Serendipitous find in National Archives of Scotland

[eilthireach]

I'm bowled over ... I was idly carrying out some searches in the NAS online catalogue [they seem to have done some work on their system - the search facility is much faster now!] on some names from my database and, on coming to the Ds in my alphabetical listing came upon Lillias Dallas, a gggrandmother of mine on my mother's side. She was the wife of Angus McPherson, who farmed at Mains of Dunain in Inverness-shire. I saw from the 1841 Census that she was listed there but not her husband, so all I could assume was that she was either widowed (most likely) or he was away from home, though no other Angus McPherson of the right age and occupation could be found. All I could deduce, therefore, was that she was still alive in June 1841 and was born probably in the mid1780s and her husband had probably died sometime before 7 June 1841. So I thought I would see if there was anything on Angus McPherson in the NAS catalogues. Well, just see what I found there!:

RefNo JC26/1835/5
Repository National Archives of Scotland

Title Trial papers relating to William McKenzie for the crime of horse-stealing at Mains of Dunain, Inverness parish. Tried at High Court, Inverness

Date 23 Apr 1835

Accused William McKenzie, married. Son of David McKenzie, crofter, Allangrange, Verdict: Guilty, Verdict Comments: Guilty in terms of own confession, Sentence: Transportation - 7 years

Victim Lillias Dallas, widow of Angus McPherson, Mains of Dunain, Inverness parish

AccessStatus Open

FindingAids 19th Century Solemn Database

RelatedRecord AD14/35/2


Initially I had been looking for a possible will or something to do with the farm or the land (I don't know whether he owned the farm or was a tenant farmer). I didn't -really- expect to find anything and am absolutely delighted to have found this. I'll just have to get a copy ...eh... I'll put it down on my list!
It just shows what unexpected treasures can be found in the NAS!


Angus

[Anne H]

Hi Angus,

What a great find you must be over the moon I wonder what other hidden treasures you'll find when you finally get to see the document

Success such as yours always serves as a reminder not to leave any stone unturned...time for me to check the NAS online catalogue.

Thanks for sharing

Regards,
Anne H

[mallog]

I've never tried doing that. You've inspired me

[sheilajim]

Angus, That was wonderful!

I am off to NAS to see if I can find anything.

Cheers

[JohnI]

Well done Angus,

I just had a quick look at the NAS online catalogue and found my ggg grandfather's name. Apparently he was the victim of an assault in 1836. I wonder what that was all about.

Only one way to find out.

johni

[puffin]

Angus..... This is a great way to come upon information relating to someone on your tree.

As said above "leave no stone unturned" and then you will find treasure.

Puffin

[eilthireach]

Well, it's good to see this has inspired more people to see what they might find in the NAS vaults!
The "Related" record to which reference is made in that entry is the precognition (for those unacquainted with Scots law, this is "a preliminary statement of the evidence which a witness may be expected to give, taken down in writing. It is not signed and cannot usually be produced in court. (From: George Way's "Everyday Scots Law" HarperCollins, 2000) ):

RefNo Title Date
AD14 Crown Office precognitions 1801-1900
AD14/35 Crown Office precognitions, 1835 1835

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CountryCode GB
RepCode 234
RefNo AD14/35/2
Repository National Archives of Scotland
Title Precognition against William McKenzie for the crime of horse-stealing at Mains of Dunain, Inverness parish
Date 1835
Accused William McKenzie, married. Son of David McKenzie, crofter, Allangrange, Age: 24, farm servant,

Address: Muir of Allangrange, Urquhart, Ross
Victim Lillias Dallas, widow of Angus McPherson, Mains of Dunain, Inverness parish

I presume that this precognition would have been given by Lillias herself, so I'll be getting that document as well.

The moral of this is, I suppose, that you might believe that it is not worth looking for anything in legal (trial) documents, because none of your ancestors were involved in the court system as miscreants or wrongdoers, but it is possible that they appeared as -victims-!
I'm still on a high about this find!
It is clear that these documents would also be a wonderful find for anyone researching this McKenzie family. What I can't stop wondering about is the fact that he was sentenced to transportation (presumably to Australia), but he was married (and did he have children?). What would have happened to his wife (and children)? Would she have been hauled off too, and taken on the convict ship to Australia, or would she have had to make her own arrangements, or even been left behind? What tended to happen in cases like this?

Angus

[Jean Jeanie]

Hello Angus

Your "find" encouraged me to have a look in the on line catalogue for some of my ancestors.

Eureka Of all the names to find it was Smith. The accused was a family member, but so was the victim

Two for the price of one

Best wishes
Jean

[StewL]

Angus

Wives of those carted off to the colonies often had two choices buckleys and none Seriously, some of them found there own way out with their husbands others were left behind to fend for themselves. I would suggest you have a look at the resources available for searching for lang deid yins in the Aust/NZ thread in this forum to see what you can find.
As a matter of interest, there were actually only a small percentage of Scots who were transported to the colonies. Scotland had a different legal system. At different periods in colonial history convicts were transported to different parts NSW, Van Diemans Land (Tas), Vic and WA. But I cant recall offhand what the dates were.
Also some convicts when their time was up returned to UK others remained.