mays of Balvicar

The Mays of Balvicar, Kilbrandon Argyll.

Many of my relatives have May as a middle name, from Jane May my great grandmother, born 1848 in Balvicar, Isle of Seil and who died so young in Kames in 1891. I think Grand Uncle William May McIntosh was the first to have it in our family. My dad was Duncan May McIntosh and he hated the name May as it was a girls’name. He said it was ok as a surname but not as a middle name for a man. (Shades of the Johnny Cash song “A BOY NAMED SUE”.) My daughter Christine May McIntosh also has it and she never liked it as to her May was an old fashioned name. No matter they should be pleased to know that May is the English translation of the Gaelic name Miadaigh, meaning honour or esteem. Legend has it that the name has roots in Kintyre where the original Mays, possibly from Antrim in Ireland, arrived to teach the natives weaving. The first written record of the name in Kintyre was in 1505. So my children next time you take the ferry from Portavadie in Cowal to Tarbet in Kintyre, just remember you are revisiting your ancient roots. There certainly seems to be some truth in this legend as the only clusters of the name May in Scotland are in Kintyre and in Seil. I did find a cluster of the name in Cornwall it turned out these too originated from Argyll as the May slate quarrymen emigrated to work in the Cornish tin mines.

We still have distant May cousins on the Isle of Seil. (I share the same 3xGGrandfather Gilbert May with them.). Unfortunately I have not yet met them in the flesh, but I have spoken to them on the phone several years ago and like us they stem from Gilbert May (1789-1859). They are actually cousins so both of them are related to us by blood. Someone in their family had been tracing their family tree and had come to the conclusion that around 1780 or so five brothers had arrived in Seil from England to work in the slate quarries and that all the Mays on the island were descendents of these brothers. It was not a silly theory as indeed many incomers from England worked and settled in Seil over the years to work in the slate quarries. However it was incorrect and I will explain why, although at that time I would have accepted their explanation as feasible.

When I first started tracing the May family on Seil I came into contact with a Franzie Cummings from Australia. She too was tracing her May ancestry on Seil and had been for several years. She told me that I was the first who had contacted her regarding the name. Together, using the information available we tried to establish relationships amongst the many Mays on the island and to work out who was related to whom. We scoured the censuses from 1881 back to the first in 1841. We checked almost every birth, marriage and death certificate from 1855. We checked every record in the Old Parochial Register we could find for the name it did seem indeed that the Mays arrived in Seil around 1800 as there were no records of any May being born in Seil before that time and we knew that the parish records went back to at least 1750 or so. By this time we had together been researching the records for at least two years, and for Franzie it had been even longer.

Then we hit a breakthrough. Actually our letters crossed in the post. (This was before either of us had email). We had both discovered that the original name was not May but Omay. It seems that around 1800 the minister at a stroke no longer used the name Omay in registrars and changed it to simple May. I can only guess that this was in order to distance the name from the Irish Catholic sounding Omay. In that period all of the islanders were Protestant. It would have made little or no difference to the Omays on the island as their language was Gaelic and it was only the church records that were kept in English. Later when I discussed this with the Argyll archivist he told me that the dropping of the O prefix was common in the Highlands around this time.

This allowed us to go back to the earliest church records of Kilbrandon & Kilchattan Parish which started around 1753,and we made further progress. For example I was able to establish that my ancestor Gilbert May who died in 1859 was born as Gilbert Omay. Franzie was able to establish that her ancestor John May who married Katherine McKenzie was born as John Omay.

Again Franzie and I tried to build up family units from the records. It would be nice to say we eventually established we were distant cousins but sadly that was not to be as even records back to 1753 were insufficient to prove this. Again there seemed to be at least five families of Mays / Omays who lived on the island in the 1750’s. We began to think that perhaps it was five Irish brothers who arrived on the island in the distant past. This of course was before I found out about the origins of the Omay name in Kintyre.

Below is a transcript from the Old Parochial Registrar (Church Records) of the Omay name, that show they were on the island since records began. You can see even with this new source of records that the same naming patterns are used again and again and you have to make absolutely sure that any ancestor is your own but it does suggest all the Omays/Mays were related. You can see there are gaps in the records when either nothing was recorded or the records were lost. For example I found no OPR record for Gilbert Omay, my 3x GGrandfather, and could only relate him to his parents via his death certificate, when he was buried as Gilbert May and his father was given as a John May. Had he died before 1855, when Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates became compulsory, then I could never have been sure of the names of his parents. In fact even on his death certificate his mother was unknown to the informant and it was only because I could find his brother that I could make the final connection with my 3xGGrandmother Ann McInnes.

OMAY NAMES IN OPR KILBRANDON PARISH

O'May Chr. 28 May 1753 Ann (natural= illegitimate) daughter to Archibald O'May (Kilbride) and Mary Johnson
O'May Chr. 29 Sep 1753 Katrine Malcolm O'May (cottar in Balvicar)
and spouse Sarah McCallum
O'May Chr. 2 Feb 1755 Archibald Gilbert O'May (weaver in Balvicar)
and spouse Mary McCallum
O'May Mar.15Jan 1756 Malcolm O'May (Servant in Oban ) and Ann McDugald
O'May Mar.3 Feb 1756 Archiebald O'May/Anne McDugald.
O'May Mar 22nd Jan 1756 Gilber O'May (weaver in Balechuan) / Anne
McPherson (Kilbride) (9th Mar 1756 OPR)
O''May Chr. 8 May 1757 Donald Malcolm O'May (worker) and Mary McColl
O'May Marr.19 Dec 1758 Malcolm O'May / Mary McColl
O'May Marr 5 Feb 1761 John Omay (Cuan) to Katherine McKenzie
O'May Chr 31 Oct 1763 Christian to Malcolm Omay / Mary McColl
O'May Chr. 3 Mar 1766 Isobel Malcolm O'May (in Leckimore) and Mary McColl
O'May Chr.16 Jul 1766 Christian - John O'May (Carriban) and Katherine Mckenzie
O'May Marr 6 Feb 1777 John O'May (Balvicar) / Anne McInnes
O'May Chr. 4 Dec 1777 Duncan John O'May (Balvicar) and Ann McInnes
O'May Marr. 20 Dec 1781 Hugh Omay/ Anne Mackay (opr)
O'May Marr 11Dec 1783 Christian Omay / Donald McYeill (opr)
O'May Chr. 1 Aug 1785 Helen John O'May (Balvicar) and Agnes McInnish
O'May Chr. 3 Oct 1785 Gilbert Hugh O'May and Agnes Mc Kay
O'May Brn. 29 Jun 1787 Gilbert Hugh O'May and Anne O'May
O'May Brn, 14 Nov 1787 Archibald -John O'May (Balvicar) and Agnes MacInish
O'may Marr 14 May 1787 Ann Omay/ John Blair (OPR)
O'May Marr. 8th Dec. 1789 Christian O'May/ James McPhaden (OPR)
O'May Marr. 10th Dec 1789 Hugh O'May /Catherine Johnstone
O'May Chr. 25 Sep 1792 Donald Hugh O'May
O'May Chr. 11 Jul 1793 Elizabeth Hugh O'May and Ann McKay
O'May Chr. 28 Dec 1795 Jean Hugh O'May and Ann Mackay
,

Over the years I have contacted at least a dozen distant cousins from our Omay roots and one day I might put it all together and present it to Jean Adams who runs the Folk Museum on Easdale. My brother and I were in Balvicar several years ago and there we spoke to a David May who lived in one of the little cottages in Balvicar. He was an old man then but it was nice to show him his family tree and to have a cup of tea in that little white cottage he lived in. It would have been one of these little cottages where our ancestors lived. (He was also descended from a Gilbert Omay but not the same one as us.) I am not sure he is still alive but other Mays still live on the island to this day.

There was a very interesting co-incidence when a Mr Mackay, I forget his first name now, but he was living in France and worked for the BBC. He had put out a notice on a Perthshire genealogy site. (I was looking at the site to find contacts for another ancestor of ours from our Craig line, a Cecelia Gray, born about 1742 in Perth) He was looking for ancestors of a Duncan Mackay and Agnes May in Killin. I was unable to help him with Mackay but to his delight I was able to give him a full ancestry back to the 1730’s of his May line. I was also able to tell him that we shared a set of GGGrandparents. The Agnes May he referred to was my GGrandmothers’ sister and his GGrandmother. He in turn was able to send me a photograph of my grandfather and some of my aunties, when they had visited his Ggrandmothers house in Killin, and until I told him Mr Mackay had no idea who the people were in the photograph.

Given that when church records started on Seil around 1750 that the Omay name was well represented in various parts of the island I think we can estimate the Omays had settled there since at least 1650-1700. Certainly by around 1730 or so our branch of the Omays were settled in Balvicar village, and one day I will check more fully the Breadalbane Papers in Edinburgh to see if I can establish any more information. I did find a John Omay in papers of the Breadalbane estate but it was of little help as I could not say which John Omay it was, and there were several alive at the time.


My 5 X GGrandfather Gilbert Omay I guess was born around 1715 and married a Mary McCallum in Seil probably around 1745. He was a weaver and lived in Balvicar, as did all of our Omays/Mays thereafter until they left the island. His brother Malcolm married a Sarah McCallum who was probably a sister of Mary McCallum and it is likely that they too came from a cottar family nearby. As the only real datum points we have are Katrine born to Malcolm and Sarah in 1753 and Archielbald born to Gilbert and Mary in 1755 we really have little to go on. As these were the only children that show in the records we can only assume that both of these were the last children born to either couple. It is likely there were many more in each family. The fact is we cannot really establish the relationships amongst the various Omays on the island in those early days. However the only two Omays I can attribute to Gilbert Omay and Mary McCallum are Archiebald Omay born 1755 and John Omay (my 4 xGGrandfather) who married Anne McInnes on 6th Feb 1777. I have to estimate John was born around 1750.

John Omay and Anne McInnes

As with his father Gilbert Omay we know very little of John Omay and his wife Anne McInnes. It is unlikely we will ever know anything of Anne McInnes other than her name as the records tell us nothing at all. We do know from his sons Gilberts’ death certificate that John Omay was a crofter in Balvicar. Because of census records we also know that both John Omay and his wife had died before the first census in 1841.

They married in Feb 1776 and had at least 4 children Duncan (1777), Gilbert (1779), Archiebald(1782) and Helen (1785).

Gilbert Omay (1779-1859) and Jean Munro (abt. 1779- abt. 1818)

Gilbert Omay is really the first May ancestor I can begin to put any real substance to regarding his life and that is mainly because it is only in his time that I can find him on censuses 1841 and 1851 and also on death certificate (he died 1860 and death certificates had started 1855.) It was also lucky that his brother Archielbald died in 1856,after Civil Registration started. Had this not happened it would have been very difficult indeed to build any sort of picture of the life of Gilbert Omay my 3x GGrandfather.

Gilbert Omay married Jean Munro probably around 1805 and there is no record of the marriage but son John was born 1806. There is a gap or around five years and then daughter Margaret was born around 1811 followed by Archiebald around 1813, Alexander 1815 and then Duncan, my 2xGGrandfather around 1818. I have no idea why only Johns’ birth was registered by the church. Maybe the records were lost. What is clear is that Jean Munro, my 3X GGrandmother died soon after Duncan was born and as there is no record of a marriage it will be difficult to establish who were her parents.

Gilbert, in 1822, then married a Mary Graham from the parish of Kilmore which now contains the town of Oban, so is a little north of Seil. It is hard to imagine where they met and Mary was some 20 years younger than Gilbert. Maybe she was originally intended as a housekeeper. After marriage the couple wasted no time in having children, as there was a succession of kids. William,(1823) James(1824), Nancy,(1825) Gilbert,(1830) Donald,(1833) Hugh(1836) and Jean(1838).

On October 23 1830 Gilberts’ brother, Archiebald Omay married Betsy Omay. It is probable that Archiebald and Betsy were cousins but that I cannot prove. Betsys’ parents were Hugh Omay and Anne Mackay. The couple had at least three children Ann,1832, John,1834 and Elizabeth, 1835. As Archiebald was 48 by 1830 it is possible that the 37 year old Betsy was not his first wife.

By 1841 Gilbert and family are farming a croft of 100 acres in Balvicar and all of the children were still at home including those from the first marriage to Jean Munro. The census shows Gilbert at 63, Mary at 50, then sons John 35, Archiebald 28, Alexander 26, and Duncan 24 and all slate quarries. It also shows daughter Mary from the first marriage at 30 and unmarried. The children to Mary Graham are shown as William,18, James,17, Nancy, 16,Gilbert, 11,Donald,8, Hugh 5, and Jean,3.

It really is quite a remarkable family. There is a 32 year gap between Gilberts’ oldest and youngest child. It is probable Gilbert had other children who died in infancy but that so many of his children survived is unusual in itself for the period.

I can only imagine there was a housing shortage at the time as an explanation as to why none of Gilberts’ children were married earlier.

Son Archiebald appears to be the first to marry and leave home when he married Betty McDougall around 1842. They had children Mary 1843, Gilbert 1845,Jane 1847, Catherine 1850, Ann 1852, and Elizabeth 1854. Next they had twins Donald and John in 1857 and finally Lizy in 1859.

It appears son John was next to marry in 1843 at the age of 37 when he married a Mary McVicar and they had their first child John in 1844. Son John was quickly followed by Jean,1846, James,1847, Catherine,1848, Alexander,1850, and finally Donald in 1852.

In 1847 my 2XGGrandfather Duncan May married Elizabeth McFarlane and they too quickly had a family. They had Jane,1848, Agnes, 1849, Duncan,1850, Peter, 1852, Gilbert, 1853, William, 1854, John, 1856, and then another Peter, 1858, as the first died young, and finally Archiebald, 1861.

I have been unable to establish if son Alexander had children and also have been unable to trace any of the female children of Gilbert, but you can see he had a virtual explosion of grandchildren between 1843 and when he died in 1859 and these are only those from his first family to Jean Munro. So far as I am aware Gilbert did not live long enough to see any of his grandchildren from his second wife Mary Graham and indeed he did not see all of his grandchildren from his marriage to Jean Munro.

By 1851 Gilbert had left the 100 acre farm in Balvicar and now had a small croft of 3 acres in Balvicar Village. He shows on the census as being 72, and a crofter. His wife Mary shows as being 52 and only sons James,26 and Hugh 14 are still at home.

In 1856 Archiebald. Gilberts brother died in Seil.

On Dec 16 1857 son Hugh dies of pneumonia after a five month illness.

In 1859 Gilbert dies at 80 years of age.

Duncan May (abt 1818- 1885) and Elizabeth McFarlane (abt 1817- 1906)

I see Duncan Mays’ life as one depicting a man, who no matter what happened, kept trying. He tried his hand at many things in his life and I cannot help but admire his tenacity.

Duncan was born in Balvicar, Seil around 1818-19 and his mother, Jean Munro, died soon afterwards and certainly before he was 3 years old, so he did not have the best start to life. Duncan was the youngest child of five until his father Gilbert re-married when he was about four years old.

Duncan would have gone to school, at least until the age of 11, and could both read and write. On the Isle of Seil education was very important and very few were illiterate even although they were taught in English and not Gaelic which was their native language.

Duncan became a jouneyman slate quarrier and it is hard to imagine many jobs that were more arduous. Slate quarrying was dangerous work and not only because of the frequent use of gunpowder. It is hard to imagine anyone working today in such conditions as these men did. Most slate quarries were at the edge of the sea and often the men would be cutting slate whilst knee deep in pools of water with the icy winds blowing off the Atlantic Ocean. This they did for 12 hours a day six days a week. They had no thermal or protective clothing. It is little wonder that the main illnesses on Seil were rheumatism and arthritis. Workers in the slate quarry were paid by the amount of slates sold in a period. This meant that wages were unstable and also that people had to buy from what was essentially the company store on credit. Often the prices were inflated making inroads into purchasing power. Below is an account of conditions from an article I found online about the slate quarries:

Men worked in teams of five or six; two quarriers, two splitters (nappers) and two labourers whose job it was to supply the nappers with rock and remove the finished slates and the spoil.
Those dressing the slate worked as close to the rock face as was practicable. They created for themselves rectangular pits in the ground, neatly reinforced with dry stone walling. Corner posts supported a canvas or corrugated iron roof which kept out the wind and rain while they worked. Many such pits can be seen in the proximity of the quarries.
In this crude shelter the men, often seated in the water which collected around them as they worked, split and shaped the slates throughout the hours of daylight. It is little wonder that the most prevalent diseases amongst the quarrymen were rheumatism and arthritis.
The men were paid by the thousand slates sold, the different trades attracting different wages with quarrymen being considered the most highly skilled. Generally the gangs were paid twice yearly and were obliged to run up a bill with the Company store meanwhile. A tally was kept of the number of slates made by the gang and of amounts owing at the store. These were literally recorded by writing on a slate. Hence the term ... put it on the slate

We know Duncan was working in the Balvicar slate quarry until after 1841 and was probably still working there when he married Jean McFarlane, from Degnish on 25th July 1847. I often wonder how they met as Degnish is a remote little village on the mainland about four or five miles south of Ardmaddy Castle. Perhaps Jean had relatives on Seil or maybe she worked in service for some family on the island. We will never know.

The couple quickly had four children Jane (my GGrandmother in 1848), Agnes in 1849, and then Duncan in early 1851. The 1851 census shows the family as living at house number 2 Balvicar Village. Duncan shows as being 30 and now a grocer, Jane shows as being 31. Also there were Jane 3, Agnes 2 and Duncan at 3 months. On the 1st Feb 1852 young Peter was born but unfortunately he died in infancy.

Very shortly the family moved to Ardrishaig and they must have lived there at least a year or two as sons Gilbert was born there in 1843 and son William in 1854. I don’t know why they went there.

By 1856 the family had moved again to Dunoon and on 29th December that year son John was born. Duncan by this time was again working as a slate quarrier and the family lived in Allans Place, Dunoon. I would imagine the family had a lovely new year with the new baby. (I think the slate quarries near Dunoon are on the road between Tighnabruiach and Dunoon but I will check it out)

On December 16th 1857 Duncan’s youngest brother Hugh died in Balvicar. He was only 25 and died of pneumonia after being ill for five months. At this time Duncan and family are still in Dunoon as son Peter (the 2nd to be called Peter was born on the 6th February of 1858 whilst the family were living on Church Street, Dunoon. Duncan was now working as a general labourer. Young Peter must have died shorty afterwards, but I have yet to find a death certificate for that. The family were still in Dunoon when Duncans’ father Gilbert died at the age of 80 in Balvicar.

So far I have not found the family on the 1861 census and when I do it will give me a bit more information. What I do know is that daughter Jane, in 1861 is living with her McFarlane grandparents and is still at school. The census shows for her as living at 33 Degnish at the 2 room home of William McFarlane, aged 86 crofter of 2 acres born Lochnee. Also there is his wife Anne McFarlane aged 86 born Degnish and Jean May aged 12, (my GGrandmother) and she shows as a boarder scholar, born Seil. I can only speculate that Jean had gone to live with her grandparents in order to be able to help them a little around the croft. It was nice to see that she was still at school.

1861 must have been a strange year for the family. On 23rd February son Archiebald was born in Pilot Street ,Dunoon and Duncans’ occupation is given as an occasional gardener. I often wonder why the family moved so often and it is seldom in this period that they are ever found living in the same place for long. On the 14th June that year, brother Gilbert May married Margaret McInnes on Seil. I wonder if the family went to that wedding? (as a matter of interest the descendents of that Gilbert May still live on the island of Seil to this day ) A week later Duncans’ brother John died on the 21st June on Easdale, a tiny Island off the Isle of Seil. John died aged 55 of phthisis and was a slate quarrier. He had at least six children by then. John was Duncans’ oldest brother and it must have been a terrible shock to all of the family. If that was not bad enough young son Archiebald died on the 1st August in Dunoon and this time the family are living in Black Park, Dunoon. The misery had not ended as on 29th July 1862 son Duncan aged 12 died in Dunoon, and that must have devastated the family. I have not checked to establish why young Duncan died.

I am not sure how long the family stayed in Dunoon after 1862. By this time Duncan had had at least nine children, and four had died. Only Jane, Agnes, Gilbert, William and John were still alive at this time. Neither am I sure if Jane ever went back to live with the family or if she stayed with her grandparents in Degnish.

On 15th January 1868 father in law William McFarlane died in Degnish with a given age of 97. I don’t think he was so old but he certainly did live to a good age. He and his wife Ann Munro were married in 1802 so it was a long marriage. I think it would be around this time that Duncan and family moved from Dunoon to Kilmelford Village.

On 1870 Daughter Jane married James McIntosh in Kilmelford. Around the same period daughter Agnes marries Duncan Mackay from Killin.

On the 1871 census the family are shown as living in Kilmelford Village at No. 7 Kilmelfort. Duncan 52, agricultural labourer, Jean wife 53, both born Kilbrandon, Gilbert May, son Joiner aged 18 born Ardrishaig, William May , son 17 born Ardrishaig and a scholar. Mother in law Agnes McFarlane , shows as aged 94 and a dressmaker and is living with the family. For some reason son John is not at home and he would have been aged about 15. It is interesting to note that son William was still at school at the age of 17.

In 1871 Duncan and Jean have their first grandchildren when Jane Mackay was born on 14th August in Killin, Perthshire and three days later on 17th August Allan McIntosh is born in Kenmore Kilmelford. Agnes Munro of course also becomes a great grandmother. Agnes Munro died in the December of 1871 and the age given on her death certificate was 97. However as with her husband I doubt she was that old.

In 1873 my grandfather Duncan McIntosh was born in Kenmore Kilmelford and within a year or so James McIntosh and Jane May had moved to Cumlodden where James worked at the Powdermill as a cooper. Tragedy was soon to come as young Allan died after being bitten by an adder in Cumlodden on 1st May 1875. Grandson Hugh McIntosh was born in Cumlodden in 1876 and William May McIntosh was also born there in 1880.

Around 1877 son Gilbert married and he soon moved to Glasgow. In 1878 Louise May was born and in 1880 Duncan May was born. Duncan at last had a grandchildren bearing the May name.

In 1879 son William died at the age of 25. It must have been a terrible blow to the family. It is almost certain that when James McIntosh and Jane May had their next child in 1880 that he was named William May McIntosh after Duncans’ young brother who died the year before. Now the only child left at home with Duncan and Jean was son John. By 1881 the census shows the family living at Shepherds House Kilmelford, and Duncan is shown as 63 and an agricultural labourer. Jean is shown as 64, son John, born Dunoon, is 23 and a letter carrier. Also at home with them that day is granddaughter Mackay who is 8 born Killin and a scholar. They also have two lodgers, a Mr Donald McLean aged 38 from Mull and a Robert Fotheringham aged 29 from Calder Lanarkshire. At this time daughter Agnes is living in Killin, daughter Jane is living in Furnace, Cumlodden and son Gilbert is living in Canning Street Glasgow.

Duncan died suddenly on 27th January 1885 and no other reason is given for death so I can only guess it was some sort of heart attack and that he had shown no sign at all of being ill. He was only 67 years of age and son John was informant.

Jean McFarlane, Duncans’ wife, lived in Kilmelford, until 1906 when she died aged about 89. She outlived her daughter Jane May who died in Kames at the age of 43 in 1891. Of her other children Agnes remained in Killin until she died in 1919. Gilbert remained in Glasgow and in 1906 was living in Paisley Road West with his family. John remained in Kilmelford.

Duncan May 1818-1885 (chronology)

1818 Duncan born Kilbrandon, probably Balvicar, parents Gilbert May and Jean Munro
1820 About this time mother Jean Munro dies, probably in Balvicar.
1821 Father Gilbert remarries Mary Graham from Oban in Kilmore 30th March.
1841 Census Kilbrandon Balvicar Village
Gilbert May @63 Crofter Y (Y)= born in county
Mary May @ 50 Y
John May @ 35 Y Slate quarrier (issue of Gilbert /Jean Munroe)
Archiebald May @ 28 Y Slate quarrier " " " " "
Mary May @ 30 Y " " " " "
Alexander May @ 26 Y Slate quarrier " " " " "
Duncan May @ 24 Y Slate quarrier " " " " "
James May @17 Y (issue of Gilbert /Mary Graham)
Gilbert May @11 Y " " " " "
Donald May @ 8 Y " " " " "
Hugh May @ 5 Y " " " " "
Jean May @ 3 Y " " " " "
William May @ 18 Y " " " " "
Nancy May @ 16 Y " " " " "
1843 Brother John marries Mary McVicar 6th May (Balvicar)
1847 Duncan May marries Jane McFarlane, Kilbrandon 25th July.
1848 Daughter Jane or Jean born on Seil
1850 Daughter Agnes born on Seil
1851 Son Duncan born on Seil
1851 Census for Kilbrandon Balvicar village house no 2
Duncan May (h) @30 Grocer
Jane May (w) @31
Jane May (d) @ 2
Agnes May (d) @ 1
Duncan May (s) @3months
1852 Son Peter (1st.) Born 11th Feb. (probably died young)
1852 About this time family moved to Ardrishaig
1853 Son Gilbert born Ardrishaig
1854 Son William born Ardrishaig
1856 About this time family have moved to Dunoon.
1856 Son John born 29th Dec. Allans Place Dunoon. Duncans' occ. slate quarrier.
1857 Half brother Hugh dies 16th Dec in Balvicar
1858 Son Peter (2nd ) born 6th Feb. Church St. Dunoon. Probably died young.Duncans' occ. General labourer.
1859 Father Gilbert May dies Balvicar 10th May aged 80
1861 Son Archiebald born 23rd Feb Pilot St Dunoon. Duncans' occ. gardener.
1861 Half brother Gilbert marries Margaret McInnes 14th June
1861 Son Archiebald dies 1st Aug. address Black Park Dunoon.
1861 Brother John dies 21st June. in Easdale
1862 Son Duncan dies in Dunoon aged 12
1868 Father-in-law William McFarlane dies Degnish 15th Jan aged 97
1870 Daughter Jane marries James McIntosh in Kilmelford.
1871 Census for Kilninver and Kilmelford (no 7 Kilmelford)
Duncan May (head) @52 Agricultural Lab Born Kilbrandon
Jane May wife @53 Born Kilbrandon
Gilbert May son @18 Joiner Born Ardrishaig
William May son @ 17 Scholar Born Ardrishaig
Agnus McFarlane mother in law @ 94 former dressmaker Born Ardrishaig
(do not think Agnes McFarlane born Ardrishaig but in Kilmelford or in Degnish)
1871 Grandson Allan McIntosh born Kilmelford 17th Aug.
1871 Mother -in-law Agnes Munro dies Kilmelford 20th Dec. aged 97
1873 Grandson Duncan McIntosh born Kilmelford 14th June
1875 Grandson Allan McIntosh died of snake bite in Cumlodden 1st May. (Oban Times)
1879 Son William dies Kilmelford aged 25
1881 Census for Kilninver and Kilmelfort shows (524-2 2 3):
Living at Shepherds House (many families this address
Duncan May age 63 Agricultural Labourer born Kilbrandon(Head)
Jane May age 64 born Kilbrandon(Wife)
John May age 23 Letter Carrier born Dunoon (Single son)
Jane McKay age 8 Scholar born Killin,Perthshire (g/daughter)
also 2 lodgers a mr Donald McLean age 38 lab and plasterer born Mull
Robert Fotheringham age 29 Joiner born Calder Lanarkshire
1885 Duncan dies suddenly in Kilmelford 27th January - informant son John.

McFarlane Line

I have not had much success with the McFarlane line despite the fact that they lived to a ripe old age. Again the problem has been inadequacy of records. I have never been able to prove that Jean McFarlane, had any brothers or sisters and it is almost certain that she did.

Although I could not find a birth record for Jean McFarlane the records of her age are consistant enough to suggest she was born around 1817. It is fairly certain she was born in Degnish in the parish of Kilbrandon, Argyll. Degnish is a small hamlet on the mainland part of Kilbrandon Parish and is just south of Ardmarry Castle.

Jeans’ parents were William McFarlane and Agnes Munro. I could find marriage banns which were read in both the parish of Kilbrandon & Kilchattan Parish and also in Kilninver & Kilmelford parish, in Jan 1802. The actual wedding date was 22nd Jan 1802. The banns in Kilninver Parish state William McFarlane, shoemaker in Kilmelford and Ann Munro of Degnish.

It would appear then they moved to Degnish and lived in that Hamlet for most of the rest of their lives. It is only when we see their death certificates that we have any idea of their parents. When William died on 15th January 1868 his parents were given as Donald McFarlane and Ann McCallum. Unfortunately I have never been able to trace that marriage. I have many problems to overcome in order to do so, not least of which is I have no idea where William was actually born or how old he was when he married in 1802. If William was the youngest child of the marriage then the marriage of his parents could have taken place before records began around 1750. I have never yet found other McFarlanes in the area who may have been brothers to William.

In one census, that of 1861, William gives his birthplace as Lochnee. This is probably Lochnell but even that has not helped. In other the other census that could give me information, the 1851 census, Williams’ birth parish is given as Kilninver.

As to the real age of William we can only use estimates. On his death certificate his age is given as 97. We can only compare that to information given on censuses. On the 1841 census he gave his age as 65, which would give a birth year of 1776 and make him 92 when he died in 1868. On the 1851 and 1861 census he gave ages of 76 and 86 respectively which would give a birth year of 1775 and an age of 93 at death. This means that William got married in 1802 at the age of 26 or 27.

Ann or Agnes Munro died on 20th December 1871 and was also given an age of 97 at death. Her parents were given as Archiebald Munro and Mary McCallum. Both names are far too common to enable me to trace them with any degree of confidence without definite proof. It is possible that Mary McCallum was sister to Ann McCallum, Williams mother but again no proof.

If Ann was 97 when she died then she would have been born in 1774. We can again only compare this with information given at censuses. In 1841 her given age was 63 making 1778 her year of birth. In other censuses 1851,1861 and 1871 her age is consistant making her year of birth 1777. This would make her age at death 94. This means when she was married in 1802 she 25 years old.

As I said so far I have found no proof of any brothers or sisters of either William McFarlane or of Ann Munro. Neither have I found any brothers or sisters to their daughter Jean McFarlane. I would be looking for children born any time between 1801 and 1827 at the very latest, as by then Ann Munro would have been 55 and extremely unlikely to have had children later than that.

I have only ever come across one possibility and that was on the 1841 census in Degnish and living next door to our William McFarlane, where it shows a William McFarlane aged 45. married to a Margaret McFarlane aged 30 and they had a 16month old baby boy who had not yet been named. Given the rules of the 1841 census for showing ages which was + or – 5 years in multiplies of five,it is possible this was the oldest son of the couple and he was 40 or 41. However I never found that family on any other census.

One day I will have a much closer look at the records but for now I have to accept that I can go no further with these McFarlane, Munro and McCallum lines.