Thankyou folks. all the information posted is indeed the right family. James indeed married Catherine Costello and that marriage cert was a great help. Not only did you confirm his father being John but you confirmed he was living in Highstreet and reaffirmed that he was indeed a blacksmith which I was sure of. My father grew up in highstreet so to know the family has had a presence around that area for much longer makes sense. I just didn't believe it because, for a generation or two, they moved into the heart of the town.
I had already come to the conclusion that John may have been his fathers name but there was two conflicting wives that where throwing me off. one with the surname Peden and the other McFarland. One thing that is intersting is whilst James McClelland is spelt as such his fathers surname is spelt McLelland. This could be a clue as a Y dna match i have spells his surname McLellan though our family diverges around the 1760s based on the calcualtions of familytreedna
