Archibald and Margaret McDonald

[Neko]

what little I've been able to piece together from family stories and a few documents (not for lack of trying, believe me) is this;

Archibald McDonald, a farmer, married Margaret. they had a son Allen, b. abt 1812 in N. Uist. they probably had more children but I don't know who they were. the family is said to have been in Benbecula at some point in time.
Archibald and Margaret came to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
in my research I have learned that the name Archibald is said to be Guilleasbuig in old Scotland.

a possible (probable?) line of ancestry is;

1Eagham, 2Ailean, 3Niall, 4Iain, 5Tormod, 6Domhnall, 7Niall, 8Domhnall, 9Gilleasbuig, 10Domnhall, 11Guilleasbuig(Solas), 12? sometime after which is this Archibald McDonald.
can anyone verify whether or not this is my Archibald's ancestry? it is the only one of all the McDonald branches that has the name Archibald (Guilleasbuig) in it.

an old Inverness Crofter's census appears to place them in Balimcphail, though I cannot prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. I have not succeeded in finding anything else on them. I don't believe they were Church of Scotland. they do not show up in LDS records, and Allan's daughter was a Presbytarian.
any help learning more about this family is greatly appreciated.
Archibald and Margaret are my 3x great grandparents.

that is Baliviphail, not Balimcphail. my spotty memory caused that mistake.

[Hector]

Have you contacted Mr Bill Lawson at 'Co Leis Thu'?  Mr Lawson is a great authority on South Uist families and has published three Croft Histories.  One of the volumes contains information on Benbecula where my own family come from.  His address is at Northton, Isle of Harris, Scotland.

Best wishes


Hector S. MacDonald

[Neko]

thank you, Hector,
this is much appreciated!
I don't believe I have-or I emailed him or a man of equal standing in Scottish genealogy, and it bounced-that was a couple of months ago, at least...I'll write him-no house address, just what you sent? it's been a long time since addresses were that simple here!
I'l send it off asap!

btw, is there a postal code for him?

[kenjo]

Hi Neko,
Only a quick note,
Seems to me you have everything under control.
To the best of my knowledge.
quote
{I don't believe they were Church of Scotland. they do not show up in LDS records, and Allan's daughter was a Presbytarian.}
Presbytarian,  is  church of scotland. as is Free church.
But coming from where they were, they may be Catholic.
only possibly.
Church records in the highlands area, area bit hit and miss, in the 1700s

[Neko]

hi, Kenjo,
thanks for the pointer on religion. it's quite confusing, with all the different names for pretty much the same religion. I did not know Presbytarian and Church of Scotland were the same.
I know that N. Uist is half and half, but don't know if my probably township is wholey one religion or the other, or a mix.
I hear alot of records were lost during the cleansings.
I don't know that I have things in hand. I can't find much of anything on them, either in Nova Scotia or Scotland. I've finally heard back from Mr. Lawson, but he only informed me that there is a fee for his research, and I am waiting for taxes to be over with before I do any fun stuff.

[ellenbrora]

Neko

If you don't have it yet, the Postcode for Bill Lawson is   PA85 3JA.

I bought his book Index to the Marraiges (Recorded and Unrecorded) in the Parish of Harris 1820-1855 which helped me break down a long standing brickwall.

I bought it online, but am afraid I can't now remember from which website!

Might have been on a link from either www.lineages.co.uk or www.freecen.org.uk or www.scotsgenealogy.? or www.genfair.com

Good luck. Took me forever to sort out my Harris MacDonalds, but might now get back another generation. Hooray!

Ellen.

[Neko]

yes, I have his complete address as he did eventually get back to me. but we have hit a financial struggle so I won't be spending any mad money for a while.
my McDonalds came to Nova Scotia circa 1821 if the family story is accurate, with children, so the book is a little too late for me.
I'll try the websites. something may come of it.
this is all I have in my notes on Allan McDonald, in case someone can use it or recognises something in it;

coal cutter by occupation
family comes from Skye?, North Uist, Scotland (family story gives possibility of Skye, but I find them in a Crofter's census in 1792 in Baliviphail)
father or g.father said to come from Benbecula, N. Uist, Scotland
there is a family tradition of 9 generations of Allen's in the family. obviously it is not a direct line for us. also, I do not know how accurate this tradition is.
Supervisor of Gowrie mines, killed in explosion there.

Allan's parents were Archibald and Margaret McDonald. I don't know who the rest of their children were.

[DianeM]

There's a gentleman who has loads of information on N. Uist, a Mr. J. Blair McAulay. His e-mail is *

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