4th Great grandparents; Alexander McPherson and Isabella Hynd

Alexander McPherson 1795-1865 and Isabella Hynd

4th great-grandparents

Margaret MacPherson 1833-1921

Daughter of Alexander McPherson

Alexander McPherson Gillies 1858-1923

Son of Margaret MacPherson

Leila Winifred Gillies 1893-1974

Daughter of Alexander McPherson Gillies

William Frederick Jessep 1910-1939

Son of Leila Winifred Gillies

Trevor Warren Jessep-Pond

Son of William Frederick Jessep

Tania Lynne Jessep-Pond

Alexander McPherson was born in 1795 in Fort William, Inverness-shire, Scotland. He had one son and three daughters from one relationship. He then married Isabella Hyndes and they had nine children together. They emigrated to Australia and lived in Raymond Terrace. They may have been a part of the extended McPherson family who established a large ship building operation at the thriving town of Raymond Terrace. He died on June 13, 1865, at the age of 70 in Australia at Raymond Terrace, on the Hunter River.   He had lived in Scotland during the Highland Potato Famine, which lasted for nearly 10 years. 

Isabella Hyndes married Alexander McPherson on November 6, 1832, in Kilmalie, Argyll, Scotland. They had nine children in 25 years.

An Alexander McPherson emigrated to Moreton Bay Australia, with his family, in 1855, on the ship the Sabrina. Other genealogists on Ancestry.com pin this as the voyage that our Alexander emigrated to Australia, however the facts do not fit. He was an assisted immigrant and he was 59 years old. (Assisted Immigrants Index 1839-1896,Age: 59 | Ship: Sabrina | Year: 1855 | Copy: Reels 2137, 2474) This Alexander's wife is listed as Margaret, aged 49 and there are three young children, one of whom looks to be Lachlan.

Another possibility is that they emigrated earlier, in November 1838 on the St George. The details about passengers on this voyage are brief but there are many McPhersons and it appears that this is the only other voyage  that might fit the facts.  See image below of the passenger manifest. This date fits with many other emigrants from my family who left Inverness for the colonies in 1837, 1838 on the Heber, Midlothian and the Brilliant.

There are a number of McPhersons on the voyage. This is similar to when the Gilles family were evacuated from Skye on the Midlothian, whole villages and families were transported, and when the Camerons came from Inverness on the Brilliant, where there were over 200 Camerons (and a number of McPhersons) on that voyage. It is difficult to establish just when Alexander and family actually emigrated but the fact remains that they were born in the highlands and ended up in Raymond Terrace, and there are only a limited number of voyages which could have been the ones where they were transported. They are certainly not listed amongst the convict musters or the fee paying passenger lists, and this is the only possible voyage on the assisted passenger lists.

There is an Alexandr McPherson listed in the 1851 census aged 56, with the estimated birth year of 1795. According to this record he was born in North Uist, Inverness. At the house on the night of the census were his children Mary, 29, Alan, 24, Jean, 20 and Harriet, 18. If this is the same Alexander, his occupation was shoemaker and & farmer of baires. Perhaps a baire is a bearded buck (according to A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700), a baire is a beareded buck).

Personal Notes

I seem to have many ancestors originating from Scotland, particularly highlanders from Inverness and the Hebrides. The Gilles are from Skye, some McPhersons from the island of Ulst and Fort William, others associated with the great Cameron exodus and the clearances of Ardnamuchan, Camerons from Inverness and Ardnamuchan and Martins, Frasers etc. from there as well. They left for better lives after the clearances and potato famine and  they seemed to meet up at different times in the Maitland area and further, including Sydney. They mostlly seemed to leave during a great exodus during 1837-39.

The history of the highlands is generally that of a proud and rugged independent peoples. Their lives were protected and dignified by the clan social system where clan chiefs had duties to both defend, protect and rule their clans. Individual clan members were provided for by the clan and directly supported by the chiefs. Clan members, in turn, rallied to their chief's leadership and direction, contributed to the chief's and clan's armies and upkeep. Clan warfare was generally contained and often avoided by political means, negotiation and alliances.

This system collapsed under the constant threat and interventions of the British, especially after the turbulent events and clan wars associated with the reign of Mary Queen of Scots and subequent events. With support from the British, clan chiefs began to use their clans and lands as resources, with no reciprocal obligations to protect, unify and advance clan members.  So when the people were later afflicted by famine, or changing economic times (eg; the collapse of the seaweed trade), they were unable to pay the rents. Once, there were also crofters who were unable to pay rents for different reasons but this was traditionally forgiven. Now they simply cleared from their lands as surplus to the chief's needs. And they could no longer present a united front to oppose the rise of British power in Scotland and the ejection of people from their historic lands.

My ancestors were victims of this collapse. They were left brutalized and impoverished when they were cleared from their ancestral lands. Whilst the chiefs and British claimed that the lands were simply overpopulated, the reality was that there was simpy no land available for the people, after the chiefs and British had taken it all for sheep. Many of my poor ancestors left Scotland in pathetic circumstances and had no choice but to emigrate. 

My mother's side of the family has Scottish too, mainly lowland Scotts from Glasgow, Lanarkshire. (see exerpts below from the book "The Native Clansman) regarding the great migrations from the Hebrides and Inverness during the late 1830's.

Notes about North Ulst

(from Wikipedia https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/North_Uist,_Inverness-shire,_Scotland_Genealogy)

"UIST, NORTH, an island and parish, in the county of Inverness; containing the islands of Balishear, Boreray, Grimsay, Heisker, Illary, Kirkibbost, Vorgay, Orinsay, Ronay, and Vallay. This place, which is included in the Hebrides, or Western Islands, is supposed to have derived its name from its situation to the west of the Isle of Skye. The church, erected in 1764, is a plain structure containing 400 sittings. A church was erected by government, in 1828, at Trumisgarry.[1]

"The term Uist may be distinctly traced to the word Vist, which the Danes and other northern nations are said to use, signifying the west. North Uist lies nearly in the middle of the range of islands from the But, or northern-most point of the Lewis to Barra Head, the southern-most part.

"The language spoken is the Gaelic, which the people speak with uncommon fluency and elegance. The people are remarkable cleanly in their habits. The men dress in kelt or cloth of native manufacture; and the women are seen to most advantage in beautiful strips and tartans of their own manufacture.

"The ordinary food is potatoes and barley-bread, which are almost exclusively used among the poorer class. The small tenants of a better class use in addition, some milk in summer, and mutton and beef in winter.

"In some of the burying grounds, particularly in the island of Husker, are found several crosses rudely cut on stone. Also in the parish are found two stones or obelisks of large size. There is also a ruin of large dimensions and two caves of note.

"Every farm and hamlet possessed its oral recorder of tale and song. The pastoral habits of the inhabitants led them to seek recreation in listening to and in rehearsing the tales of other times; and the senachie and the bard were held in high esteem.

"Grains of every description are raised, and black-cattle and sheep of small, indigenous breeds are raised.  The breed of black-cattle has been immensely improved by the introduction of superior Highland cattle and bulls from various quarters."

The population in 1801 was 3019 and in 1831 was 4603.

The above account was written in 1837.

Source: The New Statistical Account of Scotland, for North Uist, FHL book 941 B4sa, series 2, vol. 14.

 The New Statistical Account of Scotland (pub. 1834-45) offers uniquely rich and detailed parish reports for the whole of Scotland, covering a vast range of topics including history, agriculture, education, trades, religion and social customs. The reports, written by the parish ministers, are available online at edina.($)  Click on ‘Browse scanned pages’ then search for the parish you are interested in. Also available at the Family History Library.

The land on North Uist was for centuries the property of the Clan MacDonald, and records of those who rented crofts from them are available to consult at the Clan Donald Centre on the Isle of Skye.  

Notes on Fort William (Alexander's birthplace)

(from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_William,_Highland)

"The earliest recorded settlement on the site is a Cromwellian wooden fort built in 1654 as a base for English troops to "pacify" Clan Cameron after the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.[3] The post-Glorious Revolution fort was named Fort William after William of Orange, who ordered that it be built to control the Highland clans.[4] The settlement that grew around it was called Maryburgh, after his wife Mary II of England. This settlement was later renamed Gordonsburgh, and then Duncansburgh before being renamed Fort William, this time after Prince William, Duke of Cumberland;[5] known to some Scots as "Butcher Cumberland". Given these origins, there have been various suggestions over the years to rename the town (for example, to Invernevis).[6]

The origin of the Gaelic name for Fort William, An Gearasdan, is not recorded but could be a loanword from the English garrison, having entered common usage some time after the royal garrison was established, during the reign of William of Orange or perhaps after the earlier Cromwellian fort, or from the ultimately French-derived word "garrison", as at the earlier garrison at Inverlochy by the Scoto-Norman Clan Comyn.

Historically, this area of Lochaber was strongly Clan Cameron country, and there were a number of mainly Cameron settlements in the area (such as Blarmacfoldach). Before the building of the fort, Inverlochy was the main settlement in the area and was also where two battles took place—the first Battle of Inverlochy in 1431 and the second Battle of Inverlochy in 1645.[7][8]

Fort William from Loch Linnhe.

"Nevis Bridge, Fort William, Scotland", ca. 1890 -1900.

The town grew in size as a settlement when the fort was constructed to control the population after Oliver Cromwell's invasion during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and then to suppress the Jacobite uprisings of the 18th century.

In the Jacobite rising of 1745 known as the Forty-Five, Fort William was besieged for two weeks by the Jacobites, from 20 March to 3 April 1746. However, although the Jacobites had captured both of the other forts in the chain of three Great Glen fortifications (Fort Augustus and the original Fort George), they failed to take Fort William".

Notes on Raymond Terrace

(From Sketchleycottage.org.au)

Raymond Terrace 1801-2008

Few Australian towns can trace their European contacts back to 1801 as Raymond Terrace, on the Hunter River in New South Wales can. The convict settlement of Sydney for the first 22 years was governed by British naval officers, whose inclinations were to travel by sea rather than land. Along the rugged NSW east coast this was the best means of transport, which could also penetrate inland via suitable rivers. In 1797 Lieutenant Shortland found coal at the mouth of the river 60 miles north of Sydney. In 1801 Lt.Colonel Paterson took the survey vessel "Lady Nelson" to investigate and report on this coal outcrop and other natural resources.

Paterson travelled upstream largely by rowing boat, past miles of mangroves until rising land was visible close to the north, just before a junction of two rivers, one from the north, and one coming in from the west. They camped overnight on the riverbank. A memorial in Riverside Park Raymond Terrace commemorates that 1801 visit. In 1812, 1818 & 1821 Governor Macquarie took parties to the Hunter, and used the name 'Raymond Terrace' for a location on the river banks where they made camp for a night in 1818. They then proceeded up the Hunter and Paterson Rivers, visiting en-route some farms Macquarie had permitted settlers to occupy. On his return trip he explored up the Williams River for some distance.

Land grants east and west of these rivers were made available in the 1820s. One of these was to James King, who established a vineyard and one of the first potteries in NSW on his property "Irrawang". With the advent of paddle wheel steamships able to reach upstream to Morpeth in the 1830s, Raymond Terrace became a growing port of call, so a village developed and was recognised in 1837, with warehouses and shops on the eastern bank of the river. Police were stationed here by the 1840s. The 1841 census showed the village contained 47 houses, with 364 people, including 105 convicts. A small Court House and Anglican Chapel were built. The Junction Inn was rebuilt in stone near the river. Now much enlarged and with the second oldest Liquor Licence in NSW, it has a wonderful river and floodplain outlook which attracts many patrons.

In the 1830s Richard Windeyer, a lawyer & free settler, started the fine 'Tomago House', now a National Trust property. His uncle Archibald built 'Kinross', closer to the township. Dr Cadell, the town's first medico, erected a lovely stone cottage facing the river in 1842. The Lt.Governor Kenneth Snograss settled on his Williams River property at Eagleton, where the McPherson family also developed a large shipbuilding operation from 1850 to the 1880s.

Below; Excerpts from The Naked Clansmen on Mull &Iona 1700-1860 by Ian McPhee from Google Books online.

It details the conditions at the time which led to the mass emigration and the coming of my ancestors to Australia. In summary; they couldn't provide for themselves or pay the rents due to the famine and collapse of the kelp trade. 

Above; Passenger list for the St George 1838 where there are listed a number of McPhersons.