McMurchy of Southend

[lmfamilyresearch]

Hi Looby,

Thanks so much.  Success!!  I even found a possible birth/baptism for Isabella as 1804.  This matches with what an ancestor of Isabella's son Archibald told me.  The gravestone indicates that Isabella was 53 years when she died but as you indicated that would have made her very young (7 years old) when she gave birth to Archibald.  I also happened to find a possible birth for her mother Ann Henderson and her father Malcom McNeil.

Liisa

[loobylooayr]

Hi Liisa,
I saw that birth/baptism for Isabella in 1804 too and it looks like it could be her.
Isabella McNeill christened 23 Jan 1804 at Southend Argyll - father Malcolm McNeill.
Looks like she has a sister called Rose christened 6 Jun 1813 as above.

Archibald was born in 1817 https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XY4Q-SPJ 
that would have made Isabella 13 years old when she gave birth to him (assuming she was baptized as a baby, which she more than likely would have been). That's young but not impossible   
Was she Archibald's mother....or could Donald have been married before? Hate to throw a spanner in the works but just a suggestion to consider.

Looby

[lmfamilyresearch]

Hi Looby,

That's an interesting thought.  I don't know if she was Archibald's mother.  The OPR for his birth just provides his father's name.  I can't even find the OPR birth/baptism for my ancestor Catherine (Archie's sister) and she was born around 1822.  I know that Archie, Catherine and at least one or two other siblings moved to Canada (I think one of them moved to the USA).  I've been told that one died at sea but I haven't tried to prove that.  Archie and Catherine married siblings but anything before their time in Canada is hard to trace.  Actually, even part of their time in Canada is hard to trace.  I only know Catherine's marriage date because of a typed document about the history of a property.  I do know her death date due to statutory registration and letters written to her husband.  It is a mystery but that's part of the fun.

Liisa

[lmfamilyresearch]

Hi angusm1939,

I'm a little late in my reply but thanks so much for the history.  I haven't had a chance to really look at this but I definitely will.

Just to give you some specifics to look for, a Muireadhach from the chief bardic family in Ireland committed a murder and had to flee to Scotland about 1213, becknown as Albanach, Murdoch of Alba or Scotland. After going on the Fifth crusda and pilgrimage to Rome, he became bard (poet, historian) to Donald of the Isles the progenitor of the MacDonalds. The descendants became MacMhuirich or MacVurrich and the next one to look for is Lachlan Mor MacMhuirich who gave the incitement to battle in 1411 when a later Donald MacDonald invaded Aberdeenshire to press his claims to be Earl of Ross. Lachlan's reward was the lands at Cattadale and Gartvain etc. very close to the Castle of Dunaverty in Southend, one of the principal strongholds and feasting halls of the Lordship of the Isles. There Dughall Albanach MacMhuirich wrote MS1467, perhaps the most important document about the genealogies of the clans; a Lachlan was the Archipoeta in 1485 and in 1505 through to 1545 John MacMhuirich had the lease of Cattadale etc, initially 'for his songs' ie. as a bard but, as the Crown had abolished the Lordship of the Isles in 1493, the role as bard there died out, and John had to begin paying rent. Before that, he and another John and a Giolla Colluim mac an Ollaimh, perhaps the first John's brother, all had verse collected in the Book of the Dean of Lismore about 1520. There are plenty of other men to keep a look out for over the centuries but, given the surname, you might like to focus on a William McMurchy who flourished further north in Kintyre as a bard and piper about 1775 and was still producing MacMhuirich material for the outside world.

[lmfamilyresearch]

Hi,

I actually somewhat recently did figure out that Donald was married previously to a Nany Kelly (Ann Kell/Ann Kelly?), they married in 1816.  Their marriage OPR just says Nany Kelly.  I have also found two birth OPRs for children of Nany Kelly and Donald McMurchy, an Alexander and a Donald (one in 1818 and the other in 1820).  Since these two were born after Archibald (1817) then I'm thinking it's safe to assume that Archibald's mother was Nany.  I also suspect that Catherine's mother is Nany and I'm going with the assumption that the 4th son (James who was born in 1831) is also a child of Donald and Nany.  Donald and Isabella married in 1833.  I have not been able to find a death OPR for either Nany or Donald and nor do I know where Nany is buried.

Liisa

Hi Liisa,
I saw that birth/baptism for Isabella in 1804 too and it looks like it could be her.
Isabella McNeill christened 23 Jan 1804 at Southend Argyll - father Malcolm McNeill.
Looks like she has a sister called Rose christened 6 Jun 1813 as above.

Archibald was born in 1817 https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XY4Q-SPJ 
that would have made Isabella 13 years old when she gave birth to him (assuming she was baptized as a baby, which she more than likely would have been). That's young but not impossible   
Was she Archibald's mother....or could Donald have been married before? Hate to throw a spanner in the works but just a suggestion to consider.

Looby