Alexander McLeod 1842 – 1932 Part A Scotland

Rumsdale

Alexander McLeod (aka Sandy) was born at Rumsdale on 15 December 1842 and was baptized in Halkirk on 30 March 1843.

He was probably named after his mother’s youngest brother Alexander Sutherland who in 1839 left Scotland for New Zealand. It’s not surprising Alexander’s baptism had to wait a few weeks. Weather in December in Caithness could be very cold and likely wet! Late December has the shortest day of the year in Scotland.

Halkirk, Thurso River, in March

A Wick daylight hours guide says:

Wick in 15 December. Sunrise: 08:55, Sunset:15:18.  Hours of daylight 06:22

Wick in 30 March. Sunrise: 05.47, Sunset:18.47. Hours of daylight 12.59

Track past Rumsdale
John Thomson's Atlas of Scotland 1832

It would have been a long trip to the parish church at Halkirk with a three month old baby and the other bairns – Farquhar, Janet, James, Esther, William and Mary all bundled up. Maybe they had a horse and some sort of sledge or wagon. There was an old road from Rumsdale to Thurso that the family may have used. From Thurso to Halkirk is about 7 miles and would have had manageable roads.

Census Rumsdale 1851 

Alexander appears in the 1851 census aged 8 living at home at Rumsdale and a scholar - so going to school.

Family history suggests that from a young age Alexander was not strong and he was never expected to be a sheep farmer like his brothers. He did go on at least one long drove with his father John and he learned from his father how to make shoes.

In the 1861 census Alexander was living in East Tormsdale with his sister Elizabeth and her husband William. Alexander was 18 and still shown as a scholar. It seems strange that he could be still at school at 18 as it was common that young people left school much younger than that to get work as an Ag Lab or House Servant. Maybe he was not robust. Alexander was later very proud of the good education he had received in Scotland.

The lintel of the old Rumsdale house where the McLeod family
sat around the hearth in winter evenings

In 1853 the laird Donald Horne advertised Rumsdale for sale. It did not sell for a decade but finally in 1863 Horne disposed of the properties he owned in the Rumsdale district. This included Glemore, Benalisky and The Glutt. These properties were sold to Sir Tollemache Sinclair in 1863 for £16,500.

Christina Sutherland/McLeod

John McLeod

Rangag

It was time for John and Christina to retire. They were able to get the lease of a small house with a few acres on the Forse estate at Rangag, Latheron parish. Alexander, his sister Catherine and niece Christina Ross went to Rangag also.

The house, grocery shop and shoemaker's workshop at Rangag

The small stone building on the Causewaymire road at Rangag was well placed for travellers and locals. John and Christina added a room to the front of the house for a grocery shop and a room at the back of the house for Alexander to set up a shoemaking workshop. Among those working at this small factory were Alexander McLeod, some of the Ross family and William Sutherland - later a shoemaker in Helmsdale.

Alexander's workshop

It was dark inside

Westerdale

Marriage to Jessie Ross

In 1868 Alexander married Janet (aka Jessie) Sutherland Ross in Westerdale. A church had been built at Westerdale as a Free Church in 1847.

Westerdale Free Presbyterian church

The pulpit in Westerdale church there when Alexander and Jessie married.

The family of Jessie’s father, John Ross, had been evicted from Kildonan in 1814. Her mother Janet’s family had lived on a small croft in Rangag. John Ross was a meal miller and worked at Gerston near Halkirk and then went to work at the mill at Westerdale.

As an aside many years later Jessie’s brother became a successful businessman in New Zealand, was knighted (Sir John Ross) and built the Ross Institute in Halkirk. See Doing Well and Doing Good by S R H Jones.

Janet Sutherland Ross birth 1847

Janet Sutherland born 1815 at Rangag, Latheron

John Ross Born 1806 Kildonan, Sutherland, evicted in the Kildonan clearances

The old mill at Westerdale where John Ross worked

Thurso

Alexander and Jessie moved to Thurso where they set up a shoemaking business. 

In 1869 their first daughter Janet Sutherland McLeod was born at 6 Swanson Street.

Thurso, High street and Swanson street about 1910

Dalnawillan ancient cemetery

On 16 May 1869 John McLeod, Alexander’s father died. His body was carried a long way across country from Rangag to Dalnawillan for burial. 

1871 census 6 Swanson St Thurso 

The 1871 census shows Alexander, Jessie and little daughter Janet living at 6 Swanson Street, Thurso with two other staff including an apprentice living with them. The house they lived in has now been demolished and replaced. Alexander developed a pattern of shoe which became very popular for walking in the Highlands.

The 1871 census shows that Christina McLeod and her daughter Catherine stayed on in the Rangag house running the grocery business.

In June 1871 Alexander and Jessie's second daughter Christina was born in Thurso

In July 1872 Christina McLeod, Alexander’s mother died in Rangag. Her body was also taken across the moors of Caithness to Dalnawillan to be buried by her husband John.

After the death of his mother, Alexander and Janet moved to Bristol where there were industrial opportunities for shoe and boot makers. But also Alexander was interested in the evangelical, and faith-based orphanage work, that George Muller had established in Bristol. 

To be continued...