Braetongue 1844

Notes generously supplied by Margaret Mackay, November 2006

Here goes for John Mackay McRob and his father Robert Mackay McWalter.

1. In 1845, Horsburgh report for Braetongue, I agree that Robert Horsburgh in naming John Mackay McWalter was carrying on the McWalter from the previous generation.

2. John Mackay McRob was married first to a Marion Mackay. The only children I have come across are Janet and Marion, who appear in the 1841 census and the 1845 report. The evidence I have for this comes from the marriage of Marion the younger daughter to George McKenzie, Braetongue, son of Hugh McKenzie, in 1848, and her death in 1887 which gives her parents.

3. As you will see from the last point and from the evidence of Robert Horsburgh's report, I agree that the 1841 census showing Robert Mackay and Janet both 70, and Janet 20 and Marion 15 are John Mackay's elderly parents and the two daughters by his first marriage. In the 1845 report, the elder daughter Janet appears as the eldest daughter in John Mackay's household. The other children's ages fit very accurately the baptisms of the children of John Mackay and his second wife Joanna/Johan Manson and their entry in the 1841 census and following censuses. John Mackay and Joanna/Johan Manson were married in 1830.

4. Robert Mackay McWalter's wife was Janet Mackay, and the baptisms of John and his brother Walter are recorded in 1793 and 1795 (OPR) in Braetongue.

More information accumulates from sources other than baptisms, marriages, censuses and Horsburgh's report. Robert Mackay McWalter is first noted as a tenant in Braetongue in the 1818 rental, although he was probably there in 1815 (names are not given, but there are the same number of tenants as in 1818).

There is a problem with Braetongue, in that from the rentals it doesn't appear to have been tenanted until as late as 1815, but in 1837 Robert Mackay McWalter Braetongue stated to Robert Horsburgh that he had paid 48 rents in his lifetime, implying that he had been a tenant since 1789 - but he isn't in the 1789 rental and there are no Braetongue tenants listed in the 1797, 1801 or 1808 rentals. A mystery!

Robert Mackay McWalter, who was born probably about 1769, continued as a tenant until 1832, according to the rentals. After that, John Mackay his son is the tenant. This fits in with Robert Horsburgh's report in 1845 that John Mackay McWalter got the lot twelve years previously. That Robert refused to put up a new house is confirmed by a letter from him to Robert Horsburgh in 1837 saying that John Horsburgh had told him to build a house, but he was too old and frail to do so.

The 1837 letter also reveals a family disagreement, as apparently although Robert wanted John to share the lot, so they could both work on it, John would give his father only a small piece of ground. To Robert's knowledge "this 26 years the same piece was not good to produce any crop." Robert Horsburgh replied that Robert and his son should share the holding and that the son should be kind to his parents.

The last years of Robert Mackay McWalter illustrate the poverty that old people faced at that time. In 1845, there was a petition from Robert saying that he and his wife were ill, old and unable to work, "wretchedly poor, having not had for years a drop of milk and being for some time without a dust of oatmeal to make us a little gruel ... We have suffered much from the want of sufficient food and raiment and are great objects of charity. Our only son has a thrang, weak family and is so oppressed and kept down he can do little or nothing for us." If we think this is exaggerated, it probably wasn't, as the petition was certified by Charles Manson and Hugh McKenzie Braetongue, and Rev William Mackenzie (Rev Hugh Mackay Mackenzie's son).

Under the Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845 allowances were made to paupers, who included Robert Mackay McWalter Braetongue. In January 1846, the allowance of Robert Mackay McWalter Braetongue was increased to 1s.3d. a week - an increase was usually a sign of real helplessness and need - but on 4 August he was refused a further increase. Robert must have died between 1846 and 1848 because on 19 February 1848, widow Robert Mackay McWalter Braetongue was admitted to the paupers' roll at 1s.3d. a week. Janet seems to have died between then and 1851.

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John Mackay McRob and his father Robert Mackay McWalter, Braetongue