Wednesday, February 7, 2007

another thought on Gigha

One of my ancestors was a McNeill. Her son married a Galbraith in the 1830s, in Knapdale. MY Mary McNeill was born and raised in Killean Parish, but Gigha has always looked (to me) like the mother lode of McNeills and Galbraiths. When Mary had her child in Killean, in 1808, she was unmarried. Subsequently, she moved to Knapdale. Family connections MAY provide the answer. However, when Mary was born, the Killean parish minister did not record the name of the mother (curses!), and so that line of enquiry does not exist.

Another connection with Knapdale: the McNeills of Taynish, and much of the Loch Sween area, were the lairds, before the Great Bankruptcies of the 1700s.

Czerkawska's book notes that there are no more people with the surname of Galbraith on that island. And truly, there is - in our day - a dearth of McNeills in Knapdale.

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