Durness Parish Register - Part 2

[djct59]

Wilros:

I was on the hill at the south-western end of the loch and was looking north-east. If you look closely you will see the Manse close to the top and centre. Behind that is indeed the "Crafty Village", on the site of the old township of Ballinloch.

What remains curious is the suggestion http://burial-grounds-suth.blogspot.com/ that Hugh erected the stone in 1857. Given the weathering presumably we must presume this is a misreading and the stone was erected much earlier. It's clear that he was wealthy as it's a substantial stone.   

[djct59]

Wilros: This photo is slightly clearer. "Your" family stone is at the extreme right hand edge. The tall narrow Hood's of Wick stone in the next row and parallel to the church gable is my great-great-grandfather's.

[meanno]

What remains curious is the suggestion http://burial-grounds-suth.blogspot.com/ that Hugh erected the stone in 1857. Given the weathering presumably we must presume this is a misreading and the stone was erected much earlier. It's clear that he was wealthy as it's a substantial stone.

You may have missed my earlier post placing Hugh in the UK in 1837 which I believe strongly confirms your suggestion that the stone was erected in 1837 and that 1857 was a misreading.
I believe he may have been comfortable rather than wealthy. His estate was certified as being less than £4000 but I don't have the actual settlement figures. He left £500(or £200 - writing not clear) to his niece Hughina and £50 each to the Rev. Findlater's four daughters and £300 for the benefit of the poor in Durness as I mentioned in an earlier post. The residue income for his mother and then the residue to be split between his two sisters equally. He was going to leave his fishing tackle to his mother but changed his mind with a codicil and left it to Eric Findlater, son of the Rev. William.
The merchanting businesses that he was involved in ultimately failed and indeed 3 of his business associates were made bankrupt in 1830, with Hugh bearing the partnership liabilities of a 4th associate despite being himself in financial difficulties at the time in 1831. He appears to have been an astute businessman not to share the fate of his associates.

[this post edited later to add "or £200 - writing not clear"]

[meanno]

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
Thanks for the offer but the online access to the documents is giving me more than enough information for my purpose. I am currently waiting for permission from the Bancroft Library to publish copies and/or transcripts of the letters and other documents.

[djct59]

Hughina had a fairly substantial granite tomb erected (it's behind the iron railings in the photo above).

I note that her grandson was Robert Hugh Sutherland aka "Bertie Boer" (1914-77), who married John Lennon's aunt Elizabeth Stanley in 1949.

[meanno]

Hughina had a fairly substantial granite tomb erected (it's behind the iron railings in the photo above).

I note that her grandson was Robert Hugh Sutherland aka "Bertie Boer" (1914-77), who married John Lennon's aunt Elizabeth Stanley in 1949.

A Beatle connection no less!
Are you certain that this Hughina is the daughter of Hugh Morrison and Joanna McCulloch? The inscription gives her birth year at 1827 but I can't remember if I know when Hugh Morrison and Joanna moved to Canada. They were certainly in Canada in 1839 when they met Donald Ross when he arrived there. So I wonder how Hughina would come to have been married in Durness?

Sorry I have just checked Hugh McCulloch's will - he says "my niece Hughina(daughter of Hugh Morrison) now residing with my mother at the parish of Durness"
So she must have stayed behind when her parents moved to Canada.
But I still can't find her baptism record.

[meanno]

djct59
Can you point me to any info on "Bertie Boer"?

[djct59]

Hugh MacCulloch of Callao, Peru, did have a niece, BUT... Hughina was the daughter of William Morrison and Marion "Merran" MacCulloch - she was born at Sangobeg and baptised in 12th February 1827.

There is no birth or baptism record for a child born to "Hugh Morrison" in the material period. He was married to Marion's sister Joanna but that marriage seems to have been childless. Perhaps Hughina stayed behind with her uncle and aunt in some form of informal "adoption"?

[djct59]

Bertie was a dentist practising in Edinburgh, who presumably was one of the many from Durness who spent time in Transvaal in his younger days. His house was on the hillside at Sangomore. After hisc death it was bought as a second home by an incomer from Kent, but due to the steepness of the slope and the lack of occupancy, water ingress required it to be demolished about ten years ago and replaced with a new house.

He and Elizabeth spent their summers at Sangomore, but both died in Edinburgh in 1976 and 1977. My mother and uncles knew him better than I did.