Hi Toni

Would it be possible for you to share with us images of the handwritten place and person names, which would allow us to make our own guesses about the letters making up the words?  Some of us are quite used to the letter combinations that you tend to get in Gaelic.  My initial guess about the lady's name would be Ceit Ruadh (Red-headed Kate).

Regards

John

Hello everyone, and Happy (?) Valentine's Day

I've been reading "For the People's Cause" by James Hunter, based the writings of John Murdoch, Highland and Irish Land Reformer.  Much of his boyhood was spent on Islay, and eventually returned there as an Excise man.  Murdoch wrote about Islay frequently, and Chapter 5, "An Islay Clearance 1859" seems to be completely Murdoch's own perspective.  The book also covers his passion for desperate living conditions throughout the highlands, the unfair treatment of the crofters, and his involvement with "The Highlander" a newspaper echoing his beliefs.  In1879/80 he came to North America where he met up with several Islay emigrants to see for himself how they were faring and to get their impressions of their homeland from their new perspective, which he later wrote about in his editorials.

However, the book seems to cover only excerpts of this travel journal. In Glasgow (probably Mitchell Library) a few years ago, I got my hands on a handwritten copy of the journal of this trip, and was allowed to photocopy a few pages, and I photographed some more pages which were relevant to my own research. In it he refers on two occasions to a place on Islay - once to John Sinclair, son of Neil Sinclair of Torranhungari (sp?), and also "Here we had several of the Torrantungary (sp?) Sinclairs and the sons of Cest Ruadh (sp?) and her husband Donald Brown, originally from Teana shefoi_g (spelling actually could be anything).  Does anyone in this group know about this Brown family?   I know that the above Neil and family lived at Neriby farm before emigrating to Ontario in 1842/43.  Their oldest daughter, Catherine married Donald Brown in May of 1829, and their oldest son, Dugald was born there in 1832.  The Browns emigrated first to Cape Breton in 1833 and the rest of their children were born there. Later (1850s) they migrated to Fenelon township, Ontario to join the Sinclair family when old Neil died.


I've looked everywhere for "Torranhungary" on old Islay maps and tenant lists, but can't find it anywhere.  Could this be a Gaelic version of Neriby or another township in that vicinity?   He was certainly an advocate for saving the Gaelic language!


Finally, I'll try to read any other name I can find on these pages, and type up a list of them.  If any of you recognise them, I'll be happy to give you any further details which Murdoch mentioned.
Toni

Virus-free. www.avast.com

Thanks for this Toni

Looks interesting.

May attend

Bought Fleming's book Eldon Connections at an OGS conference years ago. 

My best,

Malcolm CAMPBELL

---------- Original Message ----------
From: tsinclair@...
Date: February 10, 2021 at 3:21 PM


Hi everyone,

I recently heard from Bill Caudill of the Scottish Heritage Center
(St.Andrews University) in North Carolina that they will continue to
hold their annual (30th) Scottish Heritage Symposium, but in a
"virtual" format for the first time this year on March 20. We are
invited to "Take the opportunity to spend the day with some of the top
scholars in the USA, Scotland and Canada on topics relative to
Scottish and Scottish-American history and genealogy."

Among the list of these excellent scholars is Dr. Rae Fleming, author
of "Eldon Connections", and local historian and specialist on the
migrations between Islay, NC and Ontario in the19th century. He
actually lives in Eldon Township! Other topics include Gaelic
literature and lore in the American South; dna found in Scotland and
the Scottish diaspora; Gaelic hymn and song traditions found in the
Carolinas; and the connections between Native Americans of the
Carolinas and their emigrant Highland Scot neighbours.

You can learn more details about the speakers at:
https://www.sa.edu/scottish-heritage/ and click on the Brochure Link.
The schedule and registration information you will find under 2021
Schedule link. Or, email me, and I'll forward these details to you.
The cost is only $20 US.

My husband, Sandy and I have personally attended two of these
symposiums in past years, and they were well worth the trip. Now we
can enjoy this interesting conference in the comfort of our own homes!
I am also a member of their NC Scottish Heritage Society, which puts
out an excellent Journal 3 times a year, called The Argyll Colony
Plus. They give Islay quite a lot of coverage in many diverse aspects
of Islay life and history. In the most recent issue is a list of many
Immigrant Ships from Scotland to North Carolina 1739-1820 by Dr. R.J.
Cain of Raleigh, NC. Among them it mentions 2 ships of interest to
us:
- 1769, the Mally sailed from Islay for NC, "full of passengers to
settle there." (from Scots Magazine,1769)
- 1774, the Carolina Packet sailed from Campbeltown, with 62
passengers from Islay and Mull, (Newsome)


The 1818 ship that brought the "Eldon" folks to NC wasn't listed. In
1820 there were 2 Sinclair brothers who left Kilchoman parish for NC
with their young families, presumeably following their friends who
left two years earlier. However, they did not migrate north to
Ontario, and there are many descendants still living in the Carolinas
and further afield. And Bill Caudill is one of them. It's a small
world.

Toni

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