Ballachulish

[mgraemem]

Martin,  although a Ross-shire name, some Mackenzies settled in North Ballachulish from Brahan (Seaforth's Estate in Easter Ross) in the second half of the 16th cent' they were known locally, in Gaelic, as Na Tuathaich, the Northerners. Eight families of Mackenzies were evicted from the north side in 1824 and moved south to Ballachulish. (these included Portair Cam and his brother Duncan) This is from "Bygone Lochaber" by Somerled  Macmillan, privately reprinted in 1971, you should be able to pick up a copy from Google.....Skoosh.

Hello Skoosh: We're you replying to myself or Martin Briscoe?

Regards,

Martin MacKenzie

[Skoosh]

Martin, to anybody who thinks it relevant. It's been so long ago that I've lost the plot a bit I'm afraid .

Skoosh.

[mgraemem]

Martin, to anybody who thinks it relevant. It's been so long ago that I've lost the plot a bit I'm afraid .

Skoosh.

Tapadh leat co dhiù, Skoosh. The information you posted seems to be quite relevant to our little branch of the MacKenzies as I've been trying to figure out how we ended up living in Ballachulish and thence emigrating from there as Argyle hasn't ever been MacKenzie country. I've found a copy of the book you mentioned available in Abebooks in the UK. Again, thanks.

[Martin Briscoe]

Martin, to anybody who thinks it relevant. It's been so long ago that I've lost the plot a bit I'm afraid .

Skoosh.

Tapadh leat co dhiù, Skoosh. The information you posted seems to be quite relevant to our little branch of the MacKenzies as I've been trying to figure out how we ended up living in Ballachulish and thence emigrating from there as Argyle hasn't ever been MacKenzie country. I've found a copy of the book you mentioned available in Abebooks in the UK. Again, thanks.

I don't suppose you have any connection to the Nigel Banks MacKenzie family who I think lived in Onich at some point?  A couple of years I looked up their son C.E.S. MacKenzie after seeing his name on the Fort William War Memorial.  Found out most details but not been able to get him recognised as a war casualty by the CWGC and his grave in Rangoon seems to have disappeared from a report I got from someone who had been there.

Descendants of Rev. Neil MACKENZIE
----------------------------------
1-Rev. Neil MACKENZIE b. 1795, Glen Sannox, Isle Of Arran, Scotland, d. 8 Dec
  1879, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland
 +Elizabeth CRAWFORD b. Abt 1803, Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland, d. 17 Dec 1864
|-2-Eliza MACKENZIE b. 21 Oct 1832, St Kilda, Inverness-Shire, Scotland, d. 4
|   Oct 1910
|-2-Rev. James Bannatyne MACKENZIE b. 6 Dec 1833, St Kilda, Inverness-Shire,
|   Scotland, d. 25 Dec 1920, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
|-2-Jane Mcpherson MACKENZIE b. 25 Apr 1835
|-2-Nigel Banks MACKENZIE b. 21 Apr 1837, St Kilda, Scotland, d. 4 Nov 1924
|  +Lillias Scott ----- b. Abt 1853, Glasgow, Lanarkshire
| |-3-Nigel Blair MACKENZIE b. 17 Apr 1874, Kilmallie, Argyll, Scotland
| |-3-Lillias K MACKENZIE b. Abt 1876, Glasgow, Invernessshire
| |-3-Kenneth A MACKENZIE b. Abt 1877, Glasgow, Invernessshire
| |-3-Margaret E MACKENZIE b. Abt 1879, Kilmallie, Inverness-Shire
| |-3-Francis MACKENZIE b. Abt 1880, Glasgow, Invernessshire
| |-3-Frank MACKENZIE b. Abt 1881, Kilmallie, Inverness-Shire
| |-3-Agnes C MACKENZIE b. Abt 1882, Kilmallie, Inverness-Shire
| |-3-Donald M MACKENZIE b. Abt 1884, Kilmallie, Inverness-Shire
| |-3-Mary H MACKENZIE b. Abt 1885, Kilmallie, Inverness-Shire
| |-3-Edith Mabel MACKENZIE b. Abt 1888, Fort William, Inverness-Shire, d. 13
| |   Jun 1942, Montrose
| |-3-Charles Edward Stuart MACKENZIE b. Abt 1890, Fort William,
| |   Inverness-Shire, d. 29 May 1915, Rangoon, Burma
| |-3-John William MACKENZIE
|-2-Margaret MACKENZIE b. 25 Nov 1838, St Kilda, Inverness-Shire, Scotland
|-2-Mary Anna MACKENZIE b. 25 Nov 1838, St Kilda, Inverness-Shire, Scotland
|-2-Rev. Patrick William McKENZIE b. 18 Apr 1841, St Kilda, Inverness-Shire,
|   Scotland, d. 14 Oct 1912, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland
|-2-Helen Macmath MACKENZIE b. 22 Jul 1844
|-2-Eleanora Alexandrina MACKENZIE b. 23 Jun 1846, Kilbrandon, Argyle, d. 17
|   Feb 1940, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
----------------------------------

[mgraemem]

Martin,

No sir, I'm afraid not. My family left Ballachulish for Canada in 1843 on the Perthshire. My descent goes like this:

Hugh & Margaret MacKenzie
Duncan & Isobella Anderson (MacKenzie)

The family is firmly in Canada.

Hugh Henry MacKenzie & Jane Jennings (MacKenzie)

My grandfather, John Hugh as below, emigrated to the USA.

John Hugh MacKenzie & Helen Rogers MacPherson (MacKenzie)
John Rogers MacKenzie & Mary John Mathisson (MacKenzie)
then myself

Apologies and best of luck,

Martin G. MacKenzie

[Elsket]

 Hi from Western Australia,

I have a McKenzie/Mackenzie family who were in Onich near Ballachulish, and would welcome suggestions about where to proceed further to find information about family members, or their ancestors. I visited the Archives in Fort William a couple of years ago and found records of the family as tenants of Lochiel.

Angus McKenzie: possibly born in 1786 to William McKenzie and Kate McDonald. He died between 1844 and 1845 at Onich acc. to the Lochiel Estate records, which show that his eldest son Donald has taken over the tenancy of Tor Castle Farm "as heir of Angus McKenzie." Estate Records also show that Angus leased lands in several locations besides Tor Castle/Torcastle, including Salachill, as well as croft 9 at "Oanich" from about 1820. The 1841 Census has him as a 60 yo farmer, not born in the county. He is married to Betsy [Elisabeth McPherson: b 3 Jan 1793 Crathy Croy, Laggan to Alexander McPherson and Mary McDonald] who is 55 yo and not born in the County.

Angus and Betsy's children are:
1) Margaret McKenzie: b 1816, m John Campbell 1829-1830, migrated with him, their nine children, and two of her sisters to Australia 1855 on the Storm Cloud, d. Lilydale, Tasmania, Australia 4 Oct 1892.

2) Donald McKenzie: b abt 1818, 1841 - he is Ag Lab, not born in County, at Torcastle, 1844/5 - he is "heir of Angus McKenzie", d. 1852 - Tor Castle is handed to Thomas Paterson because Duncan McKenzie, heir of Donald McKenzie has "gone abroad".

3) Elisabeth McKenzie: b 7 Jun 1819 Strathmashie Laggan, 1841 - she is independent and living with her eldest sister, Margaret and family, at Loch Laggan Inn [Kinlochlaggan], 1855 - she migrated to Tasmania with two of her sisters, including Margaret, on the Storm Cloud.

4) Duncan McKenzie: b abt 1821, 1841 - he is a 20 yo Ag Lab, not born in the County, between 1841 and 1852 he goes "abroad". [Not found in Australian records]

5) Catherine McKenzie: b abt 1822, 1841 - she is a female servant, not born in the County, d abt 1886 Undated and unnamed newspaper clipping found among other family papers in Tasmania reads: McKENZIE-On the 23rd inst., Catherine, the daughter of the late Angus and Betsy McKenzie, of Torcastle, Argyleshire, Scotland, aged 65 years.

6) Isabella McKenzie: b 2 Jun 1825 Strathmashie Laggan, 1841 - she is a 15 yo servant at Wilton Melton or Milton, 1855 - she migrated to Australia with her two sisters on the Storm Cloud, d 4 Apr 1879 in Melbourne Australia.

7) John McKenzie: b abt 1820, 1845 - he takes over his fathers croft at Oanich "John McKenzie, son of Angus McKenzie, deceased." until 1865 [records for Lochiel Estate are not available after that date].

I have reliable sources for the information above, and have traced most of the descendants of Margaret and John Campbell's family, but would welcome more information and or advice, especially about Donald, John or Duncan's family. I have searched for their deaths using Scotland's People but have not found any conclusive data.

William Campbell was in Oanich at Martinmas 1786 when he and 5 other tenants [3 were Camerons, 1 Macmartin, 1 Mach--t] agreed on a yearly rent payable to Donald Cameron of Lochiel, so it is highly probably that William was the father of Angus McKenzie. BTW, not until after 1855 does Oanich become Onich in the Estate Records.

In case it helps others: in a written report I received from the Lochaber Archives in Fort William in 2010:
"In 1750, four MacKenzies possessed land in North Ballachulish; two at Onich; one in Glenshellach; two in Corriechurrachan, and one at Coruanan...
In the Lochiel Report for 1774 there were five MacKenzie tenants at North Ballachulish and their names are given as follows: "Donald McKenzie, Duncan roy McKenzie, John <cKenzie, Duncan McKenzie, and Donald McKenzie, ferryman." All paid 1 pound in rent with the exception of the ferryman, who had to pay 2.10/-. Each person appears to have had a lease for 21 years, which was up in 1777.'
In the baptismal register for North Ballachulish, 14 McKenzie males and 6 McKenzie females were baptised between 1774 and 1789."

I do have the Bygone Lochabor book, but it does not have information about my McKenzie family.

Many thanks for reading this,
Elizabeth

[mgraemem]

Elizabeth,

I don't know if this indicates an error in my data or the information you possess, but I found it interesting your note of the dates of one Duncan MacKenzie. It seemed an odd coincidence. Our Duncan MacKenzie, my great, great grandfather, was born December 20, 1821 in Ballachulish and left for Canada in 1843. He started out as a lock tender in the Wellington Square area of Ontario province, then moved to Kincardine, up the peninsula from Detroit, MI, USA. He then left the area in 1854 and headed west to British Columbia where he bought property in the Cloverdale area, now part of New Westminster and raised his family.

Here's a photo of him in his later years.

Good luck,

Martin

[Elsket]

Many thanks, Martin.
    I know that Duncan went abroad, but I have not found him in any Australian records. If he went to Australia in the 1840's, one would think that his three sisters would join him, so that I thought he possibly went to Canada.
The sister, Margaret, who married John Campbell, took great care with the naming of her children and provided me with clues about what names to look for but it has still been a long process. Do you know the names of your Duncan's parents, or do the names of his children correspond to the names of the children of Angus and Betsy McKenzie? For example, there are very few men named Angus McKenzie born in Scotland so if your Duncan had a son named Angus, I would think it was quite likely he was from 'my' family.

Cheers,
Elizabeth

[mgraemem]

Elizabeth,

We had an Angus Adolphus MacKenzie who was of my great-grandfather's generation. My great, great, great grandparents names were Hugh and Margaret. No Betsys in our list at least. It looks like this is just coincidence unless more information surfaces.  :-)

Martin