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THE MACKAYS IN SCOTLAND McKAY TARTAN
Please note: Mudale, Sutherlandshire, Scotland - is situated on the western side of the valley of the Naver. Sutherland is the most northern county of mainland Scotland. In 1819 from Mudale to the sea, 28 miles, was made desolate. The inhabitants expelled to form 2 sheep farms. In less than a week, the whole of this area was devastated and denuded of more than 400 families. The eastern side of Strathnaver had been cleared in 1814, over 20 miles, houses, out-houses, mills, kilns, and every other structure destroyed in order to form 3 sheep farms. 85,000 acres of land, was cleared of the 150 families who had lived there for generations. It is possible that DONALD MACKAY and CATHERINE DUNCAN of Mudale, Farr P A R E N T S O F O U R C L A N after being evicted at the time of the HIGHLAND CLEARANCES, were possibly at the fishing village, Lairg. (So far, unconfirmed.) According to the statement of DONALD MACKAY and CATHERINE DUNCAN's eldest son - Col. Sgt. Donald McKay:
"His father, who was in very comfortable circumstances,
is supported by the remarks made by the Col. Sgt's sister, Barbara in Australia, that: CATHERINE DUNCAN (known as Christy) married DONALD MACKAY at Farr on 25 February 1803. At the time Donald lived in Mudale. Their children (Barbara, Donald, William, Christina, John and Williamina) were born in Mudale, where the family lived. The children were baptised at Farr: BARBARA (c.1804) who later married Murdoch McKay on 12 April 1821 in Farr, emigrated to Australia in 1852. During 1975-77 two great-granddaughters of Barbara (Donella Klages and Donella Mackay) in collaboration compiled "THE STORY OF MURDOCH and BARBARA MACKAY".
Barbara and Murdoch's son, Kenneth, in the 1800's, visited the family in South Africa.
DONALD (c. 13.3.1808)
DONALD retired with the rank of Colour Sergeant (British Army). WILLIAM (c.14.10.1810 ) CHRISTINA McKAY (centre)
CHRISTIAN (Christina or Christy) (c. 9.12.1812) Christina later married GEORGE McKAY. George was possibly baptised on 5.12.1810 at Fastley.
George was the son of ROBERT McKAY and CHRISTINA, maiden name unknown. By the 1840's the parents of George (Robert and Christina McKay) were living at Dunn. It is possible that Christina was older than Robert. In the 1850's he was widowed and living at Farr. He was farming next door to his son, George, who by now was married to Christina and was the father of several small children. George worked as an Agricultural Labourer and Christina as a Dressmaker.
The children of George and Christina McKay were baptised at Farr:
Their youngest child was named after the Rev. DAVID SUTHERLAND of Farr Parish who in 1836 had married Jessie Hughina Duncan, (possibly Catherine Duncan's cousin). On the insistence of Christina's brother, Col. Sgt. Donald McKay, George and Christina McKay and family emigrated to King William's Town, South Africa in 1859. They first stayed with Donald McKay at Izela, and presumably, subsequently farmed in the King William's Town District. The 2 older boys of George and Christina McKay, who became Transport Riders, were later described in "THE OUTSPAN" by Sir PERCY FITZPATRICK (well-known author of "JOCK OF THE BUSHVELD") as follows: "The 2 McKays were brothers; they had left Scotland some years before to join a farming scheme "suitable for gentlemen's sons, with a little capital" as the circular and advertisements said. They had given it best, however and gone trading long before I met them. Donald McKay, was of a choleric disposition. The younger McKay - Robbie - was a quiet, humorous, and most gentle natured fellow, an immense favourite with everybody."
JOHN (c.20.10.1815)
WILLINA (Williamina) (c.14.4.1819) Angus Monro, was a shoemaker in Craske. Williamina Mackay was living at Clerkhill at the time of their marriage. Their daughter Catherine was born 13 August 1841 and son Donald was born 29 May 1843. In the 1840's Catherine Duncan and her daughter, Wilhelmina and husband Angus Monro, lived at Clerkhill, Farr. It is possible that by 1840 Donald Mackay (husband of Catherine Duncan) had died. Catherine had lived in Clerkhill since at least 1830. The Col. Sgt. Donald McKay gave the Clerkhill address for his next of kin for Army records (revised in 1844). It is possible that by 1844, his mother Catherine, had also died.
Not much is known about DONALD MACKAY and CATHERINE DUNCAN. One can imagine what havoc the Highland Clearances wrought in their lives. A way of life that had endured for centuries torn apart in a short space of time, bringing unbelievable hardship and grief with it. Homes and food supplies were destroyed, animals killed, people thrown out into the snow. Some people lost their lives. The suffering of the woman, children, elderly, and the ailing was enormous. The emotional pain of all heartrending.
As a direct consequence of the Highland Clearances during the 1800's all the surviving children of DONALD McKAY and CATHERINE DUNCAN emigrated:
The soil at Clerkhill is sandy. The soil at Farr is dark, rich, and gives a good yield. In a succession of evictions during the early 1800's Strathnaver was emptied of its inhabitants. The people were removed by force. Their ancestors had lived in the homes and crofts for generations. The Clearances were brought about by economic expediency with total disregard for all human and moral rights. In similar fashion, 70 years earlier the farmers of rural England were driven from their homes and ground making way for larger, economic farming units. Now the same was happening in Scotland. In 1746, the Battle of Culloden had destroyed the Scottish clan system. The Highlanders were left with no leadership and no rights. By 1800 landowners and expatriate chiefs ignored past history. They were titled, wealthy, privileged. They traded with the English and Lowland Scots. The crofters inhabited the Highland estates. There were those who could not read nor write, and spoke a "foreign" (Gaelic) tongue. They grew corn and potatoes and kept cattle that roamed the moors. The old times were gone. Men of Scotland now fought for the English king. Called on by a chieftain living in an expensive house in Edinburgh, or even London. Sutherland is the most remote of the mainland Scottish counties. In 1814 and 1819 permission was given for more than a thousand families to be removed from their homes and ancestral lands. Five hundred years of history were now irrelevant. Land was made available for the evicted at the edge of the sea. Land with no timber, thin soil, salty air, exposed to gales. The most dangerous sea on the British coast. In Strathnaver the people were dealt with ruthlessly. Land which had been occupied for many centuries by members of the MACKAY CLAN, was emptied. The Highlands being far away from the attention of the rest of Britain allowed the authorities to act with total disregard of the outside world. By the time the situation came to the attention of the press the last ruthless clearance had taken place over 20 years before. At the time of the ill-treatment, the suffering of the people was ignored. The people went unheard for quarter of a century. There had been unmerited plight and distress.
In the words of Sir Walter Scott: The need did come. In 1854 Britain declared war on Russia. The Highland regiments, so conspicuous in the past, were now equally conspicuous by their absence. "Where are the Highlanders?" was asked. When the Duke of Sutherland travelled from London to Dunrobin Castle to enquire why there were no Highland volunteers, an old man replied: "Your Grace's mother and predecessors applied to our fathers for men upon former occasions and our fathers responded to their call. They have made us liberal promises, which neither them nor you performed. We are, we think, a little wiser than our fathers, and we estimate your promises of today at the value of theirs; besides you should bear in mind that your predecessors and yourself expelled us in a most cruel and unjust manner from the land which our fathers held in lien from your family. I do assure your Grace that it is the prevailing opinion in this country, that should the Czar of Russia take possession of Dunrobin Castle and Stafford House next term, that we could not expect worse treatment at his hands than we have experienced at the hands of your family for the last 50 years."
In Sutherland there were no volunteers. The men said:
The young men who refused to volunteer called a public meeting stating: When the people emigrated from the Highlands of Scotland the conditions aboard the ships were appalling. Families were herded together in dreadful conditions. The Highland Society spoke of "circumstances of suffering ... shocking to humanity". Although the people were driven out of their ancestral lands, the emigrants took the spirit of Scotland with them wherever they went. COL. SGT DONALD McKAY
When the Col. Sgt Donald McKay, who had aided many to become re-established, and several young men in his extended family to become established in life, died - it was said of him: "He was of the stock that made Scotland famous the world over for dogged endurance against any odds, and the tenacity of purpose which converts defeat into victory. Men of his stamp make the backbone of a nation. A Highlander of the Highlanders. An enthusiastic lover of his kith and kin and country. Scotsmen, and especially Highlanders, are accused of clanishness. Surely a man is not to be blamed because his love to his own family is stronger and tenderer than that towards any other. His whole soul was absorbed in the land agitation in the Highlands. He collected a handsome sum of money to help in election expenses when the representation of the county of Sutherland was contested with the Marquis of Stafford. He wanted nothing less than the total expulsion of all landlords, and the restoration of the land to the people. He passionately loved the very earth where he was born and kept a small bit of peat moss and a sprig of heather so that his last remains might rest beneath Highland earth and Highland heather. Even in his 80's he started a fund for the relief of some fishermen, widows and orphans, on the north coast of Scotland who had been reduced to destitution by storm and wreck.
An old lady once remarked: "I need scarcely ask, Mr Mackay, if you are a Scotchman". Shortly before his death a friend asked him if he was ready to die. The old veteran, with the military instinct still strong even in death, suddenly sat up, smote his hand on his breast, and exclaimed, "The 91st, Sir, is already ready"."
In 1890 when he was 82 years old, Col. Sgt. Donald McKay wrote the following to his nephew: All last year I was very bad with rheumatics, but this year I banished them with whiskey and milk, and what whiskey cannot cure, they are not worth curing." He was one of the few men to survive an assegai wound to the stomach. And so, the emigrants found new lands where they formed new societies taking the old values and culture to the far corners of the globe. THE HOMELAND ALWAYS TREASURED IN THE MEMORY.
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