Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 1, 1893

THE CELTIC MONTHLY.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
The Resurrei .ionist Scare at Campbeltown.— A
[, n( writes After an absence of many
years, I paid a visit, reci ntly, to mj Dative place
wonderful change lias
taken place there! 1 hardly knew it It seems
as if an entirely new town had arisen, and almost
blotted out all ti ices of the old one. I walked
old burying ground of Kilkerran,
are ii terred. Many a time, in
ins j ounger d 13 s, have I wandered a
tombstones, but it, also, has seen changes. It is not
the venerable •• Cod's acre " which 1 knew so well in
my early youth. I stood by my father's grave, and
ago, in some of which my fathi r acted a part. Some
one has said that in the grave all thin-- meet ami eml
there. From where I si 1.1 saw the las! resting
place of a daughter of a certain worthy doctor, who
was well known in Kintyre in his day. [recollect
well the time of her death, just when the " Resur-
rectionist Scare" was at its height in Campbeltown.
h was considered unsafe to leave a newly interred
body unwatchi d in the grave, in case that during the
night Hi" body would be lifted. When the lady was
buried in Kilkerran, my rather ami a relative spent
every Dight for a week in tint lonely place, guarding
tlii- ijrave against the body snatchcrs. In those days,
i ne cared to pass the churchyard after dark, so
that it must have been a test of true courage for two
men to sit by the grave for seven nights, not so much
fearing a visitation from the spirit world, as an
ei unter with the more substantial denizens of the
material one. No attempt was made to disturb the
grave, as, no doubt, the "night ghouls" knew that
thej would have to reckon first with two powerful
men.
Now. the sleeper and the watcher of long ago lie
icar each oilier, sleeping that long, last ship which
shall only know one waking. I left Campbeltown,
' feeling like a stranger in a strange town.'
Mackays of Carnachy, Strathnaver. — Mr John
MaeKay ("Ben l!eay."| Villa Moesta, Marburg, a
Lahn, Germany, is engaged, at present, preparing a
new history of the Clan MaeKay. A number of the
cal tables are incomplete, and he invites the
if our readers in lining up tie se blanks.
There are, no doubt, a number of old people in the
parish of Parr who could supply Mr. MaeKay with
■i ;real deal of valuable information relating to these
clan families.
1. — [nformatioi arding Eugh MaeKay, of
I
Supposed to In' the - I [ugh MaeKay, who,
i epn entingthe Strathy family, in 1730, appointed
Mr. Skeldock to the Parish Church of Farr. 'Ibis
led lo a gnat deal of ill fe, ling, which I nlmiiiateil in
wha is known as " Tuiteam Halmadery." \\ hen did
; b marry, and what was his relationship to
the Laird of SI ra1 hj 1
II. John MaeKay who had Carnachy say in
1730, and "farmed and held sheep lands as did his
fore him." lie married a I'.ai bara Mackin ,
and had, alii" tier children, Colin, born I ICtobcr,
1787, who enlisted in tic 42nd Highlanders, got his
discharge in Ireland, where lie married and settled
Hi- eldi st son was the late Rev. lb. .b seph MaeKay,
Tie. d at < Mel it College, !'- ' 5 . and Moil
delltilV
this family.
Marshal MacDonald, Ddke of Tarentom. — Mr.
Alex. MacDonald, Town Clerk, Govan, is collecting
material for a biography of Marshal MacDonald. Duke
of Tarentum, \\ ho figured so prominently in the wars
of Napoleon Bonaparte. The accounts which have
been published regarding the Marshal and his family
arc vague and unsatisfactory, and Mr. MaeUenald
hopes i" be able to gather together sufficiei
the subject to publish a biography worthy of this
distinguished Highlander, who, although born in
France, was a Highlander in sympathy and spirit,
lie ;- especially anxious to receive leliable infor-
mation regarding the Marshal's father, Neil Mac
Eachainn, or MacDonald, a native of I'ist, who is
believed to have accompanied Prince Charlie in his
flight to France, after the Rebellion of 1745. Many
in the Island of fist, should be able to supply answers
to the following list of ijucslioiis which Mr. MacDonald
has prepared.
I. — Who were the Marshal's ancestors?
II. — 111 the KiiCi/chiju'h'tl Hiihniiiicl, it is slated
that the Marshal's father "came of an old Jacobite
family which had followed James II. to France.
What evidence is there of this statement ?
111. -How did Neil MacDonald get to France?
IV. — As to Neil's descendants in France, accurate
information will be a matter of great interest to Scots-
men.
V.— The "Marshal was married three times. Call
any give information regarding these marriages?
VI.— The thill"- ' i. ' d :a ' as Q ll J accurate
anecdote - and n ferenc - i i sible, witl i i to
the Marshal, both in France and Scotlai d. a- are id
to he found in general history, or in special works "f
encyclopedias. There must be still living, in both
countries, people who knew the Marshall, or heard of
him from others who knew him.
Willi
one, in no.- ge
John Mai Kay, CF. J.P., lb
liaracteristic generosity, has sent a number of
ble pri e for c petition among the scholars
■ ii, public schools at Bmbo, Strathy,
dab-. Durness, and Culkein, in Sutherland. No
ion at all r\ cuts, has done n
to encourage education in his native county than Mr.
MaeKay has done His munificence simply knows no
limits.
In the year 1616, an order was issued requiring the
English language to be universally planted in the
Yd, ii. .i w itl tanding i ctt of parliami nt and other
restrictions, Gael o a I II v and \ igorous as
ever. We hai e I rai lie i ocie! ie and othei im ti
formed s] ially lo foster and encourage that very
la H bicli the law of the laud attempted hard
to eradicate.