I had a very interesting and enjoyable trip to Scotland. I got quite a lot done but could have easily spent twice as much time up there. As it was, we drove over 1800 miles in nine days - maybe not far by Australian standards but quite far enough when much of it was on winding, single track roads!

I can’t say that I felt that I made any really significant breakthroughs but I did come across a few pieces that might add to the jig saw.

I started in Edinburgh by visiting ‘Scotlands’ People’ (the National Archives of Scotland). They have a free, 2 hour introductory sessions giving access to their online archives from 10.00-12.00 and 14.00-16.00. Otherwise, they charge £15/day.

Searches came up with:

Wills:

John Mackenzie 3/8/1827 Stornoway SC33/34/1 - which we know about.

Col Lewis MacKenzie, Younger of Scatwell at Seabank, Parish of Inverness 28/6/1811 CC11/1/7

Lewis Mark MacKenzie of Findon, Barrister, residing at Balavil nr Dingwall, 22/1/1856

Marriages:

William MacGregor m Helen Gillanders, eldest daughter of George Gillanders, Tacksman of Shadig 27/2/1820 (which we know about – copy downloaded).

David MacGregor m Janet Ross 13/8/1795, Stornoway

Donald MacGregor m Catherine McLeod 9/1/1826, Stornoway

John MacGregor m Isabella McFarquhar 24/4/1818, Stornoway

Thomas MacGregor m Mary Frederica Elizabeth Stewart MacGregor 16/9/1852, Urray (which we know about – copy downloaded)

William MacGregor m Elizabeth Campbell 14/6/1850, Urray

Roderick MacGregor m Ann MacCulloch 2/8/1850, Urray. See attached. (By coincidence, this page of the parish register also shows Capt. George Murray’s marriage to Ann MacGregor and Alexander MacDonald, Ord Distillery, marriage to Ann MacKenzie, Blanabith(?) Strathconon)

Donald MacGregor m Mary Macrae 16/2/1840, Urray

Alexander MacGregor m Margaret MacKay 29/1/1851, Stornoway

Births:

Gillanders 1740 – 1850 82 results. Unfortunately, I was not able to print out the list of search results. I picked out a few which looked interesting:

John Gillanders b. 24/5/1841 parents Alexander Gillanders/ Helen MacGregor , Contin 060 0020

John Gillanders b. 16/4/1814 parents William/ Rachel Gillanders, Urray 085-0010

John Bowman MacKenzie Gillanders b. 14/11/1804 parents John Gillanders/Jane MacKenzie, Urray 085-0010

George Gillanders b. 00/07/1805 father George Gillanders, Stornoway 088-0010

James Falconer Gillanders b. 1/3/1809 parents John Gillanders/Jane MacKenzie, Urray 085-0010

I then visited the National Library of Scotland (open 9.30-20.30). I had pre-registered for a library card but had to go through the rest of the registration procedure on arrival. One of the librarians helped me look for on line newspaper references to Lewis MacGregor but nothing showed up. The Inverness Journal has been indexed but the Inverness Courier is only available on micro-fiche. It did, however, appear that they had films for nearly all the editions that had been published, including the 1850’s and 60’s. I had to order the films that I wanted to view, which took 30 minutes to be delivered. It is possible to pre-order items, once one has obtained a library card.

Foolishly, I started looking through the films from January 1850 and only managed to scan through a year’s editions in an hour and a half. Trying to find a reference to Lewis MacGregor, using a micro-fiche viewer, was rather like looking for a needle in a hay stack. Most of the death announcements were very short and the foreign news items from New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land were very few and far between. It appeared that the most likely place to find an account of Lewis MacGregor’s exploits would be in one of the Letters from an Emigrant, which were occasionally published.

With little time left, I quickly went across the road to the small Scottish Family History Centre (www.scotsgenealogy.com) at 15 Victoria Terrace. I rather wish that I had gone here first as they had a volunteer staff who were very helpful; a comprehensive reference library and files of family history records from other researchers. I was able to photograph some sections of sheet 3 of the Findon Tables, which covered the MacKenzies of Gairloch, Letterewe, Mountgerald and Lochend, (please see attached) but unfortunately ran out of time to study the MacGregor files, which contained a number of family trees which purported to link back to Rob Roy MacGregor.

One interesting entry that I spotted on the MacKenzie tree was that Lilias MacKenzie of Gairloch married Captain MacGregor, 18^th Regiment. Further research has established that this was Sir William MacGregor, 2^nd Baronet (1817 – 29 Mar 1846) (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_MacGregor,_2^nd_Baronet). He was the son of Sir Patrick MacGregor,( d 17 July 1828) Sergeant-Surgeon to HM George IV and personal surgeon to William IV as Duke of York and grandson of James MacGregor (Raigmore, Inverness) and Margaret Grant (see thepeerage.com/p50421.htm#i504201). As far as I can see, they don’t appear to be directly connected to any of “our” MacGregors.

The following day, I drove up to Inverness and visited the Culloden Visitors’ Centre, which had an informative display on events leading up to the conflict and the battle itself. I then went in search of William MacGregor and Helen Gillanders’ grave at the old Conon Burial Ground. This proved to be quite hard to find, as the location given on the rossandcromertyroots web site is incorrect. It is at OS map reference 5410 5350 and accessible from a drive, leading over a gated level crossing, off the A862 Conon Bridge to Muir of Ord road, just North of where the road bridges the railway. I wasn’t as well prepared as Colin, so I am afraid that I wasn’t able to tidy up the grave as much as he had done, last year.

The next morning, I obtained the keys for the Kilchrest Church mausoleum from the Highland Council Service Point at the Muir of Ord (next to the Police Station). It was quite spooky inside the building as a number of the stone slabs on the floor had been lifted and there were several animal bones lying around. There were two Gillanders’ tombs belonging to Francis Mackenzie Gillanders, second son of Alexander Gillanders, Younger of Highfield, who died near Ballifeary near Inverness on 16^th June 1868, aged 79, and Elizabeth MacKenzie, daughter of T.MacKenzie of Ord and wife of Alexander Gillanders, Younger of Highfield. There was also a memorial plaque to various family members of the MacKenzies of Ord and a few other grave stones, which I photographed. Not all the inscriptions were legible.

I then visited the new Highland Archives outside Inverness. This proved to be rather disappointing, as rather than being offered any real assistance by the librarian, I was just pointed at the MacKenzie section of the library. With hindsight, I think that I should have tried to speak to one of the other assistants who seemed to be more helpful.

I did stumble across a few interesting items:

1. A small publication called the “Children of Kildonan” compiled by Sonia MacKenzie, Puketapu, NZ Published by Duplex Design. ISBN 0-9582059-7-3. This contains comprehensive histories of the MacKenzies of Gruinard, Ballone, “Ardloch, Keppoch, Achnaclerach” and Kildonan; Scoraig and the MacIver/MacRae families. I have since found this publication to be out of print but did manage to find a copy for sale in Ullapool Museum, which I have just started to study.

2. “Diary of 1851 John Munro MacKenzie, Chamberlain of Lewis”. Published by Acair Ltd, 1994. ISBN 086152 9081. This is a detailed account of the activities of J M MacKenzie after he was appointed Chamberlain by Sir James Matheson. There are accounts of his meetings with Revd Mr McGrigor; John MacDonald, Ground Officer Uig and J R McIver. It contains a copy of a picture of the members of the Masonic Lodge in Stornoway, at the time, with a key to their identity. A Rev John MacRae, E C Minister is listed.

3. “Pigeon Holes of Memory. Life and Times of Dr John MacKenzie 1803 – 1886.” Christina Byham Shaw.

Constable & Co. 1988 ISBN 0-09 468280 1. This is an account of the MacKenzies of Coul and Gairloch.

He is another to have studied medicine at Edinburgh. Includes an account of walking through the Old Conon Burial ground. Mentions that he is a cousin of Colin Mackenzie, Younger of Mountgerald, who becomes a planter in Jamaica and dies out there of fever.

4. A claim in “The Quaich” vol 1 no 1 (Magazine of the Clan Gregor Society) from Donald MacIver of Stornoway that he is descended from Rob Roy MacGregor. The editor states that he intends to review this claim in a future edition. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any further reference but didn’t have time to search through all the later magazines.

I also made enquiries in the general archive about Scottish customs records. They did have details of customs officers but not as early as 1800.

I then went to the Inverness Library and spent another hour and half trawling through microfiche of the 1851 Inverness Journal.

The next morning, we headed north, stopping briefly at the Kincraig House Castle Hotel. This is quite a substantial property, which makes me wonder how Roderick MacGregor could afford to rent it.

After a couple of days driving up around the north coast, which was great fun, we eventually found our way to Ullapool. Here, I intended to make a brief stop at the local bookshop, which stocks a good selection of books on Scottish history, but got somewhat delayed talking to the very helpful curator at the Ullapool Museum. In addition to obtaining a copy of ‘’Children of Kildonan’’, I was able to purchase a copy of Kenneth Macleod’s new book “Lochbroom Through the Centuries” ISBN 978-0-9561845-1-1

This book contains some reference to the setting up of a customs office in Ullapool, in 1776, and its eventual closure, in 1813, but no mention of John MacDonald, who we know was Controller of Customs for part of the time.

I was also able to obtain a photocopy of Alick Campbell’s “Scoraig Notes”. These were very interesting as they mention: John MacDonald, Tacksman taking the MacDonalds and MacGregors to Carnoch (on the Scoraig peninsula) in about 1780; John MacDonald moving to Lewis in about 1830; MacGregors coming from Torridon (on the Gairloch Estate) to Carnoch at the close of the 18^th century; an Angus MacDonald leaving Carnoch for Ullapool in 1890 and a Duncan MacGregor, from Carnoch no 4 being drowned in a fishing accident off Stoer Head on 19/6/1890. His widow remarried a Macleod from Coigach and had two children, Danny and Duncan; and various MacRaes, MacKenzies and MacIvers.

In addition to this, I discovered that the museum has just received a large bundle of papers relating to the Customs Office, which have yet to be sorted and indexed.

Somewhere along the way, I did spot mention of a Mr MacDonald from Skye being involved in running of the fishing station on Isle Martin (prior to the establishment of Ullapool). This was interesting as family lore suggested that my MacDonald forebears originated from Skye. Unfortunately, I can’t now remember where I saw this reference.

We then drove very hastily down to Gairloch to meet Janet MacLean, Curator of the Heritage Museum, having established that the genealogical reference library would not be open on Saturday, as I had hoped.

Janet was not aware of any suggestions that any MacGregor families in the area were descendants of Rob Roy.

However, she was able to provide me with an index to the estate accounts from 1767. These showed that the following MacGregors had lived in the area:

Taagin Roderick 1767

Pollichlin of Smerifsary Hector

Anashealuh & Balness Hector

Anakeaun Murdoch/Murdo

Taggin of Kinlochewe Roderick 1770

Stronchile John

Torinoin Donald

Incheril John

Polichulin Hector

Torranculin Duncan 1785

Stronteid John

Goulinour Roderick

Achnacairn Donald

Torranculan Duncan 1789

Bardcruoy ? & Hector

Public House John

Goulinour Roderick Deg

Ahanakaun Donald Officer

Smirisary John 1790

Taagan Hector

Pubilc House, Frascon John

Torranculen Roderick & John MacIver

Anacuan Donald

Smirisary John & Wid McPail 1791

Taagan Hector

Public House, Frascon John Bain

Torranculen Roderick & John MacIver

Anacuan Donald

Taagan Hector 1792

Public House, Frascon John Bain

Torranculen Roderick & John MacIver

Anacuan Donald

I thought that the Roderick & John MacIver entry was interesting, as Roderick could be Rory Buidhe and I had already seen a suggestion that the MacIvers in Lewis were descendants of Rob Roy.

I couldn’t locate Torranculen but established that it must be on the coast, as it was the location of a reported drowning. It might be a variation of the spelling of Torridon, which would tie up with the history of the MacGregors who moved to Scoraig.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time (or think!) to look through later entries in the index to see if there was any mention of a William MacGregor.

I did, however, photograph part of the comprehensive MacKenzies of Gruinard family tree (see attached) which had been compiled by local historian, Ann Roots.

I also spoke to another local historian Willie McRobbie (who had a MacGregor grandfather) to see if he had heard of a Rob Roy connection but to no avail.

I have subsequently been given the phone number of Jonny MacGregor, who lives at Shieldaig on the south side of Gair Loch, who is apparently the local elder and authority on MacGregor history in the area. I haven’t managed to contact him yet.

Mike Steele

11^th Sept 2012