Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
Dear Gordon,
I always had the same impression about McHargs/Grahams from family oral history. Below is a letter I got from Brian Orr. You should find it interesting. If this board doesn't accept it, email me and I'll send it direct.
Best regards,
Paul Ryan
Subj: Re: McHarg genealogy
Date: 4/2/02 12:23:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: borr@talk21.com
To: PaulR10383@aol.com
File: McHarg.rtf (168431 bytes) DL Time (TCP/IP): < 1 minute
Sent from the Internet (Details)
Hi Paul
An interesting story . I have heard of the name reversal before and it has
an element of plausability about it BUT the authorities discount that.
Robert Bell in his "Book of Ulster Surnames" says that Maharg stems from
the Scottish MacIlhagga.
Heres a few brief facts of the history of Dumfries & Galloway which is the
background to your family oral history.
Galloway Region as it is now used to consist of the shires of Wigtownshire
and Kirkcudbrightshire ( also known as the Stewartry of Kirkcudbrightshire
from the time of the Stewart or Steward of Scotland who looked after the
area for the King). Next to Kirkcudbrightshire and lumped together with
Galloway in the modern set up is Dumfrieshire. These form the modern
Dumfries & Galloway Region in the very south west of Scotland. North of
Galloway is Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and the River Clyde with
Glasgow its main city.
The old Galloway ( Wig + Kirkcudbright) was a fiercely independent area
until the early seventeenth century, and still spoke gaelic in some places
till 17C. The region was very closely tied to the Irish - it is only 20
miles, or about 3 hours in a sailing boat from Portpatrick on the west coast
of Wigtownshire to Bangor in N Ireland. So there was much intermarrying
and
movement between Wigtownshire and Northern Ireland. To the east is
Dumfrieshire and the Border region ( the old shires of
Roxburgh, Peebles, Selkirk, and Berwick along the border with England.)
The Borders, were the homeland of the "Border Reivers" (reiver means thief
basically). There were several `families` including the Grahams, who lived
by raiding across the border into England, stealing cattle and horses,
raiding farm houses etc; and they occasionally raided one another in family
feuds. The Grahams and the Armstrongs were the most aggressive of the Border
families.
In 1603 James VI of Scotland became King of England and one of his early
tasks was to deal with the lawlessness along the Borders. As a result many
of the Reiver families were heavily persecuted, hung, and very many exiled
in Ireland; 50 Graham families were banished to Roscommon in Ireland. So
around 1603-1605 the family was broken up and scattered. It is `possible`
that at this juncture some may have adopted other names to avoid
persecution - after all Rob Roy McGregor changed his name to Campbell - his
worst enemy, when the McGregor name was banished at about the same time
(1603).
The religious persecution with violence against individuals as such, didnt
start in Scotland until the 1660s; before that there was pressure to adopt
episcopacy (rule of the bishops)
and new religous services which gradually built into resistance and the
National Covenant in 1638. It
was 1639 that the Bishops Wars broke out and 1643 when Scotland got involved
in the English Civil War. It was in the later reigns of Charles II that the
illegal conventicles took place; and executions for reading your Bible or
refusing to take an oath of loyalty were mainly in the Killing Time in
1685.
James Graham, of Claverhouse, later Viscount Dundee, was a `hatchet man` in
the 1679-89 period, a professional soldier who was charged with collecting
fines, later to pursue defaulters, and if evidence existed ( or refused to
take an oath of allegiance) to execute the Covenanters. He later supported
James II against William & Mary but was killed at the battle of
Killiecrankie in 1689. How much blame lies on him for the executions and
shootings is difficult to judge. Technically and legally he was following
orders and executed people according to the law as it then was. They were
cruel times.
As said by Bell, he discounts the name reversal theory. The Grahams were
definitely persecuted ca 1603 -05 but I would reject the idea that they
changed their names because of religous persecution. They had already been
dispersed long before the religous issues arose ca 1662 and it was not until
1670-90 that events might have been bad enough to change a name. But I have
to say that in the whole story of Covenanting I havent come across that
happening and certainly no Grahams who did.
There were at least 4 Grahams,using their own name, who died in the 1680s -
one shot, two hung, one died at sea while being transported to the colonies.
Their name didnt seem to bother these people.
Turning to McHarg. The Wigtownshire location is certainly `home base` for
them in later years. There are 333 McHargs in the 1881 Census Index, 277 in
Scotland. There are 82 McHargs listed as born in Wigtonshire and 70 resident
in 1881. I have had a look at the Origins database < www.scotsorigins.com >
and there are the following McHargs on file (McIlhagga in brackets)
Birth& christenings 1553-1901 - 997 (25)
Marriages do 448 (7)
Deaths 625 (21)
1881 Census 277 (7)
1891 Census 347 (11)
1801 Census 255 (13)
Unfortunately the early years arent broken down as it would be interesting
to find how many ,if any, McHargs existed < before > 1603. If they do that
would put an end to the Graham name reversal theory.
The Origins database is I regret, a pay site - you get a time slot of 24
hours for £6 (about $10) but it will provide much information for you. Start
with a search for John McH 18 Jun 1815 and check father etc. Get what you
can from the Index as it is another £10 ($15) for each official certificate
which can be expensive in a very short space of time !.
If you havent already done so, have a look at the Latter Day Saints
database www.familysearch.org > and search for both names which will show
where they were when the IGI was created - there are about 150 McHargs on
the Wigtown fiche that go back to ca 1700. Other fruitful sites that are
free, are www.rootsweb.com and www.ancestry.com , which will throw up who
else is reseaerching the McHarg name.
I have attached an .rtf file containing the McHargs in Wigtownshire and
Dumfries in the 1881 Census for your information.
I hope this helps.
Best wishes
Brian Orr
b.orr@btopenworld.com
Web site at www.btinternet.com/~b.orr/
Notify Administrator about this message?
Followups:No followups yet |
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/mcharg/messages/64.html | ||
 |
Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|