Please help decipher census

[Ecneps]

At a glance, going back to the original question, the problem does not seem to have been resolved. The entry was evidently Ouist, a phonetic attempt at spelling by the enumerator and, setting aside speculation about a Skye connection, there is a Kilmuir in North Uist so the entry would seem to make sense.

Alan, did you notice this reply by angusm, he seems to have solved the birthplace problem for you

Barbara 

[the pretender]

I did notice the post advising a Kilmuir on Uist which I was aware of, the gaelic for Uist being Uibhist. Hard to imagine the O being put in as a phonetic mistake though and nobody fits from any census return but thats not to say it cant be so. The O on the census return could indeed be an A and the writing was so inconsistant the consonants could be almost anything. Needs a day in Edinburgh trawling through the Mc/MacDonalds of which there are plenty in the area not to mention a lot of McLeods.
regards,
Alan.

[keelbec]

Don't wish to make  aproblem but there is a Kilmuir in North Uist.
The graveyard includes a stone for Flora Macdonald.
Eruc

[keelbec]

Sorry, didn't see the earlier reply
Eric

[PrueM]

Hard to imagine the O being put in as a phonetic mistake though and nobody fits from any census return but thats not to say it cant be so. The O on the census return could indeed be an A and the writing was so inconsistant the consonants could be almost anything.

Hi Alan,

It's really not hard to imagine a phonetic mistake - have you seen many census returns?!   Particularly at this time (1851) spellings were not set in stone, particularly if the place name was a Gaelic one - an English speaker could write it any way they saw fit.

I don't think the first letter of "Ouist" is an "A" although it is similar to the way the enumerator writes his As...I'm fairly certain, considering where the pen leaves the letter to go on to the "u", that it's an "O".    The consonants in the place name (if that's what you are referring to) are quite clear so I'm not sure whether there is really a problem with deciphering this particular place name...or am I getting the wrong end of the stick? 

Cheers
Prue

[the pretender]

The problem as I see it is that Ouist does not exist and is not the gaelic for Uist. If you were to spell Uist in a phonetic fashion then you would still end up with Uist. There is also the problem that nothing fits (as yet) and will need a trip to Edinburgh to sort things out, it may well be Uist but at present the Skye Kilmuir is the only one producing a census return in '41 that matches up, strange but maybe possible that the family moved from Uist to Skye but the likelyhood of going from one Kilmuir to another is slight. As I say Edinburgh beckons.

[PrueM]

Ouist appears to simply be an alternate manner of spelling Uist, as evidenced by these references from 19th century books:

"On the 2nd, they arrived at the island of Erisca, belonging to Clan-ranald, which lies betwixt the isles of Barra and South Uist, or Ouist..."  [Forbes, R (1834) Jacobite Memoirs of the Rebellion of 1745.  Edinburgh:  W & R Chambers.]

"When the herrings have once pushed their way to the southwards of the Ouist Islands they make a shorter stay at Mull, Isla, Jura, and Argyleshire..." [Lifford, JH et al (1861) A collection of tracts and treatises... Dublin:  A Thom.]

The fact that it doesn't match up with other stated birthplaces is another matter, but I think everyone would have at least one person in their tree who gives randomised birthplaces in different censuses.  My g-g-g-grandfather was born in Woodlands, Dorset, or Bath, Somerset, depending on which census you look at.

All I'm saying is:  don't discount it just yet 

[the pretender]

PruM,
Thanks for that, I had not been able to find any trace of Ouist being used instead of Uist and must make Uist favourite now.
Alan .

[angusm]

Just to correct one thing that could continue to cause a problem. Phonetic pronunciation of the Gaelic in the islands themselves does day by day sound Ooist and would not as suggested above arrive at Uist as yooist.