Clan Affiliation/Land Area/Ancestry HELP!

[RedRun11]

Hello all, I have been successful in tracing my ancestry back through the 1800s and I was wondering how to determine whether or not my family had an affiliation with any clan, I have read not to assume association based on surname.

My third great grandfather, Alexander Ross, married Charlotte Aird 9 Dec 1859. Per the marriage record he was a ploughman residing at Priesthill, which I have gathered is a farm but I have no idea where it is located. What I have found makes it sound like it is near Glasgow, which would not match up with my other research. Charlotte's residence is listed as Pitmaduthy, which I found was near Meddat, which is where I had thought Alexander grew up. The marriage took place in the parish of Logie Easter in the county of Ross. On the marriage record Alexander's parents were listed as Donald Ross - Shepherd and Sarah Ross (maiden name McLeod).

Census Records:

1841: at Meddat (Parish of Loggie Easter) Donald Ross (55) - Ag Lab, Sarah (50), Angus (25) - Ag Lab, Jessie (20), Martha (15), and Alexander (5)
1851: at Meddat Donald (69) - Ag Lab, Sarah (60), Angus (33) - Ag Lab, Alexander (24) - Ag Lab, Donald (18) - Gen Labourer


Donald died in 1859 and is buried at Logie Easter burial ground, I do have a photo of the stone that I found on findagrave.com.
1861: at Meddat Angus (41) - Farm Grieve, Sarah (69), Lain (28) - Domestic Serv [In this case then was Lain a true Ross or did he just take the Ross name because he worked for them? or is the census incorrect in naming him Ross?]
1861: at Priesthill (Parish of Kilmuir Easter) Alexander Ross (34) - Ploughman, Charlotte A. (20), Christina (2 mos.)

I did find a birth record in the OPR at Loggie Easter Parish, 3 Jul 1826. It reads: "Alexr. son to Donald Ross Alias Gow Balchragan V of Sarah McLeod was born

THIS CONFUSES ME GREATLY. I do not know what the alias means, I have googled and googled.. some say it means Smith or Blacksmith, but Donald was listed later on in life as a shepherd. Does anyone have any ideas? I also have not been able to find anything on Balchragan, is this a house? Last, the V/U looking symbol? I see it in other records on the page but I don't know what it stands for.

Alexander eventually came to Canada with his wife and three young children to work on a farm for a man named John Robinson, he died 20 days after arriving. The wife remarried and the family settled in St. Mary's, Ontario, Canada. I myself am from Michigan, not too far from a Canadian border. Anyway, because Alexander died so soon after his arrival to Canada I have no information about his death. I don't know where in Canada the family originally arrived, how the ended up at St. Mary's, or where in the world poor Alexander is buried. His son Donald Aird "Dan" Ross was very well-known and had a 3 column obituary which contained this information.

I did find a marriage record from Kincardine, Ross and Cromarty, 1 Feb 1814. Donald Ross at (unreadable) X Sarah Macleod in (unreadable) were(?) married on 1 February.

Per the headstone (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... 3&ref=acom):

Death: Dec. 13, 1859

"Sacred to the memory of Donald Ross who departed this life at Meddat on the 13th Day of Dec 1859 aged 78 years and also of Sarah Macleod the beloved wife of the above Donald Ross who departed this life at Meddat 7th Feb 1867age 78 years. Erected by their family in token of affection. Also of their son Angus who died at Balachraggan 21st May 1884 aged 66 years"

This correlates with Meddat from the census' and Balachraggan from Alexander's birth record.

Donald's death record gives residence as Meddat, death 13 Dec 1859 (78). Lists his parents as Donald Ross (Crofter) (Deceased) and Janet Ross, maiden name McLeod (Deceased). Angus was the informant. His widow, Sarah's death record gives her place of death as Meddat as well, Feb 1867 (75). Hers is not as easily read but her parents were Alexander McLeod (Crofter) (deceased) and Christina McLeod, maiden name Chisholm (Deceased). Angus was again the informant.

This is where I have hit sort of a dead end. I have found no information on either of their parents (Donald or Sarah). I am very interested in the Ross side. I would like to know if they belonged to the Ross clan. I was also wondering who they worked for, were they poor farmers? Did they adopt the Ross surname and give up their own? What was with the alias "Gow" listed on Alexander Ross's birth record? And hey, if anyone's feeling ambitious.. Where is Alexander Ross? Where is he buried? Is there any real record of his death in Canada?

Thanks. So grateful in advance for your help. Any questions feel free to ask.

Sincerely,

Melissa Ross

[Orlaith17]

Hi Melissa,

I live in Ross-shire. It sounds like that is where your ancestors came from. "Easter" probably refers to Easter Ross. There is an area there named Ballchraggan, and Meddat is also mentioned in the Invergordon area. Kilmuir is between Invergordon and Tain. Given some of the dates, it's possible your ancestors moved to Canada as a result of the Highland Clearances (http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/sco ... learances/)
If you want to message me, I am happy to research in this area to see what I can find for you, including photos of gravestones.

[killearnan]

By the middle of the 19th century, Gow is just a surname and not an occupation {although the surname had its origins as an occupational name} ~ so the record appears to show that Donald Ross was sometimes known as Donald Gow. Most of the cases I've seen where someone has an alias name like that there's a reason ~ illegitimacy and informal adoption are prime candidates in the cases I've seen. I'm sure others can chime in with other reasons they've run into.

Also, by the mid nineteenth century, the clan system {which has since been heavily romanticized/mythologized....} had not been a real factor for the better part of at least a century...

With Donald Ross/Janet McLeod and Alexander McLeod/Christina Chisholm, you are getting back far enough that the records can be hit or miss ~ some parishes had very good records, other had nothing, and many were somewhere in between. If they were Catholic, those records are separate from the OPRs at Scotlandspeople, if they exist at all. If the family was affiliated with a seceding church, the records may exist but not be digitized/on-line.

For the place names ~ the National Library of Scotland has lots of historic maps on-line. There's also a website called Scotlandsplaces.gov.uk that can be greatly helpful.... just remember that spelling not only could but usually did vary

[rossm]

Hi

The 1861 census record you've found for Alexander lists him at Priesthill in Kilmuir Easter parish. This is indeed in Ross and Cromarty and nowhere near Glasgow (not sure where that confusion comes from). Scotlandsplaces entry for Priesthill reads:

"A large farmhouse and steading, the property of the Duchess of Sutherland"

As killearnan said, this raises the possibility that Alexander and his family were affected by the Clearances.

It should be possible to locate all the various places you've mentioned. The National Library's site http://maps.nls.uk is the best source for old maps of Scotland, and helpful people are usually at hand here to help narrow things down (I'd offer myself, but am stuck using my mobile for a few days and this makes it tricky to use the maps site).

As for your later question about how poor the family might have been: the fact that Donald and Sarah have a marked grave with a headstone would indicate they weren't that poor, although I suspect this may have been paid for by Angus. His occupation as a Farm Grieve is effectively a manager of a Farm, and is a step above the common farm labourer. Regardless of this, all working classes of the time were somewhat beholden to their landlords. The Duke of Sutherland in particular is notorious in his ruthless eviction of tenants during the Clearances.

Ross

[WilmaM]

The 1861 census record you've found for Alexander lists him at Priesthill in Kilmuir Easter parish. This is indeed in Ross and Cromarty and nowhere near Glasgow (not sure where that confusion comes from).

Priesthill is an area Glasgow, at the very south west of the city, near Pollock & Nitshill. Once a lowly farm now a housing estate.
It's the first hit that Google gives.

[AndrewP]

Hi Melissa,

Just west of centre on the following map, you can find Priesthill, Ballchraggan and Meddat.

http://maps.nls.uk/view/74490617

All the best,

AndrewP

[rossm]

It's the first hit that Google gives.

I guess that's a lesson in itself. Google is great at many things, but trying to locate place names with it will always skew results towards large population centres. Knowing which parish to look for is always the key. A lot of Scottish place names will look reasonably unique at first glance (especially Gaelic ones), but the truth is they can be extremely common. And as someone has already pointed out, the many different spellings make things harder still.

Anyhow, Andrew has come up trumps on the old maps, and a quick peek at modern maps reveals all 3 farmsteads still exist in some form. It should therefore be possible to see them all on Streetview, something Google is very definitely good at

Ross

[johnniegarve]

Melissa, This is indeed the territory of the Clan Ross, I have ancestors from there myself descending from an Andrew Ross. The fact that there were so many Ross's meant that families had to be known by a by-name, a practice which still continues in the nearby fishing villages. In your case possibly the father/grandfather was a blacksmith, hence the Gow alias. The folk were Gaelic speakers and had seldom occasion to use their surname and Gow identified the family. They would also be able to recite their Sloinneach in Gaelic, John son of John, son of William etc... which identified an individual precisely, a practice which has died out in the east but still found in the islands.
Aird is also very much a local name, I remember coming across the wee roofless church of Nonikiln above Alness which is just stuffed with Airds.

The Tain Museum website , http://www.tainmuseum.org.uk/

Johnnie.

[Orlaith17]

Yes, you are right, Johnniegarve. This area is known as Ross-shire for a reason I live here, and am more than happy to do local research, photos of cemeteries or churches for anyone who has an interest in this area. Just PM me to say what you are interested in.

[johnniegarve]

Orlaith, many thanks for the offer, I more or less know mine, my gr' grannie was from Fearn and I spent holidays doon The Villages, I can still do the accent once I've had a few.

Johnnie