Lachlan Mackay, 42nd Regiment of Foot (the Black Watch) -- 1st half of 19th c.

[Rol]

I am posting a series of messages about Lachlan Mackay as part of my broader effort to discover more about the Scottish activities and family connections of Thomas Davies of Inverness.  Davies was one of the contractors and engineers who came north from the Welsh Marches at the behest of Thomas Telford to work on the construction of the Caledonian Canal.  This is a link to the main RootsChat thread about him,  which is also on the Inverness Board:  http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,431053.0.html

As explained there (Reply 5),  I was fortunate enough to locate an 1822 legal agreement in the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) which dealt with the rights of Thomas Davies's children under the will of a brother of theirs -- a young man who had been killed as a sapper officer in the service of the East India Company.  This document most helpfully sets out all their names,  plus for most of them addresses and occupations (and spouses' names where applicable).  I have been using it as a basis for further enquiries about the siblings' descendants,  in the hope of enabling other researchers to find links with them,  or to throw new light on the topic as a whole.

Having uncovered a fair bit about Lachlan Mackay,  who was revealed in the 1822 document to be the husband of Thomas Davies's daughter Margaret,  I thought that it would make sense to discuss their part of the family via what will be both literally and figuratively a "daughter thread",  rather than within the original Davies topic.

So,  here goes -- split into several successive messages so as to keep well within the forum's characters-per-post limit,  and with section headings to make navigation a bit easier . . .   A cursory reading of the main thread (especially Reply 5) may be found helpful as background,  but is certainly not essential.


Part  1

 
MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN

I found an OPR marriage at the parish church of Petty, Inverness-shire,  in the year 1812,  recorded as follows:

...  Nov 17  Lachlan Mackay & Margt. Davis both from Invss. were mar.

There seem to be no alternative surviving marriage entries,  and the church chosen for the ceremony fits in with Lachlan Mackay's description in the 1822 NAS agreement,  i.e. "sometime Tacksman of Milltown of Conage presently residing at Culloden" -- and so lends greater credence to my speculation that the Milto[w]n of Con[n]age on the coast just north of the airport was the one meant in that document.  (Does anybody know who his landlord there would likely have been -- or at least how best to research that question?)  As background,  this is how the place is described in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1846):

CONNAGE, a village, in the parish of Petty, county of Inverness, a few miles (N. E.) from Inverness; containing 97 inhabitants. This is a small fishing place on the east side of the Moray Firth, and on the road from Inverness to Ardersier.

All this -- and more -- becomes much better established thanks to a very full family record in the OPR for Boleskine and Abertarff / Fort Augustus (GROS ref. 92 / 0010 0186, frame 163).  I think that the entry is worth quoting in its entirety (the added emphasis being mine):

MacKay and Davis         1812

That Lieutenant Lachlan McKay of the 42nd Regiment of Foot was Married by the Revd Mr Smith of Petty,  Presbytery of Inverness,  on the 17th of November 1812, to Margaret Davis Daughter of Thomas Davis Esqr Engineer -- had issue,  Margret Eldest Daughter Born 29th September 1815,  2nd Daughter Ann born 6th Decr 1816 -- 3rd Thomas 30th January 1819 -- 4th John 17th Octr 1820 -- 5th Huntly 20[th] November 1822 -- 6th Sophia 17th April 1825 and 7th Lachlan 30th April 1827.

This single composite record is cited in the IGI for each child's birth,  yielding the following more convenient tabulation (which I shall dub "the IGI list"):

1.  Margret da. Lachlan Mckay & Margaret Davis,  Boleskine,  bapt [?error for born] 29 Sept 1815

2.  Ann da. Lachlan Mckay & Margaret Davis,  Boleskine,  born 6 Dec 1816

3.  Thomas s. Lachlan Mckay & Margaret Davis,  Boleskine,  born 30 Jan 1819

4.  John s. Lachlan Mckay & Margaret Davis,  Boleskine,  born 17 Oct 1820

5.  Huntly s. Lachlan Mckay & Margaret Davis,  Boleskine,  born 20 Nov 1822

6.  Sophia d. Lachlan Mckay & Margaret Davis,  Boleskine,  born 17 Apr 1825

7.  Lachlan s. Lachlan Mckay & Margaret Davis,  Boleskine,  born 30 Apr 1827

The IGI only shows one individual entry of baptism,  i.e. Huntly's.  It is interesting that this christening took place at his mother's home parish -- Inverness -- rather than at Boleskine-and-Abertarff,  and the entry gave him an additional forename (raising the possibility that the Boleskine-and-Abertarff register may have deprived some of the other children of middle names as well):

   Huntly Brodie s. Lauchlan Mackay & Margaret Davies, Inverness,  bapt 6 Jan 1823 (born 20 Nov 1822)

I have not sought baptisms in the OPR index for any of the others except Lachlan jnr. -- and for him found nothing beyond the Boleskine-and-Abertarff birth record.

[Rol]

Part  2


ARMY CAREER

I have followed the bare essentials of Lachlan Mackay's military career via the Army Lists,  as shown below;  but I would certainly be grateful if anyone familiar with Black Watch sources were able to post fuller info about him.

He first appears in the list for 1812,  as juniormost ensign on the establishment of the 42nd of Foot,  with regimental seniority of rank dated 31 October 1811;  there is unlikely to be much risk of confusion with some other officer,  as nobody else in the index carries the same name pairing.  His description in 1813 is identical;  but by the 1814 list he has been promoted lieutenant,  with regimental seniority of rank dated 23 September 1813 and army seniority dated 5 July 1812.  He then seems to have fallen victim to the postwar economies,  because in 1815 his name appears in the section of the Half Pay List headed Disbanded and Reduced in 1814.

Mackay apparently remained on half-pay until the mid-1820s,  although I cannot say with certainty,  not having had access to the Army Lists for much of that decade.  That would perhaps partly explain why no military rank was attached to his name in the 1822 NAS agreement.  But from 1824 he apparently embarked on a new military career as a quartermaster:  the 1829 List shows "Lach. M'Kay" as one of the two men performing that rôle for the 1st (or Royal) Regiment of Foot,  with seniority in that regiment dating from 28 October 1824,  while still retaining his old regimental seniority as a lieutenant from 23 September 1813 (a helpful identifier).  He is similarly listed in 1830.  I failed to spot him in 1831,  and his 1832 entry probably explains why:  he had just been placed on half-pay again,  this time -- as it turned out -- permanently.  Thereafter he appears back within the entry for his old regiment,  the 42nd Highlanders / Black Watch,  with the statement that he had been (re-)transferred to the Half Pay List on 18 January 1831.

Mackay remained listed in the same manner all the way up to 1855-6,  which I believe was the last edition of The Army List before it gave way to The New Army List (which did not bother showing half-pay officers).  I do not know when he died,  nor have I so far found any other details of his career -- save,  that is,  for the following two snippets.

There is evidence that at least three of his children emigrated to Canada (raising the possibility that he spent his own later years on that side of the Atlantic?),  and the source that tells us that about his son Thomas also sheds a broader ray of light:

From the marriages column in The Globe newspaper, Toronto, 13 October 1846:

In this city, by the Rev. W. M. Harvard, at his residence, on the 1st instant, Mr. Thomas Mackay, eldest son of Capt. Lachlan Mackay, 42nd Highlanders, to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the late Dr. Bywater, Walton Abbey, England

(Source: Post on Ancestry.com Mackay Message Board by L. Bee in 2002.  This information may itself have been derived from p.294 of William D Reid's printed collection entitled Marriage Notices of Ontario 1813-1854,  which has been digitised and made available online by Anc**try.com.  However,  the scanned image of the Reid book omits the words "at his residence",  uses the spelling "Lachlin",  and contains other minor differences in wording -- rather implying the contrary.)

This wedding announcement in The Globe suggests that Lachlan Mackay may have served as an Acting Captain later in his army career,  or perhaps even became an officer in some foreign, colonial or militia formation.  There must also be a risk that the son knowingly claimed a more senior rank for the father simply in an attempt to lend lustre to his own social standing.

The second extra clue about Lachlan Mackay's military career appears in the obituary of his grandson Huntly (cited below).  In sketching the family background the writer probably relied on a well established oral tradition when,  in the 1890s,  he wrote these words about his subject:

His paternal grandfather served in the 42nd Royal Highlanders,  the famous Black Watch,  and went through the Peninsula Campaign.

[Rol]

Part  3


DESCENDANTS -- I

To date  I have pursued information about the later lives and descendants of only three of Lachlan and Margaret Mackay's children.  The results are set out in this and the next post.  Any information about the fate of the others named in the IGI list (as posted in Part 1 of this sequence) would be most welcome.

Margaret Mackay (IGI list No.1)

Thanks to the research of Isabella Christensen née Allen (by 2000 of Utah but formerly of Montreal),  there is detailed information accessible on the internet about descendants in Canada derived from Margaret Mackay's marriage to William Alexander Primet:  see posts on RootsWeb mailing lists 2000-03 and the more recently created Allen Public Member Tree on the Anc**try.com site.  In that public tree Primet is stated to be the Alexander William who was born on 17 May and baptised on 13 October 1815 at Bethnal Green,  the son of James Primet (who was an officer in the Excise service,  per the PR).

It is not clear whether the couple married before leaving the UK or only met after separately emigrating to Canada;  but the absence of any obviously matching records in the old country hints that the ceremony may have taken place in Canada.  At any rate the public tree shows their eldest child Annie Edith as having been born in Montreal,  on 17 September 1846.  It also shows that this child went on to marry Thomas Barrett,  and that they in turn were the grandparents of Isabella Chistensen's mother Edith Barrett.  Margaret Mackay herself is recorded as having died at Montreal on 2 February 1897.  Unfortunately at the time of writing very few source references have been uploaded to underpin all this useful information.


Thomas Mackay (IGI list No.3)

Thomas was evidently in Canada by 1846,  as demonstrated by the newspaper announcement of his wedding to Elizabeth Bywater cited previously in Part 2.  Beyond that I have not researched.

[Rol]

Part  4


DESCENDANTS -- II

Huntly Brodie Mackay (IGI list No.5)

Inevitably,  the easiest child to track is the distinctively named Huntly Brodie Mackay (HBM) (No.5 in the above list from the IGI).  But there is a potential trap for the unwary.  Although the name seems comfortingly unusual even in the shorter form "Huntly Mackay",  the OPR index discloses that in 1822 another Huntly Mackay was born in Inverness as well:  Huntly Gordon McKay,  son of Alexander McKay and Jean Rose.

A Huntly B Mackay, 29, merchant,  turns up at Chatham,  Canada West (i.e. Ontario) in the partial census conducted there in 1851-52,  as shown on the Anc**try.com site.  The same man appears in the 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses for the province of Quebec,  on the first occasion at St Vincent de Paul and thereafter in Montreal,  together with wife Margaret and children Margaret (b. ca. 1855),  Huntly (b. ca. 1858),  Lachlan (b. ca. 1862) and Mary/May (b. ca. 1864).

This looks very like the right man,  making it probable that rival census entries back in Edinburgh in 1841 and 1851,  relating to a Huntly MacKay of the same age and birthplace (a saddler by trade),  refer to Huntly Gordon Mckay,  son of Alexander and Jean.

The Canadian connection seems to be placed beyond doubt by birth and baptism entries in a register from St Vincent de Paul Anglican Church held on file at Montreal registry (per Anc**try.com's Drouin Collection).  This document records that Lachlan and Mary Gowann Mackay were both baptised there on 11 Aug 1865 (his DoB being 27 Feb. 1862 and hers 20 Apr. 1864),  and were the children of "Huntly Brodie Mackay and Mary Maxwell McDonald Gordon his wife" (evidently an earlier wife -- in fact the wife recorded as being with HBM in the 1851-52 Canada West census).  Both parents' signatures certify the entry.  The middle name Brodie seems to be decisive,  and is merely reinforced by the exact DoB that HBM declared for the 1901 census -- 22 November 1822.

Mary snr. did not long survive.  HBM's second marriage took place on 3 September 1868,  at Zion Congregational Church,  Montreal (Drouin Collection).  The parties were recorded as

Huntly Brodie Mackay of St. Vincent De Paul, District of Montreal, son of Lachlan & Margaret Mackay, and widower[,] his former wife having been Mary Maxwell Macdonald Gordon, and Margaret Peploe Taylor, daughter of Archibald Dunbar & Mary Davies Taylor of Montreal spinster

So Margaret turns out to be HBM's first cousin,  daughter of his mother's sister Mary Davies -- and the Taylors had emigrated too. (See the 1822 NAS agreement.)

Having been a "merchant" in 1851,  HBM was listed as working at the Sous-Prefecture in 1881 -- and his son Huntly's Northern Messenger obituary (17 April 1891) states that HBM was "at one time in the Canadian Civil Service as deputy-warden of the St Vincent de Paul penitentiary".  But an entry in Lovell's Montreal Directory for 1882 suggests that he later became an accountant.  When he died,  on 25 February 1905,  he was described in the burial register as "late of the Civil Service" (entry dated 27 February 1905,  St Martin's Anglican Church,  Montreal).

As to HBM's children,  it seems that Lachlan joined his father as an accountant (he is listed in the 1882 directory as a bookkeeper based at the same address as HBM).  He died fairly young,  on 6 April 1914,  having moved to Toronto.  In the civil register of deaths his occupation is listed as "accountant" and his parents' names are clearly and accurately stated.

HBM's son and namesake Huntly Brodie Mackay jnr. was apparently the most distinguished member of this branch of the family.  According to a memoir and a newspaper obituary,  he had a powerful intellect and won prizes at every step in his career.  After a short spell as a journalist,  he set his heart on becoming a military engineer. (The genes were evidently hard at work . . . )  He was one of the first generation of cadets at Canada's newly-founded Royal Military College.  He passed both in and out top,  and gained an immediate commission as a sapper,  pursuing his training over in England,  at Chatham.  He spent time at the Curragh and on a tour inspecting the battlefields of the recent Franco-Prussian War.  Thereafter he became an Africa specialist,  being skilled both in fortification and cartographical work.  He was a valued member of the survey team sent to delineate the controversial western boundary of the Transvaal.  He served with distinction in several of the minor campaigns of the time,  including a notable operation to subdue a slave-raiding tribe while based in Sierre Leone (for which he was awarded the DSO).  He was subsequently posted to Uganda and supervised much of the survey and construction work on the railway up-country towards Lake Victoria.  But he caught a fever and died at Mombasa aged only 33,  on 16 April 1891.  A seven page memoir of his life was written by one of his brother officers,  and can be found in the Internet Archive via this link;  and the piece in the Northern Messenger already mentioned in connnection with his father -- which includes a portrait sketch -- may be found here,  in Google's News Archive.

[Rol]

Part  5


EARLIER ANCESTRY

If Lachlan Mackay's origins are to be properly established,  it is obviously necessary to find a reliable age for him in primary sources,  whether recorded as a result of his military service,  in a census entry,  at death,  or otherwise -- and that is something I have not yet done.

When Isabella Christensen began her pursuit of the Mackays on RootsWeb's mailing lists early in 2001,  she was fortunate in receiving a very helpful reply from Peter Smith of St Andrews,  who found two likely-looking generations for her,  apparently abstracted from the IGI and/or the OPR indexes.  The junior group were the children of Lachlan and Margaret Mackay,  essentially as set out in Part 1 (the first post of this thread).  He went on to list eight more christenings in the Boleskine-and-Abertarff register which occurred during the period 1776-93,  and he attributed these to Lachlan Mackay himself (bapt. 31 January 1792) and to seven siblings of his,  all being children of John Mackay and Ann Mason.

That earlier generation does seem to fit in quite plausibly;  but until I know how the man who married in 1812 and the child who was christened in 1792 have been -- or can be -- attached to each other,  I shall remain rather uneasy.  (For anyone who would like to see Peter Smith's message,  which was posted on 3 March 2001,  here is a hypertext link.)

Any surviving baptismal records for the earlier generation presumably relate to ceremonies held at Fort Augustus,  in view of the following extract from the combined parish's entry in the New Statistical Account of 1835:

In Abertarff an incomplete register of baptisms had been kept since January 1737 and marriages from November 1739 by resident missionary ministers at Fort Augustus. ... There are no records for Boleskine prior to 1798. Records for Boleskine and Abertarff were combined about the first of January each year.

Bloxham's Key to the Parochial Registers of Scotland -- for those who have not used it -- is a modern analysis of the surviving records published in 1970,  and its comments are reproduced parish by parish within the FamilySearch site's evolving Research Wiki segment.  Bloxham does slightly amend the information in the New Statistical Account,  but the substance is broadly similar:

Births: Boleskine births have only one entry April 1781–April 1784. Many irregular entries after 1792, the earliest being dated 1764 and the latest for 1854, among which there are seven entries of marriages for 1789–1821.
Fort Augustus birth records commence January 1760, entries prior to that date, 15 of them, are irregular. After 1813, there are fifteen irregular entries for 1815–1830; three entries 1762–1769 and one for 1786.

I have checked the OPR image of the 1792 baptism thought to be Lachlan Mackay's (GROS ref. 92 / 0010 0142),  and this is what it shows:

1792
  31 Jan'ry     John Mackay Messenger at Fort Augustus & Ann Mason his Wife had a Child born the 19 curr't and baptized today by Mr. Peter Grant named Lachlan _

And the OPR index reference for the wedding of this John Mackay and Ann Mason (image not inspected) seems to be

  Date          Surname    Forename     Spouse Name       Parish         County               GROS Data

16/05/1775    MCCAY       JOHN        ANNE MASSON     DORES    INVERNESS    096/A00 0010 0107

As the first rung of the ladder is still insecure,  I have not attempted to explore further back.  But I should mention that in her Anc**try.com public member tree Isabella Chistensen has identified this John Mackay with a man of that name born in 1758 at Kildonan in Sutherland,  from whom she carries the descent back through the traditional Mackay genealogies for many generations.  However,  no supporting references are currently shown for the key links.


If you have read this far,  congratulations on your stamina,  and many apologies for the length of what I have written.  To reduce the risk of duplicated effort I have been keen (perhaps excessively so) to explain in detail the avenues that I have pursued -- and,  just as important,  those that I have not.

I very much hope that one section or other of the content will prove useful to some future reader(s);  and if present readers with more knowledge than mine of the Mackay clan or the Black Watch do feel able to contribute ideas,  additions or corrections,  their replies will be much appreciated.


Rol

[kcorbett]

Hello all,
Has anyone done any additional research on Thomas Mackay, Lachlan's eldest son? In a below post it Rol states that "Thomas Mackay was evidently in Canada by 1846,  as demonstrated by the newspaper announcement of his wedding to Elizabeth Bywater cited previously in Part 2.  Beyond that I have not researched".....
Does anyone know whether he might have married again (around 1851) in Scotland?

Thanks.



 .

[St Bernard]

I can help you with Thomas. He and Elizabeth Bywater had at least eight children. They left Canada after January 1862 and eventually settled in Grand Rapids , Michigan. Thomas died c1878 and Elizabeth c1888. The children are M.E. (female), Thomas, Flora, Annie Mason Turner, Charles Larklin (Lachlan?), Lillian, Rosa, and John Bailey.

I have more info if you would like it.

Jan Laury

[CelticAnnie]

A very interesting discovery has recently come to my attention: namely, the will and testament of the John Mackay referred to in Rol's 'Part 5' above.  I am greatly indebted to the owner of the janpetherick tree on Ancestry who has made this available, together with their own transcript of it, on John Mackay's profile on that tree.  (The original is also available from Scotlandspeople -- and it is difficult to read on the Ancestry tree).  It is perfectly clear from this document that the Lachlan Mackay referred to by Rol in his above post is indeed a son of this John Mackay and his wife Ann Mason, who appear to have been quite well-placed in society.  (At one point in the document, John refers to his son Lachlan as being "late Tacksman of Miltown of Connage").

This having been established, it has not been difficult to locate the siblings of Lachlan Mackay on familysearch; and I list them below:

Ann   bapt. 12th April 1776 (and presumably died as a baby)

Ann   bapt. 27th July 1777

Isable   bapt. 27th June 1779 (named as 'Isabella' in her marriage entry and on her husband's memorial stone in Laggan churchyard; pre-deceased her father -- 28th April 1811 -- and so not a beneficiary in the will).

John   bapt. 13th May 1782

Alexander  bapt. 25th February 1784

Marrion or Sarah   bapt. 12th March 1786 (named as 'Sarah' in her father's will and testament).

Archibald   bapt. 8th April 1788

Jean   bapt. 8th December 1789 (born 7th December)

Mary   bapt. (and born) 13th October 1793 (almost certainly pre-deceased her father -- not mentioned as beneficiary in his will)

Robert   bapt. 28th October 1794

All births/bapts. registered at Boleskine, Inverness.

This will and testament of John Mackay is in fact a veritable gold mine for researchers interested in the JohnMackay/Ann Mason line of descent.  It reveals John, who died 4th January 1821, to have been Tacksman of Inishnacardoch near Fort Augustus; and the inventories of his livestock, household furnishings, crops and farming utensils are detailed and an interesting read.  They include (and name), for example, all 24 of his books!

Of even greater interest and value, however, are the snippets of information to be gleaned herein as to the names and occupations of his daughters' spouses, and the occupations of some of his sons in the early 1820s.  As derived from this document, I list these as follows:

Sarah Mackay is married to the Revd. Colin Fraser, Fort Augustus.

Jean Mackay is married to David Mackay, Clerk of Excise at Inverness.

Ann Mackay is married to Thomas Clark, Tacksman of Auchteraw.

Robert Mackay is a writer in Fort William.

As at October 1822, John Mackay jnr (eldest son) is 'Senior Head Constable of the County of Inverness and joint Tacksman of the lands of Inishnarcardoch Wester Port Clair and others'; whilst his brother Alexander (second lawful son) is 'also joint Tacksman of the said lands and Inspector of Taxes, presently residing at Craddle Hall near Inverness.'

But the really juicy part of the will -- the 'skeleton in the closet' part -- it turns out relates to Lachlan!!

However, I will start a new post to deal with that!

[CelticAnnie]

Well, it seems Lachlan was the black sheep of the family!

He presumably would have inherited something under 'the bairns' part' of the will -- that, as I understand it (although feel free to correct me!) could not have been prevented.  But Lachlan is specifically written out of 'the deid's part' of the will by his father, who speaks of Lachlan:

"for whom he was obliged to advance on the twelth day of February last the sum of Four Hundred Pounds Sterling to discharge a Bond of that amount due by Lachlan to Mr William Hughes one of the contractors for the Caledonian Canal together with the Legal Interest arising thereon from the twelfth day of July Eighteen hundred and fifteen to the said day of February last, in which Bond the said John Mackay and Alexander Mackay were taken bound as sureties for the said Lachlan Mackay..."

William Hughes was Lachlan's brother-in-law.  (William Hughes and Lachlan were both sons-in-law to canal-builder Thomas Davies -- see the very beginning of Rol's original post.  William Hughes and Thomas Davies, who were both earthworks contractors, appear to have worked very closely, if not sometimes in partnership, on the Caledonian Canal).

Naughty Lachlan!!!

It is not clear when and with what purpose in view Lachlan secured this loan -- nor how he ever thought to repay it.  But the will refers to his not having paid interest on the loan since 12th July 1815; so it must either date from or pre-date that time; and this would seem to dovetail in fairly tidily with what Rol discovered (set out in part 2 of his post above) relating to when Lachlan entered the 'Disbanded and Reduced' list.  Was the loan intended, then, to tide him over, after leaving active military service, until he got something else -- but then the 'getting something else' part never materialised?  Well, who knows?!