Mack Bridge from US back to Scotland

[ConnieMack]

Hello. I hope this is the right place to post this. I want to take our Mack family history back to the supposed homeland but have hit a brick wall. The first American ancestor is John Mack and the paper trail starts in Salisbury, Massachusetts with a marriage recorded in 1681. I've documented from there forward to my immediate family. I've scanned all the Scottish Record Society books, over 50 volumes, as well as anything else I could find to search. The only birth date or location comes from Sopia Mack Smith about a century ago and she is related to the part of the family that became the Mormon church. The LDS have his date of birth listed as March 6, 1653, either Inverness or Inveresk, depending on which of their websites you read. The problem is, that date is the wife's parents marriage date and they have no source listed at all to back up either the date of birth or location. That makes no sense to me at all, since they have created a monopoly on the genealogical records, history, and emphasize the importance of pedigrees. I've searched familysearch.org and only came up with a couple of possibilities that have led to nothing that I could link to our John Mack. I've searched every feasible ship passenger list. As I'm sure you know, it is not a common surname in Scottish history. I've also searched Macke and Mak I've always been sure the name was shortened, probably was MacK*. Most shortened their name to remove the tie to the homeland. But, keeping the Mac makes that not seem likely. They cut their tie to the father and the only reason I can think of for that is if the father was notorious for some reason. The one that that comes to mind is MacGregor. This is a possibility, since I read a comment made recently by a Maria Mack with the same ancestors, stating her grandson got his dna results and it tied back to that family. But, that doesn't help me, since none in my immediate family have submitted dna and even if they had, part of that bridge would still be missing. So....

How do I go about finding the generation before, that left Scotland for America, under these circumstances? Thank you for reading and for this wonderful resource.

[AndrewP]

Hi Connie,



I see no obvious sign of the 1653 birth amongst the birth / baptism records on http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. On the online IGI, I only see the birth amongst the submitted information, and not amongst the data extracted from the records.

Could it be that the 1653 birth was taken from the marriage record in the USA?, and not from any Scottish source?

The Scottish records are thin on the ground in the 1600s. There are records for both Inverness and Inveresk, so neither of these can be ruled out by the records not going that far back.

All the best,

AndrewP

[ConnieMack]

Thank you Andrew. No, the date didn't come from the marriage record, If they have the right Sarah. I found the index for the marriage to Sarah Bagley. But, I even had some doubts about this being the right Sarah as the wife because one of the Lyme, CT born children's birth record had [Bennet] after Sarah's name, meaning that the person recording inserted that. (right?) The Bennets owned land adjoining and their son married a Bennet also. Maybe someone's mistake, maybe not. I am sure that the date given for John's birth by the LDS is the same as the marriage for Sarah Bagley's parents. I also know there was another John Mack wandering around the early colonies but not sure if it was that early.

I found a few masons in the old Scottish records, John, George and James Mack. I hoped I'd find a son born to one that could be our John but no luck. I thought I might be onto something because the next American generation had a dam and bridge so I thought it might run in the family. Thanks for your time, Andrew. I really appreciate it.

Connie