Smiths & McDonalds of Ardnamurchan pre 1841 Census

[A Whiteford]

I've been very lucky in the last couple of months finding information about my relatives.  But, I have Smiths from Ardnamurchan who left before the 1841 Census and am trying to find anyone who might know of the family.  I am also seeking advice to identify sources of information which might help me track them back.

They left in 1839 on the George Fyfe (Voyage 118) http://www.theclearances.org/clearances/ports.php?portid=36.  I have a copy of their onshore Australian immigration records which show the following:

John and Mary Smith from Ardnamurchan.  John was the son of John and Mary (McDonald).  Mary's parents were Hugh and Catherine possibly McGurchan/McGeechan.  John and Mary's fathers were listed as farmers.

Their children who travelled with them were Lachlan 19, a stockman, Roderick 16, Hugh 14, George 12, Mary 10 and Margaret 9 1/2.  Lachlan is down as able to read and write which his parents were unable to do.  They were Catholics.

How likely is it that a crofters' child could read and write at that time?  Where might they have got their schooling from?   What Catholic parishes existed and what records might still be available for the period from 1810 to say 1838 when they left?

Any suggestions about how I might track this family back appreciated.

Thanks all

Anne Whiteford

[wjsmyth]

hi anne my name is john smyth my grandfather was malcolm smith,son of peter smith, son of malcolm smith and margaret mcdonald my great grandfather peter smith was born in 1829 to malcolm smith and margaret mcdonald.who i would think were born about the 1790s i have only just started researching my scottish ancestry a few months ago i found talking scots a great helpfull site  i have some details on the smiths you can get in touch with me on * and i will willing let you have what i know on the smiths  mctaggarts and mcdonalds, best wishes john smyth

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[JAP]

Hi Anne,

Re RC records
The National Archives of Scotland have fairly extensive holdings of RC registers.

http://www.nas.gov.uk/index.asp

Click on 'click here for the NAS catalogue', then click on 'Search'

In the RefNo box, enter CH17
Then, on the screen which comes up, click on '1' to the left of 'Roman Catholic Church in Scotland'.
The screen which then comes up has considerable information about RC records held by the NAS, and includes an address for another body - the Scottish Catholic Archives.

Previous post re SMITH
In deciding whether there could possibly be any link, you might be interested in the SMITH information which I posted for John Smyth on an earlier thread on RootsChat on this board back on 1 May; I also posted it elsewhere.  The RootsChat thread is at:
 
Click Here

There are also many entries in the IGI for John's Malcolm SMITH and Margaret MCDONALD of Gigha, Argyll - marriage and about 13 birth entries for children to them.  However, quite a few are LDS submissions - only 5 of the births are from extracted entries.

The Malcolm SMITH/Margaret MCDONALD family (including his Peter) are in Gigha & Cara on the 1841 census available on FreeCEN.  The household includes an older gentleman who may well be the father of cod-fisher Malcolm ...

Regards,

JAP

[MonicaL]

Hi Anne

Have a look at the following website: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ked1/41ftwillcen9.html

This site cover the census for 1841 for the Fort William area of Inverness-shire and includes most of Moidart/Ardamurchan. The URL above is for page 9 which covers this area.

I have a hunch that your Mary's family are probably from the Aris Kinloid area included above. See below for an entry for Hugh MacEachan which could be her father (no mention of Catherine so she could have died by then). The 1841 census index doesn't give as much info as the 1861/81 but something is better than nothing!

ARIS KINLOID 11 HUGH MACEACHAN M  70 FARMER Y
ARIS KINLOID 11 ANNE MACEACHAN F  50  Y
ARIS KINLOID 11 DONALD MACEACHAN M  35  Y
ARIS KINLOID 11 ARCHIBALD MACEACHAN M  30 SHOEMAKER Y
ARIS KINLOID 11 ANNE MACEACHAN F  25  Y
ARIS KINLOID 11 ALLAN MACEACHAN M  10  Y
ARIS KINLOID 11 JANET MACEACHAN F  8  Y

MacEachan and Smith are not that common in the area so you can find them easily enough and hopefully make some connections with the name of children etc.

In respect of education, you would be surprised by how much they were trying to do at the time. Have a look at the following site: http://www.moidart.org.uk/. Click on the Education button in the front menu for an overview of schools and educational activity in the area during the early part of the 19th Century.  This site also has information about Catholic churches in the area.


Good luck!

Monica