BRICK WALL!
Hello,
To warn you, this is a bit of a long one, and quite likely a long shot but I am at a brick wall with my family history research. I have tried to be specific below so as to not create confusion.
I am looking for any family trees (ancestors, not descendants) or hints of Niel Black, an Australian notable "pioneer pastoralist and politician", as written about by a Russell Ward in an
Australian Dictionary of Biography in 1969.
Niel Black "born on 26 August 1804 at Kilbridemore in the Cowal district, Argyllshire, Scotland, the second son of Archibald Black, farmer, and his wife Janet, née Macchananaich (Buchanan). His father, a tenant of the Duke of Argyll, was killed by a fall from his horse in 1808. Niel's native language was Gaelic but he early became fluent in English. In youth and early manhood he gained a thorough knowledge of practical farming in Argyll."
He then travelled to Australia (where myself and my ancestors since then are from) and "he bought in 1840, in the Western District near Lake Terang, the stock and rights to a 43,520-acre (17,612 ha) run which he renamed Glenormiston. "
There is a lot of information about Niel himself but it is the generation above that I cannot seem to find a single piece of information on! I have searched everything available to me and have searched in variants of the Black family name (Blake, Blac etc), variants of Buchanan and various spellings of the Gaelic Macchananaich. There is even less about the Buchanan side it seems. I have searched every single site I can think of with just about every variant name, and I can't find them on any grave search websites.
I am thinking that as Niel was a native Gaelic speaker and his mothers name is even written in the biography as Macchananaich, that perhaps the (often changed around) Black surname was a different version before he reached Australia. It all seems to check out area and clan-wise (Lamont; and MacPherson for the Macchananaich branch of Buchanans) but I perhaps need help from someone who knows the area or has done Black or Buchanan family research.
The only things I know are that both surnames are seemingly localised to the Inverchaolain/Kilmodan/Kilbridemore areas and before the 1700s there are no searchable Black family members at all in those areas. Which hints at a surname variant.
It doesn't help that Archibald is a localised popular Argyll name (the Dukes of Argyll having been named Archibald for several generations) so there are a lot of Archibald Black's to confuse it with and to try and research. None have fit quite right yet.
If anyone has any information at all it would be greatly appreciated as I have spent many hours trying to decipher this one. Archibald Black is a direct line from me and it would be a shame to not ever learn any more of the Black's. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you may have any ideas, clues, facts, trees or if I have missed anything as I am not local.
Thank you Kindly in Advance