YOUNG, Emery. Invernesshire

[Gadget]

It's a long story, Barb, with a variety of interpretations but basically the landlords wanted to enclose their lands to make them more profitable. This entailed moving/evicting the people living on the land - hence the great outflow of Highlanders to the large cities and America, etc. All very sad. Finally, there was a commision set up in the 1880s (The Napier Commission) which resulted in The Crofting Act.

The best thing might be to Google "Highland Clearances". There's masses of literature on it.

Gadget

[MonicaL]

Just a thought that might help in searching for Emery's family. In those times, it was common to follow what is referred to as Scottish naming patterns when parents chose the name of their children. Not always followed to the letter, sometimes with variations in the order, but it goes something like this:

    * the first son was named after his paternal grandfather
    * the second son after his maternal grandfather
    * the third son after his father
    * the first daughter after her maternal grandmother
    * the second daughter after her paternal grandmother
    * the third daughter after her mother

The other thing to look at is the use of middle names in children's names as you can also get clues from that. I'll find the details of the Emery MacDonald I found this morning and post them for you later (children's supper awaits!).

Regards.

Monica

[MonicaL]

The MacDonald family at Nunton Mow, Kingussie in Inverness-shire. Everyone showing as born in Inverness-shire:

John, 50, agri. lab.
Janet, 40
Emer, 9
Malcolm, 5
Barbra, 3
James, 1

I've just looked at IGI and can see their children. Mother's maiden name is McIntyre. Sadly, I think Emer is also on IGI under the name of Ewen...........I think the name has been mis-transcribed to Emer:

EWEN MACDONALD  Birth:  01 JUN 1832  Laggan, Inverness, Scotland
Parents: Father: JOHN MACDONALD Mother: JANET MAC INTYRE

Monica

[Gadget]

Good work  Monica  and the Young was an alias   

Just noticed that it was Ewen 

Gadget

[Blue_angel2]

Thank you both for those ideas and hints. They give me another perpsective to think about too - always interesting!!

My cousin (through marriage into another line) who is also tracing her family history, suggested that maybe he was born into a "poor relief home"  or that his mum may have died in childbirth and he could have been brought up in a poor relief home.

Were they like the workhouses in England? Are there any sites that have good information and lists of these places and the people in them? Do either of you happen to know if there were any in Inverness around that time? Did they still have them if everyone was being cleared from their land?

Lots of questions that perhaps you may have the answers to without going to any trouble?

with much gratitude for your help already,
Cheers,
Barb

[Gadget]

Hi Barb

I'm sorry but I know very little about the poor relief system in Scotland at the time (I must read up on it). It was different from the English one.  Monica may know. Another person who definitely would know is Russell (runner on this site). It would be worth sending him a PM as he's not on too often these days.

One though that I had was that he was called Young Emery, as a nickname, and it changed at some stage to Emer(y) Young.

Good Luck

Gadget

[Blue_angel2]

Hi Gadget,
HOW CLEVER ARE YOU!!!!! 
I would never have thought of that! (though if that's what he did, I doubt that I'll ever find his family or more about his Scottish years
Still haven't found any shipping records with him on either. Rather frustrating how people just turn up somewhere, with no prior trail to chase up - how inconsiderate of them! LOL
Is Russell a history expert? How can i send a message to him?
Cheers for now,
Barb

[Gadget]

Hi Barb

As I said befor, it isn't a Highland name and he is likely to have spoken Gaelic. I just thought about your ships lists and Emery being a labourer and thought that he might have responded to a question about his name as 'Young Emer(y). I wonder if there are any Gaelic first names that are like Emery - I'll check 

I have  PMed you about Russell

(This is a bit like someone phoning to say 'I've e-mailed you', ain't it  )

Gadget

Added - nearest Gaelic name that I can come up with is Iamhair/Iomhar translating as Evander.

[MonicaL]

Hi Barb

Have you got a list of Emery's children and the order they were born in following his marriage. Have you got details of his wife's parents' names so we can discount them from the list.

I think Gadget is right, it's down to an issue of names because the ones we have certainly aren't there!

I think if Emery was orphaned, or being looked after in some capacity, his name (what ever it turns out to be) would still have shown on the 1841/51 Censuses. The point of the censuses was to record where everybody was on the night of the census.

Monica