Who was Uncle John?

 When my father-in-law, William (Bill) McKay, came to Canada in 1927, he went first to the farm owned by his “Uncle John” in Tregarva, located 8 miles north of Regina, Saskatchewan.  Bill travelled with his older brother, Hugh, who had been there before.

Hugh had made the same journey in 1923, declaring on his passenger information that he intended “to make my home” in Canada. His destination was recorded as “joining relative, relationship Uncle . . . Mr. John McKay, Tregarva.” John had paid for his passage. In December 1926, he returned to his home in Dyke Village, Moray, Scotland, in order to settle affairs and marry Catherine Mathieson. The ceremony took place at The Manse, in Elgin, Moray, on 18 May 1927. Bill McKay was a witness to the marriage.

1923 passenger information for Hugh McKay

Hugh continued to live in Saskatchewan for several years. The families lost touch with each other over the years, though, so that avenue of research is gone.

1927 ship’s passenger record for Metagama showing Hugh and William McKay

In July 1927, both Hugh and Bill sailed for Canada, both intent on working for and living on Uncle John’s farm and making a permanent home in the country. Catherine followed in February 1928. Bill did not last long in Saskatchewan. After an apparent family disagreement, he left for Calgary, Alberta. By 1931 he had married there.

But who was Uncle John? It is a question we have pondered on for a long time. We believed he was a member of the family but tracking him back to Scotland has been a challenge.

John has been found on several Canadian censuses between 1891 and 1926. His year of birth as calculated from these records ranged from 1852 to 1865, with most having the date as being 1854-55. The year he arrived in the country was shown as being between 1869 and 1880, with most having the date of 1868-69.

All of the census records on which he appears were taken in Saskatchewan, after his marriage to Margaret (Maggie) Lambert. Maggie had been born in Ontario, to parents William and Margaret Lambert. Her birth year from census data ranges from 1858 to 1870. The couple did not have children so information from descendants is not available. We also have lost touch with

We assumed that John would have been a brother or half-brother of Alexander McKay, the father of Hugh and Bill. Scotland census data we have for the family shows a half-brother born in 1847, in Macduff, Banffshire, to parents Hugh McKay and Isabella Thomson. No birth or baptism record has yet been found for him, so we cannot confirm his date of birth.

He is recorded on the 1851 Scotland Census with his parents and two siblings, living in Macduff, Banffshire and shown to have been born in Gamrie, Banffshire (the village next door).

1851 Scotland census showing family of Hugh & Isabella (Thomson) McKay, living in Gamrie, Banffshire

Curiously I did find the baptism records for his five siblings, born between 1848 and 1856. They were baptized in the Macduff Free Church. I downloaded all the Macduff Free Church records. They stop at 1854. The church was only formed in 1843. So, if he was born in 1855 or later, as some Canadian censuses indicate, or in 1842, as shown on his death record, he misses the Macduff Free Church records entirely. How about that for luck? It appears another avenue to locating him is shut down.

Hugh moved to Findhorn, Moray, after Isabella died in 1856. There is a 14-year old John McKay on the 1861 census working as a herd boy on a farm near Rafford, Elgin County, which is just five miles from Findhorn. The census records his birthplace as being Findhorn but there was no person of that name born there in 1847 so the boy seems more likely to be Hugh’s son born in Macduff.

No immigration or passenger record has been found either, so the date of his arrival in Canada cannot be confirmed. There are several men named John McKay on the 1871 and 1881 Canada censuses, all born around 1847 and living in Ontario. Any of them could be our man but confirmation is not possible. It seems likely (that term again) the immigration date of 1868 or 1869 is correct.

I hoped we might get more information about his birth date and parentage by obtaining copies of his marriage and death certificates. Unfortunately, the death record shows another date for his birth: 6 April 1842, in Scotland. The April part might be right. No information is recorded for his parents’ names as the informant, John’s nephew, obviously did not know them. The certificate did indicate his full name was John Alexander MacKay.

1938 death record for John McKay of Tregarva, Saskatchewan

Next, I applied for a copy of the marriage record for John McKay and Margaret Lambert. At the time I only had a range of a decade, between censuses, during which I thought the event had occurred. I hoped this document would have details of the groom’s parents. After searching their records, the provincial department came back with the comment that they could not find a registration for the marriage. Darn!

The Lumsden Historical Museum collect information about the area and the people in and around the town of Lumsden, Saskatchewan. That includes Tregarva, where John and Maggie farmed. I contacted Bill King who is with the museum to see if they had any publications or information about the McKay family. He immediately put me in touch with John Sled, a local historian, who collects such information.

John was able to give me more information about John and Maggie, much of it gleaned from newspaper accounts. The date of their marriage, 31 December 1889, was reported in The Regina Leader newspaper (later to become The Leader-Post) on 7 January 1890. While the date was great to discover, the writeup did not contain any information about John’s background.

1889 marriage announcement in The Regina Leader for John McKay and Margaret Lambert

John did apply for a homestead patent in 1906 in Tregarva, on lands he and his wife had resided on since 1889, but the documents do not have any information as to his origin.

A short news item in The Leader-Post about John’s death in 1938, also did not mention anything about his history other than to say he “had farmed for more than half a century at Tregarva, taking land there in 1887. Before that he spent five years in Ontario after coming from Scotland, where he was born.” He may have met his future wife while living in Ontario and accompanied them to Saskatchewan where her parents took up farming.

Anyway, it was a bit more information to add to the family history but did not help us in determining where he came from.

1938 death announcement in The Leader-Post (Regina) for John MacKay

All of the evidence about the origin of John McKay is circumstantial. Given the information from various sources about his relationship to Hugh and Bill McKay, we are confident he was the oldest son of Hugh McKay and Isabella Thomson.

My suspicion is that he was baptized at the Macduff Free Church in 1847, but the event was not recorded. It is interesting that a cousin by the name of John McKay Anderson was baptized on December 31^st of that year and perhaps the minister got confused and his notes may have missed the fact that there were two babies who shared part of a name. That John McKay Anderson stayed in Scotland, though.

Regardless, he will always be known as Uncle John.

How did they meet? Part 3

 As I said in my previous posts (Part 1 and Part 2), when looking at the lives of our ancestors, there is often much guesswork in determining how they got together. Following are some stories about the third-past generations on my wife’s side.

The exercise in trying to imagine how people met forces us to look further at family dynamics and piece together when and why people moved or how they furthered their occupations. Often you need to look at the parents and siblings of both parties and see how and where they lived and if they interacted with other family members. It is no surprise that families stuck together, often, as they do today, supporting each other in times of need, joining forces in work-related enterprises and introducing future spouses.

Findhorn, Morayshire, Scotland ca 1900

Our Great-Grandparents

Hugh MacKay & Isabella Scott (m. 15 May 1857)

Hugh McKay was a widower when he met Isabella Scott. He first married Isabella Thomson in Auchterless, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1845. They had six children together, all born in Macduff, Banffshire. She died of uterine haemorrhage, in 1856, on the day she gave birth to their daughter, also named Isabella. The baby did not survive either, succumbing five days later.

The death of Hugh’s wife left him with four children, under the age of ten years who obviously needed care.

Hugh left Banffshire to join a brother in Findhorn, Morayshire, probably looking for support from his extended family. It was there that he would have met Isabella Scott, the 28-year old daughter of Walter Scott and Janet Stalker. Isabella was born at Knockyfin, Morayshire. By 1851 she was living near Kinloss village, about 10 miles to the north and just a couple of miles from Findhorn. On their marriage record, her residence was shown as Craigmill in the Parish of Dallas, about nine miles from Findhorn where Hugh lived.

While we cannot know for sure, it is likely they met through friends or family members in Kinloss. The couple made their home in Findhorn where they had six children between 1858 and 1869. Their marriage lasted 46 years. Both died in Findhorn, Hugh in 1903 and Isabella in 1907.

Forres, Morayshire, Scotland ca 1900

William Hugh Milne & Mary Ann Anderson (m. 4 September 1868)

Curiously, William was born with the surname Mills. His first marriage record says Milne, though, with his father, William Sr., indicated to be a skinner and his mother’s name as Elizabeth Ross. The record of his second marriage to Isabella Munro also shows his name as Mill. His death record says Mills, the informant for which was Duncan Milne, his son.

As far back as they can be traced, the names of his parents and siblings are shown as Mills or Mill. The births of his children, however, from his first marriage were recorded with the Milne name; the two from his second marriage were recorded as Mill and Mills.

The 1871 census shows the surname of William and Mary Ann as Mills. All subsequent censuses show their name as Milne.

William and Mary Ann Anderson probably met in Forres, Morayshire. William had moved there from Aberdeen in the 1860s. The marriage lasted only 14 years as Mary Ann died in 1882 or peritonitis.

Langlands Road, Govan, Scotland ca 1900

Elizabeth Cooper

OK so we don’t know who the father of Elizabeth’s only son, Alexander Cooper (Part 1), was. From his January 1867 birth record we know they probably met in May 1866. Now, coincidentally, that was the month Elizabeth’s sister, Ann Jean got married in Govan, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Elizabeth was the Maid of Honour at the event. It is entirely conceivable (no pun intended) that she quite enjoyed her time there.

Elizabeth came back to her home in the Shetlands and had her baby in Brough the following January. She returned to Govan in 1871 to live with her sister’s family. Living in the same building was a man named John Blackburn, a dock worker from Ireland. They married in Govan in April of that year. Was he the man she met in 1866, one may wonder.

John died in 1885 but the couple appear to have been separated before then as they were living in different places on the 1881 census. Elizabeth married again, in 1892, to James Ross, of Glasgow but living then in Govan. They did not have children together.

Elizabeth died in 1904. I am still trying to find her burial place and am hopeful we might narrow down her son’s biological father through DNA.

John Walker & Sarah McKenzie Russell (m. 8 October 1880)

John Walker was a railroad employee for most of his life. He and Sarah probably met through friends in Elgin, Moray, Scotland, but they were married in Duffus, four miles to the north. Sarah had been born in Burghead, in 1856, seven miles northwest of Elgin. The marriage record does not indicate whether she was employed in any of the three places however it does show they were both living in Elgin at the time.

John’s career as a locomotive engine driver took them to many towns during the next 47 years. Their first daughter was born in Burghead. Their next six children were born in Elgin, the eighth and ninth in Glasgow. In the Glasgow area, they lived in nine separate residences, each one possibly near where John’s main workplace was located.

John died in Glasgow in 1927. Sarah followed in 1930.

High Street, Elgin, Moryshire, Scotland – ca 1900

How did they meet? Part 2

For generations starting with the great-grandparents, it is more difficult to determine how they met. Often one can surmise how it happened if they lived in the same area around the time they got married, either alone or with family members. So, what follows here is part guess, part deduction.

Our Great-Grandparents

James Shepheard & Mary Elizabeth Pearson (m. 17 June 1890)

For my great-grandparents, James Shepheard and Mary Elizabeth Pearson, how they got together is not quite as straight-forward.

On the 1881 census, Mary’s siblings, Thomas (age 16), John (12) and Louisa (8) are still living with their parents, Charles and Susannah, in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. Fourteen-year old Mary was not at home, nor was she living with any of her other siblings. Mary may have been at school or working, possibly even in Devon. We just don’t know.

In that year, James was living at home, with his parents John and Mary, in Torquay, Devon. He was working as a gentleman’s servant.

By 1890, of course they were married and living in Torquay, 192 miles from Leamington Spa. We might assume one of them travelled to the other’s home city where they could have met but there is no information that confirms that idea. Interestingly, the marriage banns were posted at the Parish Church of St Mary’s in Leamington Priors (Spa), but the marriage took place at the Parish Church in Ellacombe, now part of Torquay, on 17 June 1890. On the marriage record, both gave their residence as Princes Road which was the home of James’s parents.

It is possible that Mary travelled to Torquay to work and that they met there. She is not shown with an occupation on the marriage record, however.

James & Mary Elizabeth 1890

Newton Isaac Thompson & Margaret Mary Anderson (m. 1884)

Both Newton Thompson and Margaret Anderson, other great-grandparents, had arrived in North Dakota with their families from Ontario: Newton in 1879 and Margaret in 1880. They settled in the farming community of Cass County which is where they undoubtedly met. They were probably married in Wheatland County, North Dakota, but no marriage record has been found and no details are shown in the family bible.

Margaret was a widow with one daughter at the time of their marriage. Newton took on the care of both and together they had six more children.

Newton & Margaret in 1885 (left) and 1917 (right)

Isaac Mayfield Miller & Alice Jane Keith (m. 27 November 1866)

Isaac Mayfield Miller was born in Ohio in 1843. His parents, John Conrad Miller and Hannah Tunstall Mayfield, had come to Cincinnati from Indiana around 1840. When John died – about 1846 – Hannah moved back to her father’s farm in Indiana. It was there that Isaac grew up.

Alice (Allie) Jane Keith was born in Indiana in 1846. Her parents, James Blare Keith and Sarah Jane Baker, had farmed in Jennings county, Indiana, from around the time of Allie’s birth.

Issac fought and was wounded with the 22^nd Regiment of Indiana Volunteers (Union Army) between 1861 and 1864, during the US civil Ware, afterward returning to Indiana. It is possible Isaac and Sarah met through friends or relatives. Following their marriage on 27 November 1866, they left the state, going first to Illinois, where their first daughter was born, and then on to Kansas.

In 1893 they resettled in Yukon, Canadian county, Oklahoma where they spent the rest of their long lives together. Allie Jane died in 1914 and Isaac in 1925.

Isaac & Sarah Jane (both seated) with children ca 1892

Asa Harvey McDaniel & Margaret Eleanor DeBusk (m. 15 September 1851)

Both Asa Harvey McDaniel and Margaret Eleanor DeBusk were born in Washington Co9unty, Virginia, Asa in 1827 and Margaret in 1835. They grew in the area and no doubt knew each from childhood. The story is told that Asa and his brothers often rode the wagon full of grain to the mill on Rush Creek, in part owned by Margaret’s father.

They were married on 15 September 1851 in the county. They made their home there for almost ten years, having five children, and then moved 100 miles west to Lee County, Virginia, where they had eight more.

Margaret died in 1880. Her obituary spells out the joy and happiness of their almost 30-year marriage, which in part records “during her last illness . . . [s]he was in a happy frame of mind and talked freely and joyfully of her departure. It was a season of refreshing to all present. Just before she entered "the valley of the shadow of death" she called her husband and children around her bed and took an affectionate leave of them, requesting them to meet her in Heaven. Then quietly, yet triumphantly, she passed away to the land of immortality. She leaves a husband and twelve children . . . May they all keep the promise they have made and meet mother in the "sweet bye and bye."

Asa eventually followed his children west to Oklahoma, where he spent his last years, dying in 1901.

Old DeBusk Mill on Rush Creek, Virginia (left); Asa with granddaughters ca 1915 (right)