THE ANNIE /MARGARET MYSTERIES

I've decided to lay out the facts as I know them in as clear a manner as possible. Hopefully I don't meander too much. There are a lot of details but, in this case, the details prove to be important in trying to figure out the mysteries.

Cast of Characters:

Christina Campbell (m.s. McLean) (also known as Christian and Christy)

John Campbell (Christina's spouse)

Margaret McNeill (m.s. either McDonald/Campbell/or Shearer)  STAY TUNED, this is one of the mysteries

Annie Shearer, later McDonald, married name McNeill   STAY TUNED II, this is the other mystery (also known as Ann and Agnes)

Lachlan McNeill (Annie's spouse)

Lachlan McDonald (Ann Shearer's father therefore Annie McNeill's father)

Angus McNeill (Margaret's 2nd spouse or possibly first and only spouse)

There will be other names referred to in this document but they don't play an essential part in the story.

Christina Campbell (m.s. McLean)

Born June 21, 1819 to John McLean and Flora McKinnon, at Ruaig, Tiree, Scotland.

• It should be noted that John and Flora were married August 8, 1811, several months after the birth of their first child, Malcolm. In total, it would appear they had at least 11 children, including Christina, who was their 6th child.  Malcolm appears to play a part in one of the mysteries as will be explained later.

source:  Keith Dash website listing of births

1841 census:

"Christy" is living with her parents, John & Flora, at Ruaig, along with several other relatives.  The 1841 census doesn't breakdown the relationship of one household member to the others or to the Head.  

source:  Keith Dash website

1851 census:

"Christian" is living with her parents, John & Flora, at Ruaig, along with Malcolm (son to Head of household), his wife, and 3 grandchildren.  This is part of the mystery.  In this census, there is a 1 year old girl named Margaret McLean who is listed as born in Glasgow, and is apparently the daughter of Malcolm and his wife, Marion.  Malcolm and Marion's other two children (ages 6 and 2) are both listed as born on Tiree.

source:  Keith Dash website as well as Ancestry (the latter the source of the information that Margaret's parents are Malcolm and Marion).

UPDATE:  as at March 12, 2017:

A review of the actual 1851 Ruaig census does NOT show Margaret as the daughter of Malcolm and Marion.  1.  There is no ditto mark indicating that her last name is McLean; 2.  She is listed as a grand-daughter to Head of household but is the last child on the list; 3) her birthplace is listed as Glasgow, Lanarkshire which is different than Malcolm and Marion's 2 children.  Not by itself evidence she is not their daughter, but listed with the other 2 items, it assists in this decision that she is not their daughter.

Email from Flo Straker of February 22, 2017:

"Hi Catherine,

The 1851 census at Ruaig. The residents are listed in order of status, close family first, then servants or visitors last. Their relationship to the HEAD of the household is given. 

Generally the order of the family would be HEAD, wife, sons then daus. Followed by grandchildren, neices nephews uncles mothers in law etc

Margaret is listed as a GRAND-DAUGHTER of the HEAD of household. She is NOT stated to be a daughter of Malcolm. She is merely listed Below the other grandchildren. If her mother Christina's marital status had been married, then Margaret would have appeared directly below her mother Christina. As Margaret was illegitimate (and therefore considered to be of low status) she would have been named last in the list of all grandchildren.

Margaret was definitely Not John Campbell's dau. As the years went by she would be accepted as such, even tho they were not blood related."

Christina married John Campbell in Tiree on July 7, 1852.  

Christina and John have at least 7-8 children between 1850 and 1865 (Margaret - our mystery Margaret - Hector, John, George, Murdoch, Mary Ann, "Baby," and Flora).

Christina died on May 14, 1901 at Balinoe, Tiree.  Informant - her son, George Campbell.

More census information (1861 onwards) will be added later to give the mysteries context.

John Campbell

Baptized February 16, 1806 at Balinoe, Tyree.  John's parents were Hector Campbell (crofter) and Ann McKechnie (also referred to as McEachern).   Between 1806 and 1825, Hector and Ann had 14 children including John.

John was first married to Mary McFarlane of Heylipoll, Tiree, on June 21, 1849.  Mary died in February 1851, and there do not appear to have been any children.  I do not believe Margaret McDonald/Campbell/Shearer was the daughter of John Campbell & Mary as Margaret does not appear in the 1851 census with him but, rather, with Christina McLean (see above).

                                           Mary McFarlane's Memorial Marker
                                          which reads:  William MacFarlane in
                                          memory of his sister Mary MacFarlane
                                          wife of John Campbell Tennant Balinoe
                                          died Feb 1851 age 33 years and his
                                          father John MacFarlane died 1 Aug. 1821
                                          also his mother Cath.ne MacFarlane 
                                          died 3 Aug. 1811 

• Note:  Mary McFarlane may be the 20 year old I found in the 1841 Tiree census, hand loom weaver, living in the household with Duncan and Donald McFarlane.
• McFarlanes appear to have a connection with the Baptist Church on Tiree.  A John McFarlane, and later a Duncan McFarlane, were Baptist Ministers on Tiree, with John living specifically in Balinoe.  This is interesting to note as Annie McDonald married Lachlan McNeill in a Baptist Church in Glasgow.  John McFarlane was the Registrar of John Campbell's death in 1892.

1851 census

John is listed as a widower and crofter of 16 acres, living with his sister, Margaret, brother John, sister Ann, and a nephew George McFarlane (age 9 months). source:  Keith Dash website

John married Christina McLean in Tiree on July 7, 1852. source:  Keith Dash website and ScotlandsPeople

John died on January 2, 1892 at Balinoe, Tiree.  source:  ScotlandsPeople

Margaret McDonald/Campbell, also possibly Shearer

Christina McLean appears to have had a daughter, Margaret, about 1850.  Margaret is listed in various sources as being born in Glasgow. The Margaret listed in the 1861 as Margaret Campbell is listed as born in Tiree.  I have been unable to find Margaret's birth record.  I say "appears" as Margaret is listed as her daughter in various censuses, both as Margaret Campbell and Margaret Shearer.

1851 census:

Margaret is a granddaughter living in the household of John and Flora McLean, in Ruaig, Tiree, along with John & Flora's daughter, Christian, as well as two people listed as her parents Malcolm, his wife, Marion, and 3 other grandchildren, including Margaret.  This is part of the mystery. Margaret is listed as born in Glasgow.  Malcolm and Marion's other two children (ages 6 and 2) are both listed as born on Tiree.  source:  Keith Dash website as well as Ancestry (the latter the source of the information that Margaret's parents are Malcolm and Marion).

Between the 1851 and 1861 censuses, Christina McLean marries John Campbell (1852).  source:  Keith Dash website

1861 census:

Margaret Campbell is listed in the 1861 census as daughter of John and Christina Campbell, age 10, born on Tiree.  I believe, from all my research, that this is Margaret who was listed as Margaret McLean in the 1851 census and is Christina's daughter, possibly illegitimate.  While the rest of the household is born on Tiree, I believe Margaret is actually born in Glasgow.  Perhaps an enumerator error or the family just said everyone in the household was born on Tiree.

1871 census:

A person listed as Margaret Shearer (Housemaid) is living in the household of John & Christina Campbell.  Am unable to find a Margaret McDonald in other household records who "fit the bill" of our Margaret McDonald.  In addition, the census advises us that Margaret's mother is Christina Campbell and that Margaret is the step-daughter to the Head of the household (John). This Margaret is age 20 and is listed as born in Glasgow.

Note:  this Margaret's age is right for our Margaret Campbell, and is born in Glasgow.

Listed as also living in the household is an Agnes McDonald, step-granddaughter to Head of household, age 1, born on Tiree.  I believe Agnes is Ann Shearer, born in 1850.

• Note:  after much research & digging, I found a birth of an Ann Shearer on Tiree, illegitimate.  Mother is Margaret Shearer.  There is a Record of Corrected Entry [referred to in a previous blog] declaring in the Sheriff's Court in Tobermory that Ann's father is Lachlan McDonald, son of Angus McDonald of Tiree.

• Note:  Agnes is interchangeable with Ann/Anne and is familiar form Annie.
• Ann Shearer becomes Ann McDonald by sheer virtue of the court decision that her father is a McDonald.
• While I believe Margaret Shearer is one and the same as Margaret Campbell and Margaret McDonald, it's not clear why Margaret uses McDonald as her last name as I have been unable to find a marriage of Margaret Campbell/Shearer to a McDonald.

Margaret marries Angus McNeill of Tiree (b. abt 1844), on May 12, 1882, in Glasgow. Source: ScotlandsPeople

Margaret died on December 23, 1933 of cardiac degeneration and exhaustion.  The informant of her death is her daughter Christina McNeill.  The daughter lists Margaret's parents as John Campbell (farmer)(deceased) and Christina Campbell (m.s. McLean) (deceased).


Annie McNeill (m.s. McDonald)

Born March 19, 1870 to Margaret Shearer and listed on the birth registration as Ann Shearer.  She is illegitimate.  A Record of Corrected Entry has her father as Lachlan McDonald, son of Angus McDonald, of Tiree.  By the 1871 census, per the above, Ann is now Agnes McDonald, later to be Ann in future censuses.

1881 census:

Ann McDonald, age 10, is the granddaughter of the Head of the household, John Campbell and his wife, Christina.

1819 census:

Ann McDonald, age 20, is the granddaughter of the Head of the household, John Campbell, and his wife, Christina.

When Annie marries Lachlan McNeill in April 1895, she lists her father as George McDonald (crofter) (deceased) and her mother as Margaret McDonald (m.s. Campbell).  I have been unable to find a birth of Ann or Annie or Agnes to a George McDonald and Margaret Campbell or Margaret Shearer or Margaret McDonald.  What I HAVE found is the birth of Ann Shearer to Margaret Shearer, with an R.C.E. whereby Lachlan McDonald is listed as her father.  This changes Ann's last name to McDonald by the 1871 census.

Note:  for some reason, upon her marriage, Annie lists her mother as Margaret McDonald (m.s. Campbell).  No mention of McNeill (although she married Angus in 1882) and no mention of Shearer.

Annie dies July 23, 1918, Barrland Place, Cardonald, of cardiac; valvular disease; haematemesis.  The informant at her death is her spouse, Lachlan McNeill, who indicates that Annie's father was George McDonald (Crofter) (Deceased) and her mother is "Margaret McDonald, afterwards McNeill, m.s. Campbell." (When I found Annie's death registration, it provided me, for the first time, with Margaret's husband's last name of McNeill.  Prior to this, based on the 1895 marriage registration of Annie to Lachlan, I only knew Margaret as McDonald, m.s. Campbell.)

Unresolved:

1.  Why is Margaret known as McDonald, afterwards McNeill, m.s. Campbell (reference:  Annie's death registration)?  Did she eventually marry Lachlan McDonald, the father of her daughter, Ann Shearer?  No marriage record can be found.  In Ann Shearer's birth record as well as in the 1871 census, Margaret is using the last name of Shearer.  In the 1861 census, she is Margaret Campbell, daughter to John Campbell. 

2.  Where does the last name of Shearer come from?  I am unable to find a Margaret Shearer birth that fits this Margaret, born in Glasgow about 1850.

3.  Why does Annie not refer to her mother's married name of McNeill in her marriage registration of 1895?  Margaret had been married to Angus since 1882.

4.  Why is Annie's father listed as George McDonald?  I am unable to find any trace at all of a George McDonald on Tiree which is where Annie was born, nor have I found a George McDonald marrying Margaret Campbell.  Did Annie and Lachlan keep up the illusion that her father's name was George, right from her marriage registration to her death registration? 

(It should be noted that the same marriage registration has Lachlan listing his father as a Neil McNeill.  When he was born, he was illegitimate and no father was listed and no Record of Corrected Entry appears whereby a father was later named.  Upon Lachlan's death, only his mother, Julia McNeill, is listed.  Two examples of illusions being created on one marriage registration vis-à-vis paternity of both the bride and the groom?)

5.  Why does Christina's brother, Malcolm, and his wife, Marion, claim Margaret as their daughter in the 1851 Tiree census?  Is it to save face for Christina?  The family may have been Baptist and quite religious so perhaps, until Christina marries John Campbell the following year, the illusion was given that Margaret was her niece.

6.  Why does Margaret appear as Margaret Campbell in the 1861 census, in the household of John & Christina but by 1871 she is Margaret Shearer (not McDonald), step-daughter to the Head of the household (John) and daughter of Christina Campbell?  Again, is the household Baptist and quite religious?  Once Margaret gave birth to Ann in Glasgow in 1870, then came back to Tiree to live in the household by the time of the 1871 census, did John insist that she use her Shearer name to distance her from the Campbell name?  And, since her daughter was now Ann McDonald due to the court ruling, did Margaret then start going by her daughter's last name?

I will have to  continue to search for marriage records of Margaret Campbell or Margaret Shearer to a George McDonald.

Suffice it to say, I am as convinced as I can be at this stage that

1)  Margaret went by all three surnames:  Campbell, McDonald and Shearer and that she is one and the same person;

2) Annie's father's name was Lachlan McDonald not George McDonald.  (This I have proved with the R.C.E. on Ann Shearer's birth which made Ann Shearer become Ann McDonald.)