Do I have enough information ?

[Little Bernie]

I had thought my search in Cape Breton(Canada) had uncovered enough to assure me of positive results for continuing on with my family history in Scotland,but now I'm not so confident. Below is ALL I know:

Donald "The Weaver"Campbell came to C.B.(Canada) with his three sons; Malcolm Campbell(born October 15th, 1825), Angus(born 1830) and Neil(born 1833). there is no mention of Donald Campbell's wife.In the census of 1881 all are said to have been born in Scotland.All this information is generic and can involve many "Campbell' lines.
BUT
 They were Catholic Campbells,so that seperates them from the many Protestant Campbells.
  Family traditions says they came from North Uist,but that is not possible,but likely the Hebrides.
  Likely left around the time of "The Clearings" between 1834-1850
    The Campbells that came to Canada seem to be only part of a family, and I'm hoping that there is a Campbell out there looking for the missing father and 3 brothers....or am I reaching too far ? Do I have enough information ?
Cheers

[Little Nell]

Hi Little Bernie,

Welcome to RootsChat.

North Uist is part of the Hebrides.  Why is it not possible that they did not come from North Uist?  This does imply that you have another snippet of information which might just help?

Checked the emigration database at the Scottish Archives and nothing shows for this family, but the database does start in 1852 

Where did you get the dates of birth from?  Have you checked the IGI and ScotlandsPeople at all for any matches?  It has to be be the place to start.

Good luck

Nell

[behindthefrogs]

You may be right about your Campbells not coming from North Uist.  It is unlikely to have been their ancestral home as it was a Clan Donald island and the Campbells and Donalds were not exactly buddies.

South Uist is much more likely.

David

[Gadget]

North Uist was traditionally Presbyterian and South Uist was Roman Catholic - neither exclusively and, even now, the divisions still exist.

Gadget

[Little Bernie]

Sad to say,but I believe you folks are right about them not coming from North Uist,but I wonder where my mom and aunt got that name,neither of them had gone to Scotland ? So, I'm hoping South Uist. I'm at a wee bit of a disadvantage,as I'm living in China, and my only source of information is the internet. Is there a particular area that Catholic Campbells would have made their home? Does Scotland have the same problem as Cape Breton- Too many family members with the same name ? The only way we tell them apart in Cape Breton is with nicknames( "black" Duncan,Mary-Danny-Peter...) which don't show up on official records ?

[Gadget]

Something like that Bernie 

I live on the mainland in Wester Ross and am surrounded by McLeods  My closest friends are Campbells though - but they were 'wee free'.

I think the best thing to do is to check out the Scotlands People website:

www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

It's pay to view but pretty good.

Gadget

[JAP]

Hi Little Bernie,

Unfortunately, it seems that you do not have enough information.  And even if you had more information, you might well not be able to find them in Scotland before they left.  This is for two reasons.

One is that statutory registration did not begin in Scotland until 1855; before that the only records of the three sons would be church records of their baptisms - and many children were not baptized and/or the registers of the particular church may not have survived or may not have been indexed.

The second reason is that they were Roman Catholic.  Virtually all of the records in the IGI and on the ScotlandsPeople site are from parish registers of the established (presbyterian) Church of Scotland.
A search in the Family History catalogue on the FamilySearch site shows that the LDS have, for each of North Uist and South Uist, filmed only registers of the parish church (i.e. established Church of Scotland).

The National Archives has extensive Roman Catholic records but they are not searchable online.
Click here for the National Archives of Scotland Catalogue
Click on 'Search'
In the RefNo box, enter RH21
There are 11 pages of records of 'Roman Catholic Baptismal and Marriage etc Registers, 1703-1976' including several records for South Uist.

If you return to 'Search' and enter CH17 in the RefNo Box it brings up 'Roman Catholic Church in Scotland'.  Click on Details and it states "The Scottish Catholic Archives, Columba House, 16 Drummond Place, Edinburgh EH3 6PL, holds the major collection of Scottish Catholic records of historical interest, although in no way supplanting the archives of local dioceses and other bodies."

http://www.dioceseofargyllandtheisles.org/content/
may be of interest and has a link to the following site on the Catholic Church in the Western Isles:
http://www.pa44.dial.pipex.com/

If family folklore is that they came from North Uist, it shouldn't be dismissed - there could well have been some Catholics there.

I don't know how reliable the following site is
http://www.rootshebrides.com/index.php
but, under Research Tips & Resources, it states "It can be very useful to know where the emigrant settled first after leaving the Hebrides. There are definite patterns in emigration, so in Cape Breton, for example, settlement in Mira or Gabarus suggests a North Uist origin, while settlement in Iona or Christmas Island makes a Barra origin almost certain. "

I see from the following site
http://www.theshipslist.com/Research/canadarecords.htm
that passenger lists of arrivals in Canada were made but that, unfortunately, those pre-1865 were not archived!

Are there any early land records, early censuses, histories of the region where they settled which might help pin down more information?  Do Canadian death certificates contain information about parents?  Any gravestone inscriptions?

Good luck,

JAP

[Forfarian]

The Scottish Catholic Archives, Columba House, 16 Drummond Place, Edinburgh EH3 6PL, holds the major collection of Scottish Catholic records of historical interest

and their web site at http://www.catholic-heritage.net/sca/genealogy.htm lists their holdings.

[Gadget]

Donald "The Weaver"Campbell came to C.B.(Canada) with his three sons; Malcolm Campbell(born October 15th, 1825), Angus(born 1830) and Neil(born 1833). there is no mention of Donald Campbell's wife.In the census of 1881 all are said to have been born in Scotland.

I've just re-read this part of Bernie's message. It struck me because my friend, referred to above, has these very names in his ancestry. Were they Campbell names or is it just coincidence? The Campbells that I have researched come from the Gairloch and Wester Ross area - only a short sea voyage from the Uists.

 Obviously Donald Campbell left Scotland after 1833 when Neil was born and there are certainly some passenger lists surviving for this date and before (on Ancestry) - I have them for some of my own family who left Scotland for Canada in 1826. Often this was via Glasgow or Liverpool. Though there were certain vessels (e.g. the famous 'Hector' which sailed from Ullapool in 1773 for Pictou - see passenger list on www.rootsweb.com/~pictou/hector1.htm).

I think that in addition to looking at the Catholic records (and Tom Devine has estimated that only 2% of Scots were RC in the 1750s), it would be worth looking for these early lists and even the 1841 census which is now searchable on Scotlands People (see above for link).

JAP's idea about the gravestone inscriptions is a good line to follow. Many of the families had large plots or even family graveyards . I have been able to link kin and their spouse  this way in Ontario.

From afar, there is the outside chance that the LDS might have collected them in their additional collection - The British Isles Vital Records Index 2nd Ed. These CDs  are available from LDS Centres. This contains some RC BMD (baptisms) information but coverage is quite patchy and i'm not sure about the Long Island.

Gadget