Margaret's siblings who stayed in Scotland

Margaret 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 eldest sibling, Alexander, preceded her to the Australian colonies. 

Next was her sister Christina who was baptised on 21 Feb 1835 in Contin. This is a small village not far from Strathpeffer, west of Dingwall. She was named after her mother's mother, Christy McDonald, although strictly speaking this name should have been used first instead of Margaret. Christina worked as a child's nurse for the Gillanders family at Highfield House. She was 24 in the 1861 census, which listed her employer as James Falconer Gillanders aged 51, his wife Margrate Amy Gillanders, and the children she cared for as George Francis aged 6, and Charles Alex aged 2.

In 1877, as a retired nurse then aged 42 [not 39 as the record states], she married Peter Mackay in the gatehouse of Highfield House. Peter was said to be a distillery carrier aged 55 from the Ord Distillery. The witnesses were Charles Alex Gillanders [her previous employer's son] and her brother Murdo Bain. Was Charles the current owner of Highfield House, or merely a devoted past charge? 


This image is from Am Baille, the image repository of the Highland Archives. As said on the brief description above to have been the home of the Mackenzies, perhaps the Gillanders were head of the Gatehouse household at the time. Sadly the house was destroyed in 1947 by fire. I might still pay it a visit.

[Add next siblings]



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our part of the Highlands

Image
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...
Read more

Chisholm or Chisolm - who?

Image
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...
Read more

Finding stuff on this blog

Image
Posts on the "Our Highland Bains" blog are either about people, places or researches. DNA is included in researches. Click on any hyperlink below to go directly to that post. Leave a comment to get in touch. People Margaret Bain goes to Australia - bringing Bains to Australia Alexander and Catherine [Matheson] - Margaret's parents Margaret's siblings in Scotland - five stayed Margaret Chisholm - our new matriarch   Alexander and Margaret [Chisholm] - our earliest generation to date The Matheson Clan The Bain Clan Margaret Bain about 40 years old, Australia Places Fodderty: Exploring the area in 2025 - a guided tour The Statistical accounts - the Old in 1790s and the New in 1840s Fodderty Cemetery  Dingwall: The Statistical Accounts - the Old in1790s and the New in1840s The Highlands of Scotland Our part of the Highlands - where we came from Researches [including DNA] Key DNA matches - early finds of an early generation
Read more