Durness Parish Register - Part 2

[Forfarian]

forgot to mention that barbara's civil death registration has other errors.
she was not 92 years old when she died.
died 11 july 1858 (civil record)
baptised 25 september 1768 (DPR)
----------
that's 89 years, 9 months, and 16 days (from baptism)
her exact date of birth not known

Unless she was not baptised as an infant, but at the age of 6 years or so.

[djct59]

It's every bit as likely that her grandson-in-law was not entirely sure of her age.

The (horizontal) gravestone of Kenneth and Barbara in Balnakeil is so weathered as to be virtually illegible so I would presume a simple misreading of worn numbers and letters covered with lichen, rather than errors on the stone.

I think that the situation with Peter/Patrick Brown/Dunn depends on whether it was his English or Gaelic name being used - Donn (pronounced "dun") is the Gaelic for Brown and Patrick and Peter are the same name.

There's no hint of Barbara being born out of wedlock so baptism in infancy must be most likely. The 1841 Census has her aged 70 staying at the Manse which rather implies she was a widow. She would in fact have been 72 but that Census employed rounding of ages.

[wilros]

djct59,

Yes, as you say, the 1841 census has Barbara (Ross) McCulloch, age 70, of Independent Means, born in Sutherland, and a resident of the Durness Manse.

In 1837 Barbara inherited 800 pounds from her late older brother Quartermaster John Ross. The exact wording of the bequest of the five equal 800 pound shares in the will: "... to Donald Ross, now or lately residing at Pictou in Nova Scotia, John Ross residing at Boularderie Island of Cape Breton in North America, both my brothers, and to my sisters Barbara Ross, widow of the late Kenneth McCulloch residing in the Parish of Durness aforesaid and Janet Ross wife of Angus MacLeod farmer in the said Parish of Durness and Donald Ross my nephew son of the deceased William Ross my brother and found lately residing in the Isle of Hoan Parish of Durness aforesaid..."

It is kind of breathtaking how precisely this bequest defines the locations of the family members in 1837. In addition, the last of the Codicils to the will was witnessed in Musselburgh, where QM John lived, in 1836 by John's nephew Hugh MacCulloch.

Those are the two primary points I use to estimate placeholder years of birth and death for Kenneth - the will of QM John and Barbara's residence as a widow at the Manse in the 1841 Census.

If Kenneth died at about 74 years of age and if Barbara was already a widow in 1836 when the Will of QM John was written, then Kenneth's year of birth would be in the early 1760s, which is consistent with his marriage to Barbara in 1788 and also is consistent with his date of birth as preceding the November 1764 start of DPR.

Regarding the MacCulloch offspring, Merran (Marion) MacCulloch married William Morrison on 20 November 1821 at the Durness Manse. I have not yet traced them further. Her sister Joanna I previously noted married Hugh Morrison at the Manse on 7 October 1818, but what I haven't yet mentioned is that they emigrated to Ontario, Canada.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/182030523/joanna-morrison

I've not yet put much effort into tracing the MacCulloch brothers beyond Hugh because there is such a massive amount of detail about Hugh I have yet to find the time to assess. See the attached screen shot of Hugh signing a merchant letter to his partner William Hartnell on 8 July 1822 near Santa Barbara, California - "all the way from Cape Wrath"

The last relevant thread here is that Hugh Morrison and Joanna MacCulloch as residents of Leeds County, Ontario, Canada in the 1830s were the Ross cousins who helped Donald Ross and his wife Isobel Calder, crofters on Island Hoan with 10 children, emigrate to Ontario and buy a farm with the proceeds of their one fifth share of the inheritance from QM John.

[wr]

[meanno]

Wilros - you say Hugh died in 1842, but the gravestone in Balnakeil says "In loving memory of Kenneth MACCULLOCH tenant at Crospoll who died 12th June 1837 aged 74 years. And of his spouse Barbara ROSS who died 12th January 1858 aged 95 years. Erected 1857 by their eldest son Hugh MACCULLOCH Callao South America"

The stone is flat and very faded - was it perhaps erected in 1837?

I can perhaps help here. In a letter to a cousin on 30th July 1840 Hugh MacCulloch, writing from Durness, says "Where I date this is found in the land of my birth, and mean to remain with my mother for 6 weeks."
He witnessed his uncle John Ross's will in February 1837 in Musselburgh which proves he was in the UK in that year so 1837 seems most likely. His own death in 1842 is beyond doubt.
I am currently writing the story of Hugh MacCulloch's life, having transcribed some 75 letters connected with his business, many of which he wrote. When completed I will post it to a website or blog.

[meanno]

I have difficulty tracing Hugh and Barbara's descendants. Barbara's death in 1858 is witnessed by her son-in-law Robert Sutherland of Sangomore, but I cannot trace a marriage that fits for him. Likewise none of Hugh's siblings seem to leave any trace in the Durness parish records. They all seem to have died or moved away.

Hugh never married, seemingly, and bemoaned his lack of success with the ladies. His younger brother James was with him in South America but when last heard of was getting into trouble and being bailed out by Hugh so he could have ended up anywhere.

[meanno]

Just to explain why I'm writing Hugh MacCulloch's life story, well apart from it being a very intriguing story I think he deserves it as his final act was to leave in his will the sum of £300 to be invested by the Rev. Findlater, his executor, for the benefit of the poor in Durness. This legacy became a registered charity called "McCulloch Bequest for the Poor of Durness" No. SC008950, now a Former Charity as in 2014 it was absorbed into the Highland Charities Trust as the "Durness Poor Fund" with a balance in 2018 of £71. So the benefit from his legacy, albeit not amounting to much, continues to this day.
It is thanks to the photograph of the gravestone and the words "Callao, S.America" that I discovered the story of his life which I don't believe has previously been connected to Durness.

[wilros]

meanno,

in case you don't already have it, here's a high resolution (1000 dpi) b+w photo of the california state historic monument to mcculloch, hartnell & co. to honor their building known as the hide house at san pedro harbor.

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/hhh.ca1383.photos.012799p/

the photo is in the public domain courtesy of the usa library of congress.

also, i can probably be coaxed into travelling to bancroft library at u.c. berkeley to inspect their mcculloch & hartnell archive for you.

:-)

[wr]

[wilros]

Forfarian,

Thanks for the link to fabulous photo of Grudie on geograph.org.uk. I'm a big fan of their site. I use photos from their Balnakeil collection in genealogy pages I develop on my family members.  Like this one, where I added a red outline to show the tablestone for my 4x great grandparents.

https://www.wikitree.com/photo.php/e/e9/Ross-13077-5.jpg

[wr]

[wilros]

djct59,

About your photo showing the rock ruin remnants of the former Croispol settlement, is the view looking east, and are the buildings in the distance Balnakeil Craft Villiage?

[wr]