Roderick McKenzie/MacKenzie

[Mornarae]

I am looking for information on Roderick McKenzie, may be MacKenzie. Born in Ross Shire in 1801, father was Alexander.

Roderick emigrated to Nova Scotia, Canada, prior to his marriage, which was in 1827, to Marion Stewart.

He died at Pictou, Nova Scotia in 24th March 1865.

I cannot find any Scottish records of the family.

I would appreciate any help, thank you.

Morna

[LesleyB]

Hi Morna

And welcome to Talking Scot

A few questions to help us to help you:
Where have you found mention that Roderick was born in Rosshire in 1801 and his father's name?
What sources have you looked at already to try to find mention of him?
Do you know the names of all the children to Marion & Roderick?

Best wishes
Lesley

[SarahND]

Hello Morna and welcome,
A search on scotlandspeople.gov.uk (or on familysearch.org) for a Rod* M*kenzie born between 1795 and 1805 in Ross and Cromarty, father Alex* gives 4 results:

8 Jan 1795 Killearnan, parents Alexr. Mc Kenzie or Buie, Isobel Mc Intosh
25 Apr 1797 Urquhart and Logie Wester, parents Alexander Mackenzie & Katharine Maclenon
15 Sep 1799 Applecross, parents Alexr. Mckenzie or Gardener, Janet Mclea
15 Dec 1799 Kiltearn, parents Alexander Mackenzie & Margaret Fraser

Since these are christenings and not births, a knowledge of his birth month and day won't be much help, but do any of the mothers' names ring a bell? If he followed the Scottish naming pattern his second daughter should have the name of his mother.

However, looking at the bewildering number of Rod* M*kenzies born in Ross who were still in Scotland in 1851 and yet whose births don't show up in the OPR records… one realizes that either only a fraction of those records still exist or that there were many whose parents were not Church of Scotland.

Do you know the occupation of his father Alexander? There are a few possibles in a Testament search at ScotlandsPeople. With a great deal of luck he may have written a will and mentioned his son in Canada…

All the best,
Sarah

[Mornarae]

Hi Morna

And welcome to Talking Scot

A few questions to help us to help you:
Where have you found mention that Roderick was born in Rosshire in 1801 and his father's name?
What sources have you looked at already to try to find mention of him?
Do you know the names of all the children to Marion & Roderick?

Best wishes
Lesley

Hello Lesley, Thankyou very much for getting back to me, also for taking the time to help me.
To answer your questions - I have seen Rodericks grave & headstone in Nova Scotia, it says - Roderick McKenzie Native of Ross Shire, Scotland, died March 24th 1865, aged 64 years.

The death record says he was born in Scotland, died as above age 64, father Alex.

I have only tried Ancestry.com to find any conection of Alexander & Roderick in Scotland, but of course there are many with the same name.


I know all the childrens names -
Hector b 1828 – d 1911 - my great grandfather
Marion 1830 – 1913
Alexander 1832 – 1903
Betsy b 1834 –
Elizabeth 1838 – 1924
Nancy 1840 – 1908
Margaret b 1842 –
John R 1846 – 1919
Abigail 1848 – 1920

I hope this is useful to you & I thnkyou again,

Cheers Morna

[Mornarae]

Hello Morna and welcome,
A search on scotlandspeople.gov.uk (or on familysearch.org) for a Rod* M*kenzie born between 1795 and 1805 in Ross and Cromarty, father Alex* gives 4 results:

8 Jan 1795 Killearnan, parents Alexr. Mc Kenzie or Buie, Isobel Mc Intosh
25 Apr 1797 Urquhart and Logie Wester, parents Alexander Mackenzie & Katharine Maclenon
15 Sep 1799 Applecross, parents Alexr. Mckenzie or Gardener, Janet Mclea
15 Dec 1799 Kiltearn, parents Alexander Mackenzie & Margaret Fraser

Since these are christenings and not births, a knowledge of his birth month and day won't be much help, but do any of the mothers' names ring a bell? If he followed the Scottish naming pattern his second daughter should have the name of his mother.

However, looking at the bewildering number of Rod* M*kenzies born in Ross who were still in Scotland in 1851 and yet whose births don't show up in the OPR records… one realizes that either only a fraction of those records still exist or that there were many whose parents were not Church of Scotland.

Do you know the occupation of his father Alexander? There are a few possibles in a Testament search at ScotlandsPeople. With a great deal of luck he may have written a will and mentioned his son in Canada…

All the best,
Sarah

Hello Sarah, Thank you for getting in touch with me & looking into my family.

I just wrote you a reply, but when I hit submit, I am not sure if it went.

Would you mind telling me if it went to you, please - if not I shall compose another one.

Cheers Morna

[SarahND]

Hello Morna,
I only see the last message asking me if I got the first one But there are two copies of my message quoted, so I'll remove one of those.
Sorry if the site is giving you trouble!

Best wishes,
Sarah

[Mornarae]

Hello Morna,
I only see the last message asking me if I got the first one But there are two copies of my message quoted, so I'll remove one of those.
Sorry if the site is giving you trouble!

Best wishes,
Sarah

Hello again Sarah, that was quick - computers are amazing when it all works as you wish.

Re your thoughts -we say Roderick was born in 1801 because on his grave & headstone it says - Roderick McKenzie, Native of Ross Shire Scotland, died March 24, 1865, aged 64 years, so of course the date could be slightly different.
In the death report it says Roderick born Scotland died, as above, father Alex - occupation of Roderick, farmer, so maybe Alex was, too. I have been to the house on the property that Roderick built!

Re the names of children, nothing obviously showing up. He & Marion had Hector(my Great grandfather), Marion,in NS had the same thoughts as you - that the second daughter was often given the name of the fathers mother, so we suspect, Elizabeth.

I have a record of Roderick going to Nova Scotia 'before' 1829, but we know he married Marion in 1827 in NS, so was well gone before 1851 census. There are so many Rodericks & Alexanders in any Scottish records I look at.

I will leave you with thanks & those thoughts,

Cheers Morna

[StewL]

Hi Morna
I did a search for a birth of Roderick McKenzie in Ross and Cromarty spanning 1799-1802 with five as a result. There was one interesting birth in 1801 but the father was Hector. I had a look at this because you mentioned that your great grandfather's name was Hector. On the page I looked at there was a bewildering amount of McKenzie's born/christened around the same time Definately no TV for the cauld nichts.

[SarahND]

Hi all,
It is perfectly possible that his father was Hector and whoever filled in the information on the death record got it wrong-- we have all seen that enough! What were Marion's parents' names, so we can eliminate them from the list?

Best wishes,
Sarah

[Mornarae]

Hi all,
It is perfectly possible that his father was Hector and whoever filled in the information on the death record got it wrong-- we have all seen that enough! What were Marion's parents' names, so we can eliminate them from the list?

Best wishes,
Sarah

Another quick reply - thanks.

Yes I noticed none of the children have second names, so guess he could have been Hector Alexander. Someone in Western Australia replied that he found a Roderick 1801, father Hector.

The names of Marion Stewarts parents - Alexander Stewart & Marren McLean. I cannot remember where I received this info, but have that Alexander Stewart & Marren were married in Ross Shire, in 1789 & that they went to Nova Scotia in 1801 & Marion was born there in 1803.

Hope this is not too confusing for you.

I do not turn on the computer every day, so may not get back to you regularly, in fact we are going away at the end of the week for a few days.

Cheers Morna