This is an old video I found online. I uploaded it here. It's probably from the early 1900's and shows Moss farmers which is what Allan Macaskill did for a living.
Here is the youtube link as well.
Saturday 12 March 2011
Drimore, South Uist, Scotland
The oldest Scotland Census from 1841 indicates that Allan worked on a Farm as a Ag Laborer.
The farm was in Drimore, South Uist, Scotland.
South Uist is a small island Measuring about eight miles east to west and 22 miles north to south.
South Uist also has over 190 fresh water lochs.
South Uist’s first language is still Gaelic and the religion is still Catholic.
Here is a current picture of a Farm in Drimore, it's a old historic farm and gives us an idea of what the area looks like.
The farm was in Drimore, South Uist, Scotland.
South Uist is a small island Measuring about eight miles east to west and 22 miles north to south.
South Uist also has over 190 fresh water lochs.
South Uist’s first language is still Gaelic and the religion is still Catholic.
Here is a current picture of a Farm in Drimore, it's a old historic farm and gives us an idea of what the area looks like.
I also found a picture of the old Telegraph office in South Uist, from around the time Allan was living their.
The last one is a picture of a farm in Drimore. I would assume it would be very close to the one Allan worked on. Here is the information it had of the picture online:
This is a 19th-century farmstead with a U-shaped plan. It consists of a byre to the N, stables and three cart bays to the W, with a shed or bothy at the end of the range, and a barn with horse-gang to the E, possibly including a dairy at the end of the range. The farmstead is gabled, built of coursed rubble and has corrugated-iron roofs.
Archie Macaskill - born Scotland
Archie is Allan's son, born in Scotland and came to Canada with his father, mother and siblings.
Archie is the only one that I found some more information on his Scotland birth.
Prior to 1841, there wasn't any information stored by the government, the churches kept birth, death and baptism records. It wasn't law to keep the records so it was just best effort.
So I was lucky to find even one.
The orginal document is hard to read, but they had decipher it for me...here is the info.
The most interesting thing is that it listed the Parish. St Michaels at Ardkenneth.
I goggled it and found a picture from around the 1850's. Church was built in 1820.
The house and church were parts of the same building set in a relatively
large farm which was tenanted by the priests at Ardkenneth.
Archie is the only one that I found some more information on his Scotland birth.
Prior to 1841, there wasn't any information stored by the government, the churches kept birth, death and baptism records. It wasn't law to keep the records so it was just best effort.
So I was lucky to find even one.
The orginal document is hard to read, but they had decipher it for me...here is the info.
No | Birth | Baptism | Surname | Forename | Alias | Parent Names | Sex | Parish | Image |
1 | 18/04/1850 | 14/05/1850 | MACASKILL | ARCHIBALD | - | ALLAN MACASKILL/MARY MACKILLAIG | M | ARDKENNETH, ST MICHAEL'S |
The most interesting thing is that it listed the Parish. St Michaels at Ardkenneth.
I goggled it and found a picture from around the 1850's. Church was built in 1820.
The house and church were parts of the same building set in a relatively
large farm which was tenanted by the priests at Ardkenneth.
Thursday 10 March 2011
MacAskill history
MacASKILL
(See also MacAsgill, MacKaskill, McCaskill, MacCaskie, Kasky, MaKasky, and Taskill)
A sept of MacLeod of Lewis according to "Scots Kith & Kin".
Black's "The Surnames of Scotland" says the MacAsgills are kown as Clann t-Asgaill (pg 45). Black also lists spellings and states that Taskill is also a derivitive of MacAsgill (pg 763). The name is Gaelic (MacAsgaill) derived from the personal name of Askell (sacrificial vessel of the gods).
McCaskill was in Ebost in the 16th century, M'Askle was in the Reay Fencibles in 1795, MacAskill in Lewis in 1863 and in Bernera earlier.
"The Soay of our Forefathers" by Laurence Reid states that the McCaskills were fugitives to the Hebrides and occupied Rubh an Dunain which the MacLeods had gotten through marriage. This is on a peninsula on the southwest coast of the Isle of Skye in an area known as Loch Brittle. The McCaskills held land first in exchange for watch duties for the MacLeods in defense of their coastline, but then were later charged rent. In the 1700s, the McCaskills had seven farms - all called by different names, but totaling 27,000 acres, including the Isle of Soay. (Note: one of these farms was Bolinture, the ancestral home of the North Carolina McCaskills).
Reid continues: the first immigrants were sons of Finley McCaskill who left in 1771 for North Carolina. In about 1802, another group of McCaskills, related to the first, came to North Carolina and then to South Carolina. In 1825, MacLeods took over lands again for sheep raising, and many McCaskills went to Canada.
A sept of MacLeod of Lewis according to "Scots Kith & Kin".
Black's "The Surnames of Scotland" says the MacAsgills are kown as Clann t-Asgaill (pg 45). Black also lists spellings and states that Taskill is also a derivitive of MacAsgill (pg 763). The name is Gaelic (MacAsgaill) derived from the personal name of Askell (sacrificial vessel of the gods).
McCaskill was in Ebost in the 16th century, M'Askle was in the Reay Fencibles in 1795, MacAskill in Lewis in 1863 and in Bernera earlier.
"The Soay of our Forefathers" by Laurence Reid states that the McCaskills were fugitives to the Hebrides and occupied Rubh an Dunain which the MacLeods had gotten through marriage. This is on a peninsula on the southwest coast of the Isle of Skye in an area known as Loch Brittle. The McCaskills held land first in exchange for watch duties for the MacLeods in defense of their coastline, but then were later charged rent. In the 1700s, the McCaskills had seven farms - all called by different names, but totaling 27,000 acres, including the Isle of Soay. (Note: one of these farms was Bolinture, the ancestral home of the North Carolina McCaskills).
Reid continues: the first immigrants were sons of Finley McCaskill who left in 1771 for North Carolina. In about 1802, another group of McCaskills, related to the first, came to North Carolina and then to South Carolina. In 1825, MacLeods took over lands again for sheep raising, and many McCaskills went to Canada.
The surname of McCASKILL
The surname of McCASKILL was derived from the gaelic MacAsgaill
Gaelic was the main language of the part of Scotland not subject to English influence, a rather more extensive area than the present day Highlands and Islands, where Gaelic is still spoken in places. It is from these northwestern and western area of Scotland that surnames of Gaelic origin.
Early records of the name mention William MacAskill, probably a member of the family of MacCaskill of Ebost, who led the Clan MacLeod against the fleet of Clanranald at Eynot, west of Skye in the sixteenth century. Donald M'Askle was a corporal in the Reay Fencibles in 1795.
The Macaskills are known as Clann t-Asgaill. At first the coat of arms was a practical matter which served a function on the battlefield and in tournaments. With his helmet covering his face, and armour encasing the knight from head to foot, the only means of identification for his followers, was the insignia painted on his shield, and embroidered on his surcoat, the draped and flowing garment worn over the armour.
More about Allan and Mary
I thought maybe my search was over, the oldest Scottish Census is from 1841.
I searched and search, and I came across one entry.
It was for an Allan Macaskill that was about 22 years old. Working on a Farm in Drimore, South Uist.
He was Single...I wasn't sure if this was my Allan Macaskill, even thought he address was the same.
I then looked at others in the household and came across, Mary Mackillag. It appears that this was his wife.
Mary was working at the Maciellan farm as well this is where they must of met, fell in love and then got married.
I searched and search, and I came across one entry.
It was for an Allan Macaskill that was about 22 years old. Working on a Farm in Drimore, South Uist.
He was Single...I wasn't sure if this was my Allan Macaskill, even thought he address was the same.
I then looked at others in the household and came across, Mary Mackillag. It appears that this was his wife.
Mary was working at the Maciellan farm as well this is where they must of met, fell in love and then got married.
| Name: | Allan Macaskill |
|---|---|
| Age: | 22 |
| Estimated Birth Year: | abt 1819 |
| Gender: | Male |
| Where born: | Inverness, Scotland |
| Civil parish: | South Uist |
| County: | Inverness |
| Address: | Drimore |
| Occupation: | Ag Lab |
| Parish Number: | 118 |
| Household Members: |
That's it...that is as far as back as I can find.
There are no more census records in Scotland. I looked over the Catholic Church records but couldn't find anything.
That's it for now...maybe more later...
Don McCaskell
Wednesday 9 March 2011
Triple Great Grandfather
This is the furthest back in my family tree that I have reached.
My Great, Great, great grandfather Allan McCaskill.
Since I now knew his name and his wife's name Ellen, I had something to search.
This first Census only took a couple hours to find.
1861Canada Census that indicates Allen was born in Scotland, it indicated he was married to Ellen she was born in Scotland as well.
It lists John, Margaret and Archibald were also born in Scotland but Margaret was born in Canada.
That means they came to Canada in the early 1850's.
That was very cool, I finially found the link back to Scotland.
It was also interesting that they were listed as Roman Catholic. Most of theother records of McCaskill's were protestants.
Allan was born in 1817.
Mary was born in 1822.
I then looked for the 1871 Census to see if I could find that one. This one took longer but I found it. But surprisingly it indicated that Mary was a Widow. I met that Allen had died sometime in the last 10 years.
The 2 Canadian Census also indicated that they were from the Ingersol District in Scotland
I then wanted to find more information about them in Scotland.
I tried to find the ship in which they came to Canada on, but Canadian law didn't make the Captains keep a manifest until 1865, so there aren't that many records. I searched the web for hours and found some, but no reference to our McCaskill's .
So, then I tried searching some of hte Scottish Records butit required to pay to searchthe records so I look around on the internet for some free searches....this took hours and got me no where...so after thinking about it for a couple of days I decided to pay the $30.
It was worth the money I was able to find some record of them in Scotland.
The first one was the 1851 Scottish Census that had the entire Family( minus Catherine, because she was born in Candada) listed. Alan was 30, Mary 35, John 9, Mary 7,Marget 4 and Archibald 10. the ages were a little off that is quite normal they didn't seem to know how old they really were.
The interesting thing is the spelling of the last name...As I found out later it appears that my Great, Great, Great grandfather changed our last name when he came over from Scotland. His last name was Macaskill. This was proven out in future records that I found.
At first I was thinking that maybe this was someone different but after a couple days of research it was obvious that they were the same person.
A couple more interesting points from this Census was that that it included their address:South Uist, Invishire. Again the Invishire matched just more info with South Uist. Here is map of South Uist in Scotland. Beautiful place.
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=South+Uist,+scotland&aq=&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=38.495679,93.076172&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=South+Uist&ll=57.277558,-6.833496&spn=1.003689,2.90863&z=9
Another interesting thing was that he was a Moss Crofter. Best I could find it met he was a Farmer.
More to come on this post when I have time to finish it.
Don McCaskell...or McCaskill...or Macaskill...:-)
My Great, Great, great grandfather Allan McCaskill.
Since I now knew his name and his wife's name Ellen, I had something to search.
This first Census only took a couple hours to find.
1861Canada Census that indicates Allen was born in Scotland, it indicated he was married to Ellen she was born in Scotland as well.
It lists John, Margaret and Archibald were also born in Scotland but Margaret was born in Canada.
That means they came to Canada in the early 1850's.
That was very cool, I finially found the link back to Scotland.
It was also interesting that they were listed as Roman Catholic. Most of theother records of McCaskill's were protestants.
Allan was born in 1817.
Mary was born in 1822.
I then looked for the 1871 Census to see if I could find that one. This one took longer but I found it. But surprisingly it indicated that Mary was a Widow. I met that Allen had died sometime in the last 10 years.
The 2 Canadian Census also indicated that they were from the Ingersol District in Scotland
I then wanted to find more information about them in Scotland.
I tried to find the ship in which they came to Canada on, but Canadian law didn't make the Captains keep a manifest until 1865, so there aren't that many records. I searched the web for hours and found some, but no reference to our McCaskill's .
So, then I tried searching some of hte Scottish Records butit required to pay to searchthe records so I look around on the internet for some free searches....this took hours and got me no where...so after thinking about it for a couple of days I decided to pay the $30.
It was worth the money I was able to find some record of them in Scotland.
The first one was the 1851 Scottish Census that had the entire Family( minus Catherine, because she was born in Candada) listed. Alan was 30, Mary 35, John 9, Mary 7,Marget 4 and Archibald 10. the ages were a little off that is quite normal they didn't seem to know how old they really were.
The interesting thing is the spelling of the last name...As I found out later it appears that my Great, Great, Great grandfather changed our last name when he came over from Scotland. His last name was Macaskill. This was proven out in future records that I found.
At first I was thinking that maybe this was someone different but after a couple days of research it was obvious that they were the same person.
A couple more interesting points from this Census was that that it included their address:South Uist, Invishire. Again the Invishire matched just more info with South Uist. Here is map of South Uist in Scotland. Beautiful place.
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=South+Uist,+scotland&aq=&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=38.495679,93.076172&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=South+Uist&ll=57.277558,-6.833496&spn=1.003689,2.90863&z=9
Another interesting thing was that he was a Moss Crofter. Best I could find it met he was a Farmer.
More to come on this post when I have time to finish it.
Don McCaskell...or McCaskill...or Macaskill...:-)
Tuesday 8 March 2011
Great Great Grandparents
I knew my Great, Great Grandfather (now referred to as Great Grandfather 2X) name was Archie.
I had heard that he had dies young and had married someone named Ellen.
That was about it.
The searching was difficult.
I couldn't seem to find anything about Archie.
I had thought that his Mothers name was Collie...or so I thought.
Then I stumbled across a Marriage certificate for an Archie that identified his wife's name Ellen Collie.
So it wasn't his mother's madden name it was his wife's. The last name was spelled incorrectly, but that didn;t seem too uncommon.
I dug further and by chance came across more info from the marriage certificate. This one I hit the jackpot because it listed Archie'e parents: Allen McCaskill and Mary McCaskill.
This one was hard to find because they really spelled his name wrong:
It was a great find....and it led me down many a searches to find more info on Allan and Mary...but that's a different story...more on Archie.
I then found the 1871 Census that hit another jackpot. Archie's siblings: John, Mary, Margaret and Catherine. It was weird that in this Census it looked like Archie had passed because he was absent.
So I knew Archie's wife, his parents and now his brothers and sisters.
I just needed to find out when he passed.
I found it...this time they misspelled his name again...Archibald McCascill...but everything matched.
he passed when he was only 37. ... young guy.
It said he died of consumption. I thought it was to do with drinking, but it was Tuberculosis.
I found out more info about Ellen as well...Turns out she remarried...John Howe and had 2 more boys, John and James.
I must have been difficult for William, Archie's son when his dad passed. He was around 10 years old. Maybe that is why he left home around 13 and started working on a farm...hard to say.
More to come on Archies Dad and Mom...
Don McCaskell
I had heard that he had dies young and had married someone named Ellen.
That was about it.
The searching was difficult.
I couldn't seem to find anything about Archie.
I had thought that his Mothers name was Collie...or so I thought.
Then I stumbled across a Marriage certificate for an Archie that identified his wife's name Ellen Collie.
So it wasn't his mother's madden name it was his wife's. The last name was spelled incorrectly, but that didn;t seem too uncommon.
| Name: | Archie McKaskill |
|---|---|
| Spouse Name: | Ellen Coolie |
| Marriage Date: | 11 Dec 1873 |
| Marriage Location: | Ingersoll |
| Registration Number: | 46465 |
| Archives of Ontario Microfilm: | MS932_11 |
| Source: | Indexed by: Genealogical Research Library |
I dug further and by chance came across more info from the marriage certificate. This one I hit the jackpot because it listed Archie'e parents: Allen McCaskill and Mary McCaskill.
This one was hard to find because they really spelled his name wrong:
| Name: | Archy Mckiskell |
|---|---|
| Birth Place: | Scotland |
| Age: | 22 |
| Estimated Birth Year: | abt 1851 |
| Father Name: | Allan Mckiskell |
| Mother Name: | Mary Mckiskell |
| Spouse Name: | Ellen Coolie |
| Spouse's Age: | 20 |
| Spouse Birth Place: | Canada |
| Spouse Father Name: | Wm Coolie |
| Spouse Mother Name: | Allen Coolie |
| Marriage Date: | 11 Dec 1873 |
| Marriage Location: | Oxford |
| Marriage County: | Oxford |
| Archives of Ontario Microfilm: | MS932_10 |
It was a great find....and it led me down many a searches to find more info on Allan and Mary...but that's a different story...more on Archie.
I then found the 1871 Census that hit another jackpot. Archie's siblings: John, Mary, Margaret and Catherine. It was weird that in this Census it looked like Archie had passed because he was absent.
So I knew Archie's wife, his parents and now his brothers and sisters.
I just needed to find out when he passed.
I found it...this time they misspelled his name again...Archibald McCascill...but everything matched.
he passed when he was only 37. ... young guy.
It said he died of consumption. I thought it was to do with drinking, but it was Tuberculosis.
I found out more info about Ellen as well...Turns out she remarried...John Howe and had 2 more boys, John and James.
I must have been difficult for William, Archie's son when his dad passed. He was around 10 years old. Maybe that is why he left home around 13 and started working on a farm...hard to say.
More to come on Archies Dad and Mom...
Don McCaskell
Sunday 6 March 2011
McCaskell or McCaskill
As it turns out my grand father (Archie) changed our last name from McCaskill to McCaskell.
All the census thus far have the last name spelled McCaskill.
They are all interchangeable, in fact I'll do a post one of these days on all the possible "Caskill" names and their meanings and history... but that is for another day.
Don McCaskell
All the census thus far have the last name spelled McCaskill.
They are all interchangeable, in fact I'll do a post one of these days on all the possible "Caskill" names and their meanings and history... but that is for another day.
Don McCaskell
Etta Sellers
I can't remember which tree I found this information but during one of the thousand searches.
I found information on William John's spouse, Etta Sellers. My Great Grand mother.
Etta's parents were Archibald and Fidalia Greenfield.
Archibalds parents were Issac and Adnes.
Etta was born in Minnesota and came to Canada...still not sure the exact year...more searching at some point.
Don McCaskell
I found information on William John's spouse, Etta Sellers. My Great Grand mother.
Etta's parents were Archibald and Fidalia Greenfield.
Archibalds parents were Issac and Adnes.
Etta was born in Minnesota and came to Canada...still not sure the exact year...more searching at some point.
Don McCaskell
Post Number 2 - Info on my great grand parents
After verifying my grandparents names on the Ham family tree. I started looking for them on ancestry.ca
I thought he was born in Ont and moved to Saskatchewan and died around the Mossejaw area...but I wanted to find some proof.
I found the Ontario 1891 Census report that indicated he had left home early, around that age of 13 to work on the Manning farm in Ontario. This proved his birth year to be about 1878, which matched and some new news that his father was from Scotland and his mother from Ontario.
I then found the 1901 Census that shows him working on the Sparling farm as a Farm Laborer.
The last one I found for the day was the 1906 Sask Census. This one indicated that William is living in Sask.
Land Location is 22-13-25 W2.
This appears to be land that William owns. Here is the link to google maps. http://maps.google.com/?q=Search%20Result@50.0984,-105.337&z=9&t=m
Cool stuff...I will have to go drive there some day. Until next time...Don McCaskell
I thought he was born in Ont and moved to Saskatchewan and died around the Mossejaw area...but I wanted to find some proof.
I found the Ontario 1891 Census report that indicated he had left home early, around that age of 13 to work on the Manning farm in Ontario. This proved his birth year to be about 1878, which matched and some new news that his father was from Scotland and his mother from Ontario.
I then found the 1901 Census that shows him working on the Sparling farm as a Farm Laborer.
The last one I found for the day was the 1906 Sask Census. This one indicated that William is living in Sask.
Land Location is 22-13-25 W2.
This appears to be land that William owns. Here is the link to google maps. http://maps.google.com/?q=Search%20Result@50.0984,-105.337&z=9&t=m
Cool stuff...I will have to go drive there some day. Until next time...Don McCaskell
Post Number 1 - The beginning
I thought I would start by giving an overview of everything that I've done so far in tracking down my family tree.
A couple weeks, I thought I would visit my ancesry.ca account that I signed up a year ago but had done very little with
I went into it and noticed that people had been linking their tree to mine because I had 2 old pictures of my great grand father.
I thought I would dive a little deeper.
After looking around the ancestry site it was obvious I needed to sign up for the pay account if I was going to see any Census information.
It was free for 14 days so I thought I would give it a try.
I signed up and began looking.
After a weekend I had found some cool things.
I found out that my grandfather had a couple sister.
One named Onita and one named Lura.
Both of then had married, and there was information on other peoples trees.
A couple weeks, I thought I would visit my ancesry.ca account that I signed up a year ago but had done very little with
I went into it and noticed that people had been linking their tree to mine because I had 2 old pictures of my great grand father.
I thought I would dive a little deeper.
After looking around the ancestry site it was obvious I needed to sign up for the pay account if I was going to see any Census information.
It was free for 14 days so I thought I would give it a try.
I signed up and began looking.
After a weekend I had found some cool things.
I found out that my grandfather had a couple sister.
One named Onita and one named Lura.
Both of then had married, and there was information on other peoples trees.
This one is of Onita. She married Tomas Ham and had 5 kids.
This one is of Lura...it's a clip from the picture below which I found as well. She married Hallie Shellburn and had 4 kids
This is a cool pic. It's of my grandpa on the left and his parents in front of his 2 sisters.
My great grandfather is William John and grandmother is Etta Sellers.
I found a lot of interesting info on Onita and Lura's family. One of the most interesting is that Onita had a daughter named Lynda.
Lynda Haverstock that is, the ex-Lieutenant Governor of Sask.
I had heard she was related I just wasn't sure how.
I also found some information on my great grandparents siblings.... but that's for the next post...
Don McCaskell
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