Author Topic: Father Charles Grant MacDonald  (Read 4774 times)

Offline Br1gau

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Re: Father Charles Grant MacDonald
« Reply #9 on: Tuesday 19 July 16 15:17 BST (UK) »
That's absolutely wonderful  :)  Thinking of your trip, I was just going to post that MonicaL would be along soon to give plenty of background on St Finan's.  What a truly beautiful cross.  A bit more ....

Charles MacDonald, Priest of Moidart 1859-1892
One of the first people to live in the “new” Mingarry was Charles Macdonald, Roman Catholic Priest of Moidart. His life has been well documented by Iain Thornber in the foreword of the 1989 Edition of Father Charles Book “Moidart or Among the Clanranalds”, and again by John Watts in introduction to the edition published in1997. Father Jerome Ireland also wrote a short account of the life of Father Charles, in one of his series of articles entitled “Some Priests of Moidart” published in the weekly parish news-sheets in the late 1960s.

Charles MacDonald was born of Clanranald stock, near Inverness in 1835. He was educated at Blair’s college, Aberdeen, and later at colleges and seminaries in France, and received Minor orders in Paris in 1857. He returned to Scotland in 1859 and was ordained Priest in 1859 in Glasgow. He arrived in Moidart in October 1859 and immediately set about learning Gaelic. From the various accounts, a picture emerges of a red-haired energetic, shorttemperedintelligent man. He enjoyed the company of wealthy, well educated friends and was an excellent conversationalist. He carried out his duties ministering to the local population with what appears to have been genuine affection, and was generally well-liked. He did not hesitate to travel around his wild parish on horseback in all weathers in spite of frequently indifferent health. Some of the local anecdotes related by John Watts are particularly revealing, such as the account of Father Charles intervention in fights that sometimes broke out between protestant and Catholics at the Old Bridge over the Shiel. The priest would “whip his parishioners home with a hazel stick”

He is best known for his book “Moidart or Among the Clanranalds” published in 1889, near the end of his life. Ill health had already caused him to spend a year in Egypt (1886-87) He was finally forced to give up his mission in Moidart in 1992 and died in Helenburgh in1894.  His body was returned to Moidart and interred on the Green Isle.
[PDF]High Mingarry - Highland Historic Environment Record
her.highland.gov.uk/hbsmrgatewayhighland/DataFiles/LibraryLinkFiles/184984.pdf

I knew I had a reference to hazel sticks somewhere!  I looked at Fr Chas MacDonald some time ago because of the subscriptions to his memorial cross.  A family ancestor, Donald Boyd, fervently Free Church, donated 2 guineas towards it; he was the sixth highest on the list. A brother in law of Fr Chas donated £5.  So I searched for a connection to D Boyd, but found none

Offline Kevin Malley

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Re: Father Charles Grant MacDonald
« Reply #10 on: Tuesday 19 July 16 21:19 BST (UK) »
Hi Folks,
Thanks for your interest in my ancestor he certainly was a character and I'm very proud to be related him.
Thanks for your query about mothers maiden name Annie, but I'm almost 100% sure it's Garden. Charles baptismal record (30/6/1835) states his parents as Alexander Mcdonald and Jessey Garden. Also have link sent to me by Nairnshire Family Trees website of the Garden family.
http://www.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=nairnshirearea&view=0&pid=26807&ver=158043
Thanks Monica L for that terrific photo of his Cross would love to go out and see it one day myself. Is the Isle a Clanranald burial ground?
Thanks Br1gau for that short account of Father Charles I have never seen that before! Very interesting I have took note of all that info. Love that image of this manic Priest running around wacking everyone with a stick!
I know the nephews surname is Babes on death cert. Father Charles sister Mary married a Richard Babes(China merchant) and apparently they had a daughter Jessica Macdonald Babes who married her 2nd husband in 1917 a famous Irish politician Paddy Little.
Also in that short bio I have of Father Charles it says he is a relative of Bishop Colin Grant of Aberdeen but have yet to join the dots on that one?
Regards
Kevin
Malley, McCloskey, O'Donnell, Bresland, Dermidy, MacDonald, Lacey, Thornton, Quinn, Barret, Brogan, McCahill, Dempsey, Gallagher

Offline MonicaL

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Re: Father Charles Grant MacDonald
« Reply #11 on: Tuesday 19 July 16 21:43 BST (UK) »
Kevin

Just a couple of links for background on St Finans Isle:

www.moidart.com/history-moidart/st-finans-isle
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahtf40cW-TY ....you can walk around!

The site is incredibly old. The location is breathtaking really (on a good day...and a bad day  ::)).

Monica

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Offline Br1gau

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Re: Father Charles Grant MacDonald
« Reply #12 on: Tuesday 19 July 16 21:47 BST (UK) »
It’s odd isn’t it?  I’ve had that info buried in my computer for several years, but when I read your post today all I could think of was Fr Charles MacDonald = hazel sticks!  Visual imagery I suppose – very potent!

Donald Boyd, Fort William merchant:  His donation of 2 guineas was very generous. I can only think it reflected respect for the man rather than his creed. There are a few newspaper articles about his death, but emphasis is in Aberdeen papers.  Nothing that we already know but can pass them on to you.

Send me your e-mail by PM if you would like his death cert.


Offline Kevin Malley

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Re: Father Charles Grant MacDonald
« Reply #13 on: Tuesday 19 July 16 22:16 BST (UK) »
Thanks for those links Monica it really does look stunning. Possibly a few ancestors buried on that Isle I reckon.
Thanks Br1gau also  I have PM my email address to you. Your ancestor may have been a good friend of his you never know.....
Malley, McCloskey, O'Donnell, Bresland, Dermidy, MacDonald, Lacey, Thornton, Quinn, Barret, Brogan, McCahill, Dempsey, Gallagher

Offline MonicaL

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Re: Father Charles Grant MacDonald
« Reply #14 on: Tuesday 19 July 16 22:31 BST (UK) »
Regarding Bishop Colin Cameron, he was born in 1832 in Glencairn, Aberdeenshire. Parents James Grant and Janet Cameron. Father James died in 1870. His parents show as James Grant, a farmer and a Margaret Luss (not sure on this surname). Mother Janet Cameron died in 1878. Her parents are given as Colin Cameron and Mary Durward.

If you have access to Ancestry, there is an online tree there http://person.ancestry.co.uk/tree/67167272/person/34159332387/facts

Can't easily see an obvious connection to MacDonald and Garden with the Bishop's parents, but there could be a whole array of possible links really.

Monica
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Offline Kevin Malley

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Re: Father Charles Grant MacDonald
« Reply #15 on: Tuesday 19 July 16 23:01 BST (UK) »
Thanks for that Monica, that info could well be very helpful. I noticed actually on that Nairnshire Family Tree link I posted that Jessie Garden had an Aunt Margaret married to a  Alexander Oneas Grant. Maybe could link this Alexander to the Bishop. Grant is a common name however may be difficult.
Malley, McCloskey, O'Donnell, Bresland, Dermidy, MacDonald, Lacey, Thornton, Quinn, Barret, Brogan, McCahill, Dempsey, Gallagher

Offline Peanutbutter

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Re: Father Charles Grant MacDonald
« Reply #16 on: Sunday 25 November 18 00:48 GMT (UK) »
Looking for any information on Jessie Garden married to James Ellis in 1864

Online Forfarian

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Re: Father Charles Grant MacDonald
« Reply #17 on: Sunday 25 November 18 09:07 GMT (UK) »
There's a book that lists all the people the government wanted to get their hands on after the 1745 Jacobite Rising. It might shed some light on the story of some of the brothers accompanying Bonnie Prince Charlie to France.

https://archive.org/stream/alistpersonscon00excigoog/alistpersonscon00excigoog_djvu.txt

PS In Scotland there is never a letter 'e' in whisky! That spelling is reserved for Irish and American whiskeys.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.