Hi All,
Trying to track down the family of one John MacKenzie (my ggg-grandfather). His wife was Ann McKay and according to a family tree my grandfather scribbled down for my auntie many years ago, they had two sons Kenneth (b. ~ 1811) and George (b. ~1813; my gg-grandfather), and at one point lived in the 'Heights of Strathpeffer'. We've managed to track down the descendents of these 2 sons (Kenneth emigrated to Victoria, Australia, while George moved to the Black Isle and possibly Kirkhill near Inverness), but what we're interested in is other siblings of theirs, and Johns origin.
From the IGI there is a John MacKenzie and Ann McKay who married in Fodderty in 1808, with children listed as:
Catherine, b. 1818, Fodderty
Alexander, b. 1820, Fodderty
Lizy, b. 1823, Fodderty
Janet, b. 1826, Fodderty
Christy, b. 1831, Fodderty
but no mention of a Kenneth or George. Given the gap between the marriage and first child recorded in Fodderty, it's possible the family may have moved elsewhere between the marriage and Catherine's birth. We're reasonably sure it's the same family as John and Ann turn up in the 1841 census as living in the 'Heights of Keppoch' (not far from the town of Strathpeffer, and in the Strathpeffer valley), with some of these children. So this matches with my grandfathers notes.
Again from my grandfathers notes, John came from Ullapool, or at least lived there at some point. From IGI there are baptism records from the Lochbroom parish for a Kenneth and George MacKenzie, with father John in 1811 and 1813 respectively. We speculate (which is always dangerous with genealogy), that John may have came from the Ullapool region, met and married Ann in Fodderty, moved back west for a few years, before moving permanently back to Fodderty.
Based upon the 1841 census age, John would have been born in 1780-1781, and death year is unknown.
If anyone could help shed some light on our family tree that would be great.
Cheers
Darryl