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  1. #1
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    Default William MacKay Northern Fencibles

    Hello
    I am searching for my gggg great grandfather William MacKay was a Soldier in Northern Fencibles he married at Greenock Old or West Renfrewshire in 1797
    Please does anybody know where the records are for this regiment abd if I can trace him just on this information because I don't know his date of birth or exact birthplace or what he was doing in Greenock Old or West Renfrewshire on his marriage record. His wife Isobel Ross was born in Dornoch in c.1771 her parents were Daniel Ross and Margaret McKenzie so her family may have moved. but I do know that they lived in Lanark then Carrifuiran Sutherland then back to Lanark. On the death record of 1858 at Govan poorhouse it says she was a widower of a private watchman but no sign of William on an census record. I wonder what happened to her husband William

  2. #2

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    I've given this post its own thread as the story moves around Scotland, so it may not get as much attention at the end of an old thread in the Sutherland section..

    Have you found the wife in the 1851 or even 1841 census without William?

    If she was the widow of a private watchman, that suggests that he survived his time in the army and found work as a civilian.

    Was Hugh b. 1804 Farr (Sutherland) theirs?

  3. #3
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    Hi Lesley. Thanks for your help I'm new to this blog and need help. I have an affinity for the Scottish Highlands and history however, the Mackay's are difficult. On the 1841 census it looks like Elizabeth "Betty" MacKay (born in Halkirk Caithness 1810 and married to a William MacKay born 1804 to parents William MacKay and Jean McKay are living together with Daniel Ross b 1815 to Isobel Ross and William Mackay and his wife Mary Buchanan and Betty's Son William McKay age 2. Betty was born in Lanark to Isobel Ross and William MacKay. They also had a daughter Dolenie born in Kildonan Sutherland in abt 1798. A daughter Margaret in Lanark 1798. Then Agnes 1806 Dorothy 1808 and Margaret 1812 William MacKay is 75 on this census and Mrs McKay "Jean" is 65
    On 1851 Isobel Ross is living with her daughter Dolenie Mackay b abt 1799 Kildonan father William MacKay husband William Mcbeth.
    Jean McKay was from Latheron I don't know if she is a cousin of Williams but she had 6 children including Betty's husband William. So if this old William McKay is her father AND her stepfather her husband must be her half brother.
    I checked George MacKay baptised in Carrifuiran (Coire nam feuran Sutherland ) and Hugh Mackay baptised in Carrifuiran in 1804 to Isobel Ross and William MacKay
    I then searched William MacKay born in 1779 to Isobel McCleod Alias nin Dholicomait and Donald MacKay Or Eoin Macrob Macneilicalister a Soldier in Lord McCleod's battalion who abandoned Isobel to fight in the 4th Mysore Wat in the East Indies
    I thought this could be the William MacKay who married Isobel Ross at Greenock Old or West Renfrewshire on 25th February 1797 but when I checked the Gordon Highlanders first muster roll 1794 there is a William MacKay attested in April 1794 age 15 and died on 4th March 1799. So this cannot be the father to Isobel Ross's children
    I checked Donald MacKay Or Eoin Macrob Macneilicalister and found he married Isobel McCleod Alias nin Dholicomait in 1764 and had 3 chikdren. However the Donald MacKay father of William MacKay Or MacKay was in fact Donald alias Macuilam Machustian which could be somebody else? And gone to war.
    So George MacKay baptised in Carrifuiran in 1801 and Hugh Mackay baptised in Carrifuiran in 1804 could actually be Donald Mackay's brothers IF Isobel McCleod had married a Donald Ross. The strange thing is that Carrifuiran was an ancient village with not many people and baptisms didn't begin in the Parish of Farr until 1790 so I don't know how old George & Hugh were when they were baptised
    I have both the batism records and on Hugh's record 1804 there is William Mackay born to William McKay in 1804 on the same record but it says to William MacKay and Jean McKay at Langdale
    Please can anyone help me with my research as I don't know where to begin.I do know that Isobel Ross died in Govan poorhouse in August 1858 she had been residing there 3 years. Her death record was signed by her brother William Ross and she came from Dornoch father Daniel Ross and Mother Margaret McKenzie

  4. #4
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    Default William Mackay

    Please do you know where I can find any information on the the Soldiers who enlisted in the Northern Fencibles. I have a brief enlistment extracted from The Book of Mackays with my Ancestor William Mackay enlisted

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  6. #6
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    Thanks Peter. I found that this regiment was raised by Colonel Alexander Gordon 4th Duke of Gordon. Gordon's Fencibles raised in Aberdeen. I was wondering where the records are kept. and also where I can purchase a copy of Territorial Soldiering in the North East of Scotland?

  7. #7

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    According to Google Books, the book, if it's the one by JM Bulloch, can be obtained as a reprint from a company called Forgotten Books HERE.

    For the Fencibles, I'd try the National Archives of Scotland and/or the Aberdeen & North East Scotland Family History Society.

  8. #8
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    Default

    According to the National Archives, the holdings of the National War Museum of Scotland include "records of local militia and fencibles 17th-20th century."

    https://www.nms.ac.uk/national-war-museum/?item_id=

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