Facts and traditions collected for a family record

HISTORY OF THE M'CONNELLS OF GALLOWAY. ] 09
CHAPTER VI.
The first ancestor on record in our family is John M'Connell, who lived
in and farmed the Beoch, in the parish of Tongland, district of Gallo-
way, near Kirkcudbright. He married a Miss M'Clellan of Nether
Crae, in the parish of Balmaghie. The date of this marriage is not on
record; but it was probably before 1690, as Samuel, their son, was
married before 1715.
In the parish records his name is spelled M'Conel, being the nearest
to the pronunciation of the Gaelic word MacDhomhnuill, pronounced
MacGhonell or MacChonell. Gaelic was the language commonly spoken
at that time, though English was being introduced ; and it is evident
that the parish records were intended to be written in English.
There is no account of the family of Miss M'Clellan, to whom he was
married ; although the name is well known as that of one of the oldest
and most distinguished families in Galloway, upon which the active part
which many of its members took as Covenanters sheds additional lustre.
John M'Connell lived in troublous times. From his childhood, until
about the time of his marriage, he saw and experienced little else but
persecution, and that of the most cruel and direful nature. To give
some idea of the period of trial in which he lived, I extract the follow-
ing from the beautiful work just published by James Dodds, "Fifty
Years' Struggle of the Covenanters :" —
" The Pentland rising commenced a.d. 1666, in Dairy, parish of Balmaclellan,
Galloway. One of the most active was M'Lellan of Barscobe. He was one of