THE QUANDRY OF THE MISSING AUSTRALIAN MCNAUGHTONS

Those of us who have read the writings of Arnold McNaughton know that Finlay McNaughton, direct descendant of the chiefs of clan McNaughton,  left Lochaber Scotland in 1821, with his family, crossed the Atlantic ocean, came to Hemmingford Quebec and built a great house of hewn stone with walls 3 feet thick and named it Dunderave. But... until now they did not know that another descendant of the same line as Finlay McNaughton also left Scotland and crossed the ocean with his family and came to St Andrews Quebec, and also named his estate Dunderave. But this is just one part of the missing history I will reveal for you today...

Ah! Where to begin? First, I suppose we should define who we are talking about. Below we have Arnold McNaughton's 1975 chart of our McNaughton ancestors. The chart begins with John MacNauchtan (McNaughton), son of Chief Malcolm "Glenshira" McNauchtan. Not the eldest son though. The eldest son was Sir Alexander MacNauchtan, who became chief after Malcolm died and was close friend and confidant of King Charles II, and one of the leading lawyers in Britain. By royal command he was buried in the Royal Cemetery. John MacNauchtan was Sir Alexander's younger brother. Arnold McNaughton in 1975 did not have some of the information available to us today, so he could not give us even an approximate date for the birth and death of John MacNauchtan. But we know that Chief Malcolm's widow mentioned his two sons in a petition to the king in 1649. And we also know that Sir Alexander was old enough to have ridden in the same campaigns as his father in the mid-1640's, as a member of the Covenantor Army. So Sir Alexander had to be at least 15 years old at that time and perhaps 19 years old in 1649. His younger brother John may well have been ten years younger. We don't know for sure. We do know that he was active all his life and lived until around 1706, and that he lived in Dunderave Castle and took care of the affairs of Clan McNaughton while his brother the chief was in London at the service of King Charles II. And we know from evidence that John McNauchtan testified against Campbell of Argyll in 1660 who was subsequently beheaded. We know John MacNauchtan led bands of McNaughtons into Campbell lands on raids, particularly in 1685. And we know John MacNauchtan and his two sons fought in the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689. This is the John MacNauchtan Arnold puts at the head of our chart, and says is the father of our ancestors Thomas and Malcolm who were born in Dunderave castle. But we know today that Arnold McNaughton probably made one slight error. He skipped a generation. One of the sons who fought at Killiecrankie was also named John MacNauchtan. It was he who was the father of Thomas and Malcolm who the chart says was born in Dunderave castle. But everything is essentially the same.

The chart shows the lines of the two sons, Thomas and Malcolm. Thomas has one son, Duncan. Malcolm has 4 children: Catherine (Kett), Donald, Duncan and John. Thomas's only son, Duncan, marries his brother Malcolm's daughter Catherine (Kett). They are my great great great great grandparents. Almost all of Arnold McNaughton's writings concern the descendants of this couple. Most of these came to Canada, and from thence to all over North America. But John MacNauchtan's son Malcolm had other children besides Catherine. He had 3 sons. We are able to account for the children of his son John since most of his descendants came to Quebec Canada and settled alongside our own line. But the situation is different for Malcolm MacNauchtan's son Duncan. If you look on the chart you will see that Duncan had 3 children: Donald, Duncan and Mary. Duncan died young in Scotland. Donald married Mary Cameron. Mary married Hugh Cameron. The note says "possibly Mary's brother". Also notice the chart says "Donald and Mary died in Australia", and "Very large families but not known". So, we have been looking for these descendants for years. Arnold McNaughton also has a chapter in his 1954 book about this line which does not give much more information. (Please note that the 1954 Red Book is different from the 1975 Red Book in that in the 1954 book Arnold says that Duncan's son Donald died young and Duncan married Mary Cameron, but in the 1975 Red Book Arnold corrects this and says that it was Duncan who died young in Scotland and Donald who married Mary Cameron.)  Arnold did not give us the dates of the births of any of these people, or their marriages. But he did say that in the 1840’s Donald McNaughton and his wife and Hugh Cameron and his wife all migrated to Australia, where their families multiplied greatly, but all contact with those families have been lost. In Arnold’s 1954 red book he admits that he has gaps in his information about these people. So I took his information and tried to find the Australian McNaughtons, using the resources of our modern computer age which were not available to Arnold.

***

We believe that all or most of the McNaughtons living in Lochaber Scotland were related to each other, that is, descended from the chief’s clan. There weren’t many McNaughton families there. Most McNaughtons continued to live in their ancient regions in Perth and Argyll. But by 1770 that was becoming very difficult or impossible for the descendants of the McNaughton chiefs. Because of their feud with the Campbells. The Campbells were everywhere in Perth and Argyll and controlled everything there. It was common knowledge that the McNaughton chiefs had played large rolls in bringing two great Campbell gentlemen to the chopping block, and in pillaging the Campbell clans, especially in 1685. The Campbells in retaliation had managed to steal the McNaughton lands and castle, which the McNaughtons still were hoping might somehow be returned. This the Campbells could not allow. As the century passed it became clear to the descendants of the McNaughton chiefs they needed a safe space away from the Campbells, somewhere away from Perth and Argyll.

These McNaughtons apparently still owned some lands that had not been confiscated, and they herded sheep, and spun the wool into fabric and dyed it and made tartans. Arnold McNaughton tells us that our ancestor Malcolm MacNauchtan made tartans for the Duke of Gordon. Malcolm MacNauchtan was the brother of Thomas McNaughton. Malcolm and Thomas were the great grandsons of Chief Malcolm "Glenshira" MacNauchtan of Dunderave castle. Malcolm and Thomas were both born in Dunderave castle in the final years of its possession by the McNaughtons, which would be between 1710 and 1720. Thomas died young, before 1750 according to Arnold’s information, which is awful close to the time of the battle of Culloden in 1746, and it stands to reason that his early death was either a result of that battle, or the repercussions that immediately followed. Thomas left a son, Duncan who married Kett, the daughter of Thomas’s brother Malcolm. So, Duncan and Kett were technically first cousins. This happened often back in those days, especially when a family wanted to keep its financial and property resources in the same basket, which was very important to the McNaughton clan, because having lost their castle and most of their lands they had to keep tight hold of the precious little that remained if they were to survive at all.

The Duke of Gordon had owned a huge part of Lochaber for centuries. Kilmonivaig and Ft William and Leanachan and much more all belonged to the Duke of Gordon. Most of the inhabitants of this Gordon land were Camerons, but there was also a Kennedy clan there for centuries in Leanachan. This made the Camerons and Kennedys and Gordons allies, particularly in the Jacobite wars. It was a warrior clique, in this highland fasthold, and in order to be among these people you had to be a tight part of their politics and intriques. The chief of the Camerons is quoted as saying of the McNaughtons that they were among his closest and most trusted and well-loved friends. This could only be so if the McNaughtons shared the adversities suffered by the Camerons and Gordons and Kennedys and other Highlanders in the Jacobite wars. I mention this because it has sometimes been noted that there is not much record of McNaughton activity in the Jacobite wars of 1715 and 1745. But many were there who were not accounted. And the McNaughtons had to be present for them to be so accepted by the Gordons and Camerons of Lochaber. Otherwise they would not have been. And we might also mention that anecdotal evidence of the great historians of that age tell us the McNaughtons lost everything as a result of their participation in the Jacobite wars. It may well be that knowing that some McNaughtons deliberately kept their names off of rosters and roll calls of that day.

But when it came to a safe place to live, there was none safer for these McNaughtons than the Cameron highlands of Lochaber. Our history tells us they made tartans for the Duke of Gordon: a scanty piece of information, but very vital. But one must read deep into the history of these times to understand it’s ramifications. Because the piece by itself means very little, unless we put it together with the fact of the relocating of Duncan and Kett to Chorriechoille around 1771. This place Chorriechoille Farm was just down the road from an important cemetary where many brave Jacobite men were buried, and was a gathering place for their relatives. The Duke of Gordon gave this place to Duncan McNaughton to live, and raise sheep, and live safely with his family. This tells us much if we read between the lines.

Leanachan which was the northern home of the Scottish Kennedy clan. These Kennedys were as Catholic as Catholic could be. They were a mountain people who stuck to the old ways long after the world around them had changed. They fought in all the Jacobite wars, and in fact were instrumental in the very first military action of the ’45. When the final battles were over and all was lost they returned to the secret places of their mountain fasthold of Leanachan. Duncan and Kett’s first son Donald married Elizabeth, a daughter of these Leanachan Kennedys. This tells us many things which require insight to make clear. First, if there was ever any doubt that the chief’s line of the McNaughtons had returned to the Catholic faith during the times of King Charles II and his brother King James, this information must stop that dissention in its tracks. Because it is not likely that a Protestant could have married a Catholic daughter of the very Catholic hard-headed Leanachan Kennedys. We know her ancestors were the chiefs of that Kennedy bunch, because she is described as of the same family as the family that Donald McNaughton tutored for the University of Edinburgh. Their father was the tacksman for Leanachan, and to be that he would have had to be a member of the Kennedy chief’s family.

These lives of these McNaughtons were totally involved with raising sheep and spinning the wool into tartans. They were shepherds and tailors, and they were it seems moderately prosperous in their efforts, though the heads of the families of course realized most of the profits, and the lesser family members lived their lives as simple shepherds and tailors, quite poor. Some of the women were servants in the homes of the wealthy. One way out of this poverty was immigration to America or Australia. By this time it was well known what golden opportunities existed there. But even if they wanted to leave Scotland there was the problem of getting together the money for passage for all the members of their family. They would all have to work, and save for many years.

Now in this Kilmonivaig area at this time we now know there lived another McNaughton family whose situation seems to be very closely related to our McNaughton line. And they migrated to Australia in the 1840s. I have been corresponding with their descendants in Australia and New Zealand and I am almost sure that they are the line we have been looking for.

What we know of this family is this: The progenitors of their line are Donald McNaughton and Margery/Marjory Cameron who were married in Kilmonivaig around 1800 and had a large family, some of whom migrated to Australia in the 1840s. We know they were tailors. We know their son Duncan McNaughton was an illustrious Colonel who was known as one of the greatest swordsmen of his day. He died in October of 1886. The rank of Colonel is the highest field rank below the general grades. Not just anyone could be a commissioned officer in the British army. You had to be from good family. For instance, we know that back in 1702 Captain Alexander MacNauchtan, son of the McNaughton chief, died in the fighting at the Battle of Vigo Spain. He was a captain in Queen Anne’s Guards. That is to say he was in charge of a company of soldiers aboard a ship. Queen Anne’s Guards were a very special group. He no doubt was given this position because he was the son of the Chief of clan McNaughton. That’s the way things worked in those days, usually. So, in the illustrious Colonel Duncan McNaughton we must conclude the high probability of his lineage being known to descend from the chiefs of clan McNaughton also. So he must have been part of our line. But we have no record of him, per se, that is in Arnold McNaughton's writings.

Colonel Duncan McNaughton had 5 brothers and 3 sisters. A younger brother named Samuel was a tailor in Lochaber and emigrated to Australia in 1848 aboard the ship Andromache with his wife Catherine Cameron and 6 children, settling in Little River, Victoria, where their descendants live to this day.

I have checked the Australia records as thoroughly as possible searching for our line of McNaughtons as described in Arnold McNaughton’s red book of 1954 and the chart in his 1975 Red Book. I have found Mary McNaughton and her husband Hugh (Ewen) Cameron, and their 8 children. They arrived in Port Phillip, Victoria on Jan 7, 1849 on the ship "Maitland", which left from Gravesend on 14 Sep 1848.

http://www.clan-cameron.org.au/getperson.php?personID=I32428&tree=cameron1

"Dau. of Duncan McNaughton and Margaret Cameron. They arrived Port Phillip 7 Jan 1849 per "Maitland" from Gravesend 14 Sep 1848 with 8 children, Ewen described as shepherd, she as housekeeper. They made their way to Linlithgow Plains, nr Hamilton, then to nearby Glenthompson, the family seat"

But in the Australian records there is no sign of any couple named Donald McNaughton and Mary Cameron arriving with or without children in those decades. Yet Arnold McNaughton is confident in his writing that they emigrated to Australia and that their descendants are a multitude there. So why is there no record of them?

Before we go any further let us compare the dates of emigration between Samuel McNaughton’s family and Hugh (Ewen) Cameron’s. Mary McNaughton and her husband Hugh (Ewen) Cameron, and their 8 children arrived in Port Phillip, Viktoria on Jan 7, 1849 on the ship "Maitland", which left from Gravesend on 14 Sep 1848. Samuel McNaughton and wife Catherine Cameron boarded the Andromache on July 3, 1848 with their two sons, Donald aged four,and Dugald aged two. Catherine gave birth to a third son Duncan, 26 days after sailing, at the Bay of Biscay. They arrived in Port Phillip Bay on November 8, 1848, where the Andromache berthed at Geelong Viktoria. So these two families emigrated to Australia at the same time. And that is what Arnold McNaughton seems to say in his red book about the families of Donald McNaughton and Mary Cameron, and the family of Hugh Cameron and Mary McNaughton.

So that makes me want to reread what Arnold McNaughton wrote. Arnold says Donald McNaughton married Mary Cameron. Whoa! But the Australian and New Zealand McNaughtons say their Donald married a woman named Marjory. Well not exactly. A memorial plaque in Ft William spells her name Margery. She may have been a Margaret who was called "Margery". The stained glass window in the church, donated by her son Duncan, spells her name Marjory. Members of the family may well have known her as Mary. Arnold admits his information is distant, and missing much. This genealogy was passed along in oral tradition at first. By the time it was written down Margery could have turned into Mary. The names are that similar. Samuel McNaughtons’s parents, Donald and Marjorie both died and were buried in Kilmonivaig, Scotland, in 1825 and 1828 respectively. So they never emigrated to Australia. Most of our line who have read Arnold McNaughton’s red book gathered from it that Donald and Mary went to Australia with their family. So, they would, as I did at first, conclude that this could not be the same family. But, I say again, there is no record of any Donald McNaughton and Mary Cameron arriving in Australia on any ship ever. Yet there are Australian records for Hugh Cameron and Mary McNaughton and their eight children. So where are Donald and Mary? I sure have to come to the conclusion that Arnold McNaughton was wrong about Donald and Mary emigrating to Australia. He admits his information is not complete. Donald and Mary did not go to Australia. But their children did. So Arnold had the gist of it correct. There are indeed large families of their descendants there.

But we want to be sure. We have to consider everything. There are some issues which seem to indicate otherwise. First, the Little River McNaughtons of Australia do not know anything about our line. They are not SURE who the father of Donald McNaughton is, but they have believed he is most likely a John McNaughton of Perth, an influential individual who is supposed to have had something to do with the clan’s decision of naming the new chief. There are some letters in existance which seem to indicate that. Let's discuss those letters for a moment. The letters were written by Donald and Marjory's great grandson Donald McNaughton to his cousin Angus in 1939. They have some proven errors in them. But also much valid information and some wonderful clues. In one letter he speaks of the famous Gaelic poet Duncan Ban McIntyre who Donald says was married to a McNaughton. Donald writes that Mary McNaughton Crichton/Cowan's aunt was Mary Ban Og, the wife of Duncan Ban McIntyre.

Donald writes: "Now I heard her once pass a remark about Duncan Ban McIntyre, the Bard, she seemed annoyed at whatever remark was passed, but his wife Mary Ban Og was her aunt and old Mary Melrose told me in 1910 that mary Ban Og was sister to her grandfather (John McNaughton). That is the only hearsay I have of any relation of Donald. But he is said to have come from "Taymouth Breadalbane" whether he came alone or with others of the clan with him.  ... I always wondered how Dunan Ban was tabooed by Mrs Cowan. Well I was in Glasgow two years ago and I bought Duncan Ban's book of poems 4 shillings of course all in Gaelic. My wife was a good Gaelic scholar and a very retentive memory, so I am going over the poems and in one he makes very scurrilous remarks about the tailor Donald McNaughton, so now I see. But he landed Mary Ban Og for his wife and she was John's sister, that occured in Glen Orchy where all the scenes of his poems are laid and I consider we are descendants of the tailor McNaughton Glen Orchy, and according to the story in the book "Famed in Breadalbin" it will be very strange to me if the Colonel never mentions his own grandfather when writing to his brothers, surely he would make or pass some remark about them  as he was a scholar and I understand was partly instrumental in placing the chief as head of the clan."

If all this genealogy is confusing you it may help you to see these generations all mapped out on my database. This link will take you to Donald McNaughton and his wife Mary (Margery/Marjory) Cameron and their descendants:

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=thomasholme&id=I77

One good note in Donald's letters is this line (speaking of Donald McNaughton who married Marjory Cameron and settled in Ft William, Inverness): "But he is said to have come from "Taymouth Breadalbane" whether he came alone or wome others of the clan with him." Taymouth Breadalbane would be around Kenmore. We know our ancestors also left the Tay area and came north to Chorriechoille and Kilmonivaig Inverness. Though Killin and Kenmore are at opposite ends of the Tay but both are ancient McNaughton areas and it is possible the family retained some lands in either place after the dissolution of Dunderave and the McNaughton estate.

***

But we still haven't solved the puzzle of whether or not the Australians Donald and Marjory are our Donald and Mary. There are still some problems to resolve. There is a Parish record for the marriage of a couple by the names of Donald McNaughton and Marjorie Cameron, Jan 19th, 1822 in Letterfinlay, Kilmonivaig. And the Little River McNaughton's ancestor Samuel McNaughton was born in 1810. We have the parish marriage record of Hugh (Ewen) Cameron and Mary McNaughton as Feb 7, 1825 in Kilmonivaig. Which, if Donald and Mary are brother and sister, would make sense, being so close together. But Samuel was born in 1810 – 12 years previous to this marriage. So, what does this mean? It could mean the marriage is of a different couple of the same name. They are common names after all, even in Kilmonivaig. But there weren’t that many McNaughtons living there… I have thought of a possibile explanation. It involves religion and the complicated situation of the Catholics of those days, so we must digress a bit here to consider it.

This was an on-going problem. Catholic families did not appreciate being forced to accommodate the Protestant church, and the Protestant government. In the days following Culloden when the persecution was fierce they hid away in their Highland hidey-holes as much as possible and kept their secrets to themselves. And the government in its turn continually tried to find ways to ferret them out. As the decades passed this became more and more difficult, and for many impossible. Which gave them all the more reason to want to leave Scotland forever and take their families to a new world where they would hopefully be free to live as they chose. Meanwhile they were constantly made subject to penalty, poverty, humiliation, and sometimes incarceration or even death. The only safe way to relieve this suffering was to abandon their Catholicism and join the Protestant church, which the die-hards like the Leanachan Kennedy’s refused to do until the last. Even the hope of emigrating away to the new world was complicated by religion. In order to have somewhere to go to one should have a letter of reference from the local minister assuring the minister of the church in the New World that you had been a member in good standing. Without such a letter it was as much as saying that another trouble-maker was wanting to come to be their new neighbor. So it would be a smart move for anyone wanting to immigrate to Canada or Australia to join the Protestant church first.

We know our Donald McNaughton married Elizabeth Kennedy in 1814. She certainly came from strict Catholic stock. But the fact that we know the date of their marriage is because it was registered in the Presbytery records. Plus we know that when they arrived in Canada in 1831 they were Protestant. So, at some point in these years they changed their religion.

Getting back to Donald McNaughton, who may be the progenitor of the Little River McNaughtons of Australia, who had a son, Samuel, in 1810, and who has a marriage record of 1822, it is quite possible that they were married by a Catholic Priest around 1800. There is no record of Samuel’s birth in the Parish records. So, clearly his parents refused to register him. The only way we know he was born in 1810 is that we have a record of his death in Australia, in 1896, saying he was 86 years old that that his parents were Donald McNaughton and Marjorie Cameron. So his parents did not register his birth in Scotland. But when the other Kilmonivaig McNaughtons first emmigrated away to Canada in 1821 it became clear that they would have to be married in a Protestant church if they wanted to do the same, and give a good letter to their children, so they could emmigrate as well. So naturally they would become Protestant and their marriage would be entered into the record on Jan 19, 1822. And that would clear up the problem of Samuel being born 12 years before their marriage.

But there is one more problem. If Donald McNaughton and Mary McNaughton are brother and sister, and if Donald was married around 1800 and Mary was married in 1825, that’s 25 years difference between their marriages. We know that Mary was born in 1804 and she was 21 years old at the time of her marriage. So her older brother Donald would have to have been born around 1780. (Because Samuel wasn’t the oldest child – he was the sixth – the first was John, born around 1801. So Donald may have had a birthyear no later than 1880. Which makes Donald 24 years older than his sister Mary. This is by no means impossible, considering the hardiness of Scots. We also know that their brother Duncan, the one who died young in Scotland, was born on October 24, 1802. So, if all this is true, it appears that after the elder brother Donald was born in 1780 there was a space of 22 years before their next child was born. Not impossible, but it does seem unusual. In fact, so much so, that it seems to me to draw serious doubt as to whether our Donald McNaughton and Mary Cameron are the same couple as the Donald McNaughton and Marjorie Cameron of the Little River McNaughtons of Australia.

All this leads me to one other possible conclusion. This family still must have been descended from the chiefs of clan McNaughton. Because Samuel’s brother Duncan was an illustrious commissioned officer, and because Samuel was a tailor in Kilmonivaig, which was part of the land owned by the Gordons. So he must have had connections with those of our line who were making tartans for the Duke of Gordon’s Highlanders. But Arnold McNaughton has given us rather meticulous records of all the lines that come from Chief Malcolm "Glenshira" McNaughton. Still, it is evident that it’s not all there. Only our own lineage has been recorded. Thomas and Malcolm, born in Dunderave castle in its final days. We assume that they were the only children of John MacNauchtan. But we don’t know that as fact. They are the only children that pertain to our lineage. Since Thomas’s son Duncan married Malcolm’s daughter Kett, both brothers are our ancestors. So we have them in our family tree. Any siblings of Thomas and Malcolm would not have mattered as much to the people who first recorded this tree. So it is very possible that Thomas and Malcolm had a brother, either younger or older. I have often thought it strange that John MacNauchtan would have two sons, Thomas and Malcolm, and none named after himself, which is of course the normal system. Naming a child John was a family tradition. The father of Thomas and Malcolm was John. His father in turn was also named John, and his father was John the second son of Chief Malcolm Glenshira MacNauchtan. And Glenshira’s brother John was also a famous man in his day, being a page of honor to King James VI, and who accompanied him to London in 1603 when he became King of all Britain. So the most logical thing would be that Thomas and Malcolm had an older brother named John. But of course, he wouldn’t have mattered so much to our early family historians in Canada, who counted themselves lucky to simply trace our line back to John MacNauchtan of Dunderave. But if Thomas and Malcolm did have a brother named John it would explain everything. It would explain why that line of McNaughtons was living in Kilmonivaig at the same time as ours, on the Duke of Gordon’s land, as tailors. It would explain why Duncan McNaughton was granted a commission and became the illustrious gentleman he was. It would explain why they happened to emigrate to Australia at the same time our line. Because they were family, and making this move together. It would even explain the chronology, as John being older would have offspring earlier and that would account for Samuel being the sixth child, born in 1810, and that would leave our Donald and Mary to have the 1822 marriage date. And it would explain the fact that the Little River McNaughtons believe their Donald’s father is named John, and that he played a part in the selection of Edmond Macnaghten of Northern Ireland as the chief of the McNaughton clan in 1818. (Since all of our line was leaving Scotland, and since no one in our line had the land or financial resources befitting a chief, Edmond Macnaghten was the most logical choice as Chief.)

It makes absolute sense to me that John MacNauchtan, progenitor of the Little River Victoria Australia McNaughtons, is the brother of our Thomas and Malcolm. It remains to be proven which may never be possible. For now I am leaving the Little River McNaughtons in my tree as if their Donald McNaughton is ours. Since if nothing else they have to be close cousins, and this allows them to be in the database, for others to study and hopefully eventually solve this puzzle. And what a puzzle it is! Because if the Little River McNaughtons are not the descendants of our Donald and Mary, even though their Samuel’s family came to Australia at almost the exact same time as our Mary and Hugh -- then where is our Donald and Mary? Arnold says they went to Australia with Hugh Cameron and wife Mary. So they should appear somewhere, in some records. But they don’t. Only the Little River McNaughtons fit, and they fit into the puzzle so well! Except for a couple of little glitches…

This may be the appropriate moment to mention that there are probably other "lost" lines as well. We know Chief Malcolm "Glenshira" MacNauchtan had 2 sons, Alexander and John. Alexander became Chief, and we are fairly sure that we know all of his descendants. Chief Malcolm’s younger son John, the ancestor of our line, is less known, but he was a notorious man, and probably very brave, perhaps arrogant, and it seems he had a dark side that knew vengence and bitterness. But almost nothing is known about him personally. Arnold McNaughton believed he was the father of our Thomas and Malcolm who were born in Dunderave Castle between 1710 and 1720. But I have calculated that that would be almost impossible since it is known that Chief Alexander's younger brother John was born around 1639 or even earlier. We have one sole record that mentions John's two sons and gives us an approximate idea of their age. The PROCEEDINGS OF SCOTTISH ESTATES 1689-1690 says that the chief’s uncle John was forfeited along with his two sons for their part in the battle of Killiecrankie. So we know John had two sons in 1690 - and if they were around 20 years old they were born around 1670 when John was about 30 years old. That makes perfect sense. Some would say "Ah, then! That must be our Thomas and Malcolm!" Especially since Arnold McNaughton in his red book guesses the birth year of Thomas as close to 1675. But if that were so, how could Thomas’s son Duncan marry Kett and have their first child, Donald, in December of 1778? Let’s say Thomas’s son Duncan was born when he was 40 years old, about 1715 – That would mean Duncan sired his firstborn, Donald, when he was 63 years old. Or if you calculate that Thomas was fifty when he sired Duncan, say 1725, that would make Duncan 53 years old when he sired his firstborn, Donald, in 1778. It’s possible. And many McNaughtons of our like believe that is what happened. But it seems logical to me that there were so many John MacNauchtans in our family in those years that their descendants got confused and left out one generation. One of the two sons of the uncle John mentioned in the PROCEEDINGS OF SCOTTISH ESTATES 1689-1690 was certainly named after his father John. And he is the father of Thomas and Malcolm who were born between 1710 and 1720. That makes sense. He may have had other children as well, but we only know about Thomas and Malcolm. It seems likely he would have had a son named after himself, John. But there is one more person to consider. THE PROCEEDINGS OF SCOTTISH ESTATES say the uncle of the chief, John, had TWO sons with him at Killiecrankie. So it is possible that other son also married and has descendants.

The reason why these people are so obscure and hard to find is all tied to the fall of Dunderave. When the ancient and oh-so-venerable McNaughtons were stripped of their castle and lands and expelled out into the streets this was the greatest tragedy they had ever known. This was the end of an ancient tradition, an ancient people. These McNaughtons traced their lineage to King Nechtan of the Picts who lived a thousand years earlier. They were the oldest of the old. To lose their castle and be cast out in the streets was ignominous. And there was surely a lot of blame attached. Because all the McNaughtons suffered. Not just the ones who lived in Dunderave castle. But all the thousands of other clansmen who bore that name. They wanted to know how this happened. What caused this to happen? And since most of them had remained Protestant, the first thing that must have come to their minds was the fact that the McNaughton chief’s family had returned to the "evil" Catholic faith. And when their Catholic King James was ousted by Protestant King William and Queen Mary, the McNaughton chief’s had joined with other Highland Catholics and made war upon them. And Lost. Add to this the many ignoble deeds of the Uncle John, who had led gangs of marauders into Campbell lands to wreck havoc and plunder cattle, and then sold the stolen goods and sent the money across the sea where it could not be touched, and it’s clear that John’s woe-begotten family would not be well received after their downfall. They must have found ways to close themselves off, much as they would have done in their old castle, but now in the more common ways of regular people, by keeping to themselves and living unostentacious lives. And inasmuch as they most likely remained Catholic for at least one more generation, their birth records and marriage records would not be recorded in the Presbytery, and so when they died they would be forgotten. Nonetheless, John the father of Thomas and Malcolm, did have a brother, and that brother very likely married and had children. And there could be descendants of that line out there. Proving it would be difficult.

Getting back to the Australian and New Zealand McNaughton families, there exist some letters written by a Donald McNaughton to his cousin Angus, written mostly in 1939-40. There is a lot of genealogical information in them. The letter writer Donald is the grandson of Donald McNaughton and Marjory Cameron by their eldest son John McNaughton who married Janet Kennedy. Donald McNaughton writes in a letter dated 11-5-1939: "Now my mother was a Kennedy, her mother was Jean Cameron of the Glen Nevis stock and her grandfather lived near "Chorryholly" you mentioned. He was a miller there and his son Alexander, my grandfather, was a soldier, served under Sir Ralph Abercromby in the 92nd Gay Gordons in the Walcherau expedition also in Egypt and Spain and finished up at Waterloo a very distinguished soldier etc. There was no V.C in those days but his Gold Medal and 16 Bars, all the old people that knew him said he had a charmed life, he returned after 21 years service as he left, without a scratch as his mother told him that he would return, but when he did he found the home burned down by the so called "law" making room for sheep."

So, from reading this we may estimate dates. We know Janet Kennedy was born in 1838. So her mother, Jean Cameron, maybe was born around 1815. Now this says Jean's grandfather lived near Choryholly and was a miller. I am sure that Corryholly is the town known as Chorriechoille. So Jean's decorated soldier-father Alexander Cameron may have been born around 1795, and her grandfather, the miller of Corryholly, may have been born around 1775. All these years suggested birthyears may have as many as another 20 years added to them. But the point is this, and a very important point too, to our reseach: The Cameron/miller/Chorryholly grandfather was surely living at Corriechoille at the same time as my ancestors Duncan and Kett McNaughton were living there since their eldest son Donald was born in Corriechoille on Dec 7, 1778. Chorriechoille is a very small place. These people, these families, had to know each other very well. And Jean Cameron's daughter married a Kennedy. I am sure he was a Leanachan Kennedy. The same as my great great great grandfather Donald McNaughton married: Elizabeth Kennedy of the Leanachan Kennedys. These were tight-knit families, intermarrying. To me, this paragraph proves our two lines of McNaughtons are the same family. Naturally they married into the lines that were closely involved with them.

The relocation to Chorriechoille from Perth was a big change for our people. The Duke of Gordon, brought in the McNaughtons to raise sheep and spin wool and make tartans because Gordons and McNaughtons and Camerons belonged together, since they had been allies in all the Jacobite wars, and shared the same enemies and the same friends. The Duke of Gordon had special respect for the members of the family of the McNaughton chiefs, since they had no castle or lands anymore and were vulnerable to the depredations of their enemies. So he brought them all to the safety of his lands in Lochaber.

One other fact emerges from the old letters. Donald writes that the Duncansburgh church in Fort William where Lieut Colonel Duncan McNaughton donated a stained glass window in memory of his parents was built in 1888 - and it was built upon the site that was the original home of his parents, Donald McNaughton and Marjory Cameron. So this land in Cameron country had been lived on by the McNaughtons for at least a hundred years. Donating land to build a church... This is the sort of thing McNaughtons have been doing for more than a thousand years. To me, this points to Lieut. Colonel Duncan McNaughton being from the line of the chiefs of clan McNaughton.  --In light of new evidence (thanks to cousin Shirley Stevenson) -- I probably should delete this paragraph and start over. It turns out that the land for the church was owned by Sir Duncan Cameron, chief of the Cameron clan. He was the person who donated the land for the church. But the McNaughtons had lived upon this land for over a hundred years. And it is in the history books that the chief of clan Cameron considered the McNaughtons among his closest friends. And Lieut Colonel Duncan McNaughton in particular was one of the heros of his day. So he would surely have had something to say about the building of a church upon the land where he was born. The church was opened August 6th, 1882 - and Duncan McNaughton died 4 years later in Oct of 1886. So he was alive during the first years of that church. He donated the stained glass window before he died. Sir Duncan Cameron technically donated that land. But Duncan McNaughton was born there, and it was he who put the stained glass window there. And all that brings us to the memorial obelisk....

THE TWO QUEBEC DUNDERAVES

The legend on a memorial obelisk in the Old Inverlochy Cemetery reads:

"To the Memory of Duncan Cameron McNaughten, Late Lieut Colonel H;.L.I. 1st B. 15th P.A. Lt Infantry Who Died at Fort William 18th October 1886 aged 72 years also Mrs Ann Plaistowe of McNaughten his wife, who died at Dunderawe St Andrews, Canada on 28th June, 1899 aged 84 years and 10 months. Also his grandson Donald Alexander McNaughten who died in Canada, 1889 aged 5 years & 4 months."

One of the main goals of the French Canadian clergy was to stop the progress of Anglo Protestantism and Anglo Catholicism in the area. They had such success that St. Andrews East, which was settled by Protestant Scots became St-André d'Argenteuil.

I am drawn to believe that the son or sons of Lieut Colonel McNaughten migrated to Quebec Canada fully knowing they had relatives not far away in Hemmingford, though considered quite distant in every way, since the family had been separated for around 50 years by that time. They probably did not socialize.

The following is from "A HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES OF ARGENTEUL AND PRESCOTT" written by Cyrus Thomas in 1896.

"Alexander McIntosh, from Locaber, Scotland, spent part of his early life in England, and in 1850 went to Australia, being in the latter country while the gold fever was at its height. He afterward returned to Scotland, and in 1866 came to Canada and bought the "Priory" on the "Field Stream" in St. Andrews. This building was then the property of Mrs. Abbott, widow of the late Rev. William Abbott.

Mr McIntosh was married in England to Miss Ward, and they had three children - all daughters. He died in St. Andrews in 1884. Mrs. McIntosh survives him, living with her daughter, Mrs. McNaughton.

The latter which is the younger of the three sisters, married Dr. Donald McNaughton of Hudson; they moved to Carillon, and purchased the present property of Mrs. McNaughton "DUNDERAV" formerly know as "Milncraig" a beautiful place on the road leading from Carillon to St. Andrews.

Dr. McNaughton died in December 1888, leaving a widow, one son and five daughters. The eldest daughter, Anna, married to C.V. De Boucherville, lives in Ottawa. Eliza married to Martin S. Albright, lives at Prospect Place, La Baie. Eleanor married to James Machan lives in Grenville. Grace M. and Flora are attending Durham Ladies College. Duncan the son is in the States."

Batch No. C 106581 of the IGI tells us Donald Plaistowe McNaughton was born in Yorkshire England Dec 10, 1833.

The 1881 Canadian Census tells us more, gives us the ages of the family in St Andrews Quebec. However not all census information is accurate. Dr McNaughton is inaccurately reported to be 60 years old. His wife, J.S. McIntosh is 45, born in England. All the children are reported as born in Quebec. Annie is 14, Duncan is 12. Lizzy is 10. Eleanor is 7. Maggie (Must be Grace M.) is 3. And Donnel is 2.

 
The 1896 Cyrus Thomas book tells us Dr McNaughton  was survived by one son, Duncan, who went to the states. We will try to discover what happened to him. But what of Donald and Donnell? We know from the memorial that our McNaughton of St Andrews had a son named Donald Alexander who died in 1889 at age 5 which makes his birth 1884. And the census of 1881 tells us of another son named Donnell, born in 1879. He may have died very young. Or, here is another possibility. Donnell and Donald may be one and the same child. I think the craftsman who carved the memorial in Inverness Scotland was working from information written on a scrap of paper. The numerals 4 and 9 could easily be confused for one another. So, the grandson Donald may have died in 1884 instead of 1889, age 5 years old, which would put the year of his birth at 1879. "Donald" and "Donnell" are two different pronunciations of the same name.

There is a Capt Arch McNaughton living in St Andrews Quebec in an 1878 directory. He may be a brother of Dr McNaughton. More research is necessary. More likely though we will find further clues in searching for more McNaughton information in Hudson Quebec. I have already found out there is a McNaughton street there.

Two Quebec Dunderaves, one in Hemmingford and the other in St Andrews. Their creators, Finlay McNaughton and Dr Donald McNaughton, were first cousins twice removed.  They named their estates Dunderave because in the 19th century the family still dearly remembered our ancient Scottish castle Dunderave, and hoped to establish some semblance of it in the New World. They had high hopes of in some way restoring everything. The fact that Dr Donald McNaughton named his St Andrews Quebec estate Dunderave goes a long way in proving to me that he is also descended from John MacNauchtan of Dunderave, as are we.