McKay family of Thurso, Caithness, Scotland

[Brad Hulton]

Hi Inez
Found these...

Barry & Kate Locke
Year: 1881;Census Place: Shelburne, Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Roll: C_13171, Page 66, Family No: 306.
Barry & Catherine Locke
Year: 1891;Census Place: Jordan Bay, Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Roll: T-6321, Family No: 10

and they have a son David in the 1891 census aged 2.
Hope this helps...
Brad

Hi Cousins - Would any of you have any ideas about the family of a Catherine McKay who married a Samuel Barry or Lemuel Berry Locke in Shelburne in 1871? This woman was the mother of a David Roy Locke (b. 1889) who married Sarah Blanche Seaboyer. Sarah Blanche was the daughter of Clayton and Mary Rose Walker Seaboyer.

Best wishes,

Inez

[tpbiii]

Hi all you cousins,

For Christmas, my children gave me a six month subscription to ancestry.com. Since then I have wasted many hours -- alas mostly on the the pirate fighting branch of my family on the Cape Fear River.

Earlier today, I got back to researching the David McKay family, and a long sought answer popped up. Long story short, David McKay was the grandson of Sargent Donald! Sargent Donald McKay (b. 1740) married Elizabeth (no record of last name) in 1759. They had a child William McKay in 1770. He married Mary Munro and they had the a for mentioned David in 1793 -- this was all in Scotland.

In the meantime, Sargent Donald McKay came to Jordan Falls after the American Revolution, and continued his family. His son Hugh, father of famous Donald, was born in Jordan Falls in 1788. That would make Hugh David's uncle -- even though he was only five years older. Hugh married Anne McPherson.

When David immigrated to join his grandfather (and family) sometime after 1800, he ultimately married his uncle's wife's sister -- Janet McPherson.

So, as they say, there is the rest of the story. Stephen, you were right -- they were related! So all we descendents of David McKay are double cousins to the famous Donald. If you think that is cool, you are free to celebrate.

Best,

-Tom

[Brad Hulton]

Hi Cuz
Do you have sources for the link to Sargent Donald? Any records of William and Mary (all I have found is their names on David's baptizm record)?

Thanks for the info by the way! I suspected this but haven't found the records to prove it.
Brad

[tpbiii]

Hi Cuz
Do you have sources for the link to Sargent Donald? Any records of William and Mary (all I have found is their names on David's baptizm record)?

Thanks for the info by the way! I suspected this but haven't found the records to prove it.
Brad

Hi Brad,

This data all came from family tree records from ancestor.com out of Scotland. The data appears in several trees, with slight variations, which makes me think is very probably correct in substance.

This all gives new life to the old family legend (told by David's son William to his grandson (my grandfather) Leslie) that the famous Donald was born in our kitchen. At the time of the famous Donald's birth (1811), the land was in probate I guess, which was never completed until 1818 when Jane (Johnston) Sutherland sold the place to David. There is no record of what was going on on the land between when William Sutherland sailed away on the privateer Nelson and David bought the place 18 years later. Since now it seems this was all a family affair, the old story seems a bit more plausible.

Tell me more about William and Mary. Is this David McKay's baptismal record from 1793? If so, they are undoubtedly his father (William McKay, son of Sargent Donald McKay) and mother Mary (Munro) McKay. As far as I can tell, these two people never left Scotland.

Best,

-Tom

[pcorbett]

I am delighted to have this information confirmed. Thanks for posting!
Penny

[Brad Hulton]

Hi Brad,

This data all came from family tree records from ancestor.com out of Scotland. The data appears in several trees, with slight variations, which makes me think is very probably correct in substance.

This all gives new life to the old family legend (told by David's son William to his grandson (my grandfather) Leslie) that the famous Donald was born in our kitchen. At the time of the famous Donald's birth (1811), the land was in probate I guess, which was never completed until 1818 when Jane (Johnston) Sutherland sold the place to David. There is no record of what was going on on the land between when William Sutherland sailed away on the privateer Nelson and David bought the place 18 years later. Since now it seems this was all a family affair, the old story seems a bit more plausible.

Tell me more about William and Mary. Is this David McKay's baptismal record from 1793? If so, they are undoubtedly his father (William McKay, son of Sargent Donald McKay) and mother Mary (Munro) McKay. As far as I can tell, these two people never left Scotland.

Best,

-Tom

Hi Tom
I looked over everything I had on David and his family again last night because something was bothering me about some of the data. First I have the baptism of David MacKay son to William MacKay & Mary Munro at Smigill (located this place finally on a map from the early 1700s. It lay south of Reay in a small glen with a gill running through it and was the site of a mill, church and a few homes.) on 3 Jun 1793. So we have a name for his parents that is solid. I haven't been able to locate any record of William & Mary's marriage however. This is a pity as it would have helped in identifying the correct William more accurately. The search for William becomes problematic in that there are numerous children of this name being born in the most likely time frame across Caithness. Then too, I had the problem of Sgt. Donald McKay. I read somewhere that a letter was written by David (I believe to a minister doing some kind of genealogy research) that named Hugh Sgt. Donald's son "Cousin". If this was the case (and I think it is) then Sgt. Donald wouldn't be David's grandfather but most likely his Uncle. Sgt. Donald would also have been too young, I think, to have been David's grandfather. Sgt. Donald joined Lord MacDonald's 76th Grenadiers upon their formation in 1778. If Donald was born in 1740 as has been asserted, that would have made him 38 at the time of his enlistment. This seems to be very unlikely to me, as it would have meant abandoning the hypothetical family he had in Scotland including his son of 8 years (William) and any other children he may have sired. As well war and adventure aren't normally things a man of middle age with a family would seek out, especially in a distant land. Sgt. Donald would then have to have remarried to a Margaret (last name unknown) who gave him Hugh in 1788 and possibly a son Donald who died before the Sgt.'s will was written. He then married Sarah Ketland on April 21, 1793 in Shelburne who gave him Margaret, Simon, Elizabeth and Robert George Gordon. He wrote his will on Dec 7 1826 and died before it was probated 5 Mar 1827. Since this suggested a younger man, likely William's contemporary (and assuming HIS parent's were Donald and Elizabeth), I looked for a possible match as siblings, and found just that. In Dunnet (about 4km east of Thurso) I found records of a family that fits the bill. They lived in Barrock (about 2km south east of Dunnet) and are as follows....

Donald MacKay and Elspeth (Elizabeth) Shearer of Barrock (no marriage records have been found but a guess would be 1753) had
Robert bap. 10 Mar 1754
James bap. 1 Feb 1756
David bap. 14 May 1758
Jannet bap. 23 May 1760
Donald bap. * Oct 1762 (* date was illegible)
John bap. 24 Mar 1768
William bap. 7 Oct 1770

as you can see this would be a perfect fit for William and Sgt. Donald being brothers and would fit the facts we have of Donald's life and family.
I later found Donald Sr.'s possible baptism in Watten about 8km south of Dunnet. Bap. 1 Oct 1733 McKay, Donald son to Patrick McKay and Margaret Sutherland. This would also fit nicely. When looking for Elizabeth Shearer only one record showed up but it fits as well. Bap. 18 Dec 1738 in Dalserf, Lanark; Shearer, Elizabeth daughter to James Shearer and Margrett Finlay. I find this very interesting as the second child of Donald & Elspeth McKay was named James, making the case for this to be the probable Elizabeth.
Well that is it for now. Hope to here from you soon.
Cheers
Brad

[Brad Hulton]

Tom
Also found that in both the 1827 and 1838 census of Shelburne and area in addition to our David there are a Robert, a James, a John and a William McKay farming in Shelburne. Makes one wonder hmmmm?????

Brad

[tpbiii]

Hi Tom
I looked over everything I had on David and his family again last night because something was bothering me about some of the data. First I have the baptism of David MacKay son to William MacKay & Mary Munro at Smigill (located this place finally on a map from the early 1700s. It lay south of Reay in a small glen with a gill running through it and was the site of a mill, church and a few homes.) on 3 Jun 1793. So we have a name for his parents that is solid. I haven't been able to locate any record of William & Mary's marriage however. This is a pity as it would have helped in identifying the correct William more accurately. The search for William becomes problematic in that there are numerous children of this name being born in the most likely time frame across Caithness. Then too, I had the problem of Sgt. Donald McKay. I read somewhere that a letter was written by David (I believe to a minister doing some kind of genealogy research) that named Hugh Sgt. Donald's son "Cousin". If this was the case (and I think it is) then Sgt. Donald wouldn't be David's grandfather but most likely his Uncle. Sgt. Donald would also have been too young, I think, to have been David's grandfather. Sgt. Donald joined Lord MacDonald's 76th Grenadiers upon their formation in 1778. If Donald was born in 1740 as has been asserted, that would have made him 38 at the time of his enlistment. This seems to be very unlikely to me, as it would have meant abandoning the hypothetical family he had in Scotland including his son of 8 years (William) and any other children he may have sired. As well war and adventure aren't normally things a man of middle age with a family would seek out, especially in a distant land. Sgt. Donald would then have to have remarried to a Margaret (last name unknown) who gave him Hugh in 1788 and possibly a son Donald who died before the Sgt.'s will was written. He then married Sarah Ketland on April 21, 1793 in Shelburne who gave him Margaret, Simon, Elizabeth and Robert George Gordon. He wrote his will on Dec 7 1826 and died before it was probated 5 Mar 1827. Since this suggested a younger man, likely William's contemporary (and assuming HIS parent's were Donald and Elizabeth), I looked for a possible match as siblings, and found just that. In Dunnet (about 4km east of Thurso) I found records of a family that fits the bill. They lived in Barrock (about 2km south east of Dunnet) and are as follows....

Donald MacKay and Elspeth (Elizabeth) Shearer of Barrock (no marriage records have been found but a guess would be 1753) had
Robert bap. 10 Mar 1754
James bap. 1 Feb 1756
David bap. 14 May 1758
Jannet bap. 23 May 1760
Donald bap. * Oct 1762 (* date was illegible)
John bap. 24 Mar 1768
William bap. 7 Oct 1770

as you can see this would be a perfect fit for William and Sgt. Donald being brothers and would fit the facts we have of Donald's life and family.
I later found Donald Sr.'s possible baptism in Watten about 8km south of Dunnet. Bap. 1 Oct 1733 McKay, Donald son to Patrick McKay and Margaret Sutherland. This would also fit nicely. When looking for Elizabeth Shearer only one record showed up but it fits as well. Bap. 18 Dec 1738 in Dalserf, Lanark; Shearer, Elizabeth daughter to James Shearer and Margrett Finlay. I find this very interesting as the second child of Donald & Elspeth McKay was named James, making the case for this to be the probable Elizabeth.
Well that is it for now. Hope to here from you soon.
Cheers
Brad

Hi Brad,

Yea, I had already found problems. It is true that there are a bunch (10) of ancestry tree that show Srg. Donald unequivocally as (our) Davids grandfather. But I noticed that it shows Donald as 1740-1808 rather than 1751-1827 I have from a good source for Srg. Donald. What it looks like is that someone merged another Donald with Srg. Donald, and then a bunch of people copied the mistake.

However, I don't think the available data supports the uncle theory -- Srg. Donald appears to be born at least 10 year earlier than your candidate.

I guess we have another dead end. Too bad.

Best,

-Tom

[Inez Reed]

Hi again, Brad.

No hmmmmm about it, the William McKay listed in the 1827 census was more than likely my ancestor. He had a brother named Robert. He also had sons John, James and Robert in that area in 1838.

At this point, I have NO clue as to how he would have been related to David McKay. I've pretty well given up on finding primary documentation concerning his birth or parents. Maybe it would have been listed on his death certificate but I've yet to find that either.

FWIW - I always thought Sgt. Donald was an older chap, born in 1740 according to most but as Tom said, these dates or set or researches tend to get conflated.

Inez

[David R McKay]

HELLO MCKAY FAMILY, this thread is incredible. The research conducted is outstanding , and the contribution of each of those involved to the overall results certainly is to be envied by all of us McKays/Mckays who have struggled with the Scottish naming patterns and with the lack of available old records. I read through each page hoping to be able to contribute some bit of information and to make a connections with my Aberdeenshire ancestors named Robert, William, Anne, Hugh, George etc, but only to find the old brick wall-- McKay, Stephenson, Reid-- still blocking my path.

I have been searching for years to find the family of my great grandfather Robert Stephenson McKay born Oct 1813, in Freaserburgh, Aberdeenshire Scotland. Alas I have nothing to contribute except that I think this research should be passed on to W. Alex McKay, Seanachaidh, Clan Mackay Scotland, at
https://www.
clanmackaysociety.org/society.html and Kenneth Bain Seanachaidh, Clan Mackay USA. at [email protected]. W. Alex is working on a Memory Project to update some of the research on Clan Mackay.

For what it is worth
David Reid McKay,
No connection to the David McKay mentioned in the Thread.