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Quote from: Chrismac11 on Monday 04 January 21 02:47 GMT (UK)

Is it not strange that they lived so far out in wester Ross ?

What is strange about living in Wester Ross?

My dad was bought up in Perthshire which traditionally was MacGregor heartland along with argyle. I just presumed that was where we had lived forever . Well it turns out his grandfather was born in Inverness/Nairn and then tracing the line back i eventually got to gairloch/strath and then bouchaig (sic) as MJHS1 mentioned we were probably a part of the clearances . Thank you for that great information by the way MJHS1 much appreciated! Did you look at the file I shared ? Below my grandfather I believe could be his brother Donald . My biggest problem with all of this ancestry digging is the names keep repeating so it’s very hard not to be knocked off track . I’m finding it almost impossible to go beyond Alexander with any certainty . I’m hoping to get to Scotland next year and follow in their footsteps . Thanks for the map as I didn’t have a clue where bouchaig is as it doesn’t show on current maps .
Chris 

Hi everyone , been chasing up my family history and I too am a descendent of Murdo MacGregor . His son murdo moved to Nairn (I believe as part of the highland railway ) I have read records where he became a station master his son William born in Croy then moved to Blair Atholl (moulinairn) and was a steam train driver . He married Jessie Stewart  . I have a bunch of middle
Names that I have been told I got from women marrying into the family . By checking the records it becomes very apparent.

After checking on most of this information and getting better at researching I can now say most of this is wrong 😀 Murdoch moved from gairloch to work as a farm labourer where he met his wife /or could of moved there to marry her as she was born in Inverness . Per the census at the time he was also a fisherman going back to work in gairloch (probably kelping) also shows that he was a carpenter so I presume he was a bit of a jack of all trades . His father Alexander was offered the mill in strath but never took up the offer . His mother Christian was shown to be a squatter in a later census (guess she didn’t like paying rent😂) my ggrandfather William was born in petty/ croy and ended up becoming a engine driver/fireman and lived in shore rd Inverness until his death . The strange part was he was actually buried in Blair athol (which made me believe he died there)  but it turns out this was his wife’s hometown and she moved back there right after his death . I also got some great information from gairlochs museum if any of you descendants would like to see it ? As someone said above MacGregors are not very common in that part of Scotland - I think with a strong suspicion/the museum also mentioned this that they ended up there as refugees right after the Jacobite rebellion . The MacKenzies who owned the land refused to throw crofters off their land and also welcomed in people from other areas . At one point there was a big settlement in the area of MacGregors but in later censuses they all but disappeared due to migration to the new colonies or like my line to other parts of Scotland as subsistence living was very tough . Hope this helps anyone that’s out there trying to piece the puzzle together 😀 

Hi everyone , been chasing up my family history and I too am a descendent of Murdo MacGregor . His son murdo moved to Nairn (I believe as part of the highland railway ) I have read records where he became a station master his son William born in Croy then moved to Blair Atholl (moulinairn) and was a steam train driver . He married Jessie Stewart  . I have a bunch of middle
Names that I have been told I got from women marrying into the family . By checking the records it becomes very apparent.