MACWILLIAM, David abt 1762 unknown, Scotland - 1818 PEI, Canada

[ljstewar]

Hi

I am trying to find out where my gggg grandfather came from. Story has it that father, mother, David and a sister arrived in Prince Edward Island, Canada sometime in the 1770-80's. He was in PEI in 1784 when he married. This has been my roadblock for over 20 years. There are various theories out there but nothing concrete. His children's names were John, James, Joseph, David, George, and Margaret. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Lisa

[ColC]

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, you can search the records for free, a small fee to view.

Parents.
ROBERT MCWILLIAM/ELSPET ANDERSON

DAVID MCWILLIAM 15/06/1766 MORTLACH

Plus, brothers no sister?

JOHN 3/11/1755, JAMES 12/12/1756, WILLIAM 11/04/1759, ROBERT 25/04/1761

Colin

[ColC]

ROBERT MCWILLIAM   MARRIED    ELSPET ANDERSON   03/12/1754   MORTLACH

Colin

[ColC]

The only record for a Robert in the County, but 9 possible for Elspet.

MCWILLIAM   ROBERT   ROB MC WILLIAM JANET TROUP   18/04/1722   BOHARM

Colin

[Forfarian]

Be cautious in assuming that, just because there is only one likely-looking David M(a)cWilliam in the surviving baptism records, he has to be the right one. Estimates of the proportion of baptisms missing from the surviving records vary (the longer ago, the fewer have survived) but I have seen estimates ranging from 25% to 35%.

What evidence do you have to suggest that he was from Banffshire?
Do you know the given names of his parents and sister?
Why do you think he was born in 1762-ish?
What was his father's occupation?

The one baptised in Mortlach in 1766 would have been only 17 or 18 years old in 1784. In Scotland at that time, it would be unusual for a man to be in a position to afford a wife and family at such a young age. Was it usual to marry much younger in PEI at that time?

The surname was commoner in South-west Scotland than in Banffshire. Of 2524 baptisms of M(a)cWilliams in the Old Parish Registers, 684 were in Wigtownshire, 200 in Kirkcudbrightshire and 67 in Dumfries-shire, compared with 49 in Moray and 456 in Banffshire.

See https://www.surnamemap.eu/unitedkingdom/index.php?sur=MCWILLIAM&s=Search and https://www.surnamemap.eu/unitedkingdom/index.php?sur=MaCWILLIAM&s=Search for the distribution of the surname.

I also note the absence of Robert from your list of the names of his five sons, which might suggest that it is unlikely that he was the son of a Robert?

[ljstewar]

And that is the trouble. Family lore has that he came from Inverness and/or the Black Isle. Some believe he is the son of Duncan MacWilliam and Christin Downie from Campbelton. There was a Dun. that came on the Ship Edinburgh in 1770 to PEI but it says 4 and I have accounted for his daughters on the Island. If there was a David, it would exceed the number of 4. And again none of his many sons were named "Duncan". Is there any good sites that have emigrations from Scotland? 

[Forfarian]

Hmmm.

Inverness is (not surprisingly) in Inverness-shire and the Black Isle is in Ross and Cromarty, the next county to the north.

Campbeltown is in Argyll, and about as far from Inverness as it is possible to get and still be in the Highlands and Islands.

Campbeltown is also an alternative (and almost forgotten) name for the village in the parish of Ardersier in Inverness-shire, but I have checked the marriage index at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk and Duncan McWilliam and Christin Downie were definitely married in the one in Argyll, which is over 200 miles distant. Not far by today's standards but an enormous distance in the 1750s, when the only methods of transport were by either muscle power or wind power.

Scotland's People does not have any records of children to Duncan McWilliam and Christin Downie. This does not necessarily mean that there were none, but that if there were any, their baptism records have almost certainly not survived.

I am not aware of any web site that contains many, let alone all, lists of the names of people who emigrated from Scotland in the 18th century.

I'm afraid that unless you can find some more information in Canada, it is almost certainly going to be impossible to be certain who David's parents were or when and where he was born.