Catherine McLeod
 |
| From Rangag looking back toward Rumsdale in the far distance |
Catherine McLeod was
born at Rumsdale on 9 March 1846 and was baptized on 31 March 1846. She was the eleventh and last child of John McLeod and Christina Sutherland. The source
I have for her birth and baptism is a bit obscure. The record is not available
on Scotland’s People as I would have hoped. It is in the Alan Roydhouse
archives. Alan comments that he once had access to an old book of records for
Westerdale, Achreny and Halsary that had since disappeared. Fortunately, he
copied some items including Catherine’s birth.
She was probably named Catherine after
her mother’s mother (whose name was usually spelled with a K). The first-born
daughter of John and Christina was called Kitty on her birth record but later
recorded as Catherine on her gravestone and this last born Catherine was also
known as Kitty.
Catherine appears in
the 1851 census aged 5 living at home at Rumsdale and not yet going to school.
In the 1861 census Catherine
was still living at home in Rumsdale. She was 15 and a scholar.
In1863 the Rumsdale
property was sold to Sir Tollemache Sinclair and it was time for the McLeod
family to move.
They were able to get
the lease of a small house with a few acres on the Forse estate at Rangag.
Alexander, his sister Catherine and niece Christina Ross went to Rangag also.
Rangag
The house at Rangag was significant for
Catherine as she lived here with her elderly parents for several years and
stayed there for several years after their deaths. Alexander worked at making
shoes in the rear end of the building and Catherine helped her parents with the
grocery business they had established in the front of the house.
 |
| From the enclosure at Rangag looking toward Ascharaskill |
Next door were
Catherine’s sister Betsy and her husband William Williamson and their children.
Westerdale
 |
| The old Westerdale Church |
 |
| The Westerdale church |
In December 1868 the family gathered at
Westerdale for the marriage of Alexander and Jessie Ross. Catherine was a
witness on the marriage record. It would have been a happy family gathering.
John McLeod died
On Sunday 16 May 1869 John McLeod died at home
of heart disease. Catherine was still living at Rangag at the time. The wake
lasted till Tuesday morning when John was taken for burial. Catherine would
have stayed at the house as was the custom and watched with her mother and
sister Betsy and maybe sisters Janet and Mary as the men in the burial
procession carried John McLeod’s body across the moors to the old Dalnawillan
cemetery.
Grocer's daughter
In the 1871 census Catherine is shown living
with her mother Christina. They are listed as Grocer and Grocer’s daughter.
Catherine is 25 and unmarried. She was clearly helping her mother run the shop.
Christina died
On Wednesday 8 July 1872 Christina died. She
had been sick for some time so Catherine would have been caring for her mother
as well as minding the shop. She had support from Betsy and William next door.
William is shown on his mother-in-law’s death certificate as being present at
the time of her death and he registered the death.
Marriage
In 1877 Catherine married a local Stemster boy
James Taylor. James parents William and Janet Taylor lived at Stemster near Rangag.
 |
| James Taylor birth 11 June 1857 |
James is described in various records as either
an Agricultural Labourer or a Shepherd. In the marriage record Catherine is a Tea Merchant. She was still living in the Rangag house but had changed the focus of the business from groceries to tea which was a very popular drink.
 |
| Marriage Catherine McLeod to James Taylor 28 December 1877 |
 |
| The old Halsary church building |
The wedding was held at Halsary just a few
miles up the road from Rangag. James was 21 years old and Catherine was 30. There
was a huge shenanigans following the wedding that dragged on for a year or two.
I have blogged it on the Grey Hen’s Well blog. Here are the links to the five
blogs with the full story.
http://greyhenswell.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-excise-officer.html
http://greyhenswell.blogspot.com/2018/12/dawe-pounces-on-taylor.html
http://greyhenswell.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-statutory-penalty-of-400.html
Baby John
On 8 September 1878 Catherine’s and James first
son was born at Rangag. He was named John after Catherine’s father.
John died on 29 February 1880 of Skin Disease.
There is the sad comment that he had no medical attendant which was often just
the way things were at the time. I don’t have a record of the burial but my
guess is that baby John was buried at the old Stemster cemetery of Ballachly
where other Taylors were buried and where James parents William and Janet were
later buried.
 |
| Cemetery at Ballachly |
Baby Janet
On 28 September 1880 daughter Janet was born. She
was named after James’ mother Janet Taylor of Stemster.
Census 1881
In 1881 the Census shows the family still in
the house at Rangag. I have a query about the data on this census. The census
shows:
James
Taylor aged 25 Agricultural Labourer.
Catherine
Taylor aged 35 Labourer’s wife.
Catherine
Taylor daur aged 8 scholar.
Janet
daur aged 6 mths infant.
I am not sure who the ‘daur’ [daughter] Catherine
Taylor aged 8 is. She would have been born in 1873 four years before James and Catherine
got married. I cannot find a birth record for her or any subsequent census
records that might be her. Nor can I find a death record for her. On one
website I found the claim that the girl Catherine aged 8 was daughter Christina
Catherine who went to New Zealand with the family, but that cannot be correct
as that Christina Catherine was not even born at the time of the 1881 census.
Nor did a Catherine Taylor appear as part of this family in New Zealand. If she
was an illegitimate child and had been living at home with her parents and
going to school at Rangag then it seems very unlikely Catherine and James would
leave her behind when they left Scotland. I wonder if there was an error with
the census and this Catherine may have been a niece or other relative staying
with James and Catherine. There were certainly other Taylor families in
Latheron.
 |
| Loch Stemster |
Baby John George
In 1882 son John George Taylor was born in Stemster.
Baby Christina Catherine
In 1884 daughter Christina Catherine was born
at Acharaskal which was a farm just over the moors from Rangag. James must have
got a shepherding job there.
Baby Margaret Anne
In 1886 daughter Margaret Ann was born in
Rangag. James was still a shepherd. There are no later records showing there was a Margaret Anne Taylor with this family in New Zealand.
The shipping record in the New Zealand papers for
the arrival of the boat the Taylor family sailed on states a baby died on the
voyage out and I surmise it was Margaret Ann Taylor. I also have read a
suggestion from a Taylor descendant that a baby girl from this family died on
the trip out.
To New Zealand
In 1886 the Taylor family left Scotland and
emigrated to New Zealand.
To be continued.
No comments:
Post a Comment