My main Sutherland interests are the families of two brothers, John and William MACKAY of Kildonan, sons of John MACKAY and Catherine SUTHERLAND. I would like to identify other siblings if there were any. son Alexander m. Catherine McLEOD and died in Latheron
John MACKAY and JANET MURRAY: My line descends from John MACKAY who married Janet MURRAY in Tuarie (or Tuaraidh) , Kildonan in 1805. Janet's parentage comes from the following excerpt taken from 'Memorabilia Domestica' p. 99. I have little info on this MURRAY/CORBET family. Can anyone help?
“A family named Murray, lived at the place of Tuaraidh, Kildonan. The head of the family was Alexander (Alister) Murray, one of Captain Baigrie’s sub-tenants, as indeed he had been of his predecessor, Major Sutherland of Midgarty, who held Tuaraidh as a Highland pendicle to Midgarty. Murray’s wife was a sister of Barbara Corbet, my nurse...”.
John and Janet seem to have been uprooted repeatedly as their first seven children were born in Preschon (John 1806, Janet 1807), Achrintle (Alexander 1809, William 1811, Barbara 1812), Learable (James 1813) and Achentoul (Donald 1816) before the 1819 Clearances. At that time they settled in the township of Roster in Latheron Parish, Caithness and had two more sons, Robert in 1820 and Andrew in 1822.
son William emigrated to Canada before 1853, settled in Renfrew, Ontario, m. Johannah CAMERON and became a successful merchant and lumber dealer. The following, taken from William's obituary in the John O'Groats Journal in 1902, gives a brief description of the families plight in the Clearances:
"While the father was away looking for a place in which to settle, their house, along with all their other buildings, was burnt by the servants of the Duchess of Sutherland, and the only shelter was that of a potato pit over which they stretched their blankets, etc."
-daughter Barbara m. Thomas BANNERMAN in 1835 and remained in Sutherland. All but one of their ten offspring emigrated to Canada, eventually settling in Alberta and British Columbia
-son Donald m. Catherine McDonald, had at least two children and remained in Caithness
-son Robert MACKAY (my gggrandfather) m. Janet MCBEATH in Lybster, Caithness in 1852. Janet, born in Halkirk, Caithness was the daughter of Donald MCBEATH and Christina SUTHERLAND. Robert & Janet had four children: Robert, Donald, Alexander and Janet. This last Robert jr.(b.1853), my ggrandfather, m. Agnes LUNN of Camster, Latheron, daughter of Roxburgh shepherd, John LUNN and Mary LIANG. They emigrated to Canada in 1882 and settled near Hawkesbury, Ontario where Robert worked as a stonemason. They had two sons before Agnes died in 1884 following the birth of my grandfather, John Lunn MACKAY. Robert was the only one of his siblings to emigrate.
William MACKAY and Ann MATHIESON: married in Kildonan in 1796 and had 10 children, all but the last born in Ascaig. These were Elizabeth, John, Ann, Euphemia, Catherine, Henrietta, Hugh, Joseph, Edward and Donald (b. Achentoul, 1815). The youngest three emigrated to Montreal and did very well in the wholesale drygoods business, becoming wealthy merchants and philanthropists. Three of their nephews, Hugh, James and Robert MACKAY (sons of their sister Euphemia and her husband Angus MACKAY) went to Montreal to complete their education and enter the family business. Robert MACKAY became Senator MACKAY in 1901 and his daughter, Cairine Reay Mackay WILSON, was Canada's first woman senator.
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
