Family history across the seas

Over the years I’ve encountered many instances of people being happy to settle for what they find out about their family via the IGI. Ignoring the variability of patron submissions which are now excluded from the new Family Search, there are still plenty of reasons why you should order in a microfilm for the princely sum of $7.50.

I’ve recently been reviewing the Kilchrenan parish registers on LDS microfilm 1041069. These registers include baptisms (1751-1824) and marriages (1755-1858). To my disappointment there are no burial records of any sort, not uncommon in Scotland. It must be said that I have only a peripheral interest in this parish – my main focus is the parish of Inishail (later Glenorchy & Inishail) which is adjacent to Kilchrenan and also across Loch Awe from it. I’m really just trying to untangle the various McCorquodale families in the area.

So what interesting snippets can be found?

Example: the baptism of Mary MacCorquodale in 1824 appears to show that she is the lawful (legitimate) child of Lachlan MacCorquodale and Mary Rowan as shown in the IGI entry below (apologies for the severely spaced formatting).

In contrast the microfilm tells us that Mary was the “illegitimate daughter of Lachlan MacCorquodale and Mary Rowan servants at Lowr Achachenny born 22 October 1823” and baptised by W F (Revd William Fraser) and “ afterwards legitimated by the marriage of her parents on 28 December 1826”.

So the film tells us additional details: she is illegitimate, her parents subsequently married, at the time of her baptism they were both servants at Lower Achachenny. (There should be further information on this child and the parents’ relationship in the Kirk Sessions which are not available on film or online).

Subsequently Lachlan MacCorquodale had three children baptised in a batch on 29 December 1850: Isabella (born 1836), Margaret (born 1846) and John (born 1848). The latter two children were born to Lachlan and his second wife, Janet Livingston.

Another example relates to the baptism of a child conceived in adultery, which I won’t detail here.  Fortunately I found none indexed with the Minister’s “I” for incestuous.

Other more mundane instances detail the occupation of the father and where the family lived, sometimes varying from baptism to baptism.

There are two baptisms of children (Charles Blois and Euphemia) to John McDonald and his wife, Betsey McCorquodale who was sister to my ancestor James McCorquodale (later McCorkindale). From this I learned that John was then innkeeper at Kilchrenan although he was later a fisher (1841) and gamekeeper (1851+). One other child was baptised in Muckairn parish and another in Glenorchy & Inishail, proving that our ancestors didn’t just stay in one place: they also responded to economic circumstances and opportunities.

There are also instances of baptisms of children whose parents lived in the parish of Inishail. Quite probably this was because it was easier to cross the Loch by the ferry than take the longer route to the Inishail church, especially in some weathers.

There was also a rather more complex entry which I’ll post separately. I hope I’ve convinced you of the merits of actually looking at the microfilm whenever possible, even in adjacent parishes just in case your relations turn up there.

In part 2 of this post I’ll illustrate more details of a specific, and unexpected, event recorded in the Kilchrenan parish baptismal registers.