RootsChat.Com

Thanks Madeline. I will have to be satisfied with that. As a family they were not very good at notifying the authorities!
Now, what citations can you give me for Donald's later farms - is Phoenix Park his or John's?
Getting confused.
I loved reading the newspaper article about the 'Midlothians' being stroppy, you will be pleased to know the tradition is alive and well in my family - my son's name is Campbell, & when I would complain to my mother about things he did as a child she used to say "Well, you would call him Campbell..." He has grown up to be a wonderful and caring adult though.
My email is <christinageeves@yahoo.com.au>, I would be happy for you to use that, as I find this whole RootsWeb thing a bit tedious.
I'm meeting my aunt Janet (Campbell) Smith tomorrow, she says her father Norman didn't talk much about his past, but together we might be able to nut out a few historical facts,

Another one of the family beginning research! I am Christina (Macleod Campbell), gggdaughter of Donald through Alexander.
I agree with Madeline about Donald's mother and father being Robert and Mary because of the naming traditions, but wonder about the absence of Bethune as a son's name, and whether Mary's father was in fact Archibald Bethune, but can find no evidence on parish records.
I note that on the Immigration of Assisted Migrants form the family had when they arrived on the 'Midlothian' there is no evidence cited under the heading about Baptism - perhaps the minister at Uigh was not very good at keeping records! Also to be noted that in the remarks both Donald and Mary were literate, presumably in English.
Another thought - there are a few newspaper articles in  1837-8 about the dreadful conditions on board the Midlothian - the Captain & Purser apparently starved the migrants, intending to sell the rations provided when they arrived in the colony, and even sailed past the Cape of Good Hope because the state of the ship would be discovered. This does not square with the fond reminiscences published in the Clarence Gazette, with the poem etc - surely you would not publish something like that if you had been starved and your children had died from dysentery and malnutrition!
'Trove' has some interesting articles and Letters to the Editor re the Dunmore Lang family using the strong young clansmen from the 'Midlothian' as labour on their farm rather than offering them the farms they were promised!