Alexander McLeod (1802-1886) Kilmuir-Easter need help deciphering

[Sildeag]

I am interested in this Alexander McLeod of Barbarville, Kilmuir-Easter and believe his wife was Margaret Michal .  I thought potentially this could be Nichol but have seen Michal.  I haven't been able to find him or his parents Roderick McLeod crofter and Mary McLeod and would appreciate any info of them.  Unreadable is the location where he formerly lived.  I wonder if it is Rosskeen.  I have attached a clip of his death certificate which I hope does not violate copyright.  Any help would be appreciated.

[maddys52]

I think it says Alexander McLeod, formerly farm worker, married to Margaret Nichol. The "N" of Nichol is very different to the "M" of Margaret. Although, the "M" of married is something in-between, so maybe I'm wrong. 

Sorry, can't make out the right hand column.

[Neale1961]

Alexander McLeod
Formerly Farm Worker
Married to Margaret Michel

[Sildeag]

I see the farm worker and agree Margaret Michel but couldn't find the marriage, found one child, and guess Alexander's parents are from Lochbroom.

I believe Roderick McLeod is b1781 Culnacraig and Mary McLeod married 1805.

Alexander was born in Lochbroom in 1799 according the 1881 census.
Margaret was born in Kincardine in 1814.
Roderick a son was born in Lochbroom in 1850.

Thanks Maddy and Neale.

[eilthireach]

Michel is not a possible surname. You have to remember that the clerks and registrars were at most only semiliterate, as you can clearly see from all the wonderful spellings they thought up when they were creating records. I suspect that this is actually Margaret Mitchell.

[Forfarian]

Alexander McLeod, formerly farm servant, married to Margaret Michel
1886, July twenty-second, 11h 15m P M, Barbaraville, Kilmuir Easter

Do you know that if a certificate is difficult to read, Scotland's People will re-scan it at no additional charge? Click on the yellow 'Report an error' button and select 'Image and index errors' to request this.

As for Michel, I agree that it's a variant of Mitchell. As for it not being 'possible', no spelling variant is 'impossible'. There are 1,107 occurrences of Michel and 436 occurrences of Michal on SP, though some are undoubtedly variants of the given name Michael. Though as Mitchell itself is a variant of Michael, they are really all the same name. The Surnames of Scotland also quotes further variants: Mechell 1597 , Meitchel 1661 , Michell 1643 , Michill 1567 , Mitchol 1552 , Mitschaell 1645 , Mitschal 1521 , Mittchell 1688 , Mychell 1556 , Mytchell 1602.

[Sildeag]

Thanks for the clarification Forforian.  The date given is actually Alexander McLeod's date of death.
I've asked Donald MacDonald-Ross, who created the Coigach genealogy site, if he could take a look at his records because he apparently has access to the info about where Roderick McLeod snr was born.  I have not found Alexander d.1886 marriage record and had looked for Mitchell as well as many other possible variants.  Rev Alexander McLeod of Kincardine was married to Margaret Mitchell but I have accounted for them already and they seem to be different people.  Alexander d.1886 farm servant appears to have died in the same year as his brother Neil but it is always possible there were two sets of Roderick McLeod, crofter, and Mary McLeod's from Lochbroom.  It appears Roderick snr outlived Mary but died before 1855.  I've also been looking for Alexander's son Roderick b.1850 in 1851 census for Lochbroom but haven't made sense of that yet.

[eilthireach]

Alexander McLeod, formerly farm servant, married to Margaret Michel
1886, July twenty-second, 11h 15m P M, Barbaraville, Kilmuir Easter

Do you know that if a certificate is difficult to read, Scotland's People will re-scan it at no additional charge? Click on the yellow 'Report an error' button and select 'Image and index errors' to request this.

As for Michel, I agree that it's a variant of Mitchell. As for it not being 'possible', no spelling variant is 'impossible'. There are 1,107 occurrences of Michel and 436 occurrences of Michal on SP, though some are undoubtedly variants of the given name Michael. Though as Mitchell itself is a variant of Michael, they are really all the same name. The Surnames of Scotland also quotes further variants: Mechell 1597 , Meitchel 1661 , Michell 1643 , Michill 1567 , Mitchol 1552 , Mitschaell 1645 , Mitschal 1521 , Mittchell 1688 , Mychell 1556 , Mytchell 1602.

Yes, I know. Of course, all variants are possible! You're preaching to the choir here! I shouldn't have said that the name as quoted wasn't possible. (I think I just meant it looked so unusual (not impossible - just not very likely) as a surname, especially in that part of the world that it should be a red flag for anyone who comes across this record and so that person should automatically be thinking of all the possible surnames that a semiliterate clerk or registrar could spell in that way, and in his entry for the surname Mitchell, Black lists the variants he himself has found in historical documents! I should definitely have qualified my statement, should not have been so categorical. I know information and research! I know whereof I speak! I was involved in information (gathering and retrieval) professionally (was head of library and archives of a major scientific library) and have been involved in genealogical research for over thirty years, starting in New Register House with day visits and week-long visits from the early 90s onward and online on ScotlandsPeople ever since then. (In fact, I must surely have helped pay for the salaries of the staff there then and now! I'm probably helping keep ScotlandsPeople as a profitable concern!  And since we're speaking about variants, some years ago I contributed a great number of  name variants (forenames and surnames) to ScotlandsPeople's variant names database that was being maintained at that time!