MacGregors from Kinloch Rannoch and Paisley, Scotland

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SRIOGAL MO DHREAM

(Royal Is My Race)

"MacGregor" from R. R. McIan's "Scottish Highland Clans 1845-7 

(An old print from Colin MacGregor Stevens' Collection)

Duncan MacGregor (c. 1792 - 1852 June 22)

Duncan Macgregor (circa 1792 - 1852 June 22), a dry goods merchant of Kinloch Rannoch and later Commission Agent of Paisley, Scotland. He wanted to emigrate to Canada but had too much textile stock on hand. His first wife, mother of Neil, died. Duncan remarried and moved to Paisley, Scotland. He married Esther Henderson and had four more children. He and Esther are buried in Paisley. 

Spelling of names

The names are spelled a variety of ways, even in official records and family correspondence. "Correct" spelling was not important.  e.g. 

Niel, Niell, Neil

McGregor, Macgregor, MacGregor.

Family tradition has it that Duncan Macgregor was descended from a son or a nephew of the famous (or infamous) Rob Roy. No confirmation of this has been found as yet.  

Niel MacGregor (1816-1876)

One of Duncan's sons was my Macgregor ancestor - Niel MacGregor (1816-1874), who came to Canada from Kinloch Rannoch, Scotland about 1831 as a teenage boy to work with his uncle James MacGregor in Chippawa, Upper Canada (now Ontario). 

Niel McGregor's 1825 Gaelic New Testament

Niel was given a New Testament in Gaelic by his former school teacher. The book was published in 1825 in Scotland and was brought to Niel by his Uncle James McGregor who had gone back to Scotland visit the family. 

Photos of Niel MacGregor and family

Niel McGregor's Story

Niel was later a Deputy-Sheriff in St. Catharines, and Welland, Ontario.  He had a large family, but the line fizzled out with no males bearing children to carry on the name. 

His obituary states that he participated in the [1837] raid wherein British and Canadians captured the rebel supply ship CAROLINE, set it on fire, and set it adrift above Niagara Falls. Contrary to most published reports, the ship did not go over the falls but stuck at the top. She later broke up. The captured flag is in the Maritime Museum at Stanley Barracks in Toronto, Ontario. The figurehead is in a US museum downstream.  This incident almost started a war between the USA and Canada-UK. 

The Macgregor Heirlooms 

Many heirlooms have been passed down to my Mother and some on to me. 

One item I have is the razor that was handed down through Niel (Neil) Macgregor to his daughter Flo Read, to my father A. H. Stevens, to my mother Estelle, and finally to me. 

A Macgregor heirloom - Bonnie Prince Charlie's Razor from c. 1746 after the Battle of Culloden.

http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net/prince_charlies_razor.htm 

Another heirloom is a Macgregor ring for use with sealing wax. The crest is carved in reverse. This came to Colin Stevens from his father A. H. Stevens who obtained it from his cousin Peggy, daughter of Flo (Macgregor) Read. A similar ring, plain on the sides and larger, was worn by A. H. Stevens but was later lost.

  Colin Stevens' ring. It has now been dated to about 1875.

MacGregor Family Bible

Last resting place of some of our Macgregors of St. Catharines, Ontario. 

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