William MacGregor, agricultural labourer of Cromdale parish

[Skoosh]

A Sweton Macintosh is mentioned on Rootschat from the same neck of the woods. Mebbes Sween?

Skoosh.

[Forfarian]

I thought the William Mac who died in Cromdale and Advie would be THE one, as he fit all the parameters (the Janet MacGregor who died in 1888 is mine, btw) but he turned out to be farmer William MacGregor, married to Janet GRANT.

I wouldn't discount the possibility that Grant on his death certificate is an error by the registrar. Is there another Grant on the same page of the register? Does the address match a census, or where one of their children lived?

[Geordie daughter]

I checked him out on the censuses - This William farmed at Auchnarrow (or variations of that name) and the details of the informant match that of one of his sons on the census returns. The Inverallan William checks out too: shoemaker, married Isabella Grant, son James was the informant.

It has occurred to me that my fella might have died in an institution outside the parish, as Grantown doesn't seem to have had any kind of medical facilities. There's not even a poorhouse as paupers generally seem to have received "out relief" with money and meal being supplied as necessary by the church and the landowner, the Earl of Seafield, respectively.

[McGroger]

I’m a great believer in the Gaelic naming pattern.

John and Janet’s three known daughters, in order, were Isabella, Christina and Janet, suggesting that Janet’s mother was Isabella and William’s was Christina.

In the 1851 census Janet’s mother was indeed Isabella (Cruikshank), so you can be pretty sure that William’s mother was a Christina (or perhaps Christian).

Their first (and apparently only) son was John, strongly suggesting that William’s father was a John.

I’d spend a bit of time looking for a McGregor family, in likely locations, with parents John and Christina, bearing in mind that not all baptisms were recorded (but also noting that often a longer than usual gap between children can indicate a missing one).

Peter

[Forfarian]

I checked him out on the censuses - This William farmed at Auchnarrow (or variations of that name) and the details of the informant match that of one of his sons on the census returns. The Inverallan William checks out too: shoemaker, married Isabella Grant, son James was the informant.

Ah. You had said Janet Grant, but if both her names are different then it's more likely to be right.

It has occurred to me that my fella might have died in an institution outside the parish, as Grantown doesn't seem to have had any kind of medical facilities. There's not even a poorhouse as paupers generally seem to have received "out relief" with money and meal being supplied as necessary by the church and the landowner, the Earl of Seafield, respectively.

Rather than every small parish building its own poorhouse, it was quite common for a group of parishes to get together and build a 'combination poorhouse' to which all the participating parishes would send those of their paupers who could no longer be housed in the community or for whom 'outdoor relief' was not sufficient. There was a Moray Combination Poorhouse in Elgin, but that's some distance from Cromdale etc and I do not know whether Cromdale etc were in the habit of sending their paupers to Elgin.

[Geordie daughter]

I'm with you on Gaelic naming patterns, Peter: the trouble is that none of the potential parents in the district and time frame supplied by the census returns tick all of those boxes. There's a JOHN MacGregor, wife Anne Arthur, and a Duncan McGregor, wife CHRISTIAN Glass, but no "John and Christina" combo. I was very tempted by the 1804 birth of a William to Grigor McGrigor and Anne Watson, as both Grigor (spelled Gregor) and Watson crop up in later generations of my tree as middle names, but that particular child was born in the Cromdale and Inverallan district, and my fella wasn't 

Forfarian, it turns out Elgin also had a District Lunatic Asylum - the only one built in Scotland before the 1857 Lunacy Act, apparently. (I can't find any other asylums nearer than Inverness, but I'm no expert so I might be wrong.) One of William's grandsons spent most of his adult life in lunatic asylums, and there are two living descendants I personally know of who suffer from either bipolar or periods of depression which, back then would have been sufficient grounds for being "put away," so I'm beginning to wonder if William had mental health issues too.

[Forfarian]

Forfarian, it turns out Elgin also had a District Lunatic Asylum - the only one built in Scotland before the 1857 Lunacy Act, apparently. (I can't find any other asylums nearer than Inverness, but I'm no expert so I might be wrong.)

Yes.

The question is whether someone in Cromdale etc suffering from mental health problems would have been sent to Elgin or to Inverness. Parts of the parish of Cromdale etc were in the county of Inverness, and parts in the county of Moray. Inverness might be slightly nearer, but by the time your William was getting old there were good rail links to both.

Fortunately the records of Craig Dunain Hospital at Inverness have survived and are in the care of Highland Archives in Inverness https://www.highlifehighland.com/highland-archive-centre/ - I spent a fascinating day there once disproving the widely publicised and completely inaccurate story of Mary Beatrice Simpson http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=619657 using those archives.

The archives of Elgin District Lunatic Asylum are in the care of Aberdeen Archives https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services/libraries-and-archives/aberdeen-city-and-aberdeenshire-archives but I have never had occasion to investigate what they contain.

[MonicaL]

I think William is still alive in 1875 and shows in the Valuation Rolls for that year on SP:

William MACGREGOR
Tenant Occupier
HOUSE 28 NORTH SIDE VILLAGE OF GRANTOWN
CROMDALE
1875
VR010900021-

His address in 1871 was 6 North Side East End.

Monica

[MonicaL]

Do you know where his children were living around this time of the mid to late 1870s?

Monica