Kitty McLeod 1822 - 1839

From Dalnawillan burial ground looking toward the Thurso River.
Kitty is buried just at the end of the stone wall. 

After their marriage John and Christina lived for about a year at Ousdale in an old longhouse near the road.

The Laird of Langwell and Rumsdale

The farm at Ousdale (aka Ausdale) was owned by James Horne Esq. Horne had purchased Langwell and extensive Caithness lands, including Rumsdale, from Sir John Sinclair in 1816. The plan was to use Rumsdale to provide summer grazing for the Langwell flocks which would then be driven to the autumn sales at Lairg and further south. Donald Horne, the nephew of James Horne, had been busy ‘improving’ Rumsdale and is said to have removed six tenants in 1822. 

Ousdale in 1934. The house in the top left corner was built on the
old foundation stones of the longhouse where Christina and John
lived when they were first married and where Kitty would have
been born.

Ousdale

1822, the year John and Christina were in Ousdale was probably a very busy one. John would have been getting further experience with the sheep, both on Langwell, and likely being sent to Rumsdale to become familiar with the property there.

Childbirth

Christina was pregnant. She had no mother to give her advice but her half-sister Marion Sinclair, wife of John Gunn, and living in nearby Badbea had quite a few children by then. Marion had been like a mother to the children when Christina and her siblings were orphaned and was known to be a kind and hospitable person so she would have been there to support Christina. Childbirth was a perilous time for women in those days. There was a 'Howdy' or untrained midwife living in Berriedale at the time who may have attended Christina. See my blog article:

http://greyhenswell.blogspot.co.nz/2015/12/widow-mcpherson-article-xiii-rambling.html

It's a Girl

Christina and John's first bairn Kitty was safely delivered. She was named after Christina's mother Katherine who had died when Christina was young. On 3 December 1822 John took his new daughter along to be baptised in the Latheron Parish.

Kitty would have soon been taken to Rumsdale with her parents and grown up being part of the busy family life there.

That’s about all the information that is known about Kitty McLeod. 

She Died Young - Only 17

At the Dalnawillan Burial Ground there is a McLeod grave stone that bears the following inscriptions.

• Side 1: John McLeod, shepherd 44 yrs, Rumsdale, d Rangag 5.5.1872 aged 74, wife Christina Sutherland 27.6.1874.
• One end of stone: This stone placed by surviving family now far from the scene of their youth but their thoughts often meet at the graves of their beloved parents.
• Side 2: In memory of Catherine McLeod their daughter died September 1839 aged 17 years.
• One end of stone: For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.Thes IV:14

My great grandfather Alexander McLeod, one of Kitty's brothers, had the stone laid many years after his parent’s and Kitty’s deaths. He visited Scotland from New Zealand in 1913. I note he has called her Catherine. He may not have been aware that the name on her birth record was Kitty as the two names were commonly used interchangeably and also he was born after her death. He certainly was aware that her life and death were part of his family history and must be remembered.

I Don't Know What Happened

I have not been able to locate any clues as to the cause of Kitty’s death at the age of 17 years. But as indicated by the term ’beloved parents’ this was a close and loving family and Kitty’s early death would have been a source of great grief.

Being buried with kin was important for Highland people and many years later the bodies of John and Christina were carried across country from Rangag to be buried with their daughter Kitty.

I Went There

It was a very significant experience for me to travel from New Zealand to the remote Dalnawillan cemetery in the Scottish Highlands and find the grave of this beloved family.