Murdoch Campbell, but first "Dear Mother..."

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"My Dear Mother, I suppose that you will be astonished to hear that I got married friday last..." [see below]

Thus wrote Robert Campbell Ross (1845-1873) from Edinburgh to his mother Christina Campbell (1816-1885) in Reay.

At least, I hope he did. It's what he put down in his notebook.

Robert Ross was a G G'father of my wife. We have recently discovered that he seems to have had a cousin Murdoch Campbell:

Census 1861 Reay, Caithness page 8, Sandside
Rob Campbell, head,mar, 68, b Latheron
Mary Campbell, wife, mar, 68, Roxburgh
Mary A Campbell, dau, Un, 49, Latheron
Janet Campbell, dau, Un, 29, Reay
Murdoch Campbell, Grandson, 6, Stornoway(!!)

Just for completeness, the very next household entry is For Christina Ross (nee Campbell) age 44, widow, and her three children william Innes Ross (19), Jessie Ross (17) and Robert Ross (15).

Sandside house was a big employer.

So who are Murdoch's parents?

Well, we have found:

1871 census Olrig, Caithness:
CAMPBELL  John          Head  M M 57  Baker                    Caithness - Latheron                     
CAMPBELL  Mary          Wife   M F  50  Baker's Wife         Ross and Cromarty - Applecross                   
CAMPBELL  Mary Ann   Dau    U F  18  Baker's Daughter Ross and Cromarty - Stornoway                   
CAMPBELL  Murdoch    Son    -  M  16  Baker's Son          Ross and Cromarty - Stornoway                   
CAMPBELL  Robert       Son    -  M  14  Baker's Son          Caithness - Reay                         
CAMPBELL  John          Son    -  M  10   Baker's Son         Caithness - Olrig

They are still there on the next census.

We also know, from the 1841 census, that Robert and Mary had a son John aged 20 at that time and described as a Joiner.

Finally, some more help from Robert Ross: also among his papers is a testimonial:

"   Castletown 25th April
               1866

   ???? do(to?) certify that the bearer
   Robert Ross (???????) and for the (???????)
   of Five Years in the capacity of
   a (Baker???) & during which time
   he acted faithfully & honestly and
   behaved with the utmost de-
   -corum,and may be received
   into any Christian Society that
   providence may order his lot

      (Writing?) my hand this
   the 25th day of April 1866

      John Campbell

   Baker   Castletown"      [see below]

Castletown is part of Olrig.

We had always wondered if this John Campbell was a relation, and Murdoch goes a long way to establish that.

I'm not bothered by the age discrepancy because especially the 1841 census gives funny results, and I'm only slightly bothered by a joiner becoming a baker. Obviously I'd like to find Murdoch's birth and John's marriage and these are proving elusive. But I'm really puzzled about the Stornoway thing. That's a long way to go (even now!) and it seems counter-intuitive that it would be to find work.

One possible clue I have found at familysearch.org is a female birth (no first name) 18/10/1851 parents John Campbell and Mary Lead in Stornoway. Could just be Mary Ann Campbell?

[firthview]

On family search the only Murdoch born about that time was Murdo Campbell b 19/07/185Stornaway and his parents were Kenneth Campbell and Christian Mckenzie and there other children were Mary,Christian and donald,dont know if this is your family but give it a check.

[firthview]

Am i right that Marys maiden name was Armstrong if so i found these births for Mary and Robert
Christian Campbell c 29/02/1816 Reay
William        --------  c 02/05/1818  ----
Anne           --------- c 06/11/1819  -----
Jane            --------- c 31/07/1821 ------
Thomas        --------- c 29/07/1823  -----
Janet           ---------  c04/05/1831  ------

Register on caithness.org there is a great genealogy section people will be jumping to help you,its a great local site.

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   firthview, thank you. I have now pieced much of it together. Unfortunately it is a sad story at the end.

Robert Campbell (b. 1789 in Latheron, d. 1875 at Sandside, Reay) married Mary Armstrong (b. 1791 Nether Chatto, Roxburgh, d. 1874 at Sandside Reay) on 08/03/1811 in Latheron. They had the following children:

      Mary       Campbell c 20/05/1810 Langwell, Latheron d. 1888 Sandside, Reay
      John        …............ c 16/03/1814 Langwall, ….......... d. 01/09/1891 Castletown
      Christian................. c 29/02/1816 Reay                        d. 02/10/1885 Sandside, Reay
      William  …............. c 02/05/1818 ----
      Anne      …............. c 06/11/1819 -----
      Jane        …............. c 31/07/1821 ------                        d. 31/05/1901 Dunbar
      Thomas  …............. c 29/07/1823 -----
      Janet       …............. c 04/05/1831 -----                         d. 11/09/1902 Reay

Christian (Christina, Christy) was my wife's G2 Grandmother through her son Robert Campbell Ross who moved to Edinburgh probably in 1866.

John married Mary Lead (Leid, Leed, Leod) (c 17/11/1819 in Sheildaig, Applecross, d. 19/11/1897) in Stornoway on 08/01/1851. They had the following children:

      Mary Ann         Campbell b 18/10/1851 c Aug1852 Stornoway d. 17/07/1898 Castletown
      Murdoch Leed …...........   b 13/03/1855                  ….............  d. 21/02/1899 Castletown
      Robert George …............  b 28/11/1856 Sandside Reay             d. 27/12/1895 Castletown
      John Armstrong ….......... b 01/09/1859 Castletown                    d. 20/01/1902 Castletown

None of the Campbell boys married. There is evidence from the 1891 Census and from their death registrations that Mary Ann married a James Baillie (b 07/08/1850, d. 08/07/1898 seaman or master mariner), but I have not found the marriage record, nor evidence of children. Mary Ann seems to have killed herself just a few days after her husband's death, perhaps not surprising as she had already lost her parents and a brother as well within a few years.

John Campbell is recorded as a joiner in 1841 at Sandside, a cartwright (journeyman) in 1851 in Stornoway, a baker in 1855 in Stornoway and as a master baker in subsequent censuses and his death registration all in Castletown. It seems certain that the testimonial found in Robert Ross' notebook was written by his uncle, probably before Robert set out for Edinburgh. There is a bit of a thrill about holding in your hand a document hand-written so long ago and knowing much of the circumstances including that he is related to your family.

The main things that made this search a bit tricky were:

The Latheron parish registers did not record the mother for Mary and John.

The Stornoway parish register did not record the first names for Mary Ann and the Stornoway birth register did not record the first names for Murdoch.

The Leid family was recorded variously as Leed, Lead and (in transcriptions and indexes) Leod.

Without the event that young Murdoch was with his grandparents at the time of the 1861 census at Sandside, I doubt if any of this family would have been traced. In general the census records glued the bits together.

There are always more questions, and in this case my biggest puzzle is why John  Campbell went to Stornoway, and why Mary Leid also went there; Sheildaig is, even now, fairly remote from Reay and Stornoway would not have been somewhere to move to casually in the mid 19th century. I speculate that there may have been a relative there, perhaps of John's father, Robert or of his brother -in-law, John Ross.

Mary Leid's parents, George Leid and Catherine MacLennan, did not move to Stornoway. George hailed from Banff (which is why I think that spelling may be correct) and was recorded at Sheildaig as a carpenter in 1841 and as a “farmer of 5 acres in 1851”.

I know about the Caithness fhg and am about to subscribe. They are very helpful.

[firthview]

Hi Again   mary ann campbell  25   married James Baillie 28  in Inverness  23/01/1879 the writing is clear at bits but other bits are not clear so what i can see is james{ ships captain} castletown ,olrig and mary   castletown,olrig.His parents were william baillie and mary gunn,hers was john campbell and mary leod.the witnesses were  ? frazer and murdoch leod   .

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Many thanks, firthview. I had not been able to find this. I've got it now from Scotland's People. Interesting that Murdoch puts his mother's name (which is his middle name) and not Campbell (unless it is a Leed cousin). My reading of the other witness is Duncan Fraser.

I had not noticed on the 1881 census transcription that Mary "Annie" Campbell was listed as married, probably because it did not give her married name and I was not looking for it. Even with this longer marriage, I find no evidence of children on the census returns for either household in 1881 and 1891.