MacMaster/McMaster.

[isobelw]

John was the son of Ewen MacMaster and Margaret Stalker. He married Margaret MacPhee in Knoydart in 1921 and died in 1954 and is buried with his wife and parents in Roshven Burying Ground. The MacMaster family in Knoydart were all interrelated. There appears to have been three brothers, Ronald, Angus and Archibald. John was Archibald’s grandson. His father was Archibald’s son Ewan ( born about 1846).

[x Caz x]

Thank you for this information. Do you know if they were any relation to Ronald and Mary (Cameron) MacMaster?

[isobelw]

Ronald was the one who was married to Mary Cameron. As far as I can ascertain the John McMaster  who was in Knoydart in1911 ( age 34) was the great nephew of Ronald. Ronald’s brother Archibald was John’s grandfather.Ronald and Archibald were both sons of Duncan Mcmaster, Foxhunter. Their mother’s surname was Stewart. According to Archibald’s death certificate her name was Mary Stewart but on Ronald’s she is  just down as blank Stewart. Both Ronald and Archibald were Gamekeepers. Ronald died in 1906 at Runaval, Knoydart age 78. Archibald died in 1880 at Airor, Knoydart age about 66 ( his wife was Lilley McDonald). Archibald and Lilley’s son Ewen was the father of John above.

[x Caz x]

This provides names to research and hopefully find living relatives of them to rule out or confirm DNA with. Thank you very much

[x Caz x]

I've had time to think, and unsure if John could be my grandfather's father. His mother was 21 when she had him and John was 34....so there's quite an age gap. I think we're on the right track with the relations beyond John, but something is niggling that it's possibly not him. What do you think?

[isobelw]

It may not be John although he certainly seems to have been around at the time. I don’t think the age difference is so great as to be completely discounted. Whoever the McMaster father was he was almost certainly a descendant of Duncan McMaster, Fox Hunter, and Mary Stewart,  as all the McMasters in Glenelg at that time link back back to them. Duncan and Mary were living in Glenelg in 1841 ( in a property called Mallaig) along with sons Ewen and Ronald. Their other son Archibald was also living in Glenelg in 1841. All three sons then married and had family in Glenelg.

[Forfarian]

Duncan and Mary were living in Glenelg in 1841 ( in a property called Mallaig)

The parish of Glenelg is very extensive, and it includes the north shore of Loch Morar.

The Macmaster household is one of four enumerated together in Enumeration District 7 in the 1841 census. Other places in the same ED include Kinlochmorar, Stoule, Bracora, Beorad, Tarbet, Ardintigh, Swordland, Brinicory, Glasnacardoch and Buorblich, all of which can be found on the First Edition of the six-inch Ordnance Survey Map and most of which are still named on the modern 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map.

Mallaig, in particular, is shown on that map as a crofting township a little to the east of the present town and port of the same name. See https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=15.4&lat=57.00900&lon=-5.81417&layers=5&right=ESRIWorld. The 1865 Valuation Roll records that Lord Lovat was proprietor of Mallaig.

All the other McMasters in the parish of Glenelg are at Ellenreoch, which is Eileanreach, a short distance south of the Kirkton of Glenelg. See https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=15.9&lat=57.20030&lon=-5.63259&layers=5&right=ESRIWorld

In the mid-19th century the only sensible way to get from Ellenreoch to Mallaig was by boat.

The shortest alternative route today if you don't have access to a boat would be by the Glenelg-Kylerhea ferry https://skyeferry.co.uk/times-fares/, then down through Skye to Armadale and the ferry to Mallaig. If the Glenelg-Kylerhea ferry isn't running it would involve driving over Mam Ratagain to Loch Duich, round the east end Loch Duich, west to Kyle and over the bridge to Skye, then to Armadale and the ferry to Mallaig, which is over 50 miles plus a ferry crossing. (By road only it would be 106 miles via Invergarry on Loch Ness.)

[x Caz x]

Hello, just a wee update. I followed the DNA and narrowed it down to either John Duncan MacMaster (born 1888) or Charles Angus MacMaster (born 1891), brothers from Port Hood, Inverness County, Nova Scotia, Canada. I'm relying on shared DNA connections via their wives to hopefully determine which one was my grandfather's father. Thanks for your help 

[isobelw]

So you are suggesting that one or other of these men was in Scotland in 1913?