I would be greatly obliged if someone could add details to the life of John Maclean who claimed to have been born in Helmsdale in 1840. Some time later in Iceland, around 1862 he entered a relationship with Elísabet María Kristjánsdóttir and in 1864 she gave birth to a daughter, Charlotta María Jónsdóttir. His name and year of his birth was recorded in the Islendingabók when their daughter was christened.
According to family tradition, while his daughter was still an infant, John Maclean announced his intention of returning to Scotland for reasons now unknown. Although he promised to return, he did not do so and nothing more was heard of him until many years later when solicitors, possibly on his death, tried to contact the family on his behalf through adverts in Icelandic newspapers. Although she became aware of this, such was her bitterness that Charlotta María Jónsdóttir refused to respond.
Charlotta María Guðmundsdóttir of Kópavogi, Iceland, his great great, granddaughter, would like to solve this great mystery. Elísabet María Kristjánsdóttir later emigrated to Winnipeg with a new partner, though without Charlotta María Jónsdóttir. We would be grateful for information on his early life and his Scottish relatives in Helmsdale, though this place of birth may only be approximate. We would also like to know if he returned to Helmsdale on his return, or some other part of Scotland or even emigrated.
Regards, Helmsdale.
Latest: With the help of the census data on Scotland's people I think I am now on the trail of John Maclean. In the Icelandic Islendingabók his date of birth was given as 1840 and this has proved reliable rather than age 15 in the 1851 census, probably entered by grandfather John Macdonald as head of the house. He now shows up at Stoer, Sutherland in the 1861, 1871 and 1881 census. Between 1861 and 1871 he fathered a child in Iceland in 1864.
By 1891 he moved to Carloway, Ross and Cromarty and in 1901 there is another match in Caloway. He does not appear on the 1911 census where he would have been 71 and either died or moved again. Carloway is the last known place. Can anyone in Carloway help?