Our Highland Bains

This account of the ancient town and royal burgh of Dingwall was written by Reverend Mr Daniel Rose about 1791. It is a much longer document at 20 pages, compared to Fodderty at 5 pages. "The parish of Dingwall, situated at the west end of the Firth of Cromarty, lies in the Presbytery of Dingwall, of which the town of that name is the seat, and in the Synod and county of Ross. It is bounded on the east by the parish of Kiltearn; on the north by a vast tract of high mountains; on the west and south by the parish of Fodderty. That part of the parish of Urquhart, called Ferintosh (where my Bains lived at one time) lies on the skirt to the south east; but from it Dingwall is divided by the river Conan, which, at high water is widened to about half a mile by the influx of the sea". The name was formally Dingnaval or Dingnavallis, and took it origin from the richness and fertility of the soil of the lower grounds, which form a considerable part of the parish. Excluding a small dist...

  W hat can I expect from Fodderty Cemetery? Fodderty Cemetery has been in use from medieval times to the 21st century. It is a rural, multi-period graveyard extended several times. There is no redundant or in-use church. However the mound is felt to have been the site of an earlier church, dedicated to St Moluag of Lismore. The mound is terraced on the north side, and has sheer drops in parts on the east. It is now covered in 19th century graves and monuments. The gate is the war memorial of the area. The site was visited in 2005 due to concerns about imminent danger of wall collapse. The oldest part of the graveyard is on raised ground and is surrounded by stone rubble walls. The gravestones face east in this part. The ground is uneven indicating layers of burials. The gravestones include slabs, table tops, and uprights. This cemetery is depicted on a military map c1746 labelled as burial ground. It lies at the end of a 'coffin road' from Knockfarrel, and is being investigate...

In 1791 when the Old Statistical Accounts were written,   Fodderty was a parish in the Counties of Ross and Cromarty, the Presbytery of Dingwall and the Synod of Ross. The Account was written by Reverend Mr Donald Mackenzie. The name comes from the Gaelic "Foigh-ritudb" meaning a meadow along the side of a hill. The parish is mostly in a valley, surrounded by hills to the north, west and south, with an extensive opening to the east. The name of the valley is Strathpeffer; it is nearly two miles long and half a mile broad. To the north-east is the town and parish of Dingwall. Most people live in the valley, but some live in "small glens, which extend to some distance along the opening of the hills". These may lie nearer the churches of Dingwall or Contin. Current Dingwall Church, built after 1800 The climate is "pure", and several men and woman then living were over 90 years old. Smallpox is mentioned: "[it] often rages here, and frequently proves mort...

M argaret had ten siblings, only one I know died as a child. Four came to Australia, leaving five siblings in Scotland. She was the second born child. Mostly her parents followed the traditional naming patterns of the Highlands, Scotland and Ireland.  One sibling, Wynie Bain, was very well known, as she married into the McL family. Her grandson was later to become the Clan Chief of the McL, and they deserve their own post.  Wynie was born on 28 March 1840 at Ferintosh, the whisky estate of the Forbes. Her baptism says she was born at Balnaloch, a location immediately west of Muir of Ord. It is a village at the western end of the Black Isle, equidistant between Dingwall, 9km to the north, and Inverness, 9 miles to the east. Sadly it was the site of an appalling massacre in 1603 when warriors of Clan McDonnell of Glengarry surrounded their enemies the Mackenzies of Kintail within a church, which they set fire to, killing all inside. Life was much safer 200 years on. Margaret's e...

Three generations of Alexander Bains are now clear. The first married to Margaret Chisholm [often written as Chisolm] in 1796; their son Alexander who married Catherine Matheson in 1830, and the third one who emigrated to the Australian colonies in 1852. For all we know Alexander the first might have been the son of another Alexander! So which of the various Alexanders am I talking about? After finding the marriage record for Alexander and Margaret Chisholm in 1796, I went looking for their children. I found just one, Margaret Bain born 25 March 1797 in Dingwall, nine  months after the wedding. And yet their son Alexander was born some time after 1810? That is a long gap to not have more children. I then turned to DNA but it was a funny introduction. While searching Ancestry.com for Margaret Chisholm I came across five hints, one of which was to a tree. I opened the tree but it was missing the maternal side, and I could see no-one with the name Bain, even though the tree was called...

Margaret Chisholm, our Bain matriarch, enters our story in 1796, when she married one of the Alexander Bains. They married in Dingwall, with the only clue being that her father was the late Don Chisolm "or Millan".  There is only one Margaret whose father was called Don born in Ross-shire on ScotlandsPeople.  This child was born in 1785 in Kiltearn, so she is is too young to marry in 1796. I have found only one Margaret born on the border of Ross-shire and Inverness-shire whose father was Donald.  She was born on 1 January 1780 in the parish of Kiltarlity, and baptised on 11 January. This girl's parents were Don Chisholm and Margaret Cameron . Is she the right Margaret? How can we possibly know? One approach is to wonder how likely it is that a girl born in Inverness-shire married a man in Dingwall in Ross-shire? Firstly it is worth realising that Dingwall was the county town of Ross-shire and therefore a place where people might travel to for work, or have contacts in so...

Margaret's parents were Alexander Bain and Catherine Matheson. Over the years, with increasing access to Scottish records and the efforts of genealogists in Australia and around the world, we can now piece together full details of Margaret's birth family. Her parents were married on Christmas Eve in the parish church of Kiltearn. Kiltearn is a parish on the coast of the Black Isle, in what was then called Ross-shire. Alexander was born in another parish, possibly Fodderty in the foothills of looming mountains to the north. Her mother Catherine was born in the parish of Urray, west of Kiltearn. It was customary to marry in the bride's parish but this was not to be for Catherine and Alexander.  Kiltearn Church of Scotland, with a glimpse of the Beauly Forth in the distance. Catherine was just 20 years old when she married. In following census' and death certificates, Alexander is recorded as being younger than Catherine. So it is likely he was only 18 or so when they wed....

Margaret Bain was born on 10 May 1833 at Highfield, Ross-shire. So says her baptismal record and so says her passenger records of her emigration to the Australian colonies, which was confirmation that the Margaret on the Mary Pleasants was the right one! It is time to discover the places and times of Ross-shire in the Highlands of Scotland.  The Highlands of Scotland are a world apart from the lowlands, where Robert Buchan was born in 1834. See later posts for information about their different language, history, culture and industries. In essence the Highlands is an area of northern Scotland defined by its geographical isolation. It is heavily mountainous, with people surviving on its coasts, and along its glens that pierce the mountains often enough. The Great Glen is a remarkable location on a map of Scotland, extending from Inverness in the east to Fort William in the west. Formed by a geological fault that has the norther part of Scotland moving in a different different directi...

Traditionally, the Clan McBain, or Bain, or Bean, was located along the southern shores of Loch Ness in Inverness-shire. I have found no links, as yet, to the chiefs of Clan McBain. Knowing that Alexander Bain and Margaret Chisholm were Margaret's grandparents, parents of the emigrants' Alexander, the first location I can find for our family is where this Alexander and Margaret were married in 1796 - in Dingwall. Their marriage record in the Dingwall Parish records [OPR Dingwall v062/p237] reads: "Married June 10th 1796 Alexander Bain Servant in Lechin of Blackwells to Margaret Chisholm daughter to the deceased Don Chisholm or Millan."   It is well-known that Highlanders of this time could go by different surnames. "Don Chisholm or Millan." This will require research at the Highland Archives in May this year. Dingwall is the ancient county town in Ross-shire. It sits at the mouth of the Cromarty Firth, the body of water that forms the northern edge of the Bl...

Margaret Hannah Bain is the matriarch of the Buchan family of Australia. She was 19 when she boarded the Mary Pleasants  to travel from Liverpool to Sydney in 1858. She was headed to her older brother Alexander, already in Melbourne. On 22 June 1860 she married Robert Buchan in an Independent Presbyterian Church. Alexander was there to witness the marriage. They lived in Heidleburg east of Melbourne, a timber getting area, where her first child, James, was born in 1861. Though a strong Scottish name, James was not a Bain name; he was probably named for Robert's uncle James who raised him. See the BuchansofBorthwick blog to learn about Robert's family. By July 1863 Margaret and Robert were living in Chiltern in northern Victoria. We know this because her second child was born there on 26 July, Robert Alexander George Buchan - my  great grandfather. The rural areas of Victoria were opening up under the Land Settlers Act. More importantly gold was found there, and Robert may hav...