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I have been searching for MacDonald’s from the Urquhart and Glenmoriston area who have taken the Clan Donald DNA test and who can show their MacDonald line back to 1650-1700 Urquhart and Glenmoriston. Especially those who have a family history of an 'Escape from the 1692 Glencoe Massacre'. My Clan Donald Y-search user ID is ZGJDF
In the 1970's, Dr William Matheson, the head of the Gaelic department at the University of Edinburgh, and himself somewhat of a genealogist, exchanged letters with a now deceased family researcher in Vancouver who was researching my family history and the story of an escape from Glencoe.. Dr Matheson surmised that my MacDonald’s were actually from Glenmoriston and visiting at Glencoe on the morning of the Massacre. After the Massacre, they resettled in Glenurquhart. There were supposedly drovers at Glencoe who were not Glencoe MacDonald’s, but may have been aligned by marriage to Glencoe/MacIain. Though close to the Glengarry land, the Urquhart and Glenmoriston MacDonald’s of the 1700's lived on Grant land taken away from them
In some articles, the MacDonald's of Glenmoriston show that they were aligned with the Lord of the Isles (From Story and Song from Loch Ness Side P270 - "Annually, at Aonach, the chief among those MacDonald's met the Lord of the Isles or his representative, and exchanged shirts with him, which constituted an "oath of fidelity". And also repeated - from "The Celtic Magazine,VI." regarding the MacDonalds of Glenmoriston - "Annually at the inn of Aonach, in the Braes of Glenmoriston, MacIanRuaidh, their Chief, met with the Lord of the Isles, to renew their bond of friendship which was done in the primitive style of exchanging shirts.
Another reference in Vol VI (1881) of the Celtic Magazine said - "These Livisie MacDonald’s were allied by marriage to the house of Glencoe. This may account for their prompt friendship to the young chief who is said to have sought refuge there after the massacre. I have no evidence as to the origin of the MacDonald’s of Glenmoriston, or the truth of their connection with the Lords of the Isles. However there is no doubt they were an old race in the Glen preceding the Grants."
My MacDonald’s departed from the Glenurquhart area in Sept 1775 on the ship Glasgow. They were originally going to Upstate NY along with several other Glenurquhart families, but were seemingly unrelated to any other Glenurquhart MacDonald’s on the ship Glasgow.
The Glenurquhart people on the 1775 Ship Glasgow were following the path of the Urquhart and Glenmoriston MacDonald’s/MacDonnell’s who left on the Ship Pearl in Sept 1773. These 1773 MacDonald emigrant’s settled in the NY Mohawk valley around the area known then as the Kingborough Patent, many moving North into Ontario at the outbreak of the American War in 1775. My MacDonald’s do not appear to be related to any of those 1773 MacDonald's/MacDonnell's
I have seen the Inverness original OPR birth record for twin girls recorded at Drumnadrochit in July 1772. Gravestones in Ontario and Nova Scotia show the births of sons in 1754 and another in 1764. This places my MacDonald GGGG-GF in the Glenurquhart area prior to the family's emigration in Sept 1775
I spent a week at the Inverness Highland library in 2006 and believe I found the 1745 1st marriage record of my GGGG-GF John MacDonald, son of Duncan McEvanOg of Balcraggan to a Mary McGrigor, dau of Wm 'Dow' McGrigor of Culnakirk. A subsequent birth record was found in the Inverness OPRs for the 1746 birth of a girl named Christiana (Christy) to this couple. Even the family Christian names follow this naming pattern (Christy/Christiana, Duncan, Mary, Evan/Hugh, etc)
From records indicating his age when he finally settled in Nova Scotia, I can surmise that John MacDonald was born in or near Glenurquhart abt 1723. I also know that my GGGG-GF John MacDonald had 8 children all born in the Glenurquhart area. 4 from the 1st marriage (Christy, Mary, Duncan, Alexander) and 4 to his 2nd marriage to Margaret Grant, also of Glenurquhart (James, Hugh/Evan, Ann and Helen/Ellen)
The family has been well documented in Canada because a grandson of James MacDonald (born in Glenurquhart in 1754) became a Justice Minister in the 1st Canadian Confederated Cabinet and 2 of that ministers daughters married into the line of a Canadian Prime Minister (Tupper)
Very few MacDonald’s appear to show their 1700 lines to Glenurquhart on the various internet genealogy websites. I took the Clan Donald DNA 67-marker test several years ago and my bloodline is of the Irish bloodline (Conn and Colla Uais). The 'sons of Conn' have been mentioned in the book "Songs and Story of Loch Ness-side". This bloodline, according to Jamie MacDonald the Clan Donald DNA administrator, is not the Glencoe bloodline
Our family has a 300yr old oral tradition of being at the Glencoe Massacre and a grandfather carrying his grandson to safety at Glenurquhart in 1692 has been recorded in the book "Clan Donald" - pg 216, and Slaughter Under Trust - pg 112, yet the Glencoe MacDonald’s are said to be R1a while my Glenurquhart bloodline shows as R1b1.
If the 1745 entry in the Inverness OPR for Duncan McEvanOg is correct for my line, then the grandfather mentioned in Clan Donald pg 216 was Evan McDonald (b. abt 1630), carrying his young grandson Duncan (b. abt 1689) to safety after Duncan's father "Young Evan/McEvanOg" (b. abt 1660) was killed. Duncan would father John MacDonald (MacEoghainn Oig/McEvanOg) abt. 1723, yet I can find no subsequent mention of my GGGG-GF John having any siblings either in (Urquhart and Glenmoriston or in Glencoe) Scotland or the US and Canadian Colonies at a time when all Scot families had many children.
So far, I only match to anther MacDonald in Nova Scotia with whom I share the 1723 GGGG-GF. His GGG-GF James (1754) and my GGG-GF Hugh/Evan (1764) were full brothers and both born in Glenurquhart.
Dr William MacKay of the Inverness Gaelic Society recorded my GGG-GF and GGGG-GF in his 1893 book on Urquhart and Glenmoriston in the annex about the 'Urquhart Settlement in Nova Scotia'
From Urquhart & Glenmoriston to Nova Scotia
(from W. MacKay's Urquhart & Glenmoriston 1893)
(submitted by Peter Grant - update Submitted by Elizabeth Brownell)
Hugh MacDonald (GGG-GF) - From Glen Urquhart to Pictou, N.S. in 1784 - He was a son of Iain MacEoghainn, Oig. He settled at Bridgeville and was in the army.
James MacDonald - From Glen Urquhart to Pictou, N.S. in 1784 - (brother to Hugh). The Hon. James MacDonald, Chief Justice of N.S. was his grandson. He settled at Bridgeville.
John MacDonald (GGGG-GF) - to East River, Pictou, N.S. in 1784 (with sons Duncan, Hugh and James)
Though the above says they emigrated to Nova Scotia in 1784, in reality, the Ship Glasgow was captured and boarded in NY harbour in Oct 1775 and all aboard impressed into the British Army. When they were disbanded/released 8yrs later in 1783 from the 84th RHE, 2nd Batt, my families, along with several other Glenurquhart families who were also on the Glasgow, finally resettled in Pictou County Nova Scotia.
In a book about this Urquhart Settlement, the following was written many years later:
In 1784, a settlement of disbanded soldiers was made further up the river. They came to Pictou at the close of the American War. They were, originally, from the Highlands of Scotland. The names of these first settlers were: Donald Cameron, his brothers Samuel and Finlay, Alexander Cameron, Robert Clark, Peter Grant, first elder in the settlement, James McDonald, Hugh McDonald on the east side of the river. James Fraser, Duncan McDonald, John McDonald, brother of James, John Chisholm, drowned at the Narrows with Finlay Cameron, John McDonald, 2d, John Chisholm, Jr.
John McDonald was born at Glen Urquhart and belonged to the Glencoe McDonalds. At the time of the Glencoe Massacre, 1692, one of the McDonalds fled to Glen Urquhart and settled there. John McDonald was a grandson or great grandson of that man. He was about eight years in the Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment, and three of his sons fought with him in the Revolutionary War on the Loyalists' side. He was
married twice. By his first wife he had Duncan, Alexander, Mary and Christy. By his second wife, Margaret Grant, he had James, Ewen, Ann and Ellen
When my GGG-GF Hugh from 1764 Glenurquhart was written about in 1920, he was referred to by his Gaelic name of Eoghan Mor/Big Evan. Though my GGGG-GF John was referred to in 1893 as Iain MacEoghainn Oig, the Inverness genealogist believed this was 'bastardized' as it was recorded in Canada almost 80yrs after his death. The library genealogist believed that the Duncan 'McEvanOg' of Balcraggan, listed as John McDonald's father in the 1745 marriage to Mary McGrigor was the true 1745 Gaelic interpretation rather than the 1893 interpretation of Iain 'MacEoghainn Oig' and my GGGG-GF should have been referred to as "Iain McEvanOg.
At the Inverness library, they have a book in a black binder there called the "MacDonald’s of Glenurquhart". I have another copy of the same book. My copy was passed down from a Canadian family member and I had no idea the Inverness library had a copy until I visited there in 2006
Regards
Ben MacDonald
Arizona
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