Posted: 6:29 PM - Nov 09, 1999
I thought I'd present some theories I have about Robert Mackay Sr.'s origins.
We unfortunately don't have any real connection between our Robert Mackay Sr., the Quaker pioneer as I call him, and the Clan Mackay of Strathnaver as of yet.
We don't even know if our Robert is the immigrant or not. He was born ca.1680 we believe which means he would have been too old to have been a part of the mass clearances that occurred during the latter 1700s. He died in the mid 1700s and his family was already established in this area by then so our family being a part of the famous Jacobite uprisings and the aftermath that occurred is definitely impossible.
Dee Ann has been exploring some possible leads but still no concrete connections. With some other families that were associated with our Robert Mackay there seems to be a frequent mentioning of East Lothian where a Quaker settlement existed at one time. It is also believed that since there appear to be no Mackays among Quaker records prior to our Robert that he must have been a convert to Quakerism.
Since we don't know anything about his origins I have three theories as to how the name Mackay came about:
1. Robert is descended from the Strathnaver Mackays and we just haven't found the exact connection.
2. Robert may instead be descended from the Argylle Mackays or another group and we haven't found the connection yet.
3. Robert's name could have been contrived in the same manner that other surnames came about by simply saying that someone in Robert's ancestry was the son of a man named Aoidh and hence the surname "Mac Aoidh" or "Mackay" was concieved and there isn't any connection to either group of Mackays aforementioned.
In any case there definitely needs to be more research done regarding our family's origins.
I'm convinced that Robert at least had Celtic origins because of the Mackay surname.
We unfortunately don't have any real connection between our Robert Mackay Sr., the Quaker pioneer as I call him, and the Clan Mackay of Strathnaver as of yet.
We don't even know if our Robert is the immigrant or not. He was born ca.1680 we believe which means he would have been too old to have been a part of the mass clearances that occurred during the latter 1700s. He died in the mid 1700s and his family was already established in this area by then so our family being a part of the famous Jacobite uprisings and the aftermath that occurred is definitely impossible.
Dee Ann has been exploring some possible leads but still no concrete connections. With some other families that were associated with our Robert Mackay there seems to be a frequent mentioning of East Lothian where a Quaker settlement existed at one time. It is also believed that since there appear to be no Mackays among Quaker records prior to our Robert that he must have been a convert to Quakerism.
Since we don't know anything about his origins I have three theories as to how the name Mackay came about:
1. Robert is descended from the Strathnaver Mackays and we just haven't found the exact connection.
2. Robert may instead be descended from the Argylle Mackays or another group and we haven't found the connection yet.
3. Robert's name could have been contrived in the same manner that other surnames came about by simply saying that someone in Robert's ancestry was the son of a man named Aoidh and hence the surname "Mac Aoidh" or "Mackay" was concieved and there isn't any connection to either group of Mackays aforementioned.
In any case there definitely needs to be more research done regarding our family's origins.
I'm convinced that Robert at least had Celtic origins because of the Mackay surname.