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Dear PrueM

Patronymics set down a person's father, grandfather, great grandfather, and so on, rather like a pedigree.  So you can be, for example, John Mackay, son of Angus, who was the son of Murdoch, who was the son of George.  In Gaelic, "son" is written as "mac", and usually subsequent  sons/grandsons etc as "mhic" pronounced "vic".  If you are a woman, your line starts as "daughter of",  but  instead of "mac" you are "nic", or in Sutherland "nin". 

Following this explanation,  the patronymics in the Durness OPR can be worked out, provided we keep in mind that the minister who wrote them was a Gaelic learner, and wrote them out by their sound - that is, phonetically.  In doing this, the minister, John Thomson, wrote in what now seems almost like a code, though in fact it follows the rules of Gaelic grammar.  John (or Iain in Gaelic) is written often as "en", James (or Seumas) as "amish", George (which is Seoras) appears as "eoras", and so forth.  "Mhic" appears as "ic".

So: "James Mackay alias Machustianmacnish" is James Mackay,  the son of Hugh, son of Angus; and
      "Donald Mackay alias Macneilmacenmacdholicuillam" is Donald Mackay,  the son of Neil, son of John, son of Donald, son of William.

This is a wonderful help for genealogists, as it can reveal names back even five generations. 


Margaret M
     

Does anyone know of research done into the Durness George McLeod (or George McLeods) the piper?  It seems that there are problems in reconciling the dating of some of the events in his life, raising the question: are there two George McLeod pipers in Durness?

"George McLeod the piper" appears in well-known references in Rob Donn's poetry, in which he is a close friend of the poet.  Ian Grimble (page 108) draws attention to Patrick Macdonald "seeking out the company of the piper and the bard" after he returned home in 1754. 

Rob Donn gives an account of his friend marrying a Catherine Mackay who had previously had an illegitimate child by someone else.  The second wife of Donald fourth Lord Reay also features in the story.  Lord Donald died in 1757, and in the poetry there is no indication that this marriage occurred after his death.  Lady Reay is not described as a widow or a dowager, and the account fits the general pattern of life at Balnakeil in the late 1740s and 1750s. 

If the events in Rob Donn occurred in the 1740s-1750s, this would not fit in with references in the Durness OPR to the marriage of a George McLeod piper to a Catherine Mackay from Kinlochbervie in February 1775, and the birth of two children - a son John and a daughter Barbara -  in February 1776 and September 1777, both in Sartigrim.

To add to the puzzle, there is also a George McLeod piper to Lord Eric (and subsequently the Staffords/Sutherlands) from 1797 to his death about 1854 in various locations in Tongue.  Does he come from the same family as the Durness piper(s)?  All we know is that he is almost undoubtedly the son of a Donald McLeod who was a tenant in one of the settlements at the foot of Ben Loyal  before 1797.  There is  in addition a George McLeod, a tenant in Tongue in 1789, who would appear to be quite old, but there is no indication whether he was a piper or not.

What started this trail for us was that the John McKay Gow the Ground Officer of Tongue, mentioned in an earlier posting, was married to a Barbara McLeod.  We began looking at McLeods in Durness, and came across what looks like an anomaly. Perhaps someone who knows about piping history can sort it out.

Margaret M

Has anyone come across Mackays/McKays with the byname Gow,  the Gow often written in brackets after Mackay/McKay or as an alias?  One family appears in Blandy, Tongue in the 1790's and others appear in the Durness OPR in Eriboll. The family in Tongue are John Mackay (Gow) and his wife Barbara McLeod and their children.  John Mackay (Gow) was Ground Officer of Tongue from 1803 to his death 1819/1820. 

These families are distinct from the Gows who lived in the Melness district of Tongue.