52 Ancestors: #46, Angus McIntyre, Immigrant From the Outer Hebrides

All the Prince Edward Island ancestors of William George Murphy, my maternal grandfather, emigrated from the British Isles. But while his father's immigrant Murphy ancestor Michael came from Ireland, his mother's McIntyre immigrant ancestor Donald (or possibly his son Angus) arrived on the Island from another island: the Isle of South Uist, near the southern end of Scotland's Outer Hebrides.

The Outer Hebrides of Scotland

The remote Isle of South Uist (or Uibhist a Deas in the Scottish Gaelic tongue) was held by the MacDonalds of Clan Ranald. Following the defeat of the Jacobite armies at the battle of Culloden in 1746, the government began suppressing the Gaelic language and the Catholic religion throughout the Hebrides and the Scottish Highlands, causing many of the Catholic tenant farmers to emigrate to North America. A large proportion of the emigrants from South Uist ended up on what was then known as St. John's Island, a British colony renamed Prince Edward Island in 1798. (Prince Edward Island did not join the Dominion of Canada until 1873.) The major 18th-century immigrations were in 1772 and 1790, though smaller groups arrived at various times between and after those larger groups.

Rose Ann McIntyre's lineage has been traced back to Domhnall Mac An t-Saoir (Donald McIntyre), born about 1745 on South Uist. He married Mairead Domhnallach (Margaret MacDonald), also of South Uist, in say 1770. It's uncertain when they emigrated to P.E.I. – in fact, it's possible that Donald may have died on South Uist before Margaret and their children emigrated, in which case his son Angus would be my immigrant McIntyre ancestor. There is no record of Donald on P.E.I. beyond Margaret's 1851 burial record at Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery in Indian River (Lot 18), P.E.I., in which she was called the widow of Donald McIntyre. If he did in fact emigrate, he must have died before 1798, as he does not appear in a census taken that year.

Children of Donald McIntyre and Margaret MacDonald, probably all born on South Uist (possibly incomplete, order uncertain):

• Donald McIntyre, d. between 1854-1860, married Mary Morrison
• Angus McIntyre, b. say 1785, d. between 1840 and 1851 in Barbara Weit, Lot 19, P.E.I., married Ann [Hanna] Gillis
• John McIntyre, married Flora Campbell
• Catherine "Peggy" McIntyre, b. ca 1785, married Donald McLellan

My descent from Donald McIntyre:

• Donald McIntyre + Margaret MacDonald
• Angus McIntyre + Ann Gillis
• Neil McIntyre + Mary Ann McLellan
• Rose Ann McIntyre + Dominic Murphy
• William George Murphy + Glenna Rabideau (my maternal grandparents)

(Note: This post is in response to Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge at No Story Too Small.)

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SOURCES

1. Marshall K. Kirk, “All McIntyre, Gillis, & McLellan Baptismal Entries from Registers of St. Andrews, Lot 37, 1809-10; St. John-the-Baptist, Lot 17, Miscouche, 1817-30; & St. Augustine, Rustico, 1812-24. Collated by families & with additional data from the register of St. Mary’s, Indian River, 1838-1860; gravestones; census listings; etc.”, undated typescript, Marshall K. Kirk Research Files, privately held by Kathy McCracken, Virginia Beach, Virginia.