Hi,
I am looking for the name of the wife of John Mckay/Mackay who was a merchant in Thurso, Caithness in the late 18th century. The following citation is from the book Caithness Family History (1884, p. 132) which says that he married one of the daughters of James Mackie an Excise officer and his wife Janet Sinclair:
3. William (Sinclair), physician in Thurso, who married, in 1742, Barbara, daughter of Robert Sinclair of Geise, and died in 1767. He had four sons and four daughters, all of whom died young except, first, Dr. William, afterwards of Freswick ; second, Janet, who married James Mackie, an officer of Excise, and had two sons, William and George, and several daughters. George attained the rank of Major- General in the Army, and had a large family of sons and daughters, and in 1826 resided in Caen, in Normandy. One of his sisters married John M'Kay, merchant in Thurso, and had issue. Third, Jane, the other surviving daughter of Dr. William Sinclair, married Allan Robertson of Tarrel, Captain in the 42d Regiment. He was afterwards in Wares, and had several sons and daughters.
I have found various mentions of this John Mackay, merchant in Thurso on the online catalog of the National Records of Scotland. Non of the catalog descriptions mention his wife. It is important to me to verify whether or not his wife was named Barbara as this would rule out the daughter named Barbara of James Mackie and Janet Sinclair as being my ancestor.
There are 10x baptism entries in the parish of Thurso for children of John Mackay and Jean Mackie, although I have not paid to view them yet so cannot confirm if it is John Mackay the merchant there.
Thanks,
Mike.
