Glaschujan
03-Dec-10, 18:21
I haven't posted for a while so thought I'd have another go, trying to find out what happened to my elusive ancestor.
My g-g-grandmother, Catherine M(a)cKay, married twice. She died in Glasgow in 1881, aged (apparently) 66, which indicates her birth about 1815. Her year of birth (according to age) fluctuates a bit on census records, from 1815 to 1818, 1822 and 1824! Her death record gives her parents as Daniel McKay, shepherd, and Janet McKay, and it’s ‘Daniel’ (Donald) I’d like to find out more about.
There's a bit more information on her father in her marriage records: first marriage in Aberdeen in 1831, so if born in 1815 she would have been 16 yrs old. The record reads: "After due proclamation of banns John Ross, marble cutter of Aberdeen, was on the seventeenth day of September, One thousand, eight hundred and thirty one married at Aberdeen to Catharine, daughter of Donald Mckay, deceased, late shepherd, Parish of Reay, by the Rev Hugh MacKenzie Minister of Gaelic chapel Aberdeen in presence of these witnesses. John Mckay, Shoemaker, Thomas Gregson, Copper Plate Printer, Aberdeen."
The second marriage, in Edinburgh in 1846, reads: “Henry Stewart, Flesher, residing in No. 9 Queensferry Street, and Catherine MacKay or Ross, residing in No. 15 Middleton’s Entry, Bristo Street, daughter of the late Donald MacKay, shepherd at Bighouse in the parish of Reay, Caithness and relict of the deceased John Ross, sometime marble cutter in Edinburgh, afterwards resident at Dunbeath, in the parish of Latheron, Caithness, have been three several times duly and regularly proclaimed in the parish church of St Cuthbert’s, in order to marriage, and no objections offered. Married on the twenty-sixth day of February current by the Rev. John Symington, minister of the Relief Congregation in Bread Street, in this Parish.”
I have always taken Catherine’s baptism to be that recorded in Portskerra in July 1818, parents Donald Mackay and Jean Mackay, who married in Portskerra in 1814. Donald was dead by the time of Catherine’s first marriage, so I have assumed that Jean/Janet is the Jane M(a)ckay living in Portskerra in 1841-1861 censuses, born in Durness, Sutherland. This Jane dies in 1866 aged 75, but is said to be the widow of Donald Mackay, fisherman. So:
Were there two Donald mackays married to Jean/Jane/Janet Mackays in the Portskerra/Bighouse area at the time, both with daughters named Catherine? Or was Donald both a fisherman and a shepherd? Also, are there any records regarding the Bighouse estate which might throw more light on when Donald was employed there, or when he died? Grateful for any help, thanks.
My g-g-grandmother, Catherine M(a)cKay, married twice. She died in Glasgow in 1881, aged (apparently) 66, which indicates her birth about 1815. Her year of birth (according to age) fluctuates a bit on census records, from 1815 to 1818, 1822 and 1824! Her death record gives her parents as Daniel McKay, shepherd, and Janet McKay, and it’s ‘Daniel’ (Donald) I’d like to find out more about.
There's a bit more information on her father in her marriage records: first marriage in Aberdeen in 1831, so if born in 1815 she would have been 16 yrs old. The record reads: "After due proclamation of banns John Ross, marble cutter of Aberdeen, was on the seventeenth day of September, One thousand, eight hundred and thirty one married at Aberdeen to Catharine, daughter of Donald Mckay, deceased, late shepherd, Parish of Reay, by the Rev Hugh MacKenzie Minister of Gaelic chapel Aberdeen in presence of these witnesses. John Mckay, Shoemaker, Thomas Gregson, Copper Plate Printer, Aberdeen."
The second marriage, in Edinburgh in 1846, reads: “Henry Stewart, Flesher, residing in No. 9 Queensferry Street, and Catherine MacKay or Ross, residing in No. 15 Middleton’s Entry, Bristo Street, daughter of the late Donald MacKay, shepherd at Bighouse in the parish of Reay, Caithness and relict of the deceased John Ross, sometime marble cutter in Edinburgh, afterwards resident at Dunbeath, in the parish of Latheron, Caithness, have been three several times duly and regularly proclaimed in the parish church of St Cuthbert’s, in order to marriage, and no objections offered. Married on the twenty-sixth day of February current by the Rev. John Symington, minister of the Relief Congregation in Bread Street, in this Parish.”
I have always taken Catherine’s baptism to be that recorded in Portskerra in July 1818, parents Donald Mackay and Jean Mackay, who married in Portskerra in 1814. Donald was dead by the time of Catherine’s first marriage, so I have assumed that Jean/Janet is the Jane M(a)ckay living in Portskerra in 1841-1861 censuses, born in Durness, Sutherland. This Jane dies in 1866 aged 75, but is said to be the widow of Donald Mackay, fisherman. So:
Were there two Donald mackays married to Jean/Jane/Janet Mackays in the Portskerra/Bighouse area at the time, both with daughters named Catherine? Or was Donald both a fisherman and a shepherd? Also, are there any records regarding the Bighouse estate which might throw more light on when Donald was employed there, or when he died? Grateful for any help, thanks.