McKenzie and Burgess

[rdarby]

Hi all,
what a great site! I am fairly new to this so please be kind. I am searching my McKenzie ancestry line and have found a record of marriage banns between Kenneth McKenzie and Catherine Burgess in Kirkudbright in 1829. I believe these are my grgr grandparents. It is thought that they went to Canada (NB) and then to Australia. Kenneth may have been a seaman, possibly a captain. A number of their children were born in St Johns,NB before moving to Australia. My gr grandfather, William McKenzie, born 31/12/1839 in St Johns, was baptised in 1842 in Sydney Australia. Catherine remarried in 1853 to John Weston, also in Sydney. The family moved to Victoria in the 1860's. I have not found what became of Kenneth. A family story was that he was lost at sea as captian of a ship called the Selina, but I cannot verify this.
Any connections to McKenzies or Burgess families in Kirkcudbright area?
Anyone else interested n this family?
Roger

[Gadget]

Hi Roger and welcome 

I see they married in Urr and Cathrine's father was a John Burges(s).

My Kirkcudbrightshire Burgess line were mainly from the Kells/Parton area but did seem to travel around the Stewartry. We can trace them back to John Burgess b.c. 1737. However, he died in 1815 so there's not a direct connection through him but possibly  some relative. Catherine was not a family name though.

Some of the sons and a daughter emigrated to Ontario in the 1820-1850 period.


Gadget

[rdarby]

Since my last post, I have found out a few things that make me more certain that the MvKenzies came from Kirkcudbrightshire. My gr gr grandfather Kenneth also had 5 brothers, Hugh,John,William,Cuthbert and Edward. They were all born in the Kirkcudbright and Balmaghie between 1803 1nd 1813. Their father was Hugh McKenzie b. about 1767 in Ross shire. He was a member of the "Caithness Legion" and spent 7 years in Ireland at the time of the Irish Rebellion.
He married a Bridget Erskine, possibly in Ireland. They must have become involved in shipping, and went to St John, New Brunswick, where they applied for a Grant of land in 1826. I have copies of these petitions for land, kindly provided by Greg Haley from Fredericton, NB.
Anyway, the McKenzies continued their interests in shipping and built their own vessel, the "Brothers" a brig of 120 tons and sailed to Australia in 1840. Hugh senior died in Albany WA in Jan 1841 and the rest of the family continued on to Sydney and some may have gone on to New Zealand. My gr gr grandfather was definitely in Sydney in 1842, but I don't know what became of him. There was a family story that he was lost at sea, but I haven't yet been able to track down where or when this occurred. Given the family's propensity for travel, I could be looking for a while yet.
Anyone out there with any connections? Or information about shipping in or about the Kirkudbrightshire ports? Would there be any records of registration for mariners in the early 1800's? So many questions..
Roger

[specialkg]

Have you come across the following site.

http://www.dgcommunity.net/historicalindexes/shipping.aspx

Betty