Posted: 10:22 PM - Jul 30, 2000
The question that comes to my mind many times is where did our Robert Mackay Sr. come from?
Does he descend from the Clan Mackay of Strathnaver? Or do his origins lie elsewhere?
Our own family history is quite distinct from the history of the Clan Mackay in Strathnaver from the time of Robert's birth and onward.
While the Clan Mackay was facing many problems in Scotland with the Jacobite Rebellion and then the infamous clearances that followed which prompted many Mackays to emigrate to North America and elsewhere, our family was already established in North America.
For example, the Jacobite rebellions occurred at two intervals on 1715 and 1745. Clearly we can see by the evidence that our family was already in North America by that time.
Many of Robert's children were born likely in the early 1710's and Robert has been mentioned in the Nottingham Quaker records about that time I believe.
Later, during the 1745 Jacobite war our family was being established in what is now Warren County, Va. Robert secured land grants around 1731 for members of the family. I have some newsclippings in the subsection "Robert Mackay Clan Memorabilia" that speak of the settling of this part of the Valley by members of our family.
So we can see that we have a separate history from that of the Clan Mackay during the troubling times it endured during the 18th and then later in the 19th century when the last of the great estates of Strathnaver was sold to the Countess of Sutherland by the then Chief of Mackay (Lord Reay) to pay off debts he owed. The old Highland way of life had been permanently crippled long before that by the clearances and the reasons behind them. I recommend reading Ian Grimble's Strathnaver Trilogy which you can purchase through The Saltire Society. I have a link to an order form in the section "The Clan Mackay" of this website at: http://www.geocities.com/mckyrbnsn/mclinks.html
So, the question still remains is, where does our family fit in with the Clan Mackay history? Are we even a part of it?
One day I hope we can find the answers.
(P.S. It is worth noting that the Clan Mackay was opposed to the Jacobite Cause)
Does he descend from the Clan Mackay of Strathnaver? Or do his origins lie elsewhere?
Our own family history is quite distinct from the history of the Clan Mackay in Strathnaver from the time of Robert's birth and onward.
While the Clan Mackay was facing many problems in Scotland with the Jacobite Rebellion and then the infamous clearances that followed which prompted many Mackays to emigrate to North America and elsewhere, our family was already established in North America.
For example, the Jacobite rebellions occurred at two intervals on 1715 and 1745. Clearly we can see by the evidence that our family was already in North America by that time.
Many of Robert's children were born likely in the early 1710's and Robert has been mentioned in the Nottingham Quaker records about that time I believe.
Later, during the 1745 Jacobite war our family was being established in what is now Warren County, Va. Robert secured land grants around 1731 for members of the family. I have some newsclippings in the subsection "Robert Mackay Clan Memorabilia" that speak of the settling of this part of the Valley by members of our family.
So we can see that we have a separate history from that of the Clan Mackay during the troubling times it endured during the 18th and then later in the 19th century when the last of the great estates of Strathnaver was sold to the Countess of Sutherland by the then Chief of Mackay (Lord Reay) to pay off debts he owed. The old Highland way of life had been permanently crippled long before that by the clearances and the reasons behind them. I recommend reading Ian Grimble's Strathnaver Trilogy which you can purchase through The Saltire Society. I have a link to an order form in the section "The Clan Mackay" of this website at: http://www.geocities.com/mckyrbnsn/mclinks.html
So, the question still remains is, where does our family fit in with the Clan Mackay history? Are we even a part of it?
One day I hope we can find the answers.
(P.S. It is worth noting that the Clan Mackay was opposed to the Jacobite Cause)