Durness Macdonalds

[djct59]

There were two men called Neil MacDonald in Durness descended from John Oag MacDonald, a cattleman from Skye who arrived at Balnakeil around 1810 having previously worked at Eddrachilles.

The elder Neil was born in 1815 and last appears on the Census, listed as aged 20 (he was in fact 24) at the family croft on Sangobeg in 1841. There is no trace of him after 1841. He might be the one living in Farr in 1851, but as there was already a Neil MacDonald there in 1841 it'd probably unlikely

The younger Neil was born in 1868, emigrated to Rhode Island, maried, had two surviving children, and died in 1946. Neil has several surviving grandcildren in the USA. His brother's family retained ties with Durness that continue to the present day.

[kennymac]

The other two Neil MacDonalds on record about those years in the parish of Farr were natives of Strathnaver.  One was born in Swordly, the son of Alexander, the son of Donald, with his family having been cleared from Carnachy in 1816, if I remember correctly.  The other was Neil, son of Donald, son of Hugh, the family having been cleared from Dallangwell in Strath Strathy in 1816 to Brawl.  Donald was a native of Portskerra.

[djct59]

Without looking him up, I'd effectively ruled out any connection between Neil in Farr and Neil in Durness. There might be a distant family connection, as there were virtually no MacDonalds on the north coast in the late 18th century, but it's no surprise they were not the same man.