Clan Donald Magazine No11 (1987) Online
Further Notes on the Macdonalds of Dalness by
Charles M.H. Miller
In an article on this branch of the
Glencoe Macdonalds published in No. 9 of the
Clan Donald Magazine, reference was made to "The Clan Donald"
account, by Revs. A. and A. Macdonald, as mistaken in several points
of detail. It is perhaps advisable to correct their record now as
far as possible, and also to give any further information that is at
present available, even if it means repetition from the previous
article. The sources are, as before, the papers in the legal
Processes of 1750-64, the Settlements of John Macdonald and Coll
Macdonald W.S., some other documents in the Register of Sasines, and
the family letter written in 1905 by Coil's granddaughter. I am
grateful also to Mr. Ian M. Campbell W.S., for kindly providing me
with copies of other Dalness papers, including extracts from the
wadset of 1694 (not 1691 as stated before), and the Contract of Feu
of 1764, which wound up the long litigation. Mr. Diarmid Campbell,
of Denver, Colorado, has also raised several helpful points in
correspondence with me.
To begin with the minor mistakes in the "The Clan Donald" account,
in Vol.3, pp.216-221, it is said on p.217 that Alexander, second of
Dalness, "flourished on to the end of the 17th century" and in 1695
obtained a Feu Charter of Dalness. In fact the Alexander who was a
party to the wadset of 23rd June 1694 was "the eldest lawful son to
umquhile Alexander Macdonald, i.e. he was Alexander Macdonald, third
of Dalness, who had an Instrument of Sasine in his favour dated 7th
Aug. 1694. The description of Alexander as "absolute" owner in 1695
is hardly correct; there were certain minor conditions attached to
the Feu Right which need not be stated here.
A difficulty arises over the two marriages of Alexander, third of
Dalness, and especially about James, the son of his second wife, but
this problem must be left till later.
On p.218 it is stated that Alexander's second son, Coll, was a
Captain, R.N. This may be right, and he is called Captain in the Feu
Contract of 1764. But in the official Navy List he is given only the
rank of Commander in 1750, and 'Gone' in 1752. The terms Lieut.,
Capt., etc., now names of ranks, were probably then being used as
the names of posts or appointments.
On p.219 the date of John Macdonald'd death is wrongly given as Dec.
1774. It was in fact 2nd May 1775, as both the "Courant" and the
"Scots Magazine" say. Also on p.219 the brothers were those of
Alexander Macdonald 4th of Dalness (as given on p.218), not 5th.
In the same paragraph we come to the mistakes about relationship
which were indicated in the previous Magazine article. For
"half-brother" read "uncle", and of the two sons of James, Coll
succeeded his "cousin" John, while John Macdonald executed a
Disposition in favour of his "cousin" Coll. Further down the page
Coll is again "cousin" not nephew. All this is made quite clear in
the relevant legal documents.
John Macdonald of Dalness died intestate, so his Dispositions of
Dalness and Gartencaber were not precisely in favour of any
individual, but first of his own heirs male, failing whom of his
heirs female, then of Coll Macdonald, then of any persons chosen as
substitute heirs. In this case, Coll Macdonald W.S. succeeded to the
Estates as nearest in kin, and was nominated Executor dative by the
Commissary Substitute of Glasgow.
At the foot of p.219, Coll was admitted as W.S. on 18th March 1788,
not 1786. His marriage (p.220) took pice on 22nd Oct. 1795. He was
married, according to the "Courant", at Fornighty, a hamlet a few
miles South-east of Nairn. The same date is also given in his
Testament. The wrong date of 1796 was probably taken from the
History of the W.S. Society.
Finally the members of Coll Macdonald's family were: James, Anne,
Susan, Donald, Margaret Campbell, Duncan, Elizabeth, John, and
Marjory Cameron, in (probably) that order. It has not so far been
possible to discover some of the birth or death dates of the
children for certain. Allowing for probability as well as certainty,
they may be given as follows: James (1799/1800 -16.9.1845); Anne
(1802-21); Susan 1803/04 - after 1876); Donald (1805 - 25.1.1855);
Margaret Campbell (1807/08 - 2.1.1876); Duncan (9.11.1809 -
8.6.1842); Elizabeth (11.9.1811 - 22.8.1888); John 1813/14 - ?);
Marjory Cameron (2.2.1816 - 10.3.1895).
We must now refer back to the problem of Alexander Macdonald's two
marriages. The facts and sources are these: Alexander Macdonald,
third of Dalness, had a wife Jean Maclachlan, by whom he had four
sons, Alexander, Coll, Dugald, and John. While the children were
still quite young, as the Process papers tell us, Alexander moved
with the whole family to Fort William, where he died in 1726. James
his brother then looked after the family at Dalness until they went
out into the world. So much for that marriage and family in the
meantime.
But some very awkward problems arise over the other marriage to
Janet Campbell, and their son James. Two documents in the Register
of Sasines, dated 4th March 1703 and 21st November 1717, refer to
Alexander Macdonald of Dalness, his spouse Janet Campbell, and their
son James, who may be inferred by one sentence not yet to have
'attained to the age of 21 years compleat' by the latter date. James
must therefore have been born between Nov. 1696 and March 1703. To
this may be added a reference in a Sasine of 1723 to the Marriage
Contract of Katharine Macdonald, eldest lawful daughter to Alexander
Macdonald of Dalness, dated at Dalness 28th July 1714; and a burial
stone on Eilean Munda, Glencoe, to Angus Macdonald, son of Alexander
Macdonald of Dalness, died 22nd April 1794 aged 80 years. According
to this evidence, then, we have Alexander Macdonald marrying Janet
Campbell by 1696, and having Katharine, James, and possibly Angus in
the first family.
It seems almost certain that Janet Campbell must have been
Alexanders first wife, not the second as "The Clan Donald" has it.
But if that is the case it is curious that her son James did not
succeed to Dalness. In spite of "The Clan Donald's" remark (foot of
p.217) "of whom afterwards", and the mistaken attribution to him on
p.219 of two sons, it can be stated with certainty that they were
the sons of James Macdonald, Alexander's younger brother. Nothing at
all is known of Janet's son James beyond what has already been said.
It is most remarkable that throughout the detailed history of the
Macdonald family as told in the Process papers, neither Janet nor
her son James is mentioned. What can be guessed, then, about this
James? Either he must have died before Alexander's death in 1726, or
in some way or other he was disqualified from the succession, in
favour of the sons of the second family. As for Angus Macdonald, he
presumably belonged to the first family also, and the fact that he
did not succeed to Dalness either before or after the other brothers
seems to show that the same disqualification attached to him. Were
the first family, and with them Janet Campbell, in some way
disowned? She is spoken of as still alive in May 1718, but the terms
of the document (RS/Vol.lll/Fol.424), a Renunciation by which
apparently Janet lost life-rent and interest given in the 1703
Sasine (RS/3/83/Fol.22), seem to me to give slight hints that she is
by then disabled and perhaps living away from her husband.
If Jean Maclachlan was the second wife, surely she must have married
Alexander earlier than 1718? The Process papers tell us that in her
family there were four sons, and when the two oldest were "advanced
to the proper age for getting education, their father let his lands
of Dalness to his brother James and in 1722 or 1723 went to Fort
William with the whole family, where there was a tolerable school."
Further, the eldest, Alexander 4th of Dalness, immediately after his
father's death in 1726 went to sea and soon after died abroad. John
and Dugald lived for some time in family with their mother; when she
died soon after, Dugald, after residing a year or two with his uncle
James, went into the army and died c.1748. John lived with his uncle
James, but supported by his uncle Maclachlan, and about 1734 went to
Jamacia, "without ever having received one single shilling from his
uncle James". It is reasonable to suppose therefore that the four
brothers were born between about 1712 and 1720.
The long legal Process from which most of the family details are
gleaned was started in 1750 by Capt. Coll Macdonald R.N. and
continued by John, the youngest brother. That side of the family, or
at least John, was attempting to show that Duncan Campbell of
Inverawe (of Ticonderoga fame) was aiming at repossession of
Dalness, with the suspected connivance of James Macdonald, who
wanted to retain his lifelong tenure of the lands. That is why John
is at pains to emphasise that neither he nor his brothers were
beholden for any benefits from James. The authors of the "The Clan
Donald" have no doubts, and roundly accuse James of villany, when he
took steps to get Dalness into his own possession. The defenders,
James Macdonald, Duncan Campbell and, after his death, his daughter
Janet, Mrs. Pitman, present an entirely different view of the case:
both Duncan and James were trying to rescue Dalness from financial
difficulties in order to "quieten the children in possession of the
lands", as the legal jargon had it. Viewing the long Process as a
whole, there seems little or no reason to doubt that Duncan Campbell
and James Macdonald acted as far as was possible in the interests of
the younger members of the family. At all events, the case ended in
1764 with a compromise that was satisfactory to both parties, who by
then were John Macdonald and Janet Pitman. The Campbells of Inverawe,
ever since the tack of 1608, and the Macdonalds of Dalness had
always been on good terms; a Bond of Friendship and mutual
assistance had been signed between them in 1679, - a fact which may
have helped to save the Macdonalds of Dalness from being victims in
1692.
Feedback.
If you have any comments, additions or corrections to this article,
please post them in the forum as a new thread
here. Please make the title of your post the title of the
article and put a link back to the article in your post. You will
have to register to join the forum. |
