N. Dist. Shire of Inverness

[Dorothy]

I have been searching for years (60+) for my Patrick MacDonald b 1728/29 parents in the N. District Shire of Inverness.
He and/or family went to Ireland during the Revolutionary and settled in County Down along with others. He married there Elizabeth McLean in 1762. I don't have her parents either.
Thank you, Dot

[LesleyB]

Hi Dot

...and welcome to Talking Scot.

Can you tell us where you have found the information that you have already about your man being from the north of Inverness and where you found the information about him being in County Down as this will give us a starting point from which to try to help.
Did he and his wife ahve any children? If they did, what where their names? When and where were they born?
When and where did Patrick die?

Best wishes
Lesley

[Dorothy]

Some of the info was from my Uncle when he did research in Nova Scotia, but most of it is from the Book by John V. Duncanson "Rawdon/Douglas; Two Loyalist Townships in Nova Scotia"
The Craig index of the 2nd Battalion, 84 Regt. lists Patrick MacDonald as a former member of the Battalion which was disbanded in Windsor, Nova Scotia in Oct. 1783.
It goes on to say "The Doglas Township book records the family of Patrick Mac/McDonald consisted of a total of nine persons. saying he was born 17 March 1728 in. Dist., Shire of Inverness, Scotland; died 20 Jan 1802 age 74 and bur in the Douglas, NS churchyared; marr. 1 June 1762 in Ireland to Elizabeth McLean b 7 Apr31748 in County Down, Ireland; she d 3 nov 1796. Patrick's will was proved at Windsor, NS on 26 Nov 1801, which shows that the date of death shown in the Douglas Township Book may be in error"

In my searching did find that both he and Elizabeth are buried in Upper Kennetook cemetary near the Five Mile River are in Hants co. NS. Patrick was buried in 1801 and Elizabeth in 1796 They had 9 children of which the oldest Margaret was born 5 Aug 1765 in Co.Down and the 2nd children was Neil b 9 Aug 1772 in Nova Scotia
I do have all of the children with their dates and some with marriages.
They are the parents of my Elizabeth b 24 June 1778 in NS and ma John Rines from Massachusetts and their dau Prudence m John Willis (he was born 1802 in England and I have the Wills/Willis family back to 1530.

I should say that I have been doing genealogy of my families for over 65 years. And most of my Mum's were Loyalists. She being born in New Brunswick.

I am willing to help any one born in NS, NB, New England and of course Loyalists. Starting way back then my library is full of genealogy books and now cds and search engine. I am self taught on the computer.

Dot

[LesleyB]

Hi Dot

They had 9 children of which the oldest Margaret was born 5 Aug 1765 in Co.Down and the 2nd children was Neil b 9 Aug 1772 in Nova Scotia
I do have all of the children with their dates ...

If the couple followed the traditional Scots naming pattern, the names of the children should give a clue to the parent names. Can you list them all here, in order of birth?

N. Dist. Shire of Inverness

I'm not clear what the book you mentioned means by this - the way it is expressed here is not the way we would describe an area; we'd be more likely to say the north of Inverness or the north of Invernessshire or in the north of the county of Inverness. Unless the "N.Dist" bit is some kind of abbreviation of a place name? e.g. at a pinch might it really mean N. Uist??
- it is only one letter different and the placename may easily have been misinterpreted if the placenames were not familar to the transcriber or the type setter. I'm not sure, but I'd certianly not be discounting it as a possibility.

Best wishes
Lesley

[LesleyB]

There appear to be others searching for the same information:
http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/localities ... ashx?pnt=1

Sometimes it is good to join forces!

[LesleyB]

Ah, I see you already have!
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/t ... 1233154663

[LesleyB]

Not sure if you have seen this discussion?
http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.n ... .2/mb.ashx

[Dorothy]

I did find this in one of my papers;
N. Uister District Shire of Inverness or Invernessshire
I have been in contact with them before.
I do have the book of Scottish Highlanders on the eve of the Migration and their is a Sir Donald MacDonald of N.Uister Invernessshire 1718 that could be Patrick's father.
there are a couple of McLean's that could be Elizabeth's father.
Dot

[LesleyB]

Hi Dot

Given that both Mac/McLean & Mac/McDonald are fairly widespread surnames in the highlands, I think I'd be way of assuming that persons with the same name are related.

N. Uister District Shire of Inverness or Invernessshire

Not sure what/where N.Uister is...maybe someone else can help.
It is still similar enough to Uist to make me think that there is a possibility that that was what was meant.
There is mention here http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/a ... -dca.shtml of:
"Judicial Rental of Sir Donald Macdonald's Estate of North Uist. 1718" - but it does not mean it is the same Sir Donald Macdonald. Even my GP when I was young was called Donald MacDonald - it is not an unusual combination.

Bear in mind too that someone may have used the surname Macdonald to indicate their allegiance to a clan - it may not actually have been their genetic surname, just to confuse things further!
Both maps here show clan Macdonald are associated with, amongst other areas, North Uist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_clan

Best wishes
Lesley

[Dorothy]

Thank you and I do know how some people use other peoples name for their.

On one of my uncles searches he said we were related to Jock MacDonald of the Glencoe MacDonald's
Dot