Arnold' McNaughton's 1954-56 book OUR FAMILY TREE  gives us the stories of the grandchildren of Thomas and Malcolm McNaughton (the two sons of John MacNauchtan who were born in Dunderave Castle) and their immigration to Canada. Arnold collected all his genealogical information long before our age of personal computers. Today we are blessed with the internet which gives us access to parish records that were impossible for Arnold to discover. Arnold's ancestors had passed down to him a genealogical tree of our line of McNaughtons. But often there were no dates of birth and no dates of marriage. Arnold knew of no proof of birth or marriage  for our ancestors Duncan McNaughton and Katherine McNaughton, first cousins who married in the seventeen hundreds. So imagine my delight when I began researching with a computer in 1994 and discovered the parish record in Perth Scotland for the marriage of Duncan McNaughton and Katherine McNaughton -- Dec 8, 1772. To me it proved that all the family stories must be true. Here is Arnold's chapter about Finlay McNaughton and his family who came over from Scotland in 1821.

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Towards the end of June 1821, Finlay McNaughton and John McFee with their families left Scotland for America on a journey across the sea that would take nearly seven weeks. They set out from Maillaig on Loch Horran in a sailboat with fourteen children and a few precious possessions. It is not known just whether the crossing was calm or stormy but in any case they reached the New World safely, landing at Quebec on the morning of August 29, 1821.

Although Finlay McNaughton and his family had decided for some time that they would go to America, his brother-in-law John McFee intended to go to India, as his sons had been trained for the Indian Civil Service. However, his wife Catherine couldn't bear the thought for it would mean separating herself from her younger children, for in order that they might receive a proper education they would have to be sent all the way back to Scotland. She said that if Finlay, her brother, was going to America, that would be a better arrangement and that they would go together.

From Quebec they went on to Montreal where they met other McNaughtons who proved to be members of the Clan but no connection. These urged them to settle on the island and go into business. As both men had been trained for estate management they were anxious to acquire estates similar to those they had known in Scotland, and for this reason intended to travel further west into Upper Canada, now the Province of Ontario. During their stay on the island they met a Mr. Brownlee who was going to Hemmingford which is about forty miles south of the city, very near the American border. He persuaded Finlay and John to go with him to look over the situation.

From his connections with the sheep ranches in Scotland, Finlay had considerable means which he invested in property sold to him by the Waterloo veterans. These veterans had been given free grants of land between Hemmingford and Covey Hill; and as few of them wished to live there and occupy it they put their land up for sale. Finlay bought most of it, retaining a farm west of Hemmingford where he built a home for himself and his family.

His decision to settle here was made after much looking around until he came upon a brook running through his property which had a clear spring of water beside it. Beyond this brook on a hill five years later Finlay built a new home similar to homes that he knew in Scotland. It was of stone but not local stones for those around here were unsuitable for building. They had to be drawn from some distance, then cut and shaped by hand and set into place. I have heard it said that the old homestead which Finlay built and is still standing in its original form, was modeled from one of the houses on the ancestral property in Scotland at the Castle of Dunderave. It is a three-storeyed mansion, the top storey being the garret, and just over the porch on a stone slab is '1826' signifying the year in which the house was built.

For five years before this home was ready for use, Finlay and his family occupied an old log house which was standing there when they bought the property in 1821. As John McFee was also in search of a place to live, he and his family moved into the same log house with the McNaughtons. That first winter in Canada indeed must have been a hard one. Arriving in the month of September, they must have faced a heavy undertaking to prepare for a long cold winter in a strange new land.

In the spring of 1822 they set about clearing land suitable for growing food to eat. With the spirit and perseverance of pioneer settlers, the two families went to work, felling timber, clearing land, and making potash which they took to Montreal on a woodshod sleigh in any season of the year that it was ready, and in exchange they brought back a load of supplies. A journey in those days with a horse-drawn sleigh loaded down with potash took nearly three weeks to and from the city, a total distance of nearly one hundred miles. As most of the journey would be made on foot by the men behind their sleighs, the lack of roads of any kind anywhere hampered their progress. On arrival at the shores of the St. Lawrence River, they found no bridges to lead them across to the island of Montreal and so had to await a ferryboat and then proceed with the remainder of their trip. During the winter it was possible to cross the river on foot over the thick ice; although with the winters of the past few years which have been experienced here, any attempt to cross it other than by way of the bridges would prove disastrous. Then with their load delivered and the trading done, the return home would begin with a variety of things, clothing material, food, an odd bit of furniture, same small trinket for each of the children to mention but a few of the fruits of the journey.

Finlay McNaughton called his new home "Dunderave" after the old family castle back in Scotland and even today his home is still the old Dunderave homestead, now occupied by his grandson Frederick D. McNaughton and his son and grandson. The materials that went into this house were not spared, for the walls in some places are nearly three feet thick. Three fireplaces were built, one upstairs and two downstairs, however, down through the years these have been covered over. With the home completed in 1826, the mother and daughters set about spinning and dyeing wool for the carpets. A carpenter was hired to make the necessary tables, chairs, beds and the like, and the women stuffed sofas and chairs, doing all the upholstering themselves. A tailor and a shoemaker were called in once a year to make shoes and suitable wearing apparel for the family. The cloth that went into the making of these clothes was homespun by the women of the house, and they made bedspreads and blankets also. With what pride and satisfaction they must have looked upon their work.

The men of the family were busy preparing new land space and erecting outbuildings for their livestock and poultry. When they first arrived, there was an old barn already built which remained standing for well over a hundred years. Mrs. Finlay McNaughton, daughter-in-law of the Finlay mentioned above, in her family history write-up in the winter of 1922, describes how this old barn was then standing; and I can just barely remember it myself when one winter it collapsed with the weight of snow upon its roof several years later.

Finlay McNaughton lived for thirty years after coming to America; his wife Andria survived him by another seven. They both died at the old Dunderave homestead and were buried in the village cemetery at Hemmingford.

To the neighbours and townspeople Finlay and Andria were known to all as Uncle and Aunt Mack. They saw many changes during their lifetime here, for when they first came there were no highways or lanes, although a road had been surveyed. It had been intended that the main road would pass by the south side of Uncle Mack's house from Hemmingford village and then west to the Cascaden farm, which is now our place, and join the road there. However, when it was built it went straight west of the village, thereby leaving the old homestead and my grandfather's home nearly three-quarters of a mile from the road. As a result a road had to be built from the house to meet the main highway.

Hemmingford must have filled up fast when immigration once got started, and to give a more detailed account, here is what Aunt Clara McNaughton, Finlay's daughter-in-law, wrote in 1922 about the place.

"A good many were United Empire loyalists, who after getting settled, found themselves on the wrong side of the line. When it was surveyed and they moved again to this side it meant a new home. Then came the French Rebellion to cement the friendship of the English-speaking people with that of the French-speaking people. Hemmingford must have been pretty well settled by that times judging by the way so many old men used to talk of their fathers or uncles who were in the Battle of Odelltown. Two or three of Uncle Mack's sons joined the volunteers at one time but were not in this particular battle. A lot of English soldiers were sent over from England and a well-equipped troop was stationed at Hemmingford. They were dashing young fellows with plenty of money which brightened things. Some of them sent for their wives, and others married here and lived on after the troop was disbanded.

They must have been here twelve years or more, for as a little girl of six, I remember seeing them dash past the house on horseback, glittering and jingling in the sun. Their uniforms were a dark blue.

"What changes they would see now. I thought of it when I was called out last October to see an aeroplane circling overhead, and wondered what those old people, dead and gone more than seventy- five years now, would make of it. And what would they think of electric lights and telephones in nearly every house, and the great telescopes and the talk of trying to communicate with Mars. They would think the world had gone crazy."

Yes, there have certainly been many changes, and I myself often think back to all the things that have happened to this old world of ours since the above paragraph was written.

When Finlay and Andria came to Hemmingford, they brought with them their Gaelic Bible, Psalm Book and their Church certificates. The family worship which took place in their home was conducted in Gaelic. The texts of the old church certificates still exist, and from Aunt Clara McNaughton's story where they appear they read as follows:

This certifies that the bearer hereof, Finlay McNaughton, is a native of this parish wherein he resided from his infancy and that, as far as is known here, he always maintained a fair and decent character and may therefore be admitted into any Christian society where Providence may order his Lot.
Given at the Church of Killmanivaig, the l4th of August 1820.
by William Ross, Minister,

This certifies that the bearer Finlay McNaughton and Andria Black, his wife, have resided in the parish with their family since Whit Sunday 1820, during which time they have to the best of my knowledge been uniformly regular and circumspect in their conduct and behaviour in all respects; that they were free from church censure and that I have never heard anything prejudicial to their character, and that they are in communion with this church.

All of which is attested at the Manse of Bracadale Isle of Skye this l8th day of June 1821.
By John Shaw, Minister.

Finlay McNaughton and Andria Black, my great-great- grandparents were married in Scotland at Fiendrick in May 1807, and they had eleven children, of whom nine survived. The eldest son of Finlay and Andria was Duncan who was born at Glenfintoch, Scotland, in 1814. As a young man he left the old homestead at Hemmingford for Ontario, having gone with his sister Peggie and her husband William Dundass, and several years later died in that Province. Nothing more is known about him for he never came back home, even for a visit, and his two surviving nephews here do not remember him. He never married.

John McNaughton, the second son of Finlay and Andria, was born at Gilleman, Scotland, in the year 1816, and as a young man settled on a farm near the old homestead with his wife, Jane Graham. Their farm was on what was known as the Frontier Road in those days. Today it is known as the Robson-Covey Hill Road. Both of them died quite young leaving three young children, William Francis, Adelia and Jane. An older child Nellie died as a little girl after several years of illness. It was the Uncle Peter who then cared for the young family. William, who later went west to California and was always known to his eastern cousins as California Willie, had in his youth taken part in the Fenian Raids in Eastern Canada, those "little wars" or battles which occurred at intervals all along the border in the argument over the settlement as to where the boundary line should be set between the USA and Canada. Sometime during the l870s several young men from here headed for the west, and William decided to go also, going first to Chicago. Later he continued his westward trek and finally reached San Francisco, California, here he first worked for Sharon and Ralston who were millionaires. Later when they built the famous Palace Hotel in San Francisco, they made him storekeeper and from there he advanced to the position of steward. He was later Manager of the Pacific Union Club, which was and still is a club of prominent business men, and died at the age of eighty-eight in San Francisco. He was married in 1881 to Jennie Katherine Michelson who was several years younger and survived him by fourteen years. They had three children, a son John who lives at San Rafael, Calif., having retired after fifty years in the postal service at San Francisco in May 1953. A daughter Maude, Mrs. Roland D. Fontana, lives in Visalia, Calif., and the youngest Jessie, Mrs. William A. Honeyman, and her husband passed away in 1945.

Adelia and Jane McNaughton, California Willie's sisters, married and left Hemmingford as young women. Adelia married Robert Hamilton and they finally made Chicago their place of residence. They had a family of eight children; Jessie, Kitty, Chester, Arthur, Genevieve, Roscoe, Louisa and Ross, of whom the third and fourth were twins. Only three lived to grow up. Kitty, who married her cousin Melbourne Metcalfe, now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her daughter. Louisa never married and died a few years ago. Genevieve married George Baird of Ormstown, Que., but she died when her children, Thomas of St. Lambert and Dolce of Montreal, were still very young. Jane married Frank Orr and lived at Gardner, Mass. They had no family.

Peter, the third son of Finlay and Andria McNaughton, was born at Cannock, Scotland, in 1820 and was but a babe in arms when his parents, brothers and sisters came to America. As a young man he moved across the way from his father's farm to a farm of his own now in the possession of a Frenchman. He built a house of brick, and there he and his wife Amelia Corbin lived. The house still stands in its original form, and it was there that their three sons Malcolm Finley, Charles Henry and Fletcher were born. Peter was only fifty-four when he died, his wife but forty. The three sons lived for a time here at Hemmingford and then set out for the west. Malcolm, the eldest went to California and settled in Merced where he married Ellen Hart. They had but one son, Edward Finley, now a resident of Oakland, Calif.

Charles Henry, or to us here at Hemmingford, Uncle Charlie, went to Winnipeg, Man., and farmed for a time, then with his cousin John Nicolson founded the Arctic Ice Company in Winnipeg. He married Margaret Cairns, thirteenth child of Henry Cairns and Kitty Davidson of Hemmingford and a sister of Mrs. Captain Donald McNaughton of Hemmingford, and Mrs. Peter McNaughton of Eau Galle, Wis. To my grandfather and my father, Uncle Charlie was usually known as Uncle Cousin Charlie owing to the fact that he and my grandfather were first cousins by relationship through the McNaughtons, but then as a result of his marrying my grandfather's aunt he became an uncle. Charles and Margaret had two children, Amelia and Clarence. Clarence's marriage to Elizabeth McFee also brings about a further complicated relationship, for she is my grandfather's niece and he a first cousin, a first cousin once removed, and a nephew. Their two children Roderick and Diane appear on our family tree in three different places. Amelia, or Milly as she was called, died several years ago.

Fletcher McNaughton also went west and settled near Winnipeg. His wife was Jessie Glover and they had seven children of whom the eldest Charles passed away at Calgary in February 1954. The other six in this family are Jessie, Frederick, Grant, Gertrude (Mrs. Tyson), Gladys and Lillian (Mrs. Clark). The fourth son of Finlay and Andria McNaughton of Hemmingford was Alexander, the first of their family to be born in the New World. Alex was a lumberman and railroad man, and wandered over most of North America before he came home to Hemmingford where he died in 1905. He was unmarried. The fifth son of Finlay and Andria was a twin, Donald known as Captain Donald, born at Hemmingford in June 1826. His twin was Catherine, later Mrs. Donald McIntosh, and he was my great-grandfather. He was born in the old Dunderave homestead and when he grew up he built a home across from it on another hill which was also of stone but not quite as large as the old home. It was named Bracadale some years later, after the town of the same name on the Scottish Isle of Skye whither so many of the Clan migrated years ago and were buried. Donald married Ann Cairns, eldest of the thirteen children of Henry Cairns and Kitty Davidson, and they both died at Hemmingford while their family were still very young. Donald had been ill only a short time before he died in 1885 and three years later his widow died just as suddenly. It was soon after Donald's death that his nephew from California, Malcolm McNaughton, made a visit back to his boyhood home for the first time in many years; but as he climbed the hill at the Bracadale farm and realized what had happened, he turned around and headed back for California, despite the pleadings of his cousins to remain for a few days. He never returned east again.

Donald and Ann had six children. The eldest of their family was Andria, then Roderick, Catherine, Walter, Elizabeth and Joseph. Andria, known to her family as Annie, married Andrew Scotland and went to live in Cohoes, N.Y. Rod married Janet Cascaden of Hemmingford whose mother was Elizabeth McNaughton although no relative of the Clan here. They had no family and in the early 1890s headed west for Manitoba where Rod had a farm. In 1911 his wife died there and he survived her by thirty-four years. Kate married her cousin Charles McFee and they too went west, first to the Dakotas and finally to Winnipeg where both passed away a few years ago. They had eight children including two sets of twins. The eldest of their family is Hazel who is largely responsible for the interest I have taken in bringing about this family study and history.

Go on to Part 2