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Paternal Grandfathers Line:Nether Lorn
My paternal grandfather was Duncan McIntosh (1873-1947). He and his ancestors were native Gaelic speakers who all hailed from the district of Nether Lorn in Argyll. More specifically they stem from the area just south of modern day Oban. In most cases I can trace the lineages back to that area until around the 1750’s when most churches in Argyll began to keep records. It is likely that some of our ancestors, but probably not McIntoshs, lived in the area for hundreds of years before then, and perhaps thousands, but those are lost in the mist of time.
My ancestors lived in various small hamlets or clachans within the church parishes of Kilninver & Kilmelford and Kilbrandon & Kilchattan. A clachan is often no more than a very small group of houses on a piece of land jointly farmed by the tenants, who are usually sub tenants themselves. The village of Kilninver is about 8 miles south of Oban on the south shore of Loch Feochan. Kilmelford is also a village lying about a further 8 miles south of Oban and is close to Loch Melfort. Kilbrandon is not a village but the name of the Church Parish which covers the Isle of Seil, the largest of the Slate Islands, but to confuse matters a little bit of Kilbrandon Parish, around Degnish and Armaddy Castle is on the mainland.
I have not had equal success with every ancestral line, as frequently the information required to progress is just not available. Very few Argyll Church Parishes kept records prior to 1750 and some parishes recorded more information than others. You can be lucky and find an ancestor whose marriage was recorded in say 1750 and the parents of both are given in the record. You can then estimate that the couple were born around 1720 and their parents around 1690. On the other hand sometimes no records at all were made or the records lost or stolen.
The Scottish naming pattern can also make it difficult as there was the custom of naming children after parents, grandparents etc. As most had large families in those days then it was common to have several cousins alive with the same name and often around the same age. Infant mortality was rife then and it was not uncommon for a child to be given the same name as a dead sibling, in order to keep favourite names within a family, again making it difficult for genealogists. Because of this it is very difficult to trace ancestors with common surnames and you have to find more definite evidence that an ancestor is your own.
Another factor that can complicate matters for genealogists, is that men in those times often fathered children when they themselves were in their late 50’s and 60’s. This was due to the fact that many women died in childbirth and the husband then re-married and had second and even third families. It is not at all unusual to find parents having children at the same time as their own older children.
One thing I have learned with genealogy is that you never stop discovering new information often when you least expect it.
Other names from Nether Lorn in our ancestry include; May, McCorquodale, McFarlane, McLachlan, McInnes, two lines each of Munro and Graham, three lines of Campbell and four of McCallum. You can wear many tartans.
Kilninver & Kilbrandon - Duncan McIntosh and Mary Graham
The earliest McIntosh ancestor I have traced is a Duncan McIntosh, my 4 X GGrandfather, who married a Mary Graham probably around 1776. The first record I found of them was the baptism of a daughter, Anne in 1777 in the Parish of Kilbrandon in the small hamlet of Oban-Seil on the Isle of Seil. Judging from the ages of his children I would guess he was born around 1750-60, but certainly not long after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. All history is an interpretation of the past written from the evidence available at the time of writing and family history is no different. Unfortunately there is very little information about these early McIntoshs, and we can only do the best we can.
Our Duncan McIntosh lived in an era of great change, and whilst this was true of all of Great Britain the Highlands were in addition experiencing a massive culture change as the old clan system was altering and clan chiefs became more like the large landlords elsewhere in the country.
We read much about the aftermath of Culloden and how much the Highlanders suffered as a result of the failed Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 at the hands of Government forces (I say Government not English, as since 1707 it was Great Britain and the Jacobite rebellion was not Scotland against England. Nor was it Highlander against Lowlander or Catholic against Protestant. Even although all the issues mentioned were factors it was an extremely complex issue and I would not even attempt to explain it here. Suffice to say that Nether Lorn was less affected by the aftermath and repercussions than many other Highland areas.) One major reason for this was that in the main Argyll was Campbell country and the Campbells, in particular the Duke of Argyll and the Earl of Breadalbane owned Lorn and both sided with the Government during the Jacobite Rebellion.
We do know that McIntosh is not an Argyll name and from the available records we could only find evidence of a few other McIntosh families in the area in that period. One was a John McIntosh who married an Anne McIntyre and baptised their daughter Anne in 1776 in Collipool on Seil. Another was an Alexander McIntosh of Caddleton, Kilbrandon who married a Katherine Graham and they had three children, John 1785, Margaret 1787 and William 1791. (Caddleton is near Armaddy Castle and is on the mainland part of Kilbrandon Parish.) It could have been a case of two McIntosh brothers marrying two Graham sisters but we have no proof of that. In later years I was unable to trace any of the other McIntosh families from that area and until or if I do this means it is highly unlikely I will ever find the ancestors of our Duncan McIntosh or can prove if the other McIntoshs’ in the area were related to our family. We can only be patient and hope new information is found or that I encounter others who have also searched backwards to those early McIntosh days.
Had there been records available of the marriages of Duncan McIntosh or of Alexander or John McIntosh we would have been able to establish much more but unfortunately that is not the case. My own feeling is that this group of McIntoshs were related and that they had been in Kilbrandon for at least a generation. Maybe they were given work and residency due to the skills they possessed as at that time the slate quarries on Seil were booming. It is also possible they were given a tenancy as a favour for army service at some point as this too was common in that period.
We know in 1777 when daughter Anne was baptised in the Parish of Kilbrandon that Duncan and Mary are living in the hamlet of Oban Seil and the records state Duncan was resident in Oban. (Oban, in this instance does not mean the modern town of Oban but Oban-Seil. At this period the town of Oban we know today was only a very small hamlet.) That Duncan is mentioned as a resident generally means he was not born in that parish. However it is possible that Kilbrandon was the parish of Mary Graham. Dugald (my 3X GGrandfather) was also born in Oban Seil in 1784. The first indication we have of Duncan’s occupation is when he is described as a Lint Dresser in 1786 when son Duncan was born and at this time the family are still in Oban Seil.
In this period from around 1750, and indeed until 1845, the Church Parish, or more exactly when they met at what is called in Scotland, the Kirk Sessions, was the closest we find to present day County Councils, magistrates and welfare. Every Church Parish was responsible for itself in issues concerning Poor Relief and this, very much restricted movement of people as parishes would only give poor relief to those who were born in that parish. The clan chiefs or as they were now becoming, the large landowners, often had land that covered several church parishes. Very often the movement of people from one area to another was due to the landowner moving people from one of his estates to another as they often held land in various parts of the country.
In order to marry it was necessary to provide a letter from your parish of birth that a person was of good character etc. The banns were then posted in both parishes should it have been the case that one party was not born in the parish of residence. I have not found a record of the marriage bans of Duncan McIntosh or Mary Graham in either Kilbrandon or in Kilninver parishes. However given that Duncan and Mary seemed to be able to move between the parishes of Kilbrandon and Kilninver suggests they must have satisfied the necessary conditions in both parishes.
It appears the family must have been given a croft and moved to Clachan Kilninver in 1789 when son John was born, as Duncan is now described as a crofter. (crofting was increasingly at this stage replacing the old runrig form of farming in the Highlands) Margaret was also born there in 1796, as was Hugh in 1801. It is only when we see Dugalds’ death certificate in 1860 do we learn that Duncan was also a cooper. It is interesting that both my GGrandfather and Grandfather were also to become coopers and they both followed the Argyll gunpowder trail.
Duncan and family would probably have walked over the Clachan Bridge in 1792 on the very day it opened. In fact its certain all of our Nether Lorn ancestors have walked over that bridge. The Clachan Bridge built by Thomas Telford linked the Isle of Seil with the Mainland and is billed as the first bridge over the Atlantic Ocean and is still used to this day as the only way on to Seil by land. It was one of many government projects organised from around 1715, to help relieve the terrible conditions in the Highlands at that time. It’s a tiny wee bridge but it must have made things a lot easier for our ancestors on both sides. We do know that the period from around 1650 to around 1830 was very much colder than it is today. In fact the period is often described as a mini Ice Age. There were several years in the period when harvests failed due to bad weather. This in turn led to starvation and hardship. The Crinan Canal where work began in 1793 was another project financed by the government to help relieve conditions, as was the Caledonian Canal on which work commenced in 1804 until it opened in November 1822. The opening of both canals greatly improved communications between the Highlands and the increasingly industrial belts of the South and Central Scotland.
It is probable that Duncan and Mary had both died by around 1820. Maybe one day I will find further information but it will require luck. Below is what we know became of Duncan and Mary’s other children, our Dugald’s siblings, before we concentrate on Dugald McIntosh (my 3X GGrandfather) and his family.
Duncan McIntosh (1786- before 1855) became a fisherman and married Margaret Cameron. We know Duncan died in Kilninver before 1855 and that his wife Margaret died there in 1857. Duncan had at least six children, John, Jane, Anne, Mary, Janet and Catherine. We can see most of the children were female. We know his son John moved to Glasgow and that daughter Janet married Dugalds’ son John in 1855 and later moved to Glasgow. They were the parents of Duncan the Poet.
John McIntosh (1789-1861) He became a weaver and married Annabelle McColl in Kilninver in 1816 and also had at least six children Duncan 1817, Sarah 1825, Mary 1831, Anabella 1833 and Christy 1837. The family still lived in Clachan No 48 in 1861 and John died shorty after the census was taken. On the census his age is given as 79 but he was only 71. His wife Anabelle and daughter, also an Anabelle, were still at home. You can see as far as records show that John had mainly female children and only son Duncan could have carried on the McIntosh name.
Hugh McIntosh (1801- est 1860) became a farmer in Kilninver and had at least four children. It looks as if he was a widower in 1841 but his children were Duncan, Agnes, Christina and Donald. By 1861 it looks as if his son Duncan married a Jesse and sister Agnes was still living with them on the farm in Ardnahua in Kilninver.
So far I have not followed the progress of the many female McIntoshs but I will at some stage as there are possibilities that the parish records of their marriages etc might give some further information on Duncan McIntosh and Mary Graham.
McIntosh –Kilninver Dugald McIntosh and Betsy Campbell
Dugald was born in Oban-Seil in 1784 in the parish of Kilbrandon., and around 1788 had moved with his parents to the adjoining mainland parish of Kilninver to a hamlet called Clachan, where he lived until he died in 1860. Dugald served his apprenticeship as a wood turner. I can only imagine this would have been locally as I doubt very much if there were anything even remotely resembling factories around at that time in that area. It could have been that father Duncan taught someone to be a cooper in return for Dugald being taught wood turning.
In 1804 Kilninver parish records Dugald McIntosh (Wood Turner) and his brother Duncan McIntosh (Labourer) both of Clachan, Kilninver show on a list of men who were eligible for military service which were men between the ages of 18 and 45 on parish records. There were Scottish Militia Acts of 1787 and 1801 that called for the creation of county regiments. This was unpopular as army service often meant hardship for those left at home. This was one reason why a lot of church records went missing as in some parishes parishioners damaged or stole the records in order the men could not be called up for enlistment. Usually it was the local school master who drew up the list from parish records. Enlistment was by ballot but you could pay to be left out of the selection process. I have no idea if Dugald served or not and only that he was on the eligible list..
Fencibles
Dugald married his first wife, Mary Carmicheal, around 1807, when he was 23 years old, and they had a child Jean born in 1808. It appears that Mary Carmicheal died, perhaps like so many women, soon after giving birth but Jean remained very much a part of the family. We know for example she is mentioned in one of the poetry books published in 1907 by a nephew, and my namesake and 3rd cousin, Duncan McIntosh. I have been in touch with descendents of Jean who now live in California. Jean went to Glasgow and in 1830 married William Harris in Cambuslang. They had about 11 children. Jean died in Glasgow in 1892 at the age of 84.
Dugald then married Betsy Campbell my 3 x GGrandmother in 1813. They had at least six children Allan, my 2 x GGrandfather,1814,(just a year before the Battle of Waterloo or if you like the same year as the Battle of New Orleans), Duncan 1816, John 1818, James 1820, Archiebald 1825 and Anne 1827.
The 1841 Census shows the family living in Clachan, Kilninver. Dugald is still described as a wood turner but only James and Ann are still living at home. I know that my 2XGGrandfather Allan McIntosh is living in Kilmelford at this time and my GGrandfather James McIntosh was born there in 1845, and he, Allan McIntosh, was the last of my direct ancestors to be born in Kilninver.
By 1851, Dugald is described on the census as a 64 year old labourer, and we know he was actually 67, so no longer working at his trade as a wood turner. Betsy gave her age as 65. Still at home were sons John and James and daughter Ann and all unmarried at this stage.
There was a big McIntosh wedding in Clachan Kilninver on the 29th November 1855. It was then that Dugalds son John, now 37, a shoemaker, married his cousin Janet McIntosh aged 21 and a housemaid. Janet was a daughter of Duncan McIntosh (1786) and Margaret Cameron. Sadly Dugalds’ brother Duncan had died before the wedding. Dugald Campbell, probably a cousin, was a witness as was a James Dempster. The minister of the Free Church who officiated was Donald McGilvary, the same minister who was to marry James McIntosh and Jane May in 1870 in Kilmelford.
Betsy died at 1pm on the 7th June 1860 aged 75 and Dugald at 7pm on the 13th July of the same year aged 76,just over a month later. Dugald was buried as a pauper in the churchyard of Kilninver. The informant of Dugalds’ death was his son John. Dugald and Betsy had been together for 47 years. Betsy was also buried in the churchyard but there is no mention of her being buried as a pauper like her husband. It was James Dempster (Merchant) who certified the death. He must have been the same James Dempster who was a witness at the McIntosh wedding in 1855. Perhaps he was a relative of some sort but as yet I know of no connection. Maybe the Campbells made sure that Betsy was not buried as a pauper or it could be that Dugald spent all he had to give his wife a decent burial. However I have another theory that you will see later.
Dugald was the last direct ancestor of mine to live in Kilninver, although other branches of the family continued to live in the area and some still do to this day. The population of the parish of Kilninver & Kilmelford was continuing to decline and the population dropped from 4,680 in 1772, 2660 in 1793,1,173 in 1801 to 357 in 1901 and to only 279 in 1951,as more and more from the Highlands and Islands emigrated to Glasgow and all over the world. Of course a lot of ancestors would have gone to Oban as the population there grew as that of the more rural areas declined. Duncan the poet wrote some verse to highlight this plight with a poem called Angel Hill.
Kilninver – Angel Hill.
I remember when I was about 14 or 15 and cousin Josie Baxter came up to our house at 50,Bonnyrigg Drive in Glasgow. He had found a poetry book at the Barrows (to us The Barras, and a world famous second hand market that opened only on Saturdays and Sundays in the Calton in Glasgow.) The book had been written around 1907 by a Duncan McIntosh, a seaman and much of the poetry was about Nether Lorn and Argyll.)
I remember my dad came to the conclusion that the Duncan McIntosh who wrote the book was probably related to our family but he knew none mentioned in the book, or of any Kilninver connection. I know my dad was of the opinion that before our McIntosh family were in Kilmelford that they came from the Isle of Mull. I have no idea where he got that information from but can only imagine it was something he remembered being told as a boy.
It was only when in 1987 I started to trace my family tree that this book reared its head again. I remember at my dads’ funeral in December 1986 asking my Uncle Melfort McIntosh, what he knew about the family. Uncle Melfort was then 86 but as lively and sprightly as men much younger. (Uncle Melfort lived until he was 95.) Uncle Melfort could easily tell me about his grandfather James McIntosh (1845- 1930) and he also knew about Allan McIntosh (1814-1864) However beyond that Uncle Melfort thought our ancestor was a Gilbert McIntosh. Which of course turned out to be not the case. Uncle Melfort was not totally wrong though as we actually descend from a Gilbert May, who is from my paternal GGrandmothers ‘side of the family from Balvicar on the Isle of Seil. However for a while then I was looking for a Gilbert McIntosh possibly from Mull who I soon discovered did not exist.
A few years later I was in contact with distant cousins of ours, one was a John Harrison from California and the other was a Margaret Bendictine from Canada. Then we were trying to unravel the various Kilninver McIntosh information we had amongst us. We did not know then for example if the Dugald McIntosh who married Mary Carmicheal in 1808 was the same Dugald McIntosh who in 1813 married Betsy Campbell.
Margaret had found a copy of the book by Duncan McIntosh VERSES FROM MY DIARY (1907) on the internet and that helped us immensely. To top that we found out he had written another book of poetry THE TRAVELLERS COMPANION (1924) which was also for sale on the internet and John Harrison bought that. They both sent me copies of some of the poems. Articles in the books proved that John Harrison was related to me via Dugald McIntosh and he was a direct descendent of Jean McIntosh, daughter of Dugald and Mary Carmicheal, his first wife who died around 1808. Margaret Bendictine was related via Duncan McIntosh and Mary Graham as she was descended from Duncan McIntosh, one of Dugalds’ brothers, who married Margaret Cameron. Of course the books also proved we were all related to the author and to one another. The author of the books was the son of the McIntosh cousins who married in Clachan in 1855. He was our Dugalds’ grandson.
The books were a great find. Some of the poetry described Nether Lorn as seen through the eyes of a relative who was born there in 1859. The books were full of gems for anyone who is tracing their family history. I must admit a lot of the poetry was a bit too holy for me but most Scots Gaels were members of the Free Church which started in 1843 and that included my grandfather’s generation. They tended to take their religion seriously and observed the Sabbath with a zeal unknown today other than by Cult Sects. Some would not even cook on a Sunday and to read a newspaper on a Sunday meant at least eternal damnation or worse.
One of the books showed the wee house the family lived in on Clachan–Seil, just over the Clachan Bridge. There was also a photograph of the author and to my mind he had the look of Josie Baxter, my cousin, who had found a copy of one of the books many years before. Strangely like Duncan, Josie was a seaman and had served in the Royal Navy, the Merchant Navy and on the whaling ships in the Antartic Ocean. His brother Billy Baxter went whaling too and was also in the Merchant Navy. Sadly Billy and Josie are no longer with us but I remember them both with great affection.
When Duncans’ mother died he put his mother Janet's obituary in the Oban Times, which was the paper those from Nether Lorn used to keep in touch with home. You can see they had editions for both Australia and America.
THE OBAN TIMES
Sat. Jan. 18, 1913
McIntosh
At 541 New City Road Glasgow, on the 13th inst. Janet McIntosh, in her 79th
year widow of John McIntosh boot and shoemaker, Clachan Seil, Argyllshire-
Australian and American papers copy
Below is the tribute Duncan paid to his mother in his book
THE TRAVELLER'S COMPANION
MY DARLING MOTHER'S LAST YEARLY CALENDAR
"A memorial of her" (Matt. 26, 13)
'Twas my sweet mother's last gift with message to me,
ere she left here for glory, with Jesus to be;
Until I meet her again this card I'll review,
And think I hear her saying, "He careth for you."
For years past our darling mother secured two Text Calendars exactly the
same. One of these she had put up in a prominent place by the dresser,
where she herself and all others at home could see at a glance what its
texts and subjects were. How often we've watched her remove these slips,
and frequently place one inside the family Bible. This would be taken out
again from between the sacred leaves, passed on by letter to a friend, or
perhaps out of her own kindly hand. Ah, yes, the giving hand was mother's
hand. Nobody ever saw another hand like hers for giving away, and with the
gift would go her beautiful smile and kindly blessing. Whether a slip from
off the calendar, a coin or a piece of bread given to the needy at the
door, all were so graciously given as if she were a crowned queen bestowing
a benefice, and, with all, her benediction.
But she truly was queenly in form, grace, and manner. In love she ruled
her home, her children called her blessed, our hearts were her throne. She
walked with God, and our ambition always was to follow in the footsteps of
our beautiful, Christian mother.
The other of the two Calendars was for myself. Being often away, long
absent from our sweet home, as dear mother often remarked, "I like you to
have the Calendar so as that your mother and yourself will have looked at
and read the same text for the days as they pass, with me here in the house
thinking of you then far out on the ocean, or perhaps beyond seas in
strange lands and among strange peoples, we are sure always to have read
the same portion of Scripture for once each day at least, however far we
may be separated.
Every year a place was given dear mother's Daily Meditation Calendar in my
cabin, placed so that all could see and read it at leisure, and many are
the places to-day where some of these texts could be found, where persons
who got and took them away for keepsakes to be retained and treasured.
This hath been proved very frequently; by their owners producing them in
after years when happening to be crossing over seas with us times and
again, all bearing the marks of being well handled and read.
Oh, how I look forward to the ending of the seasons, when yon loving hands
of hers handed me that much prized illuminated card with inspiring texts.
Especially precious to me is this one for the year 1913, which proved to be
the last of its kind, also the very last gift in this world which I was
destined to receive from my darling mother.
That voyage, before leaving for abroad, departing on the 2nd December,
1912, this being too early for the Calendar being ready for her to have for
for me before sailing, how earnestly she expressed her disappointment, even
sorrow, but added so touchingly, "Still, you will keep a place for it, and
I will have it ready waiting for you when you come back."
Sure enough, when I returned after our ship having had a stormy and
protracted voyage, the Calendar was awaiting me, just as dear mother left
it, but, alas! my darling sweet and precious mother was not before me in
her wonted place! Her chair was vacant in the old, old home! But yonder I
know she is waiting for me, she and our dear, dear father. Both await us
where no Calendars are required. It is up there we'll meet again, safe
home in that beautiful land where the sun never sets.
This calendar for 1913 represents a pretty seascape, a glowing sunset, and
fishing boats sailing home to the calm haven beyond.
The texts are:
"Even the wind and the sea obey Him" (Matt. 8. 27)
"He careth for you" (1 Peter 5. 7)
How often I heard her charming voice repeat these appealing texts which
are given here, and which proved to be her very last messages to me, her
mariner son, who is fully persuaded as to the real truth of the texts which
both father and mother taught me long before I launched away out upon the
world of waters, where I have often seen His command of wind and waves, all
proving His care for me, and all who trust Him.
Now I will always think these words ever most precious, in fondest
remembrance of my beloved mother. Her affectionate son. DUNCAN.
541 NEW CITY ROAD, GLASGOW.
25/1/1913
This brought a tear to my eye.
What I found interesting was that in 1855 Janet, the Poets mother, could not write and had signed her name with an X on the marriage certificate. I found this extremely rare amongst my Scots ancestors but clearly she had learned to read later. Statistics show that in 1855 89% of men and 77% of women in Scotland could sign their name on marriage certificates. If you consider that by 1855 Scotland had a massive influx of Irish who in the main were illiterate, then the actual percentage of indigenous Scots who were literate was even higher. This was a figure not matched in England until after WW1 and probably not until the late 1920’s. For this we have to thank John Knox as it was he who advocated that everyone should be able to read the Bible and not, as the Church of Rome wanted and only to have the Priests literate. We know then that from the 1500’s many ordinary Scots could read and write, even the poorest. This is one of the main reasons why, when it came to the Industrial Revolution so many Scots were scientists and inventors and Scotland was known as the most literate country in Europe.
Below are descriptions of the books cousin Duncan McIntosh had published as they showed on the internet.
227. McINTOSH, Duncan. «The Traveller's Companion». Glasgow, Pickering & Inglish, 1924. VIII,342 p. (22 cm). Original cloth. Verses at sea by the Chief Steward, S.S. "Metagama", Canadian Pacific Steamships. Ills. Amtmann, M-596. 25 $
6. McIntosh, Duncan Verses From My Diary
Author Glasgow 1907 VG INSCRIBED Long inscription on ffep signed by author and dated 1/1/13; 1st . Bookseller Inventory # R0016546
Price: US$ 40.00 convert currency
Presented by alottabooks.com, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
order options
7. McIntosh, Duncan Verses from my Diary
Privatly Printed , Glasgow, 1907 Blue cloth HC binding. Many of these poems concern Christian thought. This volume SIGNED twice, once on the title page and once on the free end paper while quoting a psalm. VG . Bookseller Inventory # 1643
Price: US$ 40.00 convert currency
Presented by Norm Johnson, Bookseller., West Chester, OH, U.S.A.
order options
One poem in particular I did find haunting. It was called Angel Hill. Duncan describes in his book how he was inspired to write the poem when he read an article from the Oban Times about how the local graveyard in Kilninver, Angel Hill, was in disrepair. He was on a ship off the coast of the USA when he wrote the poem. You can read the poem for yourself but I found it a moving way of highlighting the continual decline in the population of the Highlands and the loss people felt knowing they would never return and that the old ways had gone forever.
It was nice to find a relative who was a published poet, especially for me as he is my namesake. What is good is that some of Duncans’ poetry has now been read by a far bigger audience than that due to the sale of his books. Such is the power of the internet. I even sent to poem to the current website for Kilninver & Kilmeford area and they published it in full, as have several other magazines. The strange thing was that none of the locals knew that their graveyard was once called Angel Hill. They do now.
ANGEL HILL BURIAL GROUND, KILNINVER"For now shall I sleep in the dust" (Job 7. 21)
Green Angel Hill, of lovely pose,Near where dark Euchar swiftly flowsAmongst Kilninver's bonnie knowesToward Loch Feochan's peaceful shores.The glen sweet nature has adornedWith heath-clad dales and hazel groves,I do not see the wide world o'erA place my heart so much adores.There memory keeps one spot e'ergreen,'Tis deeply in my heart enshrined,And yet it hath neglected been.At night this haunts me in my dream,Green Angel Hill, it gars me greetHere, far away, and cannot keepThat hallowed place in order neat,The mound 'neath which my father sleeps.Blest souls of dear departed friendsHave reached yon realms where joy ne'er ends;But if at times they did return'Twould be enough to make them mournTo see those places so forlornWith weeds and nettles all o'er grown.Green Angel Hill would them deploreHow different 'twas in days of yore.Green Angel Hill, the last, lang "Hame"Of those dear hearts once kind and leal;Tho' no great monument of fameMark out the plots where they were laid,Within the walls, in kindred layer,Our noble sires well worthy wereThe highest tribute we could payWhen placing laurels on their grave.Befriending wealth was not attainedTo cheer their hearts while here they stay'd,So, when departing, could not shareAmongst their offsprings worldly gain;But thus to us were their bequest,Their fervent blessing with much zestThroughout our lives, and then at lastOn Angel Hill a place to rest.But since we cannot aye remainAt home to watch our forbear's graves,This of old neighbours we would craveTo have these mounds kept free from maim.Tho' strangers fill the wonted hearthsOf some who now up yonder rest,We ask, with kindness in our breasts,That they would Angel Hill respect.Would they but think of those dear handsWhich toiled from cradle to the grave,True patriots to their native land,How hard they wrought for its dear sake,And laboured on till strength them failed,Long past the evening of life's day;Oh, how could they thus cease thy care,Green Angel Hill, where these are laid?Would wealth when passing on us smile,Or stay her course a little whileTo give a helping hand betimes;It would not need so great a pile,Green Angel Hill, thy top to crownWith columns and crosses, cairns and urns,High walls, neat walks, and choicest flowers,Becoming consecrated grounds.'Tis hallowed, consecrated ground,Where angels guard each sacred mound,Until at last the trumpet soundShall wake those slumbering from the tombTo see their Lord appear on high,And they to meet Him will ariseFrom Angel Hill to gain the prize,And share His glory in the skies."My thoughts on reading in THE OBAN TIMES the paragraph re the decision regarding our burial ground on Angel Hill, Kilninver, near Oban, Argyllshire.”S.S. "BUENOS AYREAN"Philadelphia, U.S.A.7/8/1904Duncan McIntosh, Steward
It did look very much as if that particular branch of the McIntosh family were very holy indeed, but they had their dark side too. I had an email from yet another distant relative who turned out to be the brother of Duncan McIntosh the poet. His name was Dugald McIntosh and as you can see it looks as if he had a wife in Suriname in South America in addition to his family in Scotland.
My gg grandfather was Dugald McIntosh, born 03 Sep 1864, Kilninver-Kilmelford. His twin-sister was Margaret McIntosh.
They were two of the children born to John McIntosh (dob 11 May 1818) and his cousin Janet McIntosh (dob 5 August 1834). Marriage date: 29 November 1855.
Janet McIntosh was the daugther of Duncan McIntosh and Margaret Cameron (Clachan).
John McIntosh was the son of Dugald McIntosh (dob 19 April 1784 or 1786) and Betty (Elizabeth) Campbell (born 1791).
According to my late grandmother:
Dugald McIntosh has been a shipmaster living on and off in Suriname (Paramaribo/South America = where I live) and Scotland.
In Suriname he lived at one of their plantations in our district Coronie, together with (his "wife"?): "Kathy" GEER.
He and his family have been plantation owners in Suriname, around the slavery-period (until 1863) give or take 10 years.
Other family names in our Database:
Mary Theresa Campbell, Nancy Campbell, Colin Campbell, Piet (Peter?) Campbell.
McIntosh, Mackintosh: James, Margaret, Alexander, William and Dugald Edward (who was my g-grandfather) also known as Dugald Geer - his mother was "Kathy" Geer.
Please contact me if you wish to find out more and also if you happen to have any pictures and other information. Thank you.
Rosita
Kilninver – Betsy Campbell
It took me many years of research before I found the parents of Betsy Campbell. I just could not find a set of parents who had a daughter called Betsy. I tried Beth, Betty, Bess, Elizabeth etc but had no luck at all in finding any who could have been her parents. On the birth records of one of the children her name had been entered as mother, Elizabeth Campbell but that had been scored out and rewritten as Betsy. It was strange and as the name Campbell in Argyll is almost as common as Smith elsewhere there was little point in trying to progress until I was certain.
Betsy’s death certificate in 1860, also puzzled me. There she was named Annabelle McIntosh (nee Campbell), and her parents were given as John Campbell and Mary Graham. Dugald Mcintosh’s name was not mentioned on the certificate which is unusual as he was still alive. To me this seemed too much of a coincidence that both Dugald McIntosh and Betsy Campbell would have a mother called Mary Graham. It was puzzling. I was beginning to think that Dugald McIntosh had married a second time to an Annabelle Campbell, but could find no record of that.
I knew Betsy Campbell was dead as Dugald McIntoshs’ death certificate, a month later, showed him as a widow. I knew Annabelle McIntosh (nee McColl), the wife of Dugalds brother John McIntosh, was alive as she showed on the 1861 census and was a close neighbour of my 3 X GGrandparents, Dugald and Betsy.
Betsys’ death was registered by James Dempster, who was a merchant of Ardnahuey. As James Dempster was a witness to the McIntosh wedding in 1855, and probably a relative of some sort, I felt it unlikely he would have mixed up Annabelle McColl and Betsy Campbell.
I came to the conclusion that as Betsy died on the 7th June 1860 and that the death was registered on the 13th June 1860 that the mix up was caused by the registrar Allan McLean, who probably knew both Betsy and Annabelle and thought it was Annabelle, Johns’ wife, who had died and had written the certificate from memory and not at the time the information was given. In the additional notes of the death certificate it states that Annabelle McIntosh is buried in Kilninver Churchyard.
I wonder if I am the first to notice this mistake for 140 odd years. Of course it could have been noticed at the time, as they could all read and write but perhaps they just did not bother to change the certificate, and perhaps they were conscious of upsetting Dugald, who must have been ill at the time. As Dugald was to die a month later perhaps he was too ill even to attend his wifes’ funeral. It will remain a mystery in that sense. I do know both are buried in Kilninver Churchyard but have no idea if they were buried in one lair or not. There are no headstones and Dugald was buried as a pauper.
Once I was convinced that the woman buried as Annabelle McIntosh was in fact Betsy Campbell then I looked again to find her parents. There was indeed a John Campbell who married a Mary Graham. To me it seemed an amazing co-incidence that both Dugald and Betsy had mothers called Mary Graham. (As a matter of interest yet another of my ancestors, Gilbert May, from Balvicar, Seil, also married a Mary Graham in 1824. However as she was his 2nd wife that Mary Graham was not one of my direct ancestors. I will show in another chapter descendants of Gilbert May and Mary Graham still live on Seil to this day.)
I established that Betsy stood for Beatrice and I then quickly was able to progress to finding two further generations of Cambells and Grahams. I was able also to confirm other information that had puzzled me such as confirming that it was with his Campbell relatives that Allan McIntosh lived with in Kilmelford as shown on the 1841 census.
I found it ironic that Betsy (Beatrice Campbell ) whose name was so often misunderstood in life should also have been the cause of confusion at death. If there is a ghost in the Kilninver Churchyard then I am sure it will be that of our Betsy Campbell.
KILNINVER CAMPBELL AND GRAHAM
Betsy Campbell (1785) was one of the younger recorded children of John Campbell and Mary Graham whom I guess both born around 1750. John and Mary are my 4 x GGrandparents. John was a tenant farmer in Barnayarry. Johns’ father, my 5 x GGrandfather, was an Archiebald Campbell and records suggest he was factor of the Breadlabane estate in the area.
John Campbell and Mary Graham were married in Kilninver on the 10th Feb 1774. John and Mary had at least nine children Dugald 1774, Janet 1776, Alexander 1778, Archiebald 1780, John 1781, Duncan 1783, Mary 1784 and Betsy (Beatrice) 1785,James 1787 and Allan 1790. James Campbell became a fisherman in Kilmelfort and was living in Kilmeford by 1841 with his unmarried sister Janet. My 2 x GGrandfather, Allan McIntosh, was living with them there by 1841, and also working as a fisherman, and so starting our McIntosh family connection with the Kilmelfort area.
In those days tenant farmers tried to secure tenancies for their own sons and also tried to secure marriages for their daughters. It was one of their expected social functions in life and they networked with other tenants to achieve this. This is one reason you see so many sets of brothers marrying sisters.
Mary Grahams father is given as Dugald Graham, my 5 x GGrandfather and a tenant farmer in Achnasual. Achnasual is about a mile south of Kilninver village and close to what is now Clachan Bridge, which leads over to the Isle of Seil. Barnayarry is about a mile south of Achnasual. I know Dugald Graham died after 1774 but before 24th December 1778. We know this because two of Dugald Grahams daughters,Mary and Catherine, married two of Archiebald Campbells’ sons, John and Duncan. and records show Dugald Graham was deceased by 1778. It is, only a guess of course but Dugald Graham could have been born around 1710. (This is only three years after the Union of Parliaments in 1707 when Scotland and England became one country, Great Britain.)
To date I have not found out the names of the mothers of either John Campbell or Mary Graham. However as both came from tenant farmer families there are possibilities of discovering more, perhaps in the Breadalbane Papers.
As you can see from the letter below to Lord Breadalbane conditions were not good for the Campbell family or neighbours by 1808. I found this information in Nancy Blacks’ book “FROM A HOLLOW ON THE HILL” which gives tales of her family from Lorn and Fortingall.
Letter to Lord Breadalbane, London 1808
Unto the Right Honble the Earl of Breadalbane
The Petition of the tenants of Duachie and Barnayarry, Netherlorn most humbly showeth. That the Petitioners’ forefathers have been tenants of the Breadalbane Estate for many generations past under whom they might be said to enjoy life and the comforts thereof which formed a kind of attachment in their descendents no…… …. Out, which attachment, together with …. For their poor families and not the prospect of their being able to pay the rents ( notwithstanding any change of times that might happen ) that induced them to come under the terms of the New Lease.
That the Petrs are far from being ambitious of becoming rich at your Lordships’ expence – all they want is to be situated as to be able to pay Your Lordships Rent, and rear their families. Which they cannot do by any means under the present Load of Rents.
That the Petrs tried every effort that Economy and Industry could suggest. That they even deprived themselves and familys of a good many of the real necessarys of life for the payment of the rents, but all to no purpose. They find it impracticable to be out of arrears of rent which insensibility has so impaired that little stock that no ????.
May it therefore please your Lordship to Consider the Petiyioners present distressed case and grant such a deduction of their rent as may to your Lordship seem necessary to enable them to pay their rents and rear their families which is all they want as they are willing to come under any rent that any judicious Valuator Acquainted with this soil and climate may impose. To continue under their present burden is only reducing themselves by degrees to a state of beggary and at length depriving your Lordship of part of your dues by arrears, which they flatter themselves is far from being pleasing to Your Lordship .
Therefore, flattering themselves with a compliance to their request, they shall ever pray.
Signed
DUACHY Dugald McCowan John McCowan Alexander McCowan
ARDSHELLACH – Lower part of Barnyarrie – Dugald Campbell, Duncan Campbell X his mark
The Dugald Campbell mentioned above is probably the oldest son of my 4X GGrandfather John Campbell and it is probable that the Duncan Campbell mentioned is the either the youngest son or else the brother of Duncan. It could suggest that John Campbell was dead by this time but that is not conclusive. What is also interesting from the petition is when the letter states the families had been tenants for generations. We can conclude from this that even if only 3 generations that our ancestors lived in the area from at least around 1650 or earlier.
The summer grazing of black cattle formed an important part of the economy of Nether Lorn until the end of the 18th Century, and the area of high ground between Loch Seil and Glen Risdale was used for that purpose by the tenants of the coastal townships of Ardnahua and Duachy. The practice came to an end c1790, when the area was included in a sheep walk based on the farm of Barnayarry, managed by John Campbell ( my 4th GGrandfather), son of the factor of the Breadalbane estate in Nether Lorn.
This means that Johns’ father Archielbald Campbell my 5th GGrandfather was the factor mentioned. In her book Nancy Black also quotes “a Mr Campbell, who was a factor to the Earl of Breadalbane for fifty five years, stated that a failure of payment was so rare, and so much shame attached to it that when, by misfortune, a tenant happened to be deficient, his neighbours generally assisted him with a loan. Unfortunately Nancy does not give the name of the Mr Campbell she wrote of, but again it is probably our Archiebald Campbell.
Kilmelford – Allan McIntosh
None of my living relatives were aware of the Kilninver connection with our branch of the McIntosh family and this included my Uncle James Melfort McIntosh (1900-1995) and my Aunt Jeanie McIntosh (1902- 2002). They all thought our roots were in Kilmelford as that is where they said my grandfather Duncan McIntosh (1873-1947) was born. Of course they had my Uncle Melforts’ name as a constant reminder. A cousin of mine Melfort McIntosh Johnstone, now in Austalia, also bears the name.
Kilmelford is the main village in the parish of Kilmeford. (apparently it can be spelt either Kilmelfort or Kilmelford.) Within the parish there were several clachans or townships, some being no more than a collection of about six cottages or so all attached to a common tenancy.
By 1841 Allan McIntosh (1814-1864), my 2 x GGrandfather, had moved from Kilninver to Kilmeford. He is shown on the census as living in the area with his Aunt and Uncle James and Janet Campbell. His age on the census is shown as 20 but we know he was in fact 27 by 1841. It may be insignificant but Allan never named any of his children after his parents as was common in Scotland at that time. Maybe Allan saw his Uncle James as a father figure instead, and I have no doubt that his son James was named after James Campbell. What is certain is that the name Dugald McIntosh never appeared again in our branch of the family. It is possible there was bad blood between Allan McIntosh and his father Dugald.
In 1844 Allan, resident in Ardenstuir, Kilmelford, married Lucy McCorquodale, daughter of Hugh McCorquodale, late herdsman of Ardenstuir. The following year on the 6th Jan 1845, their first son James, and my GGrandfather, was born in Melfort. This is the same James who died aged 85, in 1930 in Kames at Shore Cottages. Some of my older cousins still vaguely remember him. In 1847 daughter Barbara was born and in 1849 they had son Hugh. More than likely Hugh was named after Hugh McCorquodale but it could well have been after brother Hugh McIntosh.
On the 1851 census the family are shown as living in Fernoch, Kilmelford. Allan is an agricultural labourer and Lucy describes herself as doing domestic duties. The children are James 6, Barbara 4 and Hugh 2. Daughter Flora was born later that year on the 24th July. Although I cannot be sure of the date, very soon tragedy struck as Lucy died. It could have been in, or soon after childbirth. I cannot be sure what happened to the baby but she probably died as that is the last record we have of her. It would certainly have been very difficult for Allan having to look after children of 6, 4 and 2, and it would have been much worse if the baby, named after one of Lucy’s sisters, also survived. Again we just don’t know exactly what happened.
In 1853 the Melfort Powder Mill opened, which possibly started the McIntoshs’ on the Gunpowder trail. This would have brought much needed employment to the area. A little known fact is that Argyllshire was once famous for gunpowder production. There were Powdermills, as they were called in Melfort, Furnace on Loch Fyne, Dunoon and in Millhouse near Kames in Kilfinan..
In 1854 Allan married again to a woman from the Isle of Colonsay, called Elizabeth McGilvary, who like his first wife was also known as Lucy . They married in Lochgilphead and on 4th Sept 1855 they had a daughter Margaret. At this stage they were living in Ardenstuir. It is interesting to note that 1855 was the year modern Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates (BMD’s) started in Scotland. BMD’s in 1855 asked for much more information than was required in later years and are a massive help to genealogists.
On the 1861 census Allan is shown as being 47 and a labourer at the Powder Works living at 75 Ardenstuir. His 2nd wife Lucy is shown as aged 36.Also at home are son James 16, journeyman cooper, son Hugh 12 and a scholar, daughter Barbara 14 and daughter Margaret 5.
Allan died suddenly at 6-15am on the 5th June 1864 after a 3 day illness which was diagnosed as Apoplexy by Dr G.H.Gilles. He was only 50 years of age and so far as I have discovered the only male McIntosh ancestor of mine to have died so young. On his death certificate he is described as an agricultural labourer so perhaps he did not like work in the powder mills. The family were still living at Ardenstuir and son James aged 19, registered the death.
On 9th March 1867 as reported by the Oban Times there was an explosion at the Powdermill, which totally destroyed the works. Many of the windows of local houses were smashed by the concussion of air and to give an example of the power of the explosion it reports a bale of cloth was blown about a mile from the works. Melfort Powdermill never reopened.
James married Jane May on 24th November 1870 in Kilmelford Village. He gave his age as 25 and was living in the hamlet of Melfort, she as 22 and living in the village of Kilmelford. Janes’ parents were Duncan May (Agricultural Labourer) and Jane McFarlane. The minister who married James and Jane in the Free Church was Donald McGillivary. The witnesses were a Duncan McDearmid and a John McArthur. Janes’ family were originally from Balvicar on Seil Island. I have no idea when the May family arrived in Kilmelford but I do know that they were living in Dunoon until mid 1862. Although James and Jane were to leave Kilmelford by 1875, Janes parents remained in the area until they died, Duncan May in 1885 and Jane McFarlane in 1906. We will tell the May story in a later chapter.
In the 1871 census James and Jane are shown as living at no 4 Fernoch and their first son Allan was born on 17th Aug that year and birthplace is given as Kenmore Kilmelford. Also on the census of that year James’ stepmother at 16 Fernoch Lucy McGilvary is shown as a washer woman but no sign of daughter Margaret who if still alive would have been 15. At Ardenstuir house no 5 James’s sister Barbara is shown as living with her husband Duncan McArthur (powder maker) and their 3 children Allan, Catherine and Lucy. Brother Hugh McIntosh (Blacksmith) is also living at the house.
On 14th June 1873 (The same year as Glasgow Rangers were founded) my grandfather was also born at Kenmore Kilmelford and certainly before 1875 the family moved to Furnace on Loch Fyne as James got a job at the powder works there. My grandfather then spent less than 2 years of his life living in the Kilmelford area. What I did discover when I read my Great Grandfathers’ obituary was that he, James McIntosh, considered it to be the finest part of Argyll.
Kilmelfort – McCorquodale.,
McCorquodale is a Norse name , and for genealogists it can be a nightmare as it can be spelt in so many different ways. This added to the difficulty in tracing the McCorquodale lineage. My GGrandfather spelt it McCorkindale, at least that was how it was spelt on his marriage licence, where his mothers name is written as Lucy McCorkindale.
I remember telling my brother that there was a good possibility that our family are distantly related to Princess Diana. Her mother was a McCorquodale and she lived on the Isle of Seil, where many of our own ancestors lived. It has to be said so far as I know our McCorquodales came from Kilmelford, which is about 15 miles away from Seil by road, but it is still very possible that there is a connection. I will ask Prince Harry next time I see him. Of course my brother laughed but when you consider that genealogical lineage is in geometrical progression it is not a totally remote possibility at all. You only have to go back ten generations and you have around a thousand direct ancestors, if there were no marriages of cousins etc in that period. However, enough of that and it seems our McCorquodales were all humble herdsmen in Ardenstuir, Kilmelford for several generations.
My first link to the McCorquodales is via Lucy McQuorquodale, also known as Elizabeth, who married Allen McIntosh in Kilmelford on 23rd April 1844. Her father was given as Hugh McCorquodale , Herdsman, late of Ardenstuir. There is no record of a birth for Lucy in OPR (Old Parochial Registar, essentially church records) but I think born around 1813 and as she died about 1852 neither is there a record of her death. However marriage records show that her parents were a Hugh McCorquodale (herdsman) and I established he married a Janet McCallum in Kilninver on 31st Dec 1812. (It would seem then that Janet McCallum came from the Kilninver area but as yet I have made no further progress on that line as McCallum is such a common name.)
I have found other children of this marriage to be Catherine 1813,Colin or Duncan, 1815, Anne 1817, Flory 1821, Archiebald 1824 and at least two Dugalds born in 1826 and 1829. As said previously no mention of a Lucy and also no mention of a John, who, see below was transported to Australia aged 18 as John was born around 1815.
Today Australian genealogists have it as a badge of honour if they find they are descended from deported convicts. Well one of my 3 xGUncles was deported. He was John McCorquodale, son of Hugh McCorquodale, my 3X GGfather. If you ever go to the museum at Inveraray Jail on Loch Fyne, you will see the details, which are as follows:
Inveraray Jail ( brother of Lucy McCorquodale)
Full Name - MacCORQUODALE, John
Reference - AD 14/31/197
Age - 18
Status - Single
Address - Born & Resident: Ardinstuir Son of Hugh MacCorquodale
Town - Kilninver & Kimelford
Area - Argyll
Crimes - Sheep stealing
Conviction -
Occupation - Herder
Trial Date - 21 April 1831
Tried by - Lord Justice Clerk & Jury
Sentence 7 years Transportation
Sail Date -
27 November 1831
Transported
Arrive Date - 22 March 1832
Ship - Gilmore
Where - Van Diemen`s Land
Other Information- Removed to Retribution Hulk arriving on 6th June 1831.
no 9410. Transferred to the Gilmore on 22 October 1831.
MacCorquodale confessed to stealing two sheep, the property of Hugh McLachlan, from the farm of Ardluing in the island of Luing, parish of Kilchattan. He disposed of them at Oban. The accused was unable to
Write and spoke only Gaelic. Value of sheep put at 12/- to 13/- each. MacCorquodale gave McLachlan 12/-as recompense. The lad appears to have had no one to look after him and no home from an early age. He drifted around various acquaintances, spending a few nights here and a few nights there.
Obviously when viewed from todays values the punishment seems very harsh indeed but even by the 1830’s many starved in winter or when harvests were poor and most people still lived at subsistence level. Stealing food therefore was a much more serious crime than it is today. Although I have no proof it is possible that the McLachlans that John stole from could have been his own relatives, as the McCorquodales had married into the McLachlans earlier when Duncan McCorquodale married Mary McLachlan around 1760.
My 4x Ggrandparents were a Hugh McCorquodale (born 18th May1760) Kilninver and Kilmelfort who married an Anne Campbell 21st Dec 1789 and had at least two children Hugh abt 1780 and Mary 5th Dec 1782 and his father was given as a Duncan McCorquodale.
Duncan McCorquodale (born abt 1730) shows in the records as having married
a Mary McLachlan. (These are my 5 x GGrandparents).
The 1841 census shows a Janet McCorquodale, widow(nee McCallum) living with another McCallum relative. I have not yet found them on the 1851 census so have no idea yet how to trace this branch of McCallums. I have never found a Lucy McCorquodale on the census until1851 when she was married to Allan McIntosh.
Furnace – James McIntosh and Jane May
Every member of the McIntosh family will tell you of the uncle who was killed by an adder and how our granddad tried to save his brother. Like most folklore there is some truth in the tale. Whilst I don’t know exactly when the family moved to Cumlodden I do know it was after June 1873 and before the 1st May1875.
It was on 1st May 1875 when Allan McIntosh, then not yet 4 years old died from a snake bite. However as my grandfather was not yet 2 years old it is unlikely that he tried to save his brother. It must have been a terrible night for the family as young Allan died at 4am and his death was recorded as being due to Pyaemic Inflamation and convulsions.
Allan's death was reported in the Oban Times of 8th May 1875 it was on page 2 column 1 and read "FATAL SERPENTS BITE". Allan McIntosh, son of James McIntosh, cooper at Furnace gunpowder works, was lately bitten by an adder. He was attended by Dr. Campbell, Brenchoille, but to no avail and the lad sadly died after suffering much pain.
The following month on 9th June 1875 James’ stepmother Lucy McGilvary died in Kilmelford after being ill for a year with dropsy. Duncan May, James’ father- in –law registered the death.
Son Hugh was born in Cumlodden in 1876 and in 1880 William May McIntosh was also born there. In 1881 the family are living at Goatfields, Furnace, Cumlodden and our grandfather is shown as a scholar. Goatfields were powdermill company houses. It is interesting to note that Uncle Willie is the first to be given a middle name.
In 1883 there was an explosion at the powdermill in Furnace and the powdermill did not re-open. James McIntosh and family were soon to move to Kames.
So it was in Cumlodden on Loch Fyne near Invarary that my granddad had most of his schooling.
Kames- James McIntosh, Jane May and Catherine McGilp
I don’t know if the family moved directly from Furnace to Kames as the first record I have of them living in the area is 1889 when son James was born. I have the feeling it was soon after 1883 as James was given a long service payment in 1921 that suggests he worked at the powdermill for 38 years.
It is probable then that my grandfather went to school in Tighnabruaich for at least a year or so and that his brothers had most of their schooling there. (There is a wonderful school photograph of youngest son James Allan McIntosh, who was born 1889, and the photograph was taken at Tighnabruiach School circa 1899. ) They probably knew other people who had moved from Furnace to Kames and it is even possible that they had relations there, even if only distant cousins. It is probable that they even knew people who had worked in the powdermill at Melfort before that closed.
In 1885 Duncan May, father in law to James died in Kilmelford. I am sure this would have been a great loss to all the family. My cousin Margaret McIntosh has told me that our granddad often spoke of when he was a boy and going to his grandparents house where they had a chicken they called the devil.
The 1891-1892 Valuation Roll for Kilfinan Parish shows James McIntosh (cooper) a tenant in Auchenlochan at the House and Smithy for an annual rent of Seven pounds. (My cousin Murdo McLean told me he remembered a photograph in PaPa McIntoshs’ house in Reid St Bridgeton of the House and Smithy, and on the frame was written “Hame o’ Mine” It was very clear then that this house meant a lot to my granddad.) We know today this is just down the hill from Kames on Smiddy Brae and just before the shinty pitch. Whether the actual house is still standing I will have to establish.
The 1891 census for Kilfinan Parish shows James McIntosh 46 cooper born Melfort, Jane McIntosh 42,(wife) born Kilbrandon, Duncan McIntosh 18 (apprentice cooper) born Melfort and my grandfather, Hugh McIntosh 15 (Turners apprentice) born Cumlodden, William McIntosh 10 (scholar) born Cumlodden, and James McIntosh 1 born Kilfinan.
On 12th November 1891 tragedy struck again as Jane May died after being ill for a year. Jane died at 11-40am of Phthisis Pulmonalis. Like so many women in these times it looks as though childbirth was a factor in her illness. Certainly there was a large gap between young James and his elder brothers. Like his father before him James senior was a widower with a young family.
Catherine McGilp enters our family history shortly after this time. Catherine McGilp, whose family were local to the Kames area. She was only nine months older than my grandfather, Duncan, and according to family rumour, it was him, and not his father she wanted to marry. The story goes that if she could not get the son then the father would suffice. On September 18th 1895 Catherine gave birth to a daughter Elizabeth, and the father was never named.
At this point I hit some blank spots regarding my grandfathers’ life. It is probable that he finished his apprenticeship as a cooper at the age of 21 in 1894. This suggests he was still in Kames at least until then. However the years between then and him marrying my grandmother in Glasgow in 1897 are a mystery to me.
I have photographs of my grandfather in the full Highland dress of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and I have had the uniform confirmed. I don’t know exactly when the photographs were taken or if he was a full time soldier or not. In one photograph he has a set of bagpipes but I have never ever heard that he played the pipes. My brother also has a writing chest of my grandfathers, which, we were told, he won in an Army shooting contest. I have no doubts at all then that my grandfather was in the Argylls, but I could find no record of service.
My guess is that he was in the Territorial Army (T.A.). The T.A. had a drill hall in Kames, which is where the police station is now, at the crossroad to Millhouse. I think the present police station was built in the 1970’s. Even today you can hear the pipes playing from the Police Station and I wonder if my granddad also practiced the pipes at that same spot so many years ago.
Maybe it was a marriage of convenience, and maybe not, but on 31st December 1896 James C McIntosh at 48, a widower, married Catherine McGilp aged 25,spinster, a domestic servant and daughter of Neil McGilp (engine driver) and Catherine Black (deceased) at the Free Church of Scotland in Kames. Witnesses were John Greenshields and Mary Murray. (It is interesting to note that James used the middle initial C, on the marriage certificate, presumably for Campbell and he was never christened with this name. This is the first and only time I have seen this initial used in connection with James) (It is also interesting to note that on the marriage certificate that James’ mother Lucy McCorquodale has her name spelt as McCorkindale )
By 1896 my grandfather had probably left Kames to live in Glasgow. He was now 23 and had finished his apprenticeship. It would not have been comfortable to live in a two roomed house with his father, a mother a law almost of his own age, brothers of 20, 15 and 6 and also a one year old step sister. Less than a year later my grandfather married Jessie Craig in Glasgow, thus starting the Glasgow period of my McIntosh ancestry. His brother Hugh must have left around the same time as he too had a wife and child by 1900 in Glasgow.
It almost looks now as if father and son were in a race to produce offspring. In 1987 daughter Catherine Black McIntosh born Oct 7th 1897 at 3am in Auchenlochan to James McIntosh and Kate McGilp (that baby later became Kate Whyte) In 1897 son Duncan McIntosh, now 23, marries Jessie Craig in Glasgow 27th August and then in 1898 James’s first granddaughter Margaret Wainwright McIntosh daughter of Duncan and Jessie was born Sept 7th in Glasgow. In 1900 Daughter Lucy McCorquodale McIntosh was born in BerryBurn Cottages Auchenlochen and then 1900 Grandson James Melfort McIntosh son of Duncan was born in Glasgow Feb 15th. In 1902. Grandaughter Jane May McIntosh, daughter of Duncan and Jessie, was born in Glasgow on January 16th and same year Daughter Barbara was born in Kames. Not to be left out son Hugh also had a child, Agnes in 1900 in Glasgow.
James had no more children after that but by this time he was 57 years of age and had sired eight children to two wives over a period of thirty one years, from Allan in 1871 to Barbara in 1902. He had five boys to his first wife, Jane May and three girls to his second wife Katherine McGilp. He had Allan and Duncan in Kilmelford, Hugh and William in Cumloddon and James, Catherine, Lucy and Barbara in Kames. All in all quite a man and it was not just because he was 6’4” tall did they call him Big Jimmy. Son Duncan went on to sire four more children in Glasgow with Emily 1904,Jessie 1906, Annie 1908 and finally Duncan, my father in 1914. We will come to my granddads family in a later chapter, as that would be incomplete without mentioning his wife, Jessie Craig and her lineage of the Craigs and Wainwrights.
On the 1901 census the family show at 34,Berryburn Cottages, Kames (2 room house) James McIntosh, Gaelic speaker cooper age 53, his wife Catherine McIntosh, Gaelic speaker age 28, William McIntosh (son) gaelic speaker age 20 Yachtsman, Lizzie McIntosh (dau.) 5 (she was the illegitimate daughter of Kate McGilp and now using name McIntosh , Catherine Black McIntosh (dau) 3,Lucy McIntosh(dau) aged 1. James now aged about 11 is not at home, and is in Glasgow at his brother Duncans’ house, in 11,Webster St Bridgeton Glasgow. Hugh by this time is also married, and is now a Ships Steward. He too is living at 11 Webster St with his wife Betty and their baby daughter Agnes. I know Hugh went on to have a more children.
I cannot yet be precise as to when the family moved to Shore Cottages, only that it was some time between 1902 and 1913. Until I can get further information I can only date it as sometime after Barbara was born in 1902 at Berryburn and when step-daughter Lizzie had an illegitimate baby in Shore Cottages in 1913. That baby was also called Elizabeth but became known as Bessie.
Shore Cottages, locally known as The Barracks, were company houses built sometime after 1881. As you know my brother John has now bought one of those little houses as a holiday home. From the outside they look like three good sized cottages but are in effect 12 flats and that is how they were built. Each flat has two rooms and the toilets were outside in what are now the coal sheds. I have tried to establish exactly which flat my GGrandfather James and his family lived. It would appear that he lived in the middle block on the bottom floor on the right as you face the building. My cousin Margaret McIntosh remembers going there as a child and also being told which flat it was by her father. Perhaps when the 1911 census is available to the public we can verify this.
Sometime before 1905 son William must have left home too as he married Helen McLean in Glasgow in December of that year. As we know William was a yachtsman and we do know he actually sailed in the Americas Cup, which is one of the most famous yacht races in the world.
Son James too eventually left Kames but as yet I really have no idea when. I do know he played for the famous Kyles Athletic shinty team around 1906 or so. We have seen him in a team photograph in the Shinty Bar of the Royal Hotel in Auchenlochan. It could be too that James never learned to speak Gaelic like his brothers, as by this time Gaelic was more and more being discouraged at schools.
In 1906 Elizabeth May (nee McFarlane) died and she was the only grandmother my grandfather knew.
The Powdermill closed in 1921 and my GGrandfather was made redundant at the age of 76.
James McIntosh my GGrandfather died after being ill 10 days after a fall. He was 85. This was on 26th September 1930. My grandfather registered the death. I don’t know if my father attended the funeral, he would have been 16 then, but he often spoke of it to me. He said the coffin was so big they could not get it out of the door so had to take the corpse through the window.
I don’t know if this story is true or not but again its one many of my cousins would tell you is an absolute fact. When my GGrandfather died in 1930 he is said to have been buried beside his first wife, Jane May. When Kate McGilp died in 1934 it was known her wish to be buried next to James McIntosh. The story goes my grandfather did not really want that to happen but conceded the point. However when they came to dig the grave next to James for Kate McGilp there was a massive stone under the soil there and too big to be moved, so Kate McGilp could not be buried by my GGrandfathers’side.
James McIntosh was the last direct ancestor of mine to live in Kames. However his three daughters all grew up there and they continued to live in the area until the 1980’s and as you know the Glasgow McIntoshs continue to keep contact with Kames to this day.
I have said before that genealogy is like a never ending jigsaw puzzle and as with jigsaw puzzles you often don’t find the right piece when you need it, but once found the puzzle becomes a lot easier to resolve. I had such an instance today 14th March 2008 when I was sent a copy of the obituary of my Great Grandfather, James McIntosh. It s was sent to me by Rob Cullen from New Zealand, who is the grandson of my Grand Uncle James Allan McIntosh. He, like me, is tracing the family tree. The obituary not only gives me an insight into what type a man my Great Grandfather was but also gives me clues which could lead to me finding out more about my McFarlane line which, so far, has been almost a total mystery to me. Had I found this obituary many years ago when I started tracing the family history then I am sure I would have progressed even further by now but such is the never ending way with genealogy.
It reads:
DEATH OF AN OCTOGENARIAN
A NATIVE OF MELFORT
Numerous Argyllshire people would regret to observe in last weeks obituary columns the passing of James MacIntosh of Shore Cottage, Kames, on the 26th September. Deceased was a native of Melfort, near Oban and a son of the late Allan McIntosh.
In his youthful days the village of Melfort had a large and contented population through old and young finding employment in the gunpowder mills. There he was apprenticed to the cooper trade, but over half a century ago, when the gunpowder works closed down, he and many others of the villagers migrated to Furnace, Loch Fyne, to be employed in the Argyll Gunpowder Mills. In 1883 the Furnace Mills also closed down, and deceased then removed to Kames, where he was again employed in the Gunpowder line. A few years ago he retired on pension and spent the remainder of his days at the Kyles of Bute. He was a man of vision and brimful of wit, and took a special interest in political affairs. Mr MacIntosh had a great respect for Gladstone and Beaconsfield, and up to the last he frequently quoted some of their wise sayings. Though so long away from the village of his birth, Melfort to him was the ideal spot in Argyllshire.
During his lifetime he was a constant reader of the OBAN TIMES, and for the past forty years, he regularly, without a break, sent on a copy of the paper to a friend in England, who is also a native of Melfort. His familiar figure will be missed for a long time in the Kames district, and by non more so than his aged colleague Malcolm McFarlane, another cooper from Melfort, who is also on the retired list. Deceased is survived by his wife and a grown up family of sons and daughters. The funeral took place to Kilbride Churchyard, Millhouse, on the 29th September.
Above was the article published in the Oban Times on 11October 1930 and you can see a photograph of the original article.
The actual death notice was published the week before, again in the Oban Times of 4th October 1930. It reads: MACINTOSH.- At Shore Cottage, Kames, Kyles of Bute, on 26th September, 1930, James MacIntosh, formally of Melfort and Furnace, Loch Fyne, aged 85 years: deeply regretted.
I must admit the obituary puzzled me somewhat in that Gladstone and Beaconsfield (Disreali) were quoted as having the sayings James most loved and often quoted. Gladstone was a Liberal and Beaconsfield a Whig and both had long gone by the time James died. It almost describes James as being in some sort of time warp. As they hated one another and James admired both I can only assume he was very neutral politically.
Kames Bits and Pieces
I was contacted by a Helen from Bristol who told me she was related to my family via James McIntosh. She told me her GGrandmother was Kate McGilp. Helen had been given the impression that James McIntosh was a rich man and that Kate McGilp had married into a wealthy family. I knew that was not the case at all and I also knew that Helens’ mother, who is about my age, was the daughter of Bessie, who was the illegitimate daughter of Lizzie who was the illegitimate daughter of the Kate McGilp who married my GGrandfather James McIntosh..
Helen and I get along well and have both worked hard trying to research the family tree. I was able to break the news gently to her that she did not have rich ancestors, at least not if she was referring to the McIntosh connection. Helen was fine with the information but she told me her mother was a wee bit upset when she found out the truth. Whether the truth was hidden from Helens mother it became very clear that at the time there was no big secret about it all at least not in Kames. (excepting of course who the fathers were.) See below an email from Morris McCallum to Helen when he is telling her what he remembers from his youth. Morris was about 90 at the time he wrote the email and I find it astonishing how much he remembered and how accurate he was, but it gives us wee insights into life in Kames at that time.
Helen
Well the first I knew of Bessie was when I went to school about 83 years ago,a long time to remember.Her Aunt Kate,Lucy and Barbara.When I first knew Kate she was married and had family. Barbara was married Mrs.McLean and was having a baby when both her and the baby died.I knew Bessie's Grandmother Mrs. McIntosh who was Kate McGilp before she married.During World War one folks were sent to help on farms and Mrs. McIntosh and another woman Mrs. McPherson,was sent to help on farm,I was very young then but I got to know them then.
Anything I know about Bessie's Mother and Grandmother was what her Aunt Kate and Lucy said. Her Grandmother was Kate McGilp,daughter of Mr.& Mrs. Neil McGilp. Neil McGilp was widowed twice and married three times and had family by each wife,which of his wifes was Kate's Mother I do not know but I think her Mothers own name was Black.I did not know much about the McGilp family as they were a lot older than me and they moved from the district.Kate McGilp had a daughter Lizzie,don't know who Father was.Sometime later she married James McIntosh ands had three daughters,Kate,Lucy and Barbara.
I think Lizzie was brought up with Kate,Lucy she would be a bit older than them,I used to hear Kate and Lucy talk about our Lizzie,who was Bessie's Mother,father unknown.I think Lizzie died young and I don't think Bessie would have much memory of her Mother,so as far as I know Bessie's Mother was Lizzie,who's Mother was Kate McGilp,so Kate McIntosh was her Grandmother .Lizzie would be a half Sister to Kate and Lucy who would be Bessie's Aunties.As I said the first I knew of Bessie was when I went to school and heard that there was a Bessie McGilp from Kames in the class.There was 32 in the class of girls and boys,so there were quite a number I didn't know of.I cannot remember much of her in school and sometime later the class split up some ----- to another room so Bessie and myself were in separate rooms and did not see much of each other.
When we left school we did not see much of each other,I remember that her Aunt Lucy was working,kept house for ------ --- Ronnie McCallum in Tighnabruaich who was members of the Family Bakery of D McCallum's Tighnabruaich Bakery.Lucy left her job to get married and Bessie was given her job,how long she worked there I don't know,the bakery was sold as all the members got old,that was some time before the second war.Shortly after that I heard that she got her calling up papers and was to go to Stoke-on-Trent to work in munitions.She used to come home here on holiday,and I think that when I got to know her best.Aunt Kate and her used to visit my Sister------ and we all got talking about Kames and the friends,she did a lot of visiting when on holiday as there were lots of people she knew and was made welcome wherever she went.She was well liked by even me and was looked as a great event when Bessie came on holiday.
Alas I don't know if any of the friends she knew are left here.Out of the class of 32 in school,I only know of myself and 3 left alive now.You are asking about her Uncle John and Helen McGilp,this John McGilp would be Bessie's Grand Uncle John who lived in Millhouse.He was working in the kames Gunpowder Company and one day he and several others were working in a house,when some powder exploded------and set fire to the house,most got out,some were badly burned but John was left in the house,the others managed to get him out,he was badly burned and shocked,was rushed to Greenock Hospital but did not live.This happened in about 1922.Bessie may have memories of him but she would be quite young then.John's Father Neil was one of the workers then and helped to get him out and was badly burned on hands and arms.John's widow Helen lived in Millhouse and I can remember her.There was family but as they were a lot older than me I did not know them.They would be going to Millhouse school and we in Kames went to Tighnabruiach school so did not meet.
I spoke with Morris McCallum on the telephone around 2006 and he is an amazing man with a fantastic memory. I am not sure he is still alive but when I spoke to him he was living in Dunoon. He remembered my GGgreat Grandfather and told me he was known as Big Jimmy and that he smoked a clay pipe.
Morris also pointed out to me that he and I were related as James McIntoshs’ daughter Kate married Duncan Whyte and one of their daughters married David McCallum who was an Uncle of Morris. Don’t ask me to work out the relationship but it’s a nice wee coincidence.
McIntoshs – Memories of Kames
Due to my Uncle Melfort being christened James Melfort McIntosh and also one of my cousins being called Melfort McIntosh Johnstone, now in Australia , all of my cousins will know something of the Melfort / Kilmelfort part in the family history. However it is Kames that is viewed as the ancestral home for my generation. Every one of my McIntosh cousins I have spoken to has a tale to tell of Kames. Most Glasgow folk would have sailed “Doon the Watter” to Tighnabruiach but if you asked them many would not know of Kames.
Normas’s Tale
I left Glasgow in 1962 and had not been to Kames for many many years. It was about 1974 or so and I was married with three children. I was visiting Glasgow and went to see my Aunt Jessie in Bridgeton. She had a wee hoose in Kames and suggested we go down and stay there a bit. It seemed like a great idea and I could blood my English wife Norma into Kames and also give my three kids, Craig, Christine and Gary, the opportunity of walking on the sacred soil.
McIntosh The Glasgow Years Duncan McIntosh and Jessie Craig
All of my GGgrandfathers sons to his first wife all ended up living in Glasgow. In the case of my Grandfather, as I said before, I can only guess he arrived in Glasgow around 1896. My cousin Margaret McIntosh told me a nice story of how my grandparents met. The story goes that they were both on a horse drawn tram and both got off at the same stop My grandmother, Jessie Craig had alighted first. As she walked to her relatives’ home he seemed to be following her. When she went up the close to her relatives, he followed. When she knocked at her relatives’ door, he also stood at the door. She thought she was following her. It turned out that my grandfather was lodging at her relatives’ house. The rest is history and they married in 1897. I am not yet sure which Craig relative it was my granny was visiting but I think it was one who lived near The Royal Infirmary. I am not sure if my Granny at this time was actually living in Glasgow or was just on a visit to a relative. The reason I am not sure is that I don’t know the exact year the Craigs left Newcastle to return to Glasgow but I do feel that the whole Craig family had not returned to Glasgow at this time but did some time between 1894 and 1901.
My paternal grandfather was Duncan McIntosh (1873-1947). He and his ancestors were native Gaelic speakers who all hailed from the district of Nether Lorn in Argyll. More specifically they stem from the area just south of modern day Oban. In most cases I can trace the lineages back to that area until around the 1750’s when most churches in Argyll began to keep records. It is likely that some of our ancestors, but probably not McIntoshs, lived in the area for hundreds of years before then, and perhaps thousands, but those are lost in the mist of time.
My ancestors lived in various small hamlets or clachans within the church parishes of Kilninver & Kilmelford and Kilbrandon & Kilchattan. A clachan is often no more than a very small group of houses on a piece of land jointly farmed by the tenants, who are usually sub tenants themselves. The village of Kilninver is about 8 miles south of Oban on the south shore of Loch Feochan. Kilmelford is also a village lying about a further 8 miles south of Oban and is close to Loch Melfort. Kilbrandon is not a village but the name of the Church Parish which covers the Isle of Seil, the largest of the Slate Islands, but to confuse matters a little bit of Kilbrandon Parish, around Degnish and Armaddy Castle is on the mainland.
I have not had equal success with every ancestral line, as frequently the information required to progress is just not available. Very few Argyll Church Parishes kept records prior to 1750 and some parishes recorded more information than others. You can be lucky and find an ancestor whose marriage was recorded in say 1750 and the parents of both are given in the record. You can then estimate that the couple were born around 1720 and their parents around 1690. On the other hand sometimes no records at all were made or the records lost or stolen.
The Scottish naming pattern can also make it difficult as there was the custom of naming children after parents, grandparents etc. As most had large families in those days then it was common to have several cousins alive with the same name and often around the same age. Infant mortality was rife then and it was not uncommon for a child to be given the same name as a dead sibling, in order to keep favourite names within a family, again making it difficult for genealogists. Because of this it is very difficult to trace ancestors with common surnames and you have to find more definite evidence that an ancestor is your own.
Another factor that can complicate matters for genealogists, is that men in those times often fathered children when they themselves were in their late 50’s and 60’s. This was due to the fact that many women died in childbirth and the husband then re-married and had second and even third families. It is not at all unusual to find parents having children at the same time as their own older children.
One thing I have learned with genealogy is that you never stop discovering new information often when you least expect it.
Other names from Nether Lorn in our ancestry include; May, McCorquodale, McFarlane, McLachlan, McInnes, two lines each of Munro and Graham, three lines of Campbell and four of McCallum. You can wear many tartans.
Kilninver & Kilbrandon - Duncan McIntosh and Mary Graham
The earliest McIntosh ancestor I have traced is a Duncan McIntosh, my 4 X GGrandfather, who married a Mary Graham probably around 1776. The first record I found of them was the baptism of a daughter, Anne in 1777 in the Parish of Kilbrandon in the small hamlet of Oban-Seil on the Isle of Seil. Judging from the ages of his children I would guess he was born around 1750-60, but certainly not long after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. All history is an interpretation of the past written from the evidence available at the time of writing and family history is no different. Unfortunately there is very little information about these early McIntoshs, and we can only do the best we can.
Our Duncan McIntosh lived in an era of great change, and whilst this was true of all of Great Britain the Highlands were in addition experiencing a massive culture change as the old clan system was altering and clan chiefs became more like the large landlords elsewhere in the country.
We read much about the aftermath of Culloden and how much the Highlanders suffered as a result of the failed Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 at the hands of Government forces (I say Government not English, as since 1707 it was Great Britain and the Jacobite rebellion was not Scotland against England. Nor was it Highlander against Lowlander or Catholic against Protestant. Even although all the issues mentioned were factors it was an extremely complex issue and I would not even attempt to explain it here. Suffice to say that Nether Lorn was less affected by the aftermath and repercussions than many other Highland areas.) One major reason for this was that in the main Argyll was Campbell country and the Campbells, in particular the Duke of Argyll and the Earl of Breadalbane owned Lorn and both sided with the Government during the Jacobite Rebellion.
We do know that McIntosh is not an Argyll name and from the available records we could only find evidence of a few other McIntosh families in the area in that period. One was a John McIntosh who married an Anne McIntyre and baptised their daughter Anne in 1776 in Collipool on Seil. Another was an Alexander McIntosh of Caddleton, Kilbrandon who married a Katherine Graham and they had three children, John 1785, Margaret 1787 and William 1791. (Caddleton is near Armaddy Castle and is on the mainland part of Kilbrandon Parish.) It could have been a case of two McIntosh brothers marrying two Graham sisters but we have no proof of that. In later years I was unable to trace any of the other McIntosh families from that area and until or if I do this means it is highly unlikely I will ever find the ancestors of our Duncan McIntosh or can prove if the other McIntoshs’ in the area were related to our family. We can only be patient and hope new information is found or that I encounter others who have also searched backwards to those early McIntosh days.
Had there been records available of the marriages of Duncan McIntosh or of Alexander or John McIntosh we would have been able to establish much more but unfortunately that is not the case. My own feeling is that this group of McIntoshs were related and that they had been in Kilbrandon for at least a generation. Maybe they were given work and residency due to the skills they possessed as at that time the slate quarries on Seil were booming. It is also possible they were given a tenancy as a favour for army service at some point as this too was common in that period.
We know in 1777 when daughter Anne was baptised in the Parish of Kilbrandon that Duncan and Mary are living in the hamlet of Oban Seil and the records state Duncan was resident in Oban. (Oban, in this instance does not mean the modern town of Oban but Oban-Seil. At this period the town of Oban we know today was only a very small hamlet.) That Duncan is mentioned as a resident generally means he was not born in that parish. However it is possible that Kilbrandon was the parish of Mary Graham. Dugald (my 3X GGrandfather) was also born in Oban Seil in 1784. The first indication we have of Duncan’s occupation is when he is described as a Lint Dresser in 1786 when son Duncan was born and at this time the family are still in Oban Seil.
In this period from around 1750, and indeed until 1845, the Church Parish, or more exactly when they met at what is called in Scotland, the Kirk Sessions, was the closest we find to present day County Councils, magistrates and welfare. Every Church Parish was responsible for itself in issues concerning Poor Relief and this, very much restricted movement of people as parishes would only give poor relief to those who were born in that parish. The clan chiefs or as they were now becoming, the large landowners, often had land that covered several church parishes. Very often the movement of people from one area to another was due to the landowner moving people from one of his estates to another as they often held land in various parts of the country.
In order to marry it was necessary to provide a letter from your parish of birth that a person was of good character etc. The banns were then posted in both parishes should it have been the case that one party was not born in the parish of residence. I have not found a record of the marriage bans of Duncan McIntosh or Mary Graham in either Kilbrandon or in Kilninver parishes. However given that Duncan and Mary seemed to be able to move between the parishes of Kilbrandon and Kilninver suggests they must have satisfied the necessary conditions in both parishes.
It appears the family must have been given a croft and moved to Clachan Kilninver in 1789 when son John was born, as Duncan is now described as a crofter. (crofting was increasingly at this stage replacing the old runrig form of farming in the Highlands) Margaret was also born there in 1796, as was Hugh in 1801. It is only when we see Dugalds’ death certificate in 1860 do we learn that Duncan was also a cooper. It is interesting that both my GGrandfather and Grandfather were also to become coopers and they both followed the Argyll gunpowder trail.
Duncan and family would probably have walked over the Clachan Bridge in 1792 on the very day it opened. In fact its certain all of our Nether Lorn ancestors have walked over that bridge. The Clachan Bridge built by Thomas Telford linked the Isle of Seil with the Mainland and is billed as the first bridge over the Atlantic Ocean and is still used to this day as the only way on to Seil by land. It was one of many government projects organised from around 1715, to help relieve the terrible conditions in the Highlands at that time. It’s a tiny wee bridge but it must have made things a lot easier for our ancestors on both sides. We do know that the period from around 1650 to around 1830 was very much colder than it is today. In fact the period is often described as a mini Ice Age. There were several years in the period when harvests failed due to bad weather. This in turn led to starvation and hardship. The Crinan Canal where work began in 1793 was another project financed by the government to help relieve conditions, as was the Caledonian Canal on which work commenced in 1804 until it opened in November 1822. The opening of both canals greatly improved communications between the Highlands and the increasingly industrial belts of the South and Central Scotland.
It is probable that Duncan and Mary had both died by around 1820. Maybe one day I will find further information but it will require luck. Below is what we know became of Duncan and Mary’s other children, our Dugald’s siblings, before we concentrate on Dugald McIntosh (my 3X GGrandfather) and his family.
Duncan McIntosh (1786- before 1855) became a fisherman and married Margaret Cameron. We know Duncan died in Kilninver before 1855 and that his wife Margaret died there in 1857. Duncan had at least six children, John, Jane, Anne, Mary, Janet and Catherine. We can see most of the children were female. We know his son John moved to Glasgow and that daughter Janet married Dugalds’ son John in 1855 and later moved to Glasgow. They were the parents of Duncan the Poet.
John McIntosh (1789-1861) He became a weaver and married Annabelle McColl in Kilninver in 1816 and also had at least six children Duncan 1817, Sarah 1825, Mary 1831, Anabella 1833 and Christy 1837. The family still lived in Clachan No 48 in 1861 and John died shorty after the census was taken. On the census his age is given as 79 but he was only 71. His wife Anabelle and daughter, also an Anabelle, were still at home. You can see as far as records show that John had mainly female children and only son Duncan could have carried on the McIntosh name.
Hugh McIntosh (1801- est 1860) became a farmer in Kilninver and had at least four children. It looks as if he was a widower in 1841 but his children were Duncan, Agnes, Christina and Donald. By 1861 it looks as if his son Duncan married a Jesse and sister Agnes was still living with them on the farm in Ardnahua in Kilninver.
So far I have not followed the progress of the many female McIntoshs but I will at some stage as there are possibilities that the parish records of their marriages etc might give some further information on Duncan McIntosh and Mary Graham.
McIntosh –Kilninver Dugald McIntosh and Betsy Campbell
Dugald was born in Oban-Seil in 1784 in the parish of Kilbrandon., and around 1788 had moved with his parents to the adjoining mainland parish of Kilninver to a hamlet called Clachan, where he lived until he died in 1860. Dugald served his apprenticeship as a wood turner. I can only imagine this would have been locally as I doubt very much if there were anything even remotely resembling factories around at that time in that area. It could have been that father Duncan taught someone to be a cooper in return for Dugald being taught wood turning.
In 1804 Kilninver parish records Dugald McIntosh (Wood Turner) and his brother Duncan McIntosh (Labourer) both of Clachan, Kilninver show on a list of men who were eligible for military service which were men between the ages of 18 and 45 on parish records. There were Scottish Militia Acts of 1787 and 1801 that called for the creation of county regiments. This was unpopular as army service often meant hardship for those left at home. This was one reason why a lot of church records went missing as in some parishes parishioners damaged or stole the records in order the men could not be called up for enlistment. Usually it was the local school master who drew up the list from parish records. Enlistment was by ballot but you could pay to be left out of the selection process. I have no idea if Dugald served or not and only that he was on the eligible list..
Fencibles
Dugald married his first wife, Mary Carmicheal, around 1807, when he was 23 years old, and they had a child Jean born in 1808. It appears that Mary Carmicheal died, perhaps like so many women, soon after giving birth but Jean remained very much a part of the family. We know for example she is mentioned in one of the poetry books published in 1907 by a nephew, and my namesake and 3rd cousin, Duncan McIntosh. I have been in touch with descendents of Jean who now live in California. Jean went to Glasgow and in 1830 married William Harris in Cambuslang. They had about 11 children. Jean died in Glasgow in 1892 at the age of 84.
Dugald then married Betsy Campbell my 3 x GGrandmother in 1813. They had at least six children Allan, my 2 x GGrandfather,1814,(just a year before the Battle of Waterloo or if you like the same year as the Battle of New Orleans), Duncan 1816, John 1818, James 1820, Archiebald 1825 and Anne 1827.
The 1841 Census shows the family living in Clachan, Kilninver. Dugald is still described as a wood turner but only James and Ann are still living at home. I know that my 2XGGrandfather Allan McIntosh is living in Kilmelford at this time and my GGrandfather James McIntosh was born there in 1845, and he, Allan McIntosh, was the last of my direct ancestors to be born in Kilninver.
By 1851, Dugald is described on the census as a 64 year old labourer, and we know he was actually 67, so no longer working at his trade as a wood turner. Betsy gave her age as 65. Still at home were sons John and James and daughter Ann and all unmarried at this stage.
There was a big McIntosh wedding in Clachan Kilninver on the 29th November 1855. It was then that Dugalds son John, now 37, a shoemaker, married his cousin Janet McIntosh aged 21 and a housemaid. Janet was a daughter of Duncan McIntosh (1786) and Margaret Cameron. Sadly Dugalds’ brother Duncan had died before the wedding. Dugald Campbell, probably a cousin, was a witness as was a James Dempster. The minister of the Free Church who officiated was Donald McGilvary, the same minister who was to marry James McIntosh and Jane May in 1870 in Kilmelford.
Betsy died at 1pm on the 7th June 1860 aged 75 and Dugald at 7pm on the 13th July of the same year aged 76,just over a month later. Dugald was buried as a pauper in the churchyard of Kilninver. The informant of Dugalds’ death was his son John. Dugald and Betsy had been together for 47 years. Betsy was also buried in the churchyard but there is no mention of her being buried as a pauper like her husband. It was James Dempster (Merchant) who certified the death. He must have been the same James Dempster who was a witness at the McIntosh wedding in 1855. Perhaps he was a relative of some sort but as yet I know of no connection. Maybe the Campbells made sure that Betsy was not buried as a pauper or it could be that Dugald spent all he had to give his wife a decent burial. However I have another theory that you will see later.
Dugald was the last direct ancestor of mine to live in Kilninver, although other branches of the family continued to live in the area and some still do to this day. The population of the parish of Kilninver & Kilmelford was continuing to decline and the population dropped from 4,680 in 1772, 2660 in 1793,1,173 in 1801 to 357 in 1901 and to only 279 in 1951,as more and more from the Highlands and Islands emigrated to Glasgow and all over the world. Of course a lot of ancestors would have gone to Oban as the population there grew as that of the more rural areas declined. Duncan the poet wrote some verse to highlight this plight with a poem called Angel Hill.
Kilninver – Angel Hill.
I remember when I was about 14 or 15 and cousin Josie Baxter came up to our house at 50,Bonnyrigg Drive in Glasgow. He had found a poetry book at the Barrows (to us The Barras, and a world famous second hand market that opened only on Saturdays and Sundays in the Calton in Glasgow.) The book had been written around 1907 by a Duncan McIntosh, a seaman and much of the poetry was about Nether Lorn and Argyll.)
I remember my dad came to the conclusion that the Duncan McIntosh who wrote the book was probably related to our family but he knew none mentioned in the book, or of any Kilninver connection. I know my dad was of the opinion that before our McIntosh family were in Kilmelford that they came from the Isle of Mull. I have no idea where he got that information from but can only imagine it was something he remembered being told as a boy.
It was only when in 1987 I started to trace my family tree that this book reared its head again. I remember at my dads’ funeral in December 1986 asking my Uncle Melfort McIntosh, what he knew about the family. Uncle Melfort was then 86 but as lively and sprightly as men much younger. (Uncle Melfort lived until he was 95.) Uncle Melfort could easily tell me about his grandfather James McIntosh (1845- 1930) and he also knew about Allan McIntosh (1814-1864) However beyond that Uncle Melfort thought our ancestor was a Gilbert McIntosh. Which of course turned out to be not the case. Uncle Melfort was not totally wrong though as we actually descend from a Gilbert May, who is from my paternal GGrandmothers ‘side of the family from Balvicar on the Isle of Seil. However for a while then I was looking for a Gilbert McIntosh possibly from Mull who I soon discovered did not exist.
A few years later I was in contact with distant cousins of ours, one was a John Harrison from California and the other was a Margaret Bendictine from Canada. Then we were trying to unravel the various Kilninver McIntosh information we had amongst us. We did not know then for example if the Dugald McIntosh who married Mary Carmicheal in 1808 was the same Dugald McIntosh who in 1813 married Betsy Campbell.
Margaret had found a copy of the book by Duncan McIntosh VERSES FROM MY DIARY (1907) on the internet and that helped us immensely. To top that we found out he had written another book of poetry THE TRAVELLERS COMPANION (1924) which was also for sale on the internet and John Harrison bought that. They both sent me copies of some of the poems. Articles in the books proved that John Harrison was related to me via Dugald McIntosh and he was a direct descendent of Jean McIntosh, daughter of Dugald and Mary Carmicheal, his first wife who died around 1808. Margaret Bendictine was related via Duncan McIntosh and Mary Graham as she was descended from Duncan McIntosh, one of Dugalds’ brothers, who married Margaret Cameron. Of course the books also proved we were all related to the author and to one another. The author of the books was the son of the McIntosh cousins who married in Clachan in 1855. He was our Dugalds’ grandson.
The books were a great find. Some of the poetry described Nether Lorn as seen through the eyes of a relative who was born there in 1859. The books were full of gems for anyone who is tracing their family history. I must admit a lot of the poetry was a bit too holy for me but most Scots Gaels were members of the Free Church which started in 1843 and that included my grandfather’s generation. They tended to take their religion seriously and observed the Sabbath with a zeal unknown today other than by Cult Sects. Some would not even cook on a Sunday and to read a newspaper on a Sunday meant at least eternal damnation or worse.
One of the books showed the wee house the family lived in on Clachan–Seil, just over the Clachan Bridge. There was also a photograph of the author and to my mind he had the look of Josie Baxter, my cousin, who had found a copy of one of the books many years before. Strangely like Duncan, Josie was a seaman and had served in the Royal Navy, the Merchant Navy and on the whaling ships in the Antartic Ocean. His brother Billy Baxter went whaling too and was also in the Merchant Navy. Sadly Billy and Josie are no longer with us but I remember them both with great affection.
When Duncans’ mother died he put his mother Janet's obituary in the Oban Times, which was the paper those from Nether Lorn used to keep in touch with home. You can see they had editions for both Australia and America.
THE OBAN TIMES
Sat. Jan. 18, 1913
McIntosh
At 541 New City Road Glasgow, on the 13th inst. Janet McIntosh, in her 79th
year widow of John McIntosh boot and shoemaker, Clachan Seil, Argyllshire-
Australian and American papers copy
Below is the tribute Duncan paid to his mother in his book
THE TRAVELLER'S COMPANION
MY DARLING MOTHER'S LAST YEARLY CALENDAR
"A memorial of her" (Matt. 26, 13)
'Twas my sweet mother's last gift with message to me,
ere she left here for glory, with Jesus to be;
Until I meet her again this card I'll review,
And think I hear her saying, "He careth for you."
For years past our darling mother secured two Text Calendars exactly the
same. One of these she had put up in a prominent place by the dresser,
where she herself and all others at home could see at a glance what its
texts and subjects were. How often we've watched her remove these slips,
and frequently place one inside the family Bible. This would be taken out
again from between the sacred leaves, passed on by letter to a friend, or
perhaps out of her own kindly hand. Ah, yes, the giving hand was mother's
hand. Nobody ever saw another hand like hers for giving away, and with the
gift would go her beautiful smile and kindly blessing. Whether a slip from
off the calendar, a coin or a piece of bread given to the needy at the
door, all were so graciously given as if she were a crowned queen bestowing
a benefice, and, with all, her benediction.
But she truly was queenly in form, grace, and manner. In love she ruled
her home, her children called her blessed, our hearts were her throne. She
walked with God, and our ambition always was to follow in the footsteps of
our beautiful, Christian mother.
The other of the two Calendars was for myself. Being often away, long
absent from our sweet home, as dear mother often remarked, "I like you to
have the Calendar so as that your mother and yourself will have looked at
and read the same text for the days as they pass, with me here in the house
thinking of you then far out on the ocean, or perhaps beyond seas in
strange lands and among strange peoples, we are sure always to have read
the same portion of Scripture for once each day at least, however far we
may be separated.
Every year a place was given dear mother's Daily Meditation Calendar in my
cabin, placed so that all could see and read it at leisure, and many are
the places to-day where some of these texts could be found, where persons
who got and took them away for keepsakes to be retained and treasured.
This hath been proved very frequently; by their owners producing them in
after years when happening to be crossing over seas with us times and
again, all bearing the marks of being well handled and read.
Oh, how I look forward to the ending of the seasons, when yon loving hands
of hers handed me that much prized illuminated card with inspiring texts.
Especially precious to me is this one for the year 1913, which proved to be
the last of its kind, also the very last gift in this world which I was
destined to receive from my darling mother.
That voyage, before leaving for abroad, departing on the 2nd December,
1912, this being too early for the Calendar being ready for her to have for
for me before sailing, how earnestly she expressed her disappointment, even
sorrow, but added so touchingly, "Still, you will keep a place for it, and
I will have it ready waiting for you when you come back."
Sure enough, when I returned after our ship having had a stormy and
protracted voyage, the Calendar was awaiting me, just as dear mother left
it, but, alas! my darling sweet and precious mother was not before me in
her wonted place! Her chair was vacant in the old, old home! But yonder I
know she is waiting for me, she and our dear, dear father. Both await us
where no Calendars are required. It is up there we'll meet again, safe
home in that beautiful land where the sun never sets.
This calendar for 1913 represents a pretty seascape, a glowing sunset, and
fishing boats sailing home to the calm haven beyond.
The texts are:
"Even the wind and the sea obey Him" (Matt. 8. 27)
"He careth for you" (1 Peter 5. 7)
How often I heard her charming voice repeat these appealing texts which
are given here, and which proved to be her very last messages to me, her
mariner son, who is fully persuaded as to the real truth of the texts which
both father and mother taught me long before I launched away out upon the
world of waters, where I have often seen His command of wind and waves, all
proving His care for me, and all who trust Him.
Now I will always think these words ever most precious, in fondest
remembrance of my beloved mother. Her affectionate son. DUNCAN.
541 NEW CITY ROAD, GLASGOW.
25/1/1913
This brought a tear to my eye.
What I found interesting was that in 1855 Janet, the Poets mother, could not write and had signed her name with an X on the marriage certificate. I found this extremely rare amongst my Scots ancestors but clearly she had learned to read later. Statistics show that in 1855 89% of men and 77% of women in Scotland could sign their name on marriage certificates. If you consider that by 1855 Scotland had a massive influx of Irish who in the main were illiterate, then the actual percentage of indigenous Scots who were literate was even higher. This was a figure not matched in England until after WW1 and probably not until the late 1920’s. For this we have to thank John Knox as it was he who advocated that everyone should be able to read the Bible and not, as the Church of Rome wanted and only to have the Priests literate. We know then that from the 1500’s many ordinary Scots could read and write, even the poorest. This is one of the main reasons why, when it came to the Industrial Revolution so many Scots were scientists and inventors and Scotland was known as the most literate country in Europe.
Below are descriptions of the books cousin Duncan McIntosh had published as they showed on the internet.
227. McINTOSH, Duncan. «The Traveller's Companion». Glasgow, Pickering & Inglish, 1924. VIII,342 p. (22 cm). Original cloth. Verses at sea by the Chief Steward, S.S. "Metagama", Canadian Pacific Steamships. Ills. Amtmann, M-596. 25 $
6. McIntosh, Duncan Verses From My Diary
Author Glasgow 1907 VG INSCRIBED Long inscription on ffep signed by author and dated 1/1/13; 1st . Bookseller Inventory # R0016546
Price: US$ 40.00 convert currency
Presented by alottabooks.com, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
order options
7. McIntosh, Duncan Verses from my Diary
Privatly Printed , Glasgow, 1907 Blue cloth HC binding. Many of these poems concern Christian thought. This volume SIGNED twice, once on the title page and once on the free end paper while quoting a psalm. VG . Bookseller Inventory # 1643
Price: US$ 40.00 convert currency
Presented by Norm Johnson, Bookseller., West Chester, OH, U.S.A.
order options
One poem in particular I did find haunting. It was called Angel Hill. Duncan describes in his book how he was inspired to write the poem when he read an article from the Oban Times about how the local graveyard in Kilninver, Angel Hill, was in disrepair. He was on a ship off the coast of the USA when he wrote the poem. You can read the poem for yourself but I found it a moving way of highlighting the continual decline in the population of the Highlands and the loss people felt knowing they would never return and that the old ways had gone forever.
It was nice to find a relative who was a published poet, especially for me as he is my namesake. What is good is that some of Duncans’ poetry has now been read by a far bigger audience than that due to the sale of his books. Such is the power of the internet. I even sent to poem to the current website for Kilninver & Kilmeford area and they published it in full, as have several other magazines. The strange thing was that none of the locals knew that their graveyard was once called Angel Hill. They do now.
ANGEL HILL BURIAL GROUND, KILNINVER"For now shall I sleep in the dust" (Job 7. 21)
Green Angel Hill, of lovely pose,Near where dark Euchar swiftly flowsAmongst Kilninver's bonnie knowesToward Loch Feochan's peaceful shores.The glen sweet nature has adornedWith heath-clad dales and hazel groves,I do not see the wide world o'erA place my heart so much adores.There memory keeps one spot e'ergreen,'Tis deeply in my heart enshrined,And yet it hath neglected been.At night this haunts me in my dream,Green Angel Hill, it gars me greetHere, far away, and cannot keepThat hallowed place in order neat,The mound 'neath which my father sleeps.Blest souls of dear departed friendsHave reached yon realms where joy ne'er ends;But if at times they did return'Twould be enough to make them mournTo see those places so forlornWith weeds and nettles all o'er grown.Green Angel Hill would them deploreHow different 'twas in days of yore.Green Angel Hill, the last, lang "Hame"Of those dear hearts once kind and leal;Tho' no great monument of fameMark out the plots where they were laid,Within the walls, in kindred layer,Our noble sires well worthy wereThe highest tribute we could payWhen placing laurels on their grave.Befriending wealth was not attainedTo cheer their hearts while here they stay'd,So, when departing, could not shareAmongst their offsprings worldly gain;But thus to us were their bequest,Their fervent blessing with much zestThroughout our lives, and then at lastOn Angel Hill a place to rest.But since we cannot aye remainAt home to watch our forbear's graves,This of old neighbours we would craveTo have these mounds kept free from maim.Tho' strangers fill the wonted hearthsOf some who now up yonder rest,We ask, with kindness in our breasts,That they would Angel Hill respect.Would they but think of those dear handsWhich toiled from cradle to the grave,True patriots to their native land,How hard they wrought for its dear sake,And laboured on till strength them failed,Long past the evening of life's day;Oh, how could they thus cease thy care,Green Angel Hill, where these are laid?Would wealth when passing on us smile,Or stay her course a little whileTo give a helping hand betimes;It would not need so great a pile,Green Angel Hill, thy top to crownWith columns and crosses, cairns and urns,High walls, neat walks, and choicest flowers,Becoming consecrated grounds.'Tis hallowed, consecrated ground,Where angels guard each sacred mound,Until at last the trumpet soundShall wake those slumbering from the tombTo see their Lord appear on high,And they to meet Him will ariseFrom Angel Hill to gain the prize,And share His glory in the skies."My thoughts on reading in THE OBAN TIMES the paragraph re the decision regarding our burial ground on Angel Hill, Kilninver, near Oban, Argyllshire.”S.S. "BUENOS AYREAN"Philadelphia, U.S.A.7/8/1904Duncan McIntosh, Steward
It did look very much as if that particular branch of the McIntosh family were very holy indeed, but they had their dark side too. I had an email from yet another distant relative who turned out to be the brother of Duncan McIntosh the poet. His name was Dugald McIntosh and as you can see it looks as if he had a wife in Suriname in South America in addition to his family in Scotland.
My gg grandfather was Dugald McIntosh, born 03 Sep 1864, Kilninver-Kilmelford. His twin-sister was Margaret McIntosh.
They were two of the children born to John McIntosh (dob 11 May 1818) and his cousin Janet McIntosh (dob 5 August 1834). Marriage date: 29 November 1855.
Janet McIntosh was the daugther of Duncan McIntosh and Margaret Cameron (Clachan).
John McIntosh was the son of Dugald McIntosh (dob 19 April 1784 or 1786) and Betty (Elizabeth) Campbell (born 1791).
According to my late grandmother:
Dugald McIntosh has been a shipmaster living on and off in Suriname (Paramaribo/South America = where I live) and Scotland.
In Suriname he lived at one of their plantations in our district Coronie, together with (his "wife"?): "Kathy" GEER.
He and his family have been plantation owners in Suriname, around the slavery-period (until 1863) give or take 10 years.
Other family names in our Database:
Mary Theresa Campbell, Nancy Campbell, Colin Campbell, Piet (Peter?) Campbell.
McIntosh, Mackintosh: James, Margaret, Alexander, William and Dugald Edward (who was my g-grandfather) also known as Dugald Geer - his mother was "Kathy" Geer.
Please contact me if you wish to find out more and also if you happen to have any pictures and other information. Thank you.
Rosita
Kilninver – Betsy Campbell
It took me many years of research before I found the parents of Betsy Campbell. I just could not find a set of parents who had a daughter called Betsy. I tried Beth, Betty, Bess, Elizabeth etc but had no luck at all in finding any who could have been her parents. On the birth records of one of the children her name had been entered as mother, Elizabeth Campbell but that had been scored out and rewritten as Betsy. It was strange and as the name Campbell in Argyll is almost as common as Smith elsewhere there was little point in trying to progress until I was certain.
Betsy’s death certificate in 1860, also puzzled me. There she was named Annabelle McIntosh (nee Campbell), and her parents were given as John Campbell and Mary Graham. Dugald Mcintosh’s name was not mentioned on the certificate which is unusual as he was still alive. To me this seemed too much of a coincidence that both Dugald McIntosh and Betsy Campbell would have a mother called Mary Graham. It was puzzling. I was beginning to think that Dugald McIntosh had married a second time to an Annabelle Campbell, but could find no record of that.
I knew Betsy Campbell was dead as Dugald McIntoshs’ death certificate, a month later, showed him as a widow. I knew Annabelle McIntosh (nee McColl), the wife of Dugalds brother John McIntosh, was alive as she showed on the 1861 census and was a close neighbour of my 3 X GGrandparents, Dugald and Betsy.
Betsys’ death was registered by James Dempster, who was a merchant of Ardnahuey. As James Dempster was a witness to the McIntosh wedding in 1855, and probably a relative of some sort, I felt it unlikely he would have mixed up Annabelle McColl and Betsy Campbell.
I came to the conclusion that as Betsy died on the 7th June 1860 and that the death was registered on the 13th June 1860 that the mix up was caused by the registrar Allan McLean, who probably knew both Betsy and Annabelle and thought it was Annabelle, Johns’ wife, who had died and had written the certificate from memory and not at the time the information was given. In the additional notes of the death certificate it states that Annabelle McIntosh is buried in Kilninver Churchyard.
I wonder if I am the first to notice this mistake for 140 odd years. Of course it could have been noticed at the time, as they could all read and write but perhaps they just did not bother to change the certificate, and perhaps they were conscious of upsetting Dugald, who must have been ill at the time. As Dugald was to die a month later perhaps he was too ill even to attend his wifes’ funeral. It will remain a mystery in that sense. I do know both are buried in Kilninver Churchyard but have no idea if they were buried in one lair or not. There are no headstones and Dugald was buried as a pauper.
Once I was convinced that the woman buried as Annabelle McIntosh was in fact Betsy Campbell then I looked again to find her parents. There was indeed a John Campbell who married a Mary Graham. To me it seemed an amazing co-incidence that both Dugald and Betsy had mothers called Mary Graham. (As a matter of interest yet another of my ancestors, Gilbert May, from Balvicar, Seil, also married a Mary Graham in 1824. However as she was his 2nd wife that Mary Graham was not one of my direct ancestors. I will show in another chapter descendants of Gilbert May and Mary Graham still live on Seil to this day.)
I established that Betsy stood for Beatrice and I then quickly was able to progress to finding two further generations of Cambells and Grahams. I was able also to confirm other information that had puzzled me such as confirming that it was with his Campbell relatives that Allan McIntosh lived with in Kilmelford as shown on the 1841 census.
I found it ironic that Betsy (Beatrice Campbell ) whose name was so often misunderstood in life should also have been the cause of confusion at death. If there is a ghost in the Kilninver Churchyard then I am sure it will be that of our Betsy Campbell.
KILNINVER CAMPBELL AND GRAHAM
Betsy Campbell (1785) was one of the younger recorded children of John Campbell and Mary Graham whom I guess both born around 1750. John and Mary are my 4 x GGrandparents. John was a tenant farmer in Barnayarry. Johns’ father, my 5 x GGrandfather, was an Archiebald Campbell and records suggest he was factor of the Breadlabane estate in the area.
John Campbell and Mary Graham were married in Kilninver on the 10th Feb 1774. John and Mary had at least nine children Dugald 1774, Janet 1776, Alexander 1778, Archiebald 1780, John 1781, Duncan 1783, Mary 1784 and Betsy (Beatrice) 1785,James 1787 and Allan 1790. James Campbell became a fisherman in Kilmelfort and was living in Kilmeford by 1841 with his unmarried sister Janet. My 2 x GGrandfather, Allan McIntosh, was living with them there by 1841, and also working as a fisherman, and so starting our McIntosh family connection with the Kilmelfort area.
In those days tenant farmers tried to secure tenancies for their own sons and also tried to secure marriages for their daughters. It was one of their expected social functions in life and they networked with other tenants to achieve this. This is one reason you see so many sets of brothers marrying sisters.
Mary Grahams father is given as Dugald Graham, my 5 x GGrandfather and a tenant farmer in Achnasual. Achnasual is about a mile south of Kilninver village and close to what is now Clachan Bridge, which leads over to the Isle of Seil. Barnayarry is about a mile south of Achnasual. I know Dugald Graham died after 1774 but before 24th December 1778. We know this because two of Dugald Grahams daughters,Mary and Catherine, married two of Archiebald Campbells’ sons, John and Duncan. and records show Dugald Graham was deceased by 1778. It is, only a guess of course but Dugald Graham could have been born around 1710. (This is only three years after the Union of Parliaments in 1707 when Scotland and England became one country, Great Britain.)
To date I have not found out the names of the mothers of either John Campbell or Mary Graham. However as both came from tenant farmer families there are possibilities of discovering more, perhaps in the Breadalbane Papers.
As you can see from the letter below to Lord Breadalbane conditions were not good for the Campbell family or neighbours by 1808. I found this information in Nancy Blacks’ book “FROM A HOLLOW ON THE HILL” which gives tales of her family from Lorn and Fortingall.
Letter to Lord Breadalbane, London 1808
Unto the Right Honble the Earl of Breadalbane
The Petition of the tenants of Duachie and Barnayarry, Netherlorn most humbly showeth. That the Petitioners’ forefathers have been tenants of the Breadalbane Estate for many generations past under whom they might be said to enjoy life and the comforts thereof which formed a kind of attachment in their descendents no…… …. Out, which attachment, together with …. For their poor families and not the prospect of their being able to pay the rents ( notwithstanding any change of times that might happen ) that induced them to come under the terms of the New Lease.
That the Petrs are far from being ambitious of becoming rich at your Lordships’ expence – all they want is to be situated as to be able to pay Your Lordships Rent, and rear their families. Which they cannot do by any means under the present Load of Rents.
That the Petrs tried every effort that Economy and Industry could suggest. That they even deprived themselves and familys of a good many of the real necessarys of life for the payment of the rents, but all to no purpose. They find it impracticable to be out of arrears of rent which insensibility has so impaired that little stock that no ????.
May it therefore please your Lordship to Consider the Petiyioners present distressed case and grant such a deduction of their rent as may to your Lordship seem necessary to enable them to pay their rents and rear their families which is all they want as they are willing to come under any rent that any judicious Valuator Acquainted with this soil and climate may impose. To continue under their present burden is only reducing themselves by degrees to a state of beggary and at length depriving your Lordship of part of your dues by arrears, which they flatter themselves is far from being pleasing to Your Lordship .
Therefore, flattering themselves with a compliance to their request, they shall ever pray.
Signed
DUACHY Dugald McCowan John McCowan Alexander McCowan
ARDSHELLACH – Lower part of Barnyarrie – Dugald Campbell, Duncan Campbell X his mark
The Dugald Campbell mentioned above is probably the oldest son of my 4X GGrandfather John Campbell and it is probable that the Duncan Campbell mentioned is the either the youngest son or else the brother of Duncan. It could suggest that John Campbell was dead by this time but that is not conclusive. What is also interesting from the petition is when the letter states the families had been tenants for generations. We can conclude from this that even if only 3 generations that our ancestors lived in the area from at least around 1650 or earlier.
The summer grazing of black cattle formed an important part of the economy of Nether Lorn until the end of the 18th Century, and the area of high ground between Loch Seil and Glen Risdale was used for that purpose by the tenants of the coastal townships of Ardnahua and Duachy. The practice came to an end c1790, when the area was included in a sheep walk based on the farm of Barnayarry, managed by John Campbell ( my 4th GGrandfather), son of the factor of the Breadalbane estate in Nether Lorn.
This means that Johns’ father Archielbald Campbell my 5th GGrandfather was the factor mentioned. In her book Nancy Black also quotes “a Mr Campbell, who was a factor to the Earl of Breadalbane for fifty five years, stated that a failure of payment was so rare, and so much shame attached to it that when, by misfortune, a tenant happened to be deficient, his neighbours generally assisted him with a loan. Unfortunately Nancy does not give the name of the Mr Campbell she wrote of, but again it is probably our Archiebald Campbell.
Kilmelford – Allan McIntosh
None of my living relatives were aware of the Kilninver connection with our branch of the McIntosh family and this included my Uncle James Melfort McIntosh (1900-1995) and my Aunt Jeanie McIntosh (1902- 2002). They all thought our roots were in Kilmelford as that is where they said my grandfather Duncan McIntosh (1873-1947) was born. Of course they had my Uncle Melforts’ name as a constant reminder. A cousin of mine Melfort McIntosh Johnstone, now in Austalia, also bears the name.
Kilmelford is the main village in the parish of Kilmeford. (apparently it can be spelt either Kilmelfort or Kilmelford.) Within the parish there were several clachans or townships, some being no more than a collection of about six cottages or so all attached to a common tenancy.
By 1841 Allan McIntosh (1814-1864), my 2 x GGrandfather, had moved from Kilninver to Kilmeford. He is shown on the census as living in the area with his Aunt and Uncle James and Janet Campbell. His age on the census is shown as 20 but we know he was in fact 27 by 1841. It may be insignificant but Allan never named any of his children after his parents as was common in Scotland at that time. Maybe Allan saw his Uncle James as a father figure instead, and I have no doubt that his son James was named after James Campbell. What is certain is that the name Dugald McIntosh never appeared again in our branch of the family. It is possible there was bad blood between Allan McIntosh and his father Dugald.
In 1844 Allan, resident in Ardenstuir, Kilmelford, married Lucy McCorquodale, daughter of Hugh McCorquodale, late herdsman of Ardenstuir. The following year on the 6th Jan 1845, their first son James, and my GGrandfather, was born in Melfort. This is the same James who died aged 85, in 1930 in Kames at Shore Cottages. Some of my older cousins still vaguely remember him. In 1847 daughter Barbara was born and in 1849 they had son Hugh. More than likely Hugh was named after Hugh McCorquodale but it could well have been after brother Hugh McIntosh.
On the 1851 census the family are shown as living in Fernoch, Kilmelford. Allan is an agricultural labourer and Lucy describes herself as doing domestic duties. The children are James 6, Barbara 4 and Hugh 2. Daughter Flora was born later that year on the 24th July. Although I cannot be sure of the date, very soon tragedy struck as Lucy died. It could have been in, or soon after childbirth. I cannot be sure what happened to the baby but she probably died as that is the last record we have of her. It would certainly have been very difficult for Allan having to look after children of 6, 4 and 2, and it would have been much worse if the baby, named after one of Lucy’s sisters, also survived. Again we just don’t know exactly what happened.
In 1853 the Melfort Powder Mill opened, which possibly started the McIntoshs’ on the Gunpowder trail. This would have brought much needed employment to the area. A little known fact is that Argyllshire was once famous for gunpowder production. There were Powdermills, as they were called in Melfort, Furnace on Loch Fyne, Dunoon and in Millhouse near Kames in Kilfinan..
In 1854 Allan married again to a woman from the Isle of Colonsay, called Elizabeth McGilvary, who like his first wife was also known as Lucy . They married in Lochgilphead and on 4th Sept 1855 they had a daughter Margaret. At this stage they were living in Ardenstuir. It is interesting to note that 1855 was the year modern Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates (BMD’s) started in Scotland. BMD’s in 1855 asked for much more information than was required in later years and are a massive help to genealogists.
On the 1861 census Allan is shown as being 47 and a labourer at the Powder Works living at 75 Ardenstuir. His 2nd wife Lucy is shown as aged 36.Also at home are son James 16, journeyman cooper, son Hugh 12 and a scholar, daughter Barbara 14 and daughter Margaret 5.
Allan died suddenly at 6-15am on the 5th June 1864 after a 3 day illness which was diagnosed as Apoplexy by Dr G.H.Gilles. He was only 50 years of age and so far as I have discovered the only male McIntosh ancestor of mine to have died so young. On his death certificate he is described as an agricultural labourer so perhaps he did not like work in the powder mills. The family were still living at Ardenstuir and son James aged 19, registered the death.
On 9th March 1867 as reported by the Oban Times there was an explosion at the Powdermill, which totally destroyed the works. Many of the windows of local houses were smashed by the concussion of air and to give an example of the power of the explosion it reports a bale of cloth was blown about a mile from the works. Melfort Powdermill never reopened.
James married Jane May on 24th November 1870 in Kilmelford Village. He gave his age as 25 and was living in the hamlet of Melfort, she as 22 and living in the village of Kilmelford. Janes’ parents were Duncan May (Agricultural Labourer) and Jane McFarlane. The minister who married James and Jane in the Free Church was Donald McGillivary. The witnesses were a Duncan McDearmid and a John McArthur. Janes’ family were originally from Balvicar on Seil Island. I have no idea when the May family arrived in Kilmelford but I do know that they were living in Dunoon until mid 1862. Although James and Jane were to leave Kilmelford by 1875, Janes parents remained in the area until they died, Duncan May in 1885 and Jane McFarlane in 1906. We will tell the May story in a later chapter.
In the 1871 census James and Jane are shown as living at no 4 Fernoch and their first son Allan was born on 17th Aug that year and birthplace is given as Kenmore Kilmelford. Also on the census of that year James’ stepmother at 16 Fernoch Lucy McGilvary is shown as a washer woman but no sign of daughter Margaret who if still alive would have been 15. At Ardenstuir house no 5 James’s sister Barbara is shown as living with her husband Duncan McArthur (powder maker) and their 3 children Allan, Catherine and Lucy. Brother Hugh McIntosh (Blacksmith) is also living at the house.
On 14th June 1873 (The same year as Glasgow Rangers were founded) my grandfather was also born at Kenmore Kilmelford and certainly before 1875 the family moved to Furnace on Loch Fyne as James got a job at the powder works there. My grandfather then spent less than 2 years of his life living in the Kilmelford area. What I did discover when I read my Great Grandfathers’ obituary was that he, James McIntosh, considered it to be the finest part of Argyll.
Kilmelfort – McCorquodale.,
McCorquodale is a Norse name , and for genealogists it can be a nightmare as it can be spelt in so many different ways. This added to the difficulty in tracing the McCorquodale lineage. My GGrandfather spelt it McCorkindale, at least that was how it was spelt on his marriage licence, where his mothers name is written as Lucy McCorkindale.
I remember telling my brother that there was a good possibility that our family are distantly related to Princess Diana. Her mother was a McCorquodale and she lived on the Isle of Seil, where many of our own ancestors lived. It has to be said so far as I know our McCorquodales came from Kilmelford, which is about 15 miles away from Seil by road, but it is still very possible that there is a connection. I will ask Prince Harry next time I see him. Of course my brother laughed but when you consider that genealogical lineage is in geometrical progression it is not a totally remote possibility at all. You only have to go back ten generations and you have around a thousand direct ancestors, if there were no marriages of cousins etc in that period. However, enough of that and it seems our McCorquodales were all humble herdsmen in Ardenstuir, Kilmelford for several generations.
My first link to the McCorquodales is via Lucy McQuorquodale, also known as Elizabeth, who married Allen McIntosh in Kilmelford on 23rd April 1844. Her father was given as Hugh McCorquodale , Herdsman, late of Ardenstuir. There is no record of a birth for Lucy in OPR (Old Parochial Registar, essentially church records) but I think born around 1813 and as she died about 1852 neither is there a record of her death. However marriage records show that her parents were a Hugh McCorquodale (herdsman) and I established he married a Janet McCallum in Kilninver on 31st Dec 1812. (It would seem then that Janet McCallum came from the Kilninver area but as yet I have made no further progress on that line as McCallum is such a common name.)
I have found other children of this marriage to be Catherine 1813,Colin or Duncan, 1815, Anne 1817, Flory 1821, Archiebald 1824 and at least two Dugalds born in 1826 and 1829. As said previously no mention of a Lucy and also no mention of a John, who, see below was transported to Australia aged 18 as John was born around 1815.
Today Australian genealogists have it as a badge of honour if they find they are descended from deported convicts. Well one of my 3 xGUncles was deported. He was John McCorquodale, son of Hugh McCorquodale, my 3X GGfather. If you ever go to the museum at Inveraray Jail on Loch Fyne, you will see the details, which are as follows:
Inveraray Jail ( brother of Lucy McCorquodale)
Full Name - MacCORQUODALE, John
Reference - AD 14/31/197
Age - 18
Status - Single
Address - Born & Resident: Ardinstuir Son of Hugh MacCorquodale
Town - Kilninver & Kimelford
Area - Argyll
Crimes - Sheep stealing
Conviction -
Occupation - Herder
Trial Date - 21 April 1831
Tried by - Lord Justice Clerk & Jury
Sentence 7 years Transportation
Sail Date -
27 November 1831
Transported
Arrive Date - 22 March 1832
Ship - Gilmore
Where - Van Diemen`s Land
Other Information- Removed to Retribution Hulk arriving on 6th June 1831.
no 9410. Transferred to the Gilmore on 22 October 1831.
MacCorquodale confessed to stealing two sheep, the property of Hugh McLachlan, from the farm of Ardluing in the island of Luing, parish of Kilchattan. He disposed of them at Oban. The accused was unable to
Write and spoke only Gaelic. Value of sheep put at 12/- to 13/- each. MacCorquodale gave McLachlan 12/-as recompense. The lad appears to have had no one to look after him and no home from an early age. He drifted around various acquaintances, spending a few nights here and a few nights there.
Obviously when viewed from todays values the punishment seems very harsh indeed but even by the 1830’s many starved in winter or when harvests were poor and most people still lived at subsistence level. Stealing food therefore was a much more serious crime than it is today. Although I have no proof it is possible that the McLachlans that John stole from could have been his own relatives, as the McCorquodales had married into the McLachlans earlier when Duncan McCorquodale married Mary McLachlan around 1760.
My 4x Ggrandparents were a Hugh McCorquodale (born 18th May1760) Kilninver and Kilmelfort who married an Anne Campbell 21st Dec 1789 and had at least two children Hugh abt 1780 and Mary 5th Dec 1782 and his father was given as a Duncan McCorquodale.
Duncan McCorquodale (born abt 1730) shows in the records as having married
a Mary McLachlan. (These are my 5 x GGrandparents).
The 1841 census shows a Janet McCorquodale, widow(nee McCallum) living with another McCallum relative. I have not yet found them on the 1851 census so have no idea yet how to trace this branch of McCallums. I have never found a Lucy McCorquodale on the census until1851 when she was married to Allan McIntosh.
Furnace – James McIntosh and Jane May
Every member of the McIntosh family will tell you of the uncle who was killed by an adder and how our granddad tried to save his brother. Like most folklore there is some truth in the tale. Whilst I don’t know exactly when the family moved to Cumlodden I do know it was after June 1873 and before the 1st May1875.
It was on 1st May 1875 when Allan McIntosh, then not yet 4 years old died from a snake bite. However as my grandfather was not yet 2 years old it is unlikely that he tried to save his brother. It must have been a terrible night for the family as young Allan died at 4am and his death was recorded as being due to Pyaemic Inflamation and convulsions.
Allan's death was reported in the Oban Times of 8th May 1875 it was on page 2 column 1 and read "FATAL SERPENTS BITE". Allan McIntosh, son of James McIntosh, cooper at Furnace gunpowder works, was lately bitten by an adder. He was attended by Dr. Campbell, Brenchoille, but to no avail and the lad sadly died after suffering much pain.
The following month on 9th June 1875 James’ stepmother Lucy McGilvary died in Kilmelford after being ill for a year with dropsy. Duncan May, James’ father- in –law registered the death.
Son Hugh was born in Cumlodden in 1876 and in 1880 William May McIntosh was also born there. In 1881 the family are living at Goatfields, Furnace, Cumlodden and our grandfather is shown as a scholar. Goatfields were powdermill company houses. It is interesting to note that Uncle Willie is the first to be given a middle name.
In 1883 there was an explosion at the powdermill in Furnace and the powdermill did not re-open. James McIntosh and family were soon to move to Kames.
So it was in Cumlodden on Loch Fyne near Invarary that my granddad had most of his schooling.
Kames- James McIntosh, Jane May and Catherine McGilp
I don’t know if the family moved directly from Furnace to Kames as the first record I have of them living in the area is 1889 when son James was born. I have the feeling it was soon after 1883 as James was given a long service payment in 1921 that suggests he worked at the powdermill for 38 years.
It is probable then that my grandfather went to school in Tighnabruaich for at least a year or so and that his brothers had most of their schooling there. (There is a wonderful school photograph of youngest son James Allan McIntosh, who was born 1889, and the photograph was taken at Tighnabruiach School circa 1899. ) They probably knew other people who had moved from Furnace to Kames and it is even possible that they had relations there, even if only distant cousins. It is probable that they even knew people who had worked in the powdermill at Melfort before that closed.
In 1885 Duncan May, father in law to James died in Kilmelford. I am sure this would have been a great loss to all the family. My cousin Margaret McIntosh has told me that our granddad often spoke of when he was a boy and going to his grandparents house where they had a chicken they called the devil.
The 1891-1892 Valuation Roll for Kilfinan Parish shows James McIntosh (cooper) a tenant in Auchenlochan at the House and Smithy for an annual rent of Seven pounds. (My cousin Murdo McLean told me he remembered a photograph in PaPa McIntoshs’ house in Reid St Bridgeton of the House and Smithy, and on the frame was written “Hame o’ Mine” It was very clear then that this house meant a lot to my granddad.) We know today this is just down the hill from Kames on Smiddy Brae and just before the shinty pitch. Whether the actual house is still standing I will have to establish.
The 1891 census for Kilfinan Parish shows James McIntosh 46 cooper born Melfort, Jane McIntosh 42,(wife) born Kilbrandon, Duncan McIntosh 18 (apprentice cooper) born Melfort and my grandfather, Hugh McIntosh 15 (Turners apprentice) born Cumlodden, William McIntosh 10 (scholar) born Cumlodden, and James McIntosh 1 born Kilfinan.
On 12th November 1891 tragedy struck again as Jane May died after being ill for a year. Jane died at 11-40am of Phthisis Pulmonalis. Like so many women in these times it looks as though childbirth was a factor in her illness. Certainly there was a large gap between young James and his elder brothers. Like his father before him James senior was a widower with a young family.
Catherine McGilp enters our family history shortly after this time. Catherine McGilp, whose family were local to the Kames area. She was only nine months older than my grandfather, Duncan, and according to family rumour, it was him, and not his father she wanted to marry. The story goes that if she could not get the son then the father would suffice. On September 18th 1895 Catherine gave birth to a daughter Elizabeth, and the father was never named.
At this point I hit some blank spots regarding my grandfathers’ life. It is probable that he finished his apprenticeship as a cooper at the age of 21 in 1894. This suggests he was still in Kames at least until then. However the years between then and him marrying my grandmother in Glasgow in 1897 are a mystery to me.
I have photographs of my grandfather in the full Highland dress of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and I have had the uniform confirmed. I don’t know exactly when the photographs were taken or if he was a full time soldier or not. In one photograph he has a set of bagpipes but I have never ever heard that he played the pipes. My brother also has a writing chest of my grandfathers, which, we were told, he won in an Army shooting contest. I have no doubts at all then that my grandfather was in the Argylls, but I could find no record of service.
My guess is that he was in the Territorial Army (T.A.). The T.A. had a drill hall in Kames, which is where the police station is now, at the crossroad to Millhouse. I think the present police station was built in the 1970’s. Even today you can hear the pipes playing from the Police Station and I wonder if my granddad also practiced the pipes at that same spot so many years ago.
Maybe it was a marriage of convenience, and maybe not, but on 31st December 1896 James C McIntosh at 48, a widower, married Catherine McGilp aged 25,spinster, a domestic servant and daughter of Neil McGilp (engine driver) and Catherine Black (deceased) at the Free Church of Scotland in Kames. Witnesses were John Greenshields and Mary Murray. (It is interesting to note that James used the middle initial C, on the marriage certificate, presumably for Campbell and he was never christened with this name. This is the first and only time I have seen this initial used in connection with James) (It is also interesting to note that on the marriage certificate that James’ mother Lucy McCorquodale has her name spelt as McCorkindale )
By 1896 my grandfather had probably left Kames to live in Glasgow. He was now 23 and had finished his apprenticeship. It would not have been comfortable to live in a two roomed house with his father, a mother a law almost of his own age, brothers of 20, 15 and 6 and also a one year old step sister. Less than a year later my grandfather married Jessie Craig in Glasgow, thus starting the Glasgow period of my McIntosh ancestry. His brother Hugh must have left around the same time as he too had a wife and child by 1900 in Glasgow.
It almost looks now as if father and son were in a race to produce offspring. In 1987 daughter Catherine Black McIntosh born Oct 7th 1897 at 3am in Auchenlochan to James McIntosh and Kate McGilp (that baby later became Kate Whyte) In 1897 son Duncan McIntosh, now 23, marries Jessie Craig in Glasgow 27th August and then in 1898 James’s first granddaughter Margaret Wainwright McIntosh daughter of Duncan and Jessie was born Sept 7th in Glasgow. In 1900 Daughter Lucy McCorquodale McIntosh was born in BerryBurn Cottages Auchenlochen and then 1900 Grandson James Melfort McIntosh son of Duncan was born in Glasgow Feb 15th. In 1902. Grandaughter Jane May McIntosh, daughter of Duncan and Jessie, was born in Glasgow on January 16th and same year Daughter Barbara was born in Kames. Not to be left out son Hugh also had a child, Agnes in 1900 in Glasgow.
James had no more children after that but by this time he was 57 years of age and had sired eight children to two wives over a period of thirty one years, from Allan in 1871 to Barbara in 1902. He had five boys to his first wife, Jane May and three girls to his second wife Katherine McGilp. He had Allan and Duncan in Kilmelford, Hugh and William in Cumloddon and James, Catherine, Lucy and Barbara in Kames. All in all quite a man and it was not just because he was 6’4” tall did they call him Big Jimmy. Son Duncan went on to sire four more children in Glasgow with Emily 1904,Jessie 1906, Annie 1908 and finally Duncan, my father in 1914. We will come to my granddads family in a later chapter, as that would be incomplete without mentioning his wife, Jessie Craig and her lineage of the Craigs and Wainwrights.
On the 1901 census the family show at 34,Berryburn Cottages, Kames (2 room house) James McIntosh, Gaelic speaker cooper age 53, his wife Catherine McIntosh, Gaelic speaker age 28, William McIntosh (son) gaelic speaker age 20 Yachtsman, Lizzie McIntosh (dau.) 5 (she was the illegitimate daughter of Kate McGilp and now using name McIntosh , Catherine Black McIntosh (dau) 3,Lucy McIntosh(dau) aged 1. James now aged about 11 is not at home, and is in Glasgow at his brother Duncans’ house, in 11,Webster St Bridgeton Glasgow. Hugh by this time is also married, and is now a Ships Steward. He too is living at 11 Webster St with his wife Betty and their baby daughter Agnes. I know Hugh went on to have a more children.
I cannot yet be precise as to when the family moved to Shore Cottages, only that it was some time between 1902 and 1913. Until I can get further information I can only date it as sometime after Barbara was born in 1902 at Berryburn and when step-daughter Lizzie had an illegitimate baby in Shore Cottages in 1913. That baby was also called Elizabeth but became known as Bessie.
Shore Cottages, locally known as The Barracks, were company houses built sometime after 1881. As you know my brother John has now bought one of those little houses as a holiday home. From the outside they look like three good sized cottages but are in effect 12 flats and that is how they were built. Each flat has two rooms and the toilets were outside in what are now the coal sheds. I have tried to establish exactly which flat my GGrandfather James and his family lived. It would appear that he lived in the middle block on the bottom floor on the right as you face the building. My cousin Margaret McIntosh remembers going there as a child and also being told which flat it was by her father. Perhaps when the 1911 census is available to the public we can verify this.
Sometime before 1905 son William must have left home too as he married Helen McLean in Glasgow in December of that year. As we know William was a yachtsman and we do know he actually sailed in the Americas Cup, which is one of the most famous yacht races in the world.
Son James too eventually left Kames but as yet I really have no idea when. I do know he played for the famous Kyles Athletic shinty team around 1906 or so. We have seen him in a team photograph in the Shinty Bar of the Royal Hotel in Auchenlochan. It could be too that James never learned to speak Gaelic like his brothers, as by this time Gaelic was more and more being discouraged at schools.
In 1906 Elizabeth May (nee McFarlane) died and she was the only grandmother my grandfather knew.
The Powdermill closed in 1921 and my GGrandfather was made redundant at the age of 76.
James McIntosh my GGrandfather died after being ill 10 days after a fall. He was 85. This was on 26th September 1930. My grandfather registered the death. I don’t know if my father attended the funeral, he would have been 16 then, but he often spoke of it to me. He said the coffin was so big they could not get it out of the door so had to take the corpse through the window.
I don’t know if this story is true or not but again its one many of my cousins would tell you is an absolute fact. When my GGrandfather died in 1930 he is said to have been buried beside his first wife, Jane May. When Kate McGilp died in 1934 it was known her wish to be buried next to James McIntosh. The story goes my grandfather did not really want that to happen but conceded the point. However when they came to dig the grave next to James for Kate McGilp there was a massive stone under the soil there and too big to be moved, so Kate McGilp could not be buried by my GGrandfathers’side.
James McIntosh was the last direct ancestor of mine to live in Kames. However his three daughters all grew up there and they continued to live in the area until the 1980’s and as you know the Glasgow McIntoshs continue to keep contact with Kames to this day.
I have said before that genealogy is like a never ending jigsaw puzzle and as with jigsaw puzzles you often don’t find the right piece when you need it, but once found the puzzle becomes a lot easier to resolve. I had such an instance today 14th March 2008 when I was sent a copy of the obituary of my Great Grandfather, James McIntosh. It s was sent to me by Rob Cullen from New Zealand, who is the grandson of my Grand Uncle James Allan McIntosh. He, like me, is tracing the family tree. The obituary not only gives me an insight into what type a man my Great Grandfather was but also gives me clues which could lead to me finding out more about my McFarlane line which, so far, has been almost a total mystery to me. Had I found this obituary many years ago when I started tracing the family history then I am sure I would have progressed even further by now but such is the never ending way with genealogy.
It reads:
DEATH OF AN OCTOGENARIAN
A NATIVE OF MELFORT
Numerous Argyllshire people would regret to observe in last weeks obituary columns the passing of James MacIntosh of Shore Cottage, Kames, on the 26th September. Deceased was a native of Melfort, near Oban and a son of the late Allan McIntosh.
In his youthful days the village of Melfort had a large and contented population through old and young finding employment in the gunpowder mills. There he was apprenticed to the cooper trade, but over half a century ago, when the gunpowder works closed down, he and many others of the villagers migrated to Furnace, Loch Fyne, to be employed in the Argyll Gunpowder Mills. In 1883 the Furnace Mills also closed down, and deceased then removed to Kames, where he was again employed in the Gunpowder line. A few years ago he retired on pension and spent the remainder of his days at the Kyles of Bute. He was a man of vision and brimful of wit, and took a special interest in political affairs. Mr MacIntosh had a great respect for Gladstone and Beaconsfield, and up to the last he frequently quoted some of their wise sayings. Though so long away from the village of his birth, Melfort to him was the ideal spot in Argyllshire.
During his lifetime he was a constant reader of the OBAN TIMES, and for the past forty years, he regularly, without a break, sent on a copy of the paper to a friend in England, who is also a native of Melfort. His familiar figure will be missed for a long time in the Kames district, and by non more so than his aged colleague Malcolm McFarlane, another cooper from Melfort, who is also on the retired list. Deceased is survived by his wife and a grown up family of sons and daughters. The funeral took place to Kilbride Churchyard, Millhouse, on the 29th September.
Above was the article published in the Oban Times on 11October 1930 and you can see a photograph of the original article.
The actual death notice was published the week before, again in the Oban Times of 4th October 1930. It reads: MACINTOSH.- At Shore Cottage, Kames, Kyles of Bute, on 26th September, 1930, James MacIntosh, formally of Melfort and Furnace, Loch Fyne, aged 85 years: deeply regretted.
I must admit the obituary puzzled me somewhat in that Gladstone and Beaconsfield (Disreali) were quoted as having the sayings James most loved and often quoted. Gladstone was a Liberal and Beaconsfield a Whig and both had long gone by the time James died. It almost describes James as being in some sort of time warp. As they hated one another and James admired both I can only assume he was very neutral politically.
Kames Bits and Pieces
I was contacted by a Helen from Bristol who told me she was related to my family via James McIntosh. She told me her GGrandmother was Kate McGilp. Helen had been given the impression that James McIntosh was a rich man and that Kate McGilp had married into a wealthy family. I knew that was not the case at all and I also knew that Helens’ mother, who is about my age, was the daughter of Bessie, who was the illegitimate daughter of Lizzie who was the illegitimate daughter of the Kate McGilp who married my GGrandfather James McIntosh..
Helen and I get along well and have both worked hard trying to research the family tree. I was able to break the news gently to her that she did not have rich ancestors, at least not if she was referring to the McIntosh connection. Helen was fine with the information but she told me her mother was a wee bit upset when she found out the truth. Whether the truth was hidden from Helens mother it became very clear that at the time there was no big secret about it all at least not in Kames. (excepting of course who the fathers were.) See below an email from Morris McCallum to Helen when he is telling her what he remembers from his youth. Morris was about 90 at the time he wrote the email and I find it astonishing how much he remembered and how accurate he was, but it gives us wee insights into life in Kames at that time.
Helen
Well the first I knew of Bessie was when I went to school about 83 years ago,a long time to remember.Her Aunt Kate,Lucy and Barbara.When I first knew Kate she was married and had family. Barbara was married Mrs.McLean and was having a baby when both her and the baby died.I knew Bessie's Grandmother Mrs. McIntosh who was Kate McGilp before she married.During World War one folks were sent to help on farms and Mrs. McIntosh and another woman Mrs. McPherson,was sent to help on farm,I was very young then but I got to know them then.
Anything I know about Bessie's Mother and Grandmother was what her Aunt Kate and Lucy said. Her Grandmother was Kate McGilp,daughter of Mr.& Mrs. Neil McGilp. Neil McGilp was widowed twice and married three times and had family by each wife,which of his wifes was Kate's Mother I do not know but I think her Mothers own name was Black.I did not know much about the McGilp family as they were a lot older than me and they moved from the district.Kate McGilp had a daughter Lizzie,don't know who Father was.Sometime later she married James McIntosh ands had three daughters,Kate,Lucy and Barbara.
I think Lizzie was brought up with Kate,Lucy she would be a bit older than them,I used to hear Kate and Lucy talk about our Lizzie,who was Bessie's Mother,father unknown.I think Lizzie died young and I don't think Bessie would have much memory of her Mother,so as far as I know Bessie's Mother was Lizzie,who's Mother was Kate McGilp,so Kate McIntosh was her Grandmother .Lizzie would be a half Sister to Kate and Lucy who would be Bessie's Aunties.As I said the first I knew of Bessie was when I went to school and heard that there was a Bessie McGilp from Kames in the class.There was 32 in the class of girls and boys,so there were quite a number I didn't know of.I cannot remember much of her in school and sometime later the class split up some ----- to another room so Bessie and myself were in separate rooms and did not see much of each other.
When we left school we did not see much of each other,I remember that her Aunt Lucy was working,kept house for ------ --- Ronnie McCallum in Tighnabruaich who was members of the Family Bakery of D McCallum's Tighnabruaich Bakery.Lucy left her job to get married and Bessie was given her job,how long she worked there I don't know,the bakery was sold as all the members got old,that was some time before the second war.Shortly after that I heard that she got her calling up papers and was to go to Stoke-on-Trent to work in munitions.She used to come home here on holiday,and I think that when I got to know her best.Aunt Kate and her used to visit my Sister------ and we all got talking about Kames and the friends,she did a lot of visiting when on holiday as there were lots of people she knew and was made welcome wherever she went.She was well liked by even me and was looked as a great event when Bessie came on holiday.
Alas I don't know if any of the friends she knew are left here.Out of the class of 32 in school,I only know of myself and 3 left alive now.You are asking about her Uncle John and Helen McGilp,this John McGilp would be Bessie's Grand Uncle John who lived in Millhouse.He was working in the kames Gunpowder Company and one day he and several others were working in a house,when some powder exploded------and set fire to the house,most got out,some were badly burned but John was left in the house,the others managed to get him out,he was badly burned and shocked,was rushed to Greenock Hospital but did not live.This happened in about 1922.Bessie may have memories of him but she would be quite young then.John's Father Neil was one of the workers then and helped to get him out and was badly burned on hands and arms.John's widow Helen lived in Millhouse and I can remember her.There was family but as they were a lot older than me I did not know them.They would be going to Millhouse school and we in Kames went to Tighnabruiach school so did not meet.
I spoke with Morris McCallum on the telephone around 2006 and he is an amazing man with a fantastic memory. I am not sure he is still alive but when I spoke to him he was living in Dunoon. He remembered my GGgreat Grandfather and told me he was known as Big Jimmy and that he smoked a clay pipe.
Morris also pointed out to me that he and I were related as James McIntoshs’ daughter Kate married Duncan Whyte and one of their daughters married David McCallum who was an Uncle of Morris. Don’t ask me to work out the relationship but it’s a nice wee coincidence.
McIntoshs – Memories of Kames
Due to my Uncle Melfort being christened James Melfort McIntosh and also one of my cousins being called Melfort McIntosh Johnstone, now in Australia , all of my cousins will know something of the Melfort / Kilmelfort part in the family history. However it is Kames that is viewed as the ancestral home for my generation. Every one of my McIntosh cousins I have spoken to has a tale to tell of Kames. Most Glasgow folk would have sailed “Doon the Watter” to Tighnabruiach but if you asked them many would not know of Kames.
Normas’s Tale
I left Glasgow in 1962 and had not been to Kames for many many years. It was about 1974 or so and I was married with three children. I was visiting Glasgow and went to see my Aunt Jessie in Bridgeton. She had a wee hoose in Kames and suggested we go down and stay there a bit. It seemed like a great idea and I could blood my English wife Norma into Kames and also give my three kids, Craig, Christine and Gary, the opportunity of walking on the sacred soil.
McIntosh The Glasgow Years Duncan McIntosh and Jessie Craig
All of my GGgrandfathers sons to his first wife all ended up living in Glasgow. In the case of my Grandfather, as I said before, I can only guess he arrived in Glasgow around 1896. My cousin Margaret McIntosh told me a nice story of how my grandparents met. The story goes that they were both on a horse drawn tram and both got off at the same stop My grandmother, Jessie Craig had alighted first. As she walked to her relatives’ home he seemed to be following her. When she went up the close to her relatives, he followed. When she knocked at her relatives’ door, he also stood at the door. She thought she was following her. It turned out that my grandfather was lodging at her relatives’ house. The rest is history and they married in 1897. I am not yet sure which Craig relative it was my granny was visiting but I think it was one who lived near The Royal Infirmary. I am not sure if my Granny at this time was actually living in Glasgow or was just on a visit to a relative. The reason I am not sure is that I don’t know the exact year the Craigs left Newcastle to return to Glasgow but I do feel that the whole Craig family had not returned to Glasgow at this time but did some time between 1894 and 1901.
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