name changes

Post by **Ina** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:56 pm

According to my gg granny Christina Dougall's death record in 1880, age 80 years old, her parents are listed as Duncan McArthur and Grace McAllister. My gg granny was from the Isle of Colonsay. I've been searching for a long time for her parent's marriage record. This morning I found a Duncan McArthur marrying a Cathrine McAlaster in Glasgow in 1793. Could this be them? Would someone named Cathrine be called Grace?

Thanks,

Ina

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 8:23 pm

Hi Ina
The simple answer is yes

Many of the islanders have middle names, whether they are given names or pet names. they were essential to differentiate between several people from the same place, of the same name.
I worked with 5 nursing colleagues all called Donald McDonald. None was ever called by his given name. We either used his middle name or he was called Donald J or Donald A McDonald.
The female nursing staff were the same but they had a wider choice of fore names since many were called after a male family ancestor with 'ina' added such as Jamesina or Donaldina. These were invariably abbreviated.
Donaldina was often Dolly.
Other names were anglicisations of the gaelic.
Sometimes friends would use the English version and at other times the gaelic one James one minute Shamus the next (I haven't tried the gaelic spelling for this and given it phonetically)
Makes life difficult for us but sometimes looking at collateral lines you find the name crops up again & again but with some clues to where it arose.

Russell

Post by **Ina** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 8:32 pm

Thanks Russell. I know what you mean by the islanders using the same name over and over. I've lost count of how many Donald Sinclairs I have........all from the Isle of Islay.

I also shortened my name to Ina. I was named after my great granny.

Ina

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 8:41 am

Hi Ina,

Any Colonsay stuff can be addressed by contacting Kevin Byrne via http://www.colonsay.org.uk/

Kevin is married to my third cousin (of Rathlin extract) and we've helped each other on LOTS of stuff in the past.

Kevin has transcribed just about every scrap of info about the Island, while not all appears on the website I'm fairly sure he'll be able to help.

Great lad is Kevin.

Say hello from me and say I'll be in touch when I get time.

G.Love · Post by **G.Love** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:37 pm

I always though that Hamish was the Gaelic version of James. Is it Shamus?

Duplicate post removed by Ina

Post by **Ina** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:48 pm

Thanks Andy,

I'll get in touch with Kevin. These McArthur's are another of my brick walls.

Andy, I know you have tried to help me in the past with my other brick wall......my Ferguson lot. Thought I'd let you know that I took the plunge and asked my uncle John, the only surviving Ferguson in my family, to do a DNA test for me. The results are due back October 27th, so I'm getting excited. I'm not really sure what info, if any, I'll get from the DNA.

Ina