johnXXIII on Family Tree Circles

There were about a dozen MACKINTOSH families living in Glenurquhart, Inverness, Scotland, and in the Parish of Urquhart and Glenmoriston in the 1700s. Various spellings of the name are used as is common for Highland names. The name is still familiar in the Glen so presumably some have remained in the glen for centuries. Some emigrated to the USA and Canada or other parts of Scotland in the 1700s and in the 1800s Australia and New Zealand were favoured.

Walter H MCINTOSH has written about an early Glenurquhart emigrant to the United States, "A record of the descendents of John McIntosh of Bedford, New Hampshire". A reference is found on this web site, John MCINTOSH, Bedford, New Hampshire, USA Walter MCINTOSH was the Clan MacKintosh of North America genealogist and passed away in 2002. Walter was a descendent of this family.

A number of MCINTOSH families emigrated from Glen Urquhart to Pictou. Some are shown as passengers on the Sarah.

Bryan Keddy, on his web page 'Scotland Glens' shows Robert MCINTOSH emigrating to Pictou, Nova Scotia, from Glenurquhart, in 1801. Nova Scotia Immigrants

At least three MCINTOSH families from Glenurquhart, Inverness, Scotland emigrated to Victoria, Australia.

Descendents of Donald MCINTOSH and Mary GRANT.
Family of William MCINTOSH and Fanny MCLEA.
William and Fanny's son Donald (Donald McINTOSH 1819-1890 & Mary GRANT (1818-1887)emigrated from Inverness-shire, Scotland; to "Cove" station, Lilimur,Hotspur & Digby, S-W Victoria, Australia. They are also recorded on this site Ballarat Geneaology.

Descendents of Alexander MCINTOSH (Blacksmith) and Jean (Jane) MCINTOSH Alex the Blacksmith. Alexander MCINTOSH (bc 1803) and his wife Jean (nee McIntosh) MCINTOSH, married 20 Nov 1828,Urquhart, INV, Scotland, emigrated with their children (Eliza, Ann, Duncan, Catherine, Archibald, Elspet, William, John, Isabella, James) to Victoria, Australia in 1852. Some of the places they settled; St Arnaud, Landsborough.

A third family
Alexander MCINTOSH Born 1822 Urquhart, Inv, Scotland. Died 18 Aug 1888,Buried Lancefield, Victoria, Australia. He was the son of Alexander MCINTOSH and Margaret GRANT and married Elizabeth CAMERON, (born c. 27 Nov 1834) on 22 Jul 1853 Urquhart. Their children were born in Essendon, Bulla, Springfield, Goldie and Kilmore, Victoria, Australia.

James MCINTOSH emigrated to New South Wales, Australia from Glenurquhart.

In 1962 W D MACKINTOSH, of 161 Ilam Rd, Fendalton, Christchurch, New Zealand, wrote to the Glenurquhart Bulletin reminiscing of the old Glenurquhart he remembered from 50 years before.

I am offering to pay for a 37 marker DNA test with FamilytreeDNA for a direct male descendent of these or any other Glenurquhart McIntosh/Mackintosh family. They were a distinct group of the clan in the 1700s and I would like to know more of their origin and if they were related.

John

Glenurquhart and Glenmoriston are two glens running to the west from the northern shore of Loch Ness. These glens were Clan GRANT lands in the 1700s and among a population carrying a mix of clan names were a dozen or so MACKINTOSH families. A lot of the name spellings have defaulted to MCINTOSH, as my own has, so I will use that spelling.

The lairds of GRANT in these glens were subordinate to GRANT of GRANT, the Clan chief, whose lands were further south.

In the 1700s a number of the MCINTOSH families worked on the Balmacaan Estate in Glenurquhart. My GGGGrandparents, John MCINTOSH and Bessie CHISOLM, (married 1794) were one such family and also lived in the township of Lewiston, a model village set up by the 'good Sir James GRANT'. This occurred at a time when other lairds were clearing their lands of tenants with varying degrees of humanity.

John and Bessie's eldest son, William MCINTOSH,joined the Sutherland Highlanders (93rd Regiment)in 1813 and was posted to Newfoundland. A lot of Irish settled in Newfoundland and there was an anti-British undercurrent which may have been part of the reason for the garrison. As it turned out it was a lucky posting as the rest of the Regiment were returning from South Africa and were diverted to an attack on New Orleans in 1814, which cost them dearly in lives.

Subsequent to hostilities ceasing in the United States the regiment returned to Scotland and was then stationed in Ireland and the West Indies before returning to Scotland. In 1834 William left the regiment and took up a pension. His pension record has him moving about Argyll and Inverness until 1840 when he applied for and was given a position of Inspector in the newly formed Highland Police Force. William was stationed in Portree, Isle of Skye.

William lasted a year in the police force and here the paper trial runs out until the 1851 census. William is in Portree, with a wife Alexandrina (aged 33 born Portree) and a son John Duncan (aged 9 born Brown St, Glasgow). I have never found a record of a marriage or of John's birth. From John's later marriage his mother's name was found to be Alexandrina MACLEOD.

Why William went to Glasgow, I am not sure. Perhaps he was enticed into the Glasgow police force. The Glasgow police records are very scanty for the decade of the 1840s.

There is a record of an Alexandrina MACLEOD marrying a John CAMPBELL (private 93rd Regiment)in 1837 in Portree. The regiment went to Canada in 1838. It included 7 John CAMPBELLs. Some joined Canadian regiments, some disappeared from the muster sheets and I presume some returned eventually to Scotland. If this was my GGGrandmother then I assume that her husband John CAMPBELL died and she remarried William MCINTOSH.

Alexandrina's death was also unrecorded but was between 1851 and 1861. In 1861 William is in Tote, Snizort, Skye and married to Mary NICOLSON. John Duncan is with them aged 19.