Our Highland Bains

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

Knowing the names of the parents of Alexander Bain, father  of the Margaret Bain who emigrated in the 1850s, has now thrown open the doors to finding out about his family. It is not always as easy as it might be back in the late 1700s and early 1800s. But now we have parents. Alexander Bain and Margaret Chisholm married on 10 Jun 1796 in Dingwall, Ross-shire. He was a tenant of Lechins of Blackwells, she was the daughter of deceased Don Chisholm [or Millan]. There is a Blackwell St heading west out of Dingwall. I will be checking into this when I go the Inverness Archives. Marriage certificate of Alexander and Margaret, image courtesy of Scotland'sPeople I have found a total of seven children born to them, based on one definite baptism and six death certificates that record both parents' names. They are: Margaret Bain born and baptised on 25 March 1797. There are a few other children baptised on the birthday on the page from the register, and in the latest a child was baptis...

K nowing I was going to be in the Highlands for five days on my bigger tour, I wrote to the local family history society in the hope that one of their members would be willing to drive me around a few nearby villages. With a grateful offer of petrol, lunch and a small monetary thank-you. Within a week, they duly sent me an email. Excitedly, I sent off a request and within days had a pleasant reply outlining exactly what I was hoping to do. Only then did I think to google the name - a professional tour guide! The price of 550GBP was eye-watering. Over the following days, what seemed initially extravagant coalesced into a marvellous opportunity. The background, education, skills and professionalism of the guide were outstanding. All I had to do was paypal to an email - a new but easy experience. What's more the guide had written several books. I was browsing the $2 bargain table at the triennial Family History Congress of Australasia, when I spied a hardback copy of one such book. Ea...