isle of islay mckechnie family

[islay 1]

I am new to all this,and desperately trying to find out about my great(xx)grandfather called John Mckechnie ,born 1824@  on Islay.He left and went to live in Cardross,Dunbartonshire where he was a blacksmith.He was apparently one of seven sons,one of whom went to Australia.I know he married Jane Christie from Ireland,and they in turn had my g.g.grandfather Angus Mckechnie,born 1856 in Cardross,but I would love to trace the Islay connection.I do not know who John's parents were,and any help in how to proceed from here would be very,very much appreciated!

[jackiemc]

Don't know if you have seen this site but I found it very helpful finding my Islay ancestors.

http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tlarson/bdm/

Good luck

[islay 1]

Thank you for taking the time to reply,and for the suggestion.Glad you found it useful for your own research.

[idmmdi]

For info: my McKechnie great grandmother was a McEachern on Islay, but seems to have changed to McKechnie when she came to the mainland, as did 2 of her sisters as well.

PP

[islay 1]

That will be a help - the surname spelling makes all the difference!

[genealgal]

You should post your query to the SCT-ISLAY list at RootsWeb

http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/SCT-ISLAY.html

There are a number of McKechnie researchers there.

The late Ted Larson was one of the webmasters (the website for the OPR transcriptions has been given to you already).  The first webmaster, Steve Gilchrist, placed the hard work of numerous members of the SCT-ISLAY list on his website

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~steve/islay/data.htm

I happen to have 9 John McKechnies in my research but don't connect with your John.

Good Luck

[islay 1]

After an enormous amount of research,with a fantastic amount of help,I can now confirm that my John Mckechnie,b1824 on Islay,is the son of Angus Mckechnie,blacksmith and Agnes McLean. Do these people feature at all in the families that you have in your research at all?I'd be very grateful if you could help me to proceed further with my search.Fingers crossed!

[genealgal]

I see nothing in the Islay OPR transcriptions for this family in Islay. 

The first question - did you post your query to the SCT-ISLAY list? 

Next question - are you sure they were 'of' Islay?  I used McLean and McLergan for searching the mother with no luck.  Now having said that, not all records are available....for example if they were Baptists, their children wouldn't be in the Baptism records.

No, I don't connect with them.

Good Luck
Sue

[islay 1]

I'm really still hoping that you can help me - I am very new and inexperienced with computers,and despite trying several times I cannot get a link through to SCT-Islay -I'm supposed to add something I've never heard of and don't understand.I'm also not sure what the initials stand for anyway,or who I would be contacting there if I did get through. Could you please enlighten me?!
I am definitely sure that John Mckechnie was born on Islay - he confirms it on every census he filled in,usually giving 1824 as the year of his birth,but once 1826,and his death certificate dates it as being 1829!Confusing,or what?His parents are Angus Mckechnie,master blacksmith - what is a master blacksmith as opposed to just an ordinary one?!Mother Agnes Mckechnie,M/S Mclean.However,whether these people are from the island or were only living there temporarily when John was born I have no idea.
I have searched the Islay BMD for a record of his birth,but have not found it yet.It doesn't help,of course,that I have no idea which parish he was born in.Also looked on the tenants' rentals information,but a blacksmith would not be renting a farm anyway,would he?Would there have been many on the island at the time?

I'm absolutely stuck as to how to proceed here,and would be so grateful for your experience and advice.Where should I look next?I'd be very grateful for some more help!