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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Sutherland => Topic started by: Donnie Duvall on Friday 13 November 15 21:47 GMT (UK)
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I would appreciate hearing from any Macdonalds from Durness, Scourie or Tongue, who may know anything about the origins of their families and of any possible links with the Hebrides.
Many thanks
Donnie Macdonald
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Hi Donnie,
It may be a good idea to list names & dates of people who you know to be related to Hebridean MacDonald's.
Which Hebridean islands are you most interested in as the MacDonald's were widespread?
Annie
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Many thanks for your reply
I live on Lewis, but know very little about my paternal Macdonald line, both the written records and the oral tradition on this side of my family are quite vague.
Because of this gap in my knowledge, I undertook a Y-DNA test a number of years ago which uncovered matches with Macdonalds of Sutherland and Skye descent. I also read that some of the Durness Macdonalds were descended from Skye people who moved North at some point in the 18th Century and wonder if that may indicate a tenuous link.
William was a very common forename in my paternal Macdonald line, the family were apparently known as the Dearg (Red) Macdonalds.
I wonder if my paternal ancestors may have come from North West Sutherland, given its proximity to Lewis?
Many Thanks again
Donnie Macdonald
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There were a number of MacDonalds from Skye moved to Durness in the late 18th century, but the local parish records don't record anyone in Durness from the Isle of Lewis. One Ewan MacDonald was a shepherd in Balnakeil married to Flora MacLeod, and names don't come much more "Skye" than that. I suspect he was the brother of the first John Oag MacDonald in the Durness records, who was married to one Eric MacVee, also listed as from Skye.
I am descended from the second John Oag MacDonald (b. 1777), who may have been the son of Ewan and Flora,
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Many thanks for getting in touch.
I wonder what led these Skye Macdonalds to move to North West Sutherland?
Are you a Macdonald?
I would be interested to know of any Macdonalds from Durness or North West Sutherland who may have their DNA tested.
Regarding a Lewis connection, I know that many of the Morrisons from NW Sutherland were descended from North Lewis Morrisons who took refuge in Sutherland after a failed feud with the Macleods. There a lot of Mackays in Lewis too. Presumably there was a fair amount of North Minch traffic, probably before the advent of written records.
Thanks again
Donnie
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Donnie,
You have still not supplied names & dates which would help immensely.
Other's reading posts, like to acquaint themselves with names as well as dates, not just surnames as some people reading your post may not know of a link until they can connect forenames & dates as well as maiden names.
Annie.
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"I wonder what led these Skye Macdonalds to move to North West Sutherland?"
Alexander MacDonald, 9th Baronet of Sleat was an Anglophile absentee landlord who raised the rents on his estates, and evicted many of the poorer tenants from their holdings. During his chieftainship, several tacksmen in Skye gave up their leases and emigrated. From Sleat across to Eddrachillis Bay is a fairly short journey by boat, and the MacDonalds spread out from there as cattlemen.
I have a distant cousin the USA who has done DNA testing but nobody I know in the UK has done it.
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A DNA result won't help a connection without Births, Marriages & Death results to confirm blood ancestry which all includes names & dates which are not given as yet by Donnie but are needed to climb the tree.
Annie
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I remember coming across a MacDonald family in Durness with a Skye origin. There was a Neil in the family. I think they disappear off the record after the 1851 census, though. A well known MacDonald family from Durness and then Melness turned out to have come north with the Munroes many centuries back. Think they were also known as MacAddies. They are decidedly R1b, though. They had hoped there would have been a link with the Keppoch MacDonalds through intermarriage with the MacKays, but that proved false.
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There were two men called Neil MacDonald in Durness descended from John Oag MacDonald, a cattleman from Skye who arrived at Balnakeil around 1810 having previously worked at Eddrachilles.
The elder Neil was born in 1815 and last appears on the Census, listed as aged 20 (he was in fact 24) at the family croft on Sangobeg in 1841. There is no trace of him after 1841. He might be the one living in Farr in 1851, but as there was already a Neil MacDonald there in 1841 it'd probably unlikely
The younger Neil was born in 1868, emigrated to Rhode Island, maried, had two surviving children, and died in 1946. Neil has several surviving grandcildren in the USA. His brother's family retained ties with Durness that continue to the present day.
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The other two Neil MacDonalds on record about those years in the parish of Farr were natives of Strathnaver. One was born in Swordly, the son of Alexander, the son of Donald, with his family having been cleared from Carnachy in 1816, if I remember correctly. The other was Neil, son of Donald, son of Hugh, the family having been cleared from Dallangwell in Strath Strathy in 1816 to Brawl. Donald was a native of Portskerra.
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Without looking him up, I'd effectively ruled out any connection between Neil in Farr and Neil in Durness. There might be a distant family connection, as there were virtually no MacDonalds on the north coast in the late 18th century, but it's no surprise they were not the same man.