Islay....Bruce says to Aonghas before Bannockburn "is cunbhalach mo dhòchas annad" my hope is constant in thee.......My MacKinnon line is Mishnish on Mull and both lines go back to Colla Uais died 337ad high king of Ireland (Ard Rí)

[Skoosh]

I believe the youngest daughter of Alexander MacDonnel of Keppoch, Charlotte, was married to Alexander MacDonald the prominent drover of Garva Beg, Laggan, late 18th cent'.

https://descentfromadam.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/garvabeg-keppoch-macdonald-home/


Skoosh.

[Gus58]

As previously stated, there is no Cranachan link for Archibald McDonald of Burra/Uriarra. My fathers big Y dna results are in and we have CLD12 positive which is the Reginald 1st Chief of Clanranald and Fiona of Lennox line. Out of his children, one had the mutation CLD50(Roderick). Archibalds line is negative to CLD50, so that rules him out. That leaves Allan (McDonells of Knoydart) or Donald (McDonalds of Glengarry) or Dougall. I’m betting Glengarry as most remained Catholic like our Archibald. More soon hopefully. But no Cranachan, no Robert the Bruce and no Mary McKillop.

[Gus58]

Not sure if this is thread is still being read but I’ll update anyhow. As of 2021 we have been listed under McDonalds of Knoydart by the Clan Donald USA DNA Project.  Which is Clanranald. &&4QIZ5 is the Clan Donald code.

[MandaStemp]

Hi Angus, I'm also a descendent of Archibald McDonald and Margaret Ross McDonald. My 4th Great Grandparents. Thank you for sharing the info of your fathers DNA result, the confirmation of the "no link" to the Cranachan line helps.
I have just arrived home from visiting Scotland and I had a cuppa in the Glenelg Pub/Tavern.
Cheers