McDougall of Kilmore and Kilbride

[Raegan Fitch]

Hello,
I am looking for information on Allan McDougall and his family. Allan was born on Isle of Jura in 1759. He married Mary McPherson and had a child named Margaret McDougall who was born on April 1, 1791 in Kilbride and Kilmore Scotland. The family emigrated to New York shortly thereafter and finally settled in Quebec Canada.

I am trying to find out any more information about Allan's family (siblings?, parents?) or about Mary McPherson's family. I have information for them after they left Scotland but very little about when they lived in Scotland.

Thank you for any information anyone can pass on to me.
Raegan Fitch

[ColC]

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk for Scottish records, a free to search site, low cost to view records.

I cannot find the marriage of ALLAN MCDOUGALL and MARY MCPHERSON on
SP but I do see the baptism of Margaret in 1791, she appears to be their only child in "Kilmore and Kilbride, a united maritime parish of Lorn, Argyllshire, containing the town of Oban, so I am guessing this is Allan below, not quite Jura though but the only one in 1759?

ALLAN MCDOUGAL 27/06/1759 parents ALLAN MCDOUGAL/KATHRINE MCDOUGALD " Kilmelfort & Kilninver, a hamlet and a parish in Lorn district, Argyllshire. The only other child appears to be MARY 29/01/1761

A MARY MCPHERSON was born the in 1766 but I assume died as the same parents DUGALD MCPHERSON/CATHARINE MCCOLL had a second daughter of that name baptised 4/09/1768.

There was also a MARY MCPHERSON 20/01/1768, parents DONALD MCPHERSON/MARY MCIANLAICH at Kilninian and Kilmore and a number of others elsewhere in Argyllshire.

Most baptism records in the places above start in the 1750s, marriages shortly after but very few deaths recorded until 1855 when statutory registration started.
The Kirk Session records on SP might provide some information, Kilninian and Kilmore records start in 1766.


Colin

[Forfarian]

Where did you find the information that he was born on Jura in 1759? How reliable is it?

According to Page 78 of https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//research/list-of-oprs/detailed-list-of-old-parochial-registers-of-scotland.pdf there are baptism registers for Jura from 1704 to 1819, but if you look at the detail on the next page you will see that the register is blank between 1734 and 1810. This means that there is no record of the baptism of your Allan McDougall in Jura.

Given that Jura is an island, and Kilmelfort and Kilninver is a mainland parish, it seems unlikely that the baptism found by ColC is your Allan McDougall, unless his parents moved from the mainland to Jura when he was too young to remember living anywhere else.

[Raegan Fitch]

Hi thanks for your reply regarding the birthplace of Allan McDougall. In response to your inquiry of how I obtained the information that he was born on the Isle of Jura in 1759, I found this information on his marriage records in Quebec Canada after he immigrated there with his wife. It is also found in a published family history book in which the author obtained a direct account from Allan McDougall himself. The author was Allan's grandson.

[Rosinish]

What info. is recorded on the baptism of Margaret in 1791.

Is it noted Allan & Mary weren't married i.e. Margaret 'illegitimate' or similar wording?

Was an occ. given for Allan & were any sponsors named?

Did Allan & Mary have more children, if so, can you name them in order please?

Annie

[Forfarian]

In response to your inquiry of how I obtained the information that he was born on the Isle of Jura in 1759, I found this information on his marriage records in Quebec Canada.

Excellent.

That is primary information, supplied directly at the the time by the person involved in the event being recorded. It is regarded as the most reliable information you can get.

A book is secondary information, either based on the primary information or reported at second hand from the person involved.

In one way this is good, because it means that you can safely dismiss anyone of similar name not born in Jura.

However it's not good in the other way, because, as I said, the Jura and Colonsay parish register has no entries for the years around 1759. See the attached screenshot.

You need to view the baptism of that Allan McDougal who was baptised in 1759 in Kilmore and Kilbride, just in case it says that he was born on Jura and baptised on the mainland for some reason. Though as his sister was also baptised in Kilmore and Kilbride that looks unlikely.