Author Topic: Donald and Mary Campbell (nee Bethune) - "Midlothian" (Skye to Aust) 1837  (Read 8644 times)

Offline Manning Memoir

  • RootsChat Pioneer
  • *
  • Posts: 1
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Donald and Mary Campbell (nee Bethune) - "Midlothian" (Skye to Aust) 1837
« on: Sunday 15 February 15 05:17 GMT (UK) »
I am looking for information on my ancestors Donald and Mary Campbell who emigrated to Australia in 1837 aboard the ship THE MIDLOTHIAN under the Rev. John Dunmore Lang migration scheme.

I live in Sydney and have found out very little information about them, especially any family details prior to their departure from Skye.

MARY BETHUNE was born in Uig, Isle of Skye, around 1801. DONALD CAMPBELL was also born on Skye around 1801. Donald married MARY BETHUNE at Bracadale Parish, Isle of Skye, Scotland in 1820 (they were both around 19 years old).  I am desperately trying to find out who their parents were.

Donald had a brother JOHN CAMPBELL who did not emigrate with them (unless he migrated elsewhere). I therefore conclude he might well have remained on Skye. Another sibling of Donald's, ANNE CAMPBELL, age 13, did migrate with Donald and Mary on The Midlothian.

Donald and Mary also had 4 CHILDREN travelling with them: 1) ROBERT CAMPBELL (my great grandfather), age 8 who was born 1829 in Bracadale, Inverness Shire, Isle of Skye; 2) ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, born 1830 in Uig, Isle of Skye (tragically little Archie, aged only 7, died of a fever on the voyage and was buried at sea); MARY CAMPBELL, born 1833 on Isle of Skye; and JOHN CAMPBELL, born 7 March, 1835, in Uig, Isle of Skye.

If you have any information about them, please let me know. I would be so grateful.

Thanks!

Offline Madeline Campbell

  • RootsChat Extra
  • **
  • Posts: 6
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Donald and Mary Campbell (nee Bethune) - "Midlothian" (Skye to Aust) 1837
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 17 March 15 08:11 GMT (UK) »
I am a fellow seeker of this information being a great grandchild of Donald and Mary's son John. I was not aware Donald had a brother John who stayed in Scotland. I would love to find out more if you have anything. I'm travelling to Skye later in the year and need clues on where to search for information. Would you be agreeable to email contact?

Offline MonicaL

  • RootsChat Honorary
  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 32,508
  • Girl with firewood, Morar 1910 - MEM Donaldson
    • View Profile
Re: Donald and Mary Campbell (nee Bethune) - "Midlothian" (Skye to Aust) 1837
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 17 March 15 20:35 GMT (UK) »
Hi to both of you  :)

Welcome to RootsChat.

You need both to post a few times more on the main board before your Private Message service (PMs) is activated. Personal emails can only be exchanged this way, to protect all from internet abuse etc.

Monica
Census information Crown Copyright, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline J11

  • RootsChat Veteran
  • *****
  • Posts: 506
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Donald and Mary Campbell (nee Bethune) - "Midlothian" (Skye to Aust) 1837
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday 18 March 15 10:10 GMT (UK) »
If you google the Highland Clearances for the Isle of Skye or Skye, the Famine of 1837, a wealth of information comes up that may well shed light on why your families left but will certainly provide a vivid context to the times in which they were living.


Offline Madeline Campbell

  • RootsChat Extra
  • **
  • Posts: 6
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Donald and Mary Campbell (nee Bethune) - "Midlothian" (Skye to Aust) 1837
« Reply #4 on: Friday 20 March 15 00:32 GMT (UK) »
Thank you for the information about where I might search although it is more in the nature of background information. Still hoping that someone out there might have information about Donald and Mary's respective families in Skye. None of their children returned to Skye.

Offline Madeline Campbell

  • RootsChat Extra
  • **
  • Posts: 6
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Donald and Mary Campbell (nee Bethune) - "Midlothian" (Skye to Aust) 1837
« Reply #5 on: Friday 20 March 15 05:46 GMT (UK) »
Hi again,
My understanding is that Donald and Mary were married in Uig where Donald was the innkeeper of the Uig Tavern. No record of the marriage appears to exist. Also that Robert and Archibald (who died en-route to Australia), were twins. I wonder if Donald's parents were John Campbell and Mary Munro who lived in Sleat which was Donald's birthplace. The dates seem to fit.

Offline Rosinish

  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 14,239
  • PASSED & PAST
    • View Profile
Re: Donald and Mary Campbell (nee Bethune) - "Midlothian" (Skye to Aust) 1837
« Reply #6 on: Sunday 05 April 15 07:55 BST (UK) »
Do Donald & Mary's death certs not give their respective father's names.

Annie
South Uist, Inverness-shire, Scotland:- Bowie, Campbell, Cumming, Currie

Ireland:- Cullen, Flannigan (Derry), Donahoe/Donaghue (variants) (Cork), McCrate (Tipperary), Mellon, Tol(l)and (Donegal & Tyrone)

Newcastle-on-Tyne/Durham (Northumberland):- Harrison, Jude, Kemp, Lunn, Mellon, Robson, Stirling

Kettering, Northampton:- MacKinnon

Canada:- Callaghan, Cumming, MacPhee

"OLD GENEALOGISTS NEVER DIE - THEY JUST LOSE THEIR CENSUS"

Offline Madeline Campbell

  • RootsChat Extra
  • **
  • Posts: 6
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Donald and Mary Campbell (nee Bethune) - "Midlothian" (Skye to Aust) 1837
« Reply #7 on: Sunday 05 April 15 08:23 BST (UK) »
Sadly there are no names of the parents on their respective death certificates. I wonder whether we can presume Donald's father's name was Robert as this was the name of Donald and Mary's eldest son. Also that Mary Bethune's mother was called Mary as Donald and Mary's only daughter was Mary.  Assuming of course, that they followed the Scottish naming conventions.
Donald's sister Ann who aged 13 years emigrated with Donald and Mary and their children, may provide the key but we have not been able to find any record of her post arrival in New South Wales. We do not know where she was born on Skye.
All information and suggestions welcomed.

Madeline

Offline ChristinaG

  • RootsChat Extra
  • **
  • Posts: 3
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Donald and Mary Campbell (nee Bethune) - "Midlothian" (Skye to Aust) 1837
« Reply #8 on: Saturday 17 March 18 06:02 GMT (UK) »
Another one of the family beginning research! I am Christina (Macleod Campbell), gggdaughter of Donald through Alexander.
I agree with Madeline about Donald's mother and father being Robert and Mary because of the naming traditions, but wonder about the absence of Bethune as a son's name, and whether Mary's father was in fact Archibald Bethune, but can find no evidence on parish records.
I note that on the Immigration of Assisted Migrants form the family had when they arrived on the 'Midlothian' there is no evidence cited under the heading about Baptism - perhaps the minister at Uigh was not very good at keeping records! Also to be noted that in the remarks both Donald and Mary were literate, presumably in English.
Another thought - there are a few newspaper articles in  1837-8 about the dreadful conditions on board the Midlothian - the Captain & Purser apparently starved the migrants, intending to sell the rations provided when they arrived in the colony, and even sailed past the Cape of Good Hope because the state of the ship would be discovered. This does not square with the fond reminiscences published in the Clarence Gazette, with the poem etc - surely you would not publish something like that if you had been starved and your children had died from dysentery and malnutrition!
'Trove' has some interesting articles and Letters to the Editor re the Dunmore Lang family using the strong young clansmen from the 'Midlothian' as labour on their farm rather than offering them the farms they were promised!