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Hui John

Thanks for all this information, I am away to Inverness for 4 days as my son is getting married there on Saturday, in the McGregor tartan.  I will have a much better look at it all either during the 4 days or when I return home.
You asked earlier about Charles and him being born in Caputh, the 1861 census had this information on him, Myra had written in the Charles McGregor book that in his death certificate it had him born in Caputh but she had not been able to find his birth certificate, I couldn't either so maybe his birth certificate was an alias name?  Charles McGregor certainly travelled distances and he and his family lived in Cowford Cottage, this was owned by the Duke of Murray, Charles boss at Blair Atholl Castle.  More than likely his father John who was born in Cullintogle may have travelled too, Scots were hardy bunch and distances and hard terrain were no problem, especially to the Proscribed and hunted McGregors. John McGregor and Mary Young are a mystery, not a lot of details on them though they are mentioned on Charles McGregor's death certificate.   In the 1851 Census the details were more or less same, just 10 years younger at 63 and profession was - Farmerby Wood Forester

1861 Scotland Census
View Record
Name - Charles Macgregor
Age - 73 Estimated
Birth Year - abt 1788
Relationship - Head
Gender - Male
Where born - Caputh, Perthshire
Registration Number - 330Registration district - Auchtergaven Civil parish
AuchtergavenCounty - Perthshire
Address - Cowford Cottage
Occupation - Retired
Land Stewart
ED6
Household schedule number16
Line11RollCSSCT1861_47

Household Members
NameAge
Name
Charles Macgregor
Age
73
Name
Margaret Macgregor
Age
25
Name
Hellen Stewart
Age
10
Name
Mary I Willis
Age
4 Mo

Quote from: ElaineSK on Friday 31 May 19 22:11 BST (UK)

He married Helen Lowe in Dunkeld , perhaps  in the church in the photo

In 1816, it's very unlikely indeed that they were married in the church building. The normal place for a wedding ceremony was the bride's parents' home or, if she had no parents or was marrying a long way from home, in the manse or in her employer's house. Towards the end of the 19th century it became more popular to marry in a hotel, restaurant or hall. Weddings in a church were very much the exception until the 20th century.

I can only quote what Myra mentioned, she is only presuming so you could be right, I presume most of her information is from the Archivist who is attached to Blair Atholl.  I hope to book this Archivist on the day me and my family visit the Castle from where I stay, in Fife not too far away.

Edit: Had a look at the saved images I have on Scotland's People. the marriage details of Helen Low/Lowe is that they got married in Little Dunkeld, her parents are Peter Low and Jean Gow both from Perthshire.

part 2:

Blair Castle. in Perthshire,  is the centre of a designed and heavily wooded landscape, begun by the 4th or “Planting Duke”. Before he died in 1830, he had covered some 10,000 acres of Perthshire with over 14,000,000 larches, and his nurseries were supplying seed and seedlings to other Scottish enthusiasts.

This is one of Scotlands oldest managed forests and was created from larch seed brought from the Alps for the Second Duke of Atholl. Such plantings were part of the great expansion of forestry in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century which centred on Perthshire. Between 1738 and 1830 the `Planting` Dukes of Atholl planted some 27 million conifers - `for beauty and profit` - around Dunkeld. Many innovative techniques were employed including scattering seed by cannon.

 Many of the original trees are still there, so just think that if we could visit there, we might see trees which were planted and looked after by Charles McGregor. Ecology and carbon footprints are not new to Scotland!  Most of the landscape features were established during the 18th and 19th centuries. The castle has been the home of the Dukes of Atholl since before the Crusades.  At the time Charles McGregor was Head Forester, and his family were there, his employer was the 6th Duke, whose  wife was Anne Home Drummond, who was Lady-in-Waiting and Mistress of the robes to Queen Victoria. (More of her later).

This 6th Duke, as Lord Glenlyon,  formed the Atholl Highlanders in 1839 as his personal bodyguard. In 1844, when Queen Victoria stayed at Blair Castle, the Atholl Highlanders provided the guard for the Queen. So impressed was she with their turnout that she ordered they be presented with colours, giving them official status as a British regiment.( More of them later, too.)

In addition to the information I got from Peter, I wrote to the Blair Castle Archivist who was good enough to send me copies of letters, written by Charles, which I have transcribed and included here: - Just think that he wrote these letters about 170 years ago. The spelling, grammar and handwriting are not too bad, are they?
Of course, he was a “humble and obedient servant”!

Now, to backtrack to the Chronicles, there was another entry about Charles’ son John:



There are quite a few interesting facts about John McGregor. The Archivist at Blair Castle also sent me some details about him, including this photo, and the fact that he was a Sergeant in the  “Atholl Highlanders”.  .

This is the only private army in Britain and was started by the 4th Duke.  Fifty years later, the 6th Duke resurrected the Atholl Highlanders as a bodyguard.  In 1844 Queen Victoria stayed at Blair Castle as a guest of the Duke and during this visit the Queen announced that she would present the regiment with colours in recognition of their service.

Queen Victoria visited Blair Castle on a number of occasions which are all recorded in her diary.  In 1865 she writes about going out riding with a group accompanied by her servant Brown. (Remember Billy Connolly as Brown in the film “Mrs Brown”)
They became lost in the mist, and in her diary she says

“There was by this time heavy driving rain with a thick mist. About a little more than an hour took us to the March, where two of the Dunkeld men met us. John McGregor, the Duke’s head wood-forester, and Gregor McGregor , the Duke’s gamekeeper, the former acting as a guide”.

I spent some time  looking at Google for any connection between Blair Castle and Queen Victoria, and I found a few articles describing rumours that Queen Victoria and John Brown had married. It seems that there are some diaries of the time which state this. Much to my surprise I found John McGregor mentioned in some of the articles.

There are 2 photos of John son of Charles in his uniform as Sergeant in the Atholl Highlanders. 


Back to me: As you can see from the above excerpts the archivist certainly furnished Myra with a lot of indepth information, it is quite a thick book of maps and copies of Charles McGregor's letters as Head Forester.  There is so much more which I haven't really looked fully at.  I have given the copy of the book of photocopies Myra sent me to my son who is getting married next week, he has been fitted and ordered the McGregor tartan Highland Dress, I think it is the ancient colour so I very much look forward to seeing him in all his full tartan.  We, my family, are intending in the next few months to go to Blair Atholl Castle to walk the grounds of my great, great, great Grandfather and great, great uncle John.  Hope this helps tie up my McGregors.  I will look closer at all your information the next time I am on the computer. Bye for now.

There was a tribe of MacGregors in Rannoch, so tenants of the duke of Atholl, who therefore used his name Murray when MacGregor was still proscribed. Might explain your Murray MacGregor origins?

Skoosh.

Thanks, I'll check that out.  My McGregor family lived in the Cowford Cottages outside Bankfoot and not far from Auchtergaven, these cottages and farm was owned by Blair Atholl.  My great grandfather William Scott McGregor was born illegitimately  to Charles daughter Helen McGregor, at some point in his life he took on his father's surname Scott (farmer of the Cowford farm) and Scott was his son,my Grandfather's surname but he had McGregor as a middle name.

Much appreciated Forfarian,I'll go read that link and definitely follow your advice when I manage to get through to Edinburgh.