Macleods of Achunahanait and various spellings there after

[debbiebozkurt]

Your thoughts on this would be appreciated:

The only thing I have to say there was a son of Angus Bain Macleod called Angus that I can find was the baptism Angus Macleod 26 Sept 1776 son of Angus Macleod alias Macnish Bain. There is no marriage of an Angus Macleod pre 1776. In 1803 a Weaver from Achunahanait called Donald Macleod marries Marion Mackay widow. On one of their sons records it states William born 1809 son of Angus Macleod alias Macdholicnishbain - which I think is son of Donald son of Angus Fair, on all the other baptisms it states Angus Macleod son of Donald Macleod. I wonder if Angus' birth records was transcribed correctly and father should have been Donald not Angus - it wouldn't be the first time, certainly in England there are lots of transcription areas or even parish clerk errors where the sons name was recorded as father.

Can not trace Angus and Marion past 1811, did find a birth of a Janet in Wick 1830 but that felt a little too late.

Regards

Debs

[djct59]

Debbie: In the 1911 printed Register, Hew Morrison comments on the level of care Reverend Thomson took in recording births and marriages. My copy of the records has a marriage on 30th March 1803 between Angus MacLeod, weaver, lately of the Reay Fencibles, in Achunahanait, marrying a widow Marion or Mary-Ann MacKay, the daughter of Robert the son of John the son of William the son of Neil, a young widow in Achiemore on the Cape side.

The muster rolls of the Fencibles, who were drawn from the whole of Sutherland, on their disbandment on 13th October 1802 contain no fewer than four privates named  Angus MacLeod.

[IanB]

Back to the patronymic for Donald Mackay who married Catherine Mackay on 15 Jul 1777, my copy reads "Macneilicenicolicuilam"  (no d in it). Separating for the macs and the ics, I get "mac Neil 'ic En 'ic  Ol 'ic Uilam" The "Ol" is a bit unusual but, assuming "Dol" is meant, I read the patronymic as " son of Neil, the son of John, the son of Donald, the son of William. BTW, "ic" in a patronymic usually means   "  'ic" which is a common contraction of mhic, [pronounced "vic"] the genitive case for mac. For example, A, son of B, son of C would be: A mac B 'ic C. When spoken, and when written in the minister's phonetic-Gaelic record, they appear to be one word.

There are at least two baptisms of children of a Donald Mackay with very similar patronymics: 4 May 1778; "Donald Mackay, alias Macneil macen mhic Dholicein, tenent in Hope, John" [the words are separated in the record] I take this as: son of Neil, son of John, son of Donald, son of John. [rather than William, as above] Also, 5 May 1781 alias virtually the same but now in Mercan, twins Katherine and Bessie. I don't think it is surprising that the recorded patronymic for the same people vary occasionally. I usually check the patronymic from the marriage to the subsequent baptisms.

Enough for now!

IanB

[djct59]

IanB: It's sometimes necessary to recall that (1) Reverend Thomson was not a native Gaelic speaker and thus translated phonetically, and (2) the Gaelic dialect of Assynt was very different to that of the Western Isles or Inverness.

In "classic" Scots Gaelic, Donald is "Dòmhnall" pronounced DOE-nall; in Assynt it was and still is "Dolan", with both syllables equally accented. There are several entries where Reverend Thomson failed to pick up the "D" sound in the middle of a patronymic

[IanB]

djct59; Thanks for the clarification/amplification. However, I beg to differ with regard to the "classic" pronunciation of Domhnall. When followed by an "h" [which is actually not a letter but a substitute for the aspiration/lenition symbol], the letters, d, f, m, s, and t can become virtually silent. Thus, Domhnall [with a grave accent over the o, indicating a broad vowel] is usually pronounced "Daw-ull" - not too different from doll - the middle n being dropped also. Donald was a very common name in my family, including my father who was always called "Doll" by his brothers.

IanB

[djct59]

Ian: you may of course be right in southern and western parts. In Durness, the "l" and "n" are both clearly pronounced when it's a person's name, although in the genitive form "son of" it's long been "Dholi". when I was a very small child, the man who delivered the mail on his bicycle (probably born around 1900) was known as "Dolan Postie".

[harbert]

could anyone confirm how many children Angus the Red had, and the mother of them, plus the names and years of birth, if at all possible. your help would be most appreciated.

[debbiebozkurt]

I can message you with the information I have written up and why I came to that conclusion and where the family went, I have found some of the  grand children deaths (certificate detail) which ties them into the sons of Angus the Red too.

Debs

[harbert]

Hi Debs, That would be very kind of you, and may make a bit more sense to me and my research.  Mary