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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Caithness => Topic started by: nikitah on Friday 21 December 12 19:50 GMT (UK)

Title: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Friday 21 December 12 19:50 GMT (UK)
Hi I have a real brain teaser, hope someone can help, My Mowat's are William Mowat baptised !0 Jan 1808 Thurso parents John Mowat and Isobel Miller, abode Buckies from freereg and Jane Tait, other children born to John and Iisobel are James 1799 Halkirk abode Calder, Elizabeth 1804  Halkirk abode Calder, mothers name transcribed as ELIZABETH and John 1810 Halkirk abode Westerdale,John Mowat and Isabel Miller married  1796 at Bower Both their abodes Thura.  Alastair Philpps in his book !My Uncle George" refers to William's daughter. Isabella Sinclair and says the Mowat's came out of Strathnaver during the clearances as I understand it the clearances in Strathnaver happened 1818/1819 The Rev' Donald Sage in his book "Memorabilia Domestica"  also says the Mowat's  were burned out of Strathnaver, as you can see by the dates of their baptisms they seem to have been in Westerdale before the clearance of Strathnaver. So this is my problem are the history books wrong , or am I missing something ?, any help will be much appreciated, Merry Christmas to you all. Nikitah ::) 
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: spittalhill on Friday 21 December 12 23:04 GMT (UK)
Firstly, the Clearances from Strathnaver started much earlier than 1818, so your Mowats could well have been victims of the Clearances. Secondly Mowat is quite a common surname in Caithness, many of them being there well before the Clearances. I have Mowats in my own family tree in other parts of Caithness from the early 18thC.
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: Skoosh on Friday 21 December 12 23:16 GMT (UK)
Nik, Black's Surnames has a page of Mowat stuff going back to 1200. Only a wee bit about Caithness and they were also in Orkney & Shetland, one of them, an Axel Mowat was an Admiral in the Norwegian navy in the 1600's and one of the richest men in the country. There's no mention of Strathnaver, I would have thought those folk had Gaelic names?
 "My Uncle George" is a superb book, my g't grannie was in his congregation at Fearn.

Bests
Skoosh.
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Friday 21 December 12 23:34 GMT (UK)
Thanks Spittalhill, I think we have spoken before. Yes I see what you are saying but my Mowat's are the ones in Westerdale, , Isabella Sinclair ms Mowat was the elder sister of my Donaldina and Isabella was the grandmother of Alastair Phillips in his book my uncle George he says and I quote"My Grandmother Isabella was a Mowat out of Strathnaver, Whence her parents, crofters of Grummore, had been evicted during the savage Sutherland clearances " etc her parents being William Mowat and iJane Tait and I can find them in all the census in and around Halkirk William wasn't born until 1808, so I'm a bit confused, His parents seem to be in Caithness from birth to marriage Donald Sage also says these Mowat's were in Strathnaver, Thanks once again Nikitah.     
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Friday 21 December 12 23:50 GMT (UK)
Thanks Skoosh it takes me an age to type so I might not get back right away. I'll go and look that one up it sounds interesting . Read some of Rev' Donald Sages earlier and he says the same as Alastair Phillips but I can't work out how they could be in two places at once. You are right about the book, I lent mine to an Uncle who was Dunbeath born and bred, he thought it was hard going but I loved every bit of it, but then i have a vivid imagination and the characters just jumped out at me, they are definitely the characters I remember in Caithness :) Thank you, Nikitah
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: spittalhill on Friday 21 December 12 23:59 GMT (UK)
My own ggg-grandfather was also cleared from Grummore, in 1819, a Mackay not a Mowat, so I guess they would have been near neighbours in that township. BTW, I thought Alistair Phillips' book was a great read. I remember the Sinclairs of Westerdale he refers to, from my childhood. They had the small shop there.
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: spittalhill on Saturday 22 December 12 00:11 GMT (UK)
Skoosh is right. Mowat is a surname common in the coastal fringe of Caithness and in Orkney and Shetland. Given that Nik mentioned Buckies, Thurso and Thura, Bower for William Mowat's parents place of residence in his original post, and this is correct, I wonder if his Mowats originated from that part of Caithness and then moved to Strathnaver after the children were born with unfortunate consequences!
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Saturday 22 December 12 15:44 GMT (UK)
Thanks to you both, please can you tell me how I find Nik Black's page? he seems to be referring to my Mowat's. Spittalhill when did the clearances start in Strathnaver?, I thought Rev Sage said December 1818. On another branch of the tree I have the Ross family from Clyne, Roderick Ross was the Father of  Donald who married Dolina Mowat, Roderick was the son of John Ross and Catherine Sutherland, I've read somewhere that the Sutherland's ended in Rogart after being burned out,  Roderick's sister Williamina married John Mackay the blacksmith at Berriedale, Many thanks, Nikitah  :)     
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: Skoosh on Saturday 22 December 12 20:12 GMT (UK)
Nik,  try a search for "Strathnaver Clearances" on    http://www.electricscotland.com/

Skoosh.
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Saturday 22 December 12 20:39 GMT (UK)
Thanks Scoosh, will do. found something earlier very interesting, about Axl   Mowat, was the first and only  Baron in Norway , then a bit about his life as a Admiral , and life of his children but nothing to tie him in to the Caithness Mowat's. I'll go and have another look, Many thanks Nikitah :)     
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: spittalhill on Saturday 22 December 12 20:56 GMT (UK)
The Clearance of Grummore started in 1814, but the final 16 houses were cleared and burned in 1819, according to the entry on the RCAHMS website. There are also some good photographs on the Geograph website.
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Saturday 22 December 12 21:05 GMT (UK)
Thank you, I don't think I will have time for Christmas, too much reading to do. catch you later Nikitah :)
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Saturday 22 December 12 23:08 GMT (UK)
So here's my conclusion with help from you all, John Mowat and Isobel Miller married 1796 Bower abode Thura had children in various places in and around Halkirk from then until 1810, between 1810 and the 1841 census settled in Grummore then Patrick Sellers arrives burns their wee croft and they head back to family and fiends back in Halkirk, does this sound feasible,? Nikitah
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: spittalhill on Sunday 23 December 12 09:10 GMT (UK)
Sounds like a reasonable scenario.
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Sunday 23 December 12 19:34 GMT (UK)
Thank you Spittalhill,we'll have to get Alastair Phillips ( if he is still with us) to write a second edition add  the Mowat's and your Mackay's living side by side in Grummore, then fleeing into Caithness. Have a great Christmas, Nikitah
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: Skoosh on Sunday 23 December 12 20:30 GMT (UK)
Some dramatis personae from the clearances, 

    http://www.fernandocandido.com/scotland/clearances-a-b-html

Alistair Phillips has long gone the same road as his Uncle George I'm afraid.

Have a nice Xmas, and if I get the lottery up I'll be buying that mill at Dale on the Thurso, if it's still there.

Skoosh.
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Sunday 23 December 12 20:55 GMT (UK)
thanks Scoosh, if you do get the mill you'll have to do B+ B then we can all visit. Spittalhill maybe just a coincidence but a witness at the baptism of John and Isobel's Son John born at Westerdale 1810 was a Neil Mackay. Nikitah
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: Skoosh on Sunday 23 December 12 21:21 GMT (UK)
Nik, Lottery winners don't do B & B, there will be no charge. Hope you like salmon?

http://www.caithness.org/atoz/westerdale/dalemill.htm

Skoosh.
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Sunday 23 December 12 21:31 GMT (UK)
Love it :) see yo there then. Nikitah 
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: spittalhill on Sunday 23 December 12 21:50 GMT (UK)
Neil Mackay not related as far as I know, Nikitah. There were Mackays at Strathmore, however. One was a gamekeeper in my time living in Spittal in the 1940s/50s.
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Sunday 23 December 12 22:17 GMT (UK)
Oh well worth a try, Roderick Ross was  also a Gamekeeper, his son Donald trained as a bootmaker with John Sinclair at Westerdale, later moved to Reiss and had his own business there the building still stands and belongs to some of his descendants Many thanks, Nikitah.
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: johnnyleech on Wednesday 25 November 15 08:41 GMT (UK)
It appears to me that Mowat is about as common as a surname in Scotland as Smith is in England.Correct me if I am wrong but it seems that there have been two different groups of Mowat settlements in Scotland,one by the Vikings and the other by the Normans coming up from the south.These are the Mowats that I am related to.They were in the Canisbay and Freswick area.
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Thursday 26 November 15 15:06 GMT (UK)
Hello, johnyleech, thanks for your interest, it's a long time since I've been here, I'll have to put my thinking cap on. If I remember rightly all the Mowats are said to have come from Wales then settled around Aberdeen before spreading to Northern Scotland, I've not made a connection with your Mowat's but neither have I  got any further back than John and Isabella. My husbands Grandmother always maintained they were descendants of the Vikings, but which branch I've no idea. If you find anything else I'd be very interested, Many thanks Nikitah.
Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: Scottish Janealogy on Monday 30 November 15 10:02 GMT (UK)
This may be irrelevant but could be worth bearing in mind.  The Rev James Bremner, minister of Walls and Flotta, in the Old Statistical Account (1790s),  states that the population of the parish had increased by 71 between 1788 and 1794 "what accounts for this increase of 71 is, the settlement of a colony of Highlanders who had been forced to emigrate from Strathnaven [sic] where their farms were converted into sheep pasture."  See http://stat-acc-scot.edina.ac.uk/link/1791-99/Orkney/Walls%20and%20Flotta/ (select the non-subscribers link on the first page)

If people came to Orkney, some probably went elsewhere too. I have vague plans to look at the group who came to Walls - some day.

This link may also be useful for background: http://www.strathnavermuseum.org.uk/genealogy/

Title: Re: Mowat Westerdale
Post by: nikitah on Monday 30 November 15 20:39 GMT (UK)
Thank you,Scottish Janealogy and many  thanks  for the links. I live in hope that some day something will come to light. Alistair Phillips and Uncle George have caused a lot of sleepless nights. We visited Strathnaver a few years ago, a wonderful experience, sadly we never got to the museum, who knows, maybe some day we will get there. Take care, Nikitah