This post is based on my article "From
Isle of Coll to Cape Breton" in Vol. 33, No. 3 (2015) of Nova
Scotia Genealogist. That issue of the journal was published last
month (December 2016) in a catch-up project after an editorial
hiatus.
The presence of several McFADYEN
families in nineteenth-century Cape Breton does not indicate the
Scotland origins of most. Curiosity led me to explore whether the
others have kinship to my Donald "the soldier" McFadyen, or
indeed if any also came from the Isle of Coll in the inner Hebrides
of Argyllshire. Genealogical sources in both regions are limited or
incomplete; alternative influences are authored works, local history,
and customary naming patterns. I use the generic spelling McFadyen
unless I am citing or referring to a document.
Basically, what I know about my Donald
"the soldier": He was born about 1773 on Coll[1]
and emigrated to Cape Breton in 1828 with wife Flory McLean and some
children,[2]
settling at River Denys. His parents are not verified since three
Coll families in 1776 had an underage Donald.[3]
For reasons beyond the discussion here, the most viable candidates
are the couples Lachlan McFadyen and Flora McLean or Angus McFadyen
and Mary McLean.
 |
| A page from the "1776 List"; NAS, CH2/70/1 |
As for "the others":
Two single men came to Cape Breton sooner than my Donald. Alexander
McPhaden aged twenty-two arrived in 1821.[4]
Early on he is described as a tailor.[5]
MacDougall says Alexander was the brother of
Donald McFaden who was aged twenty-eight in 1825.[6]
In his petition for a land grant, that Donald McFaden refers to his
brother but does not name him. When that Donald died at Malagawatch
without
recording a specific birthplace in
Scotland, his parents were said to be Lauchlin
and Catherine.[7]
Searching in Coll sources yields no appropriate baptisms and matching
parents for the two men, based on their given ages, but the recorded
events are not comprehensive.
Donald McFaden married
Mary Ann Calder and settled at Militia Point near Malagawatch;
Alexander married Margaret McQuarrie and settled at Lexington near
Port Hastings.[8]
Both men named their eldest sons Lachlan; both had daughters called
Catherine. MacDougall’s History outlines at least the first
generation of their descendants.
 |
| River Denys area, Cape Breton |
A third man, a Laughlin
McPhaden applied for Cape Breton Crown land in 1821, having arrived
that year, aged twenty-four and married.[9] Further records
show that Laughlin and his wife Mary McLean had a son Archibald
baptized in 1829 by a visiting cleric at Malagawatch.[10]
It's unknown if this was their first son, i.e. possibly named after
the paternal grandfather. A marriage for the couple has not been
found 1795-1822 in any Old Parochial Registers on ScotlandsPeople
and I find no later information about him.
I wrote a post regarding a
Neil McFadyen whose father and family allegedly came to Cape Breton
in 1827.[11] Neil
was convicted of, and hanged for, a murder in Pictou County in 1848.
However, the inquest revealed the family was from Coll's sister
island, Tiree.
Finally, a Roderick
MacFadyen settled, date unknown, in Cape Breton’s River Denys area.
His death record in 1877 shows he was born Island
of Coll and his parents were Lauchlin
and Catharine.[12]
His reported age at death infers a birth year of 1804-05 but his 1871
census age implies 1807.[13]
Roderick/Rory married another Mary McLean and apparently did not
apply for Crown land, purchasing someone else’s grant.[14]
Describing him as a tailor, MacDougall says, “So far as we know,
Rory had no relatives in this country.”[15]
And yet, his location was a mere three lots away
from my own ancestor Donald “the soldier.”[16]
 |
| Crown Lands Map Cape Breton; Donald the soldier's son Hector is shown upper left, Roderick's son Neil is lower across the river |
The memoir of a Collach relocated in
Australia says that two McPhaiden brothers from Totamore on Coll
"went to America" in 1822.[17]
Perhaps they sailed on Commerce
of Greenock,
as some historians assert it sailed that year (among other
years).[18]
Does
this make a connection between these two brothers, Donald and
Alexander, to the Cape Breton McFadyen brothers whose birthplace is
unknown? Here, I am omitting research done in several directions but
their ages do not necessarily match and all else is unsubstantiated
indirect evidence.
Also in my (lengthier)
article, I showed a correction to Roderick's parents. Coll historian
and editor Nicholas Maclean-Bristol believes that the Roderick who
died in Cape Breton in 1877 was born to Lachlan McPhaiden and wife
Catherine Macdonald in Totamore, Coll.[19]
However, the parents of the child Roderick baptized on Coll in 1804
were Lachlan McPhaiden of Grimsary and wife Catherine McKinnon.[20]
The same couple had another son Roderick baptized 25 May 1807 —
possibly indicating the first child so named had died. Either way,
there seems to be no other Roderick from Coll to match the man who
died in 1877.
 |
| Hector McFadyen house, River Denys |
Roderick McFadyen’s
potential relationship to my Donald the soldier or other McFadyens in
Cape Breton remains a mystery. Roderick is clearly a generation
younger than my Donald who did not have a known connection to
Grimsary (or Totamore, for that matter) on Coll. The
household-heads-only 1861 census tells us Roderick had five males and
four females in his household, i.e. probably four sons at that
time.[21]
MacDougall mentions just four sons, adding that only Neil survived at
the time of the book’s publication (1922).[22]
In 1871, Lauchlin age twenty-four and Roderick age twenty-three were
at home with sister Katy age twenty-six and two younger girls.[23]
The names Lauchlin and Katy (Catherine) accord with Highland naming
practice especially if Lauchlin was the oldest son. The family stone
at Malagawatch cemetery shows the fourth son Allan of about the same
age as Lauchlin.[24]
While oral tradition,
written or spoken, may be a useful source in the absence of much
original documentation, its probability
as facts ranks lower on the credibility
scale.
Reliance on compilations and accounts of secondary information
demands critical examination and caution about conclusions. I would
be more than pleased to hear from any relevant McFadyens.
[1]
The National Archives (TNA, Kew, England), WO25/527, Regimental
Description and Succession Books, 91st Foot, 2nd Battalion, Pvt.
Donald McFadden; Family History Library microfilm 0859630. Additional
information came from Gerald Hamilton-Edwards, letter to author 11
October 1976, citing TNA, WO12/9319, General Muster Books and Pay
Lists, 91st Foot, 2nd Battalion.
[2
“List of passengers in the Ship ‘Saint Lawrence’ ...,” J.L.
MacDougall, History of Inverness County, Nova Scotia (1922;
reprint Belleville, ON: Mika Publishing, 1972), 126-131.
[3]
“1776 List of the Inhabitants in the Island of Coll Decr
2nd 1776” is found in Coll Kirk Sessions, National
Records of Scotland (NRS), CH2/70/1/. The new Presbyterian incumbent
that year compiled a list of every resident and their locations on
the island to test catechism knowledge. Children under the age of
seven were considered too young to be tested but they were listed.
Both couples mentioned had an underage son Donald.
[4]
“Cape Breton Island Petitions 1787-1843,” database, Nova
Scotia Archives (http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/land/ :
accessed May 2008), Alexander McPhaden, no. 2754; citing Nova Scotia
Archives (NSA) microfilm 15798.
[5]
Nova Scotia census 1838, Inverness County,
Canso Township, 19th page, Alexander McFadden; Library and Archives
Canada (LAC) microfilm M-5220.
J.L.
MacDougall, History of Inverness County, Nova Scotia (1922;
reprint Belleville, ON: Mika Publishing, 1972), 177.
[6]
“Cape Breton Island Petitions 1787-1843,” database, Nova
Scotia Archives, Donald McFaden, no. 3053; citing NSA microfilm
15799.
[7]
“Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics, Deaths 1864-1877,”
digital image, Nova Scotia Archives
(https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/ : accessed May 2008); Donald
McFadyen, 10 June 1869, Inverness County, register no. 1810, p. 36,
no. 132.
[8]
MacDougall, 177.
[9]
“Cape Breton Island Petitions 1787-1843,” database, Nova
Scotia Archives, Laughlin McPhaden, no. 2755; citing NSA
microfilm 15798.
[10]
St. John's Presbyterian (Belfast, Prince Edward Island) baptisms,
1823-1849, Archibald, son of Laughlan McFadden and Mary McLean “basin
of River Denny,” born 13 February 1829, baptized 3 September 1829;
LAC microfilm C-3028.
[11]
http://brendadougallmerriman.blogspot.ca/2010/09/mcfadyen-part-13-murder-circumstantial.html.
[12]
“Nova Scotia ... Deaths 1864-1877,” digital
image, Nova Scotia Archives
(https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/ :
accessed May 2008); Roderick McFadyen, 28 February 1877, Inverness
County, register no. 1810, p. 142, no. 44.
[13]
1871 Census Nova Scotia, district 203, Inverness, subdistrict D14,
River Dennis, division 1, p. 21, Rory Mcfaden (age 64) household; LAC
microfilm C-10565.
[14]
MacDougall, 497.
[15]
MacDougall, 496.
[16]
MacDougall, 497. Also “1861 Census Nova Scotia,” digital image,
Ancestry.ca
(www.ancestry.ca : accessed 9 January 2016), Inverness County,
polling district 14, abstract no. 2, line 31, Roderick McPhaden.
[17]
“Donald Mackinnon, 'An Account of the Island of Coll and Its
People',” West
Highland Notes and Queries,
Series 3, No. 17 (November 2011), newsletter of the West Highland and
Island Society for Historical Research (HebrideanHistory.com).
[18]
Colin S. MacDonald, “Early Highland Emigration to Nova Scotia and
Prince Edward Island,” Collections
of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol.
23 (1936).
[19]
Maclean-Bristol's Note 25 attached to Mackinnon, 'An Account of the
Island of Coll and Its People',” West Highland Notes and
Queries, Series 3, No. 17 (November 2011).
[20]
Roderick McPhaden, baptism 24 August 1804; Coll
Kirk Sessions, NAS, CH2/70/1/.
The session minutes are mixed with baptisms and marriages beginning
1776. Marriages
1776-1819 and Baptisms 1776-1820 have also been transcribed by Ian
Scott on Isle of Coll
Genealogy (www.collgenealogy.com).
[21]
“1861 Census Nova Scotia,” digital image,
Ancestry.ca
(www.ancestry.ca : accessed 9 January 2016), Inverness County,
polling district 14, abstract no. 2, line 31, Roderick McPhaden.
[22]
MacDougall, 496-7.
[23]
See Note 14.
[24]
Nancy MacDonnell, transcriber, Malagawatch Cemetery, Inverness
County, Cape Breton GenWeb
(http://www.capebretongenweb.com/Cemeteries/cem105.html :
accessed 10 January 2016).
©
2017
Brenda Dougall Merriman
