Margaret Campbell - the first 30 years

In the previous post, we looked at William Roy I's first 30 years, now it's time to turn to Margaret Campbell. One of the frustrations of 19th century family history research is that the women feature in any records a lot less than the men, and piecing together their lives is often even more of a jigsaw puzzle. However, by looking at the records that exist for all of the immediate family it's often possible to create a fuller picture of the lives of the women. 

Margaret Campbell was born 25 March 1812 in Meikle Logie* to John Campbell and his wife, Susan Cameron. The record of her baptism says:

Campbell, Margaret. Dr to  John Campbell and Susan Cameron in Mickle Logie was born 25 March and baptized 29 - 1812 - 1

John Campbell and Susan Cameron had married three years earlier in 1809. However, their marriage was not without some controversy, as the parish register states:

1809, Dec 6 - John Campbell in Mickle Logie and Susan Cameron, Little Trochrie were married this day after paying a fine for want of being proclaimed.2

'Proclamation' was the process by which intention to marry was publicised to the congregation of the parish. Generally the banns (the notice of the proposed marriage) were proclaimed on three successive Sundays, which gave the community an opportunity to object if there was a reason why the couple shouldn't marry. A fee was paid to the kirk for the proclamation readings.3 

For a couple to leapfrog this process, and pay a fine in lieu would usually be an indication that they were in a hurry to get hitched - which indeed, John Campbell and Susan Cameron appear to have been...as the Little Dunkeld parish register of births shows that their first son, James Campbell was born just over six months later on 10 May 1810.4 

Whereas for William Roy I's birth we were able to follow the saga through the Auchtergaven Kirk Sessions, unfortunately no kirk session records survive for the parish of Little Dunkeld. We'll just have to imagine that John and Susan were rebuked and absolved for what appears to be a case of 'ante-nuptial fornication'. 

Margaret's birth came less than two years after James' and was followed by three more siblings. Altogether, the family consisted of:

Children of John Campbell and Susan Cameron (married 1809)

• James Campbell, son born 10 May 1810 5
• Margaret Campbell, daughter born 25 March 1812 6
• John Campbell, son born 30 July 1814 7
• Donald Campbell, son born 24 June 1816 8
• Euphan Campbell, daughter born 6 June 1820 9

Later on, in the 1841 Census, we'll see that Susan Campbell, Donald and Margaret are still at Meikle Logie, so it is likely that the family grew up there between 1809 and 1841. 

Meikle Logie was a small rural hamlet in the Strathbran district, about 3.5 miles (5.5 km) from the more populous centre of Little Dunkeld. It has a sheltered hillside setting and overlooks the Birnam and Trochry Hills to the south. (It's also a short distance from Ballinloan, where William Roy I possibly spent the initial five or so years of his life).

Farmland in Strath Braan - looking across to Meikle Logie (2008)
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Richard Webb - geograph.org.uk/p/1025927

Access road to Meikle Logie (2014)
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Stanley Howe - geograph.org.uk/p/4002296

According to the reported occupation on Margaret's death certificate in 1872, her father John Campbell was a farmer.10 This seems to be accurate, as in the 1851 Census, the widowed Susan Campbell, aged 67, is shown as being a farmer of 2 acres in her own right.11 They would have lived at Meikle Logie with the families of other farmers, agricultural labourers and linen hand loom weavers. 

Most Sundays, the family would have had to walk the 3.5 miles into Little Dunkeld to attend the parish church there, but once a month, they would have taken a very short walk  (less than 0.3 mile/ 500 metres) down their track, and along the narrow road towards Little Dunkeld to the nearby church of Laganallachy*.  This was a local church which was maintained by subscriptions and services by the people of the district. The Minister from Little Dunkeld conducted services there every fourth Sunday.  Of particular note is the fact that these services were conducted wholly in Gaelic.12

The 1845 Statistical Account confirms that Gaelic was widely spoken in the Strathbran district:

Languaqe.-The language generally spoken in the two most populous districts, viz. Strathbran and the Bishoprick, is the Gaelic, which does not seem to be losing ground, though the English is more generally understood than formerly. About four-fifths of the inhabitants are a Gaelic population, and much attached to their vernacular tongue.13 

Little Dunkeld was one of only a small number of parishes in Perthshire that maintained Gaelic language into the 19th Century.14 

It is not clear at what point services ceased at Laganallachy, but by 1838, the church was described as being 'in bad repair and uncomfortable in winter'.15

The following streetview from Google Maps shows what remains of Laganallachy Church today. 

The inscription of a stone in the graveyard we can see above tells us that Margaret's father, John Campbell died at Meikle Logie on 18 March, 1839, aged 59. The stone was erected by Margaret's brother, Donald in memory of their father, and also memorialises another brother, John who died in Bankfoot (8 May 1853, aged 37), and Donald himself (died 30 April 1895) as well as Donald's wife, Cecilia Cath Pullar (died 10 October 1899 aged 68) and their son, John Pullar Campbell (died in Motherwell, 1878 aged 19).16

So, when we look at the 1841 Census (the year before Margaret married William Roy), we find 25 year old Margaret living in a household at Meikle Logie with her 55 year old mother (keep in mind the ages were often rounded in the 1841 census) and her 20 year old brother, Donald, who is listed as the head of the household. His occupation is shown as 'tailor' and this was still his occupation on his death certificate in 1895.17

Image reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

Nowadays, Meikle Logie consists of what appears to be just four homes, but in 1841 it was a bustling hamlet, with 14 separate households consisting of a total of 61 people listed in the 1841 Census. Of these entries, five heads of households had the surname 'Campbell', but my research so far would suggest they are cousins of Margaret and Donald, rather than their siblings (who I am still to track down). The 1867 Ordnance Survey Map snippet above shows the outlines of the many buildings at Meikle Logie, the well on the edge of the woods, and the proximity of Meikle Logie to nearby Laganallachy Church.18 

(An interesting aside - some of the old farmsteading buildings at Meikle Logie have been transformed into a very comfortable home by Edinburgh architects, Robert Bruce Design - click on the link to see what they did - and for some more photos of Meikle Logie and surrounds, have a look at the Meikle Logie Farmhouse Cottage which is listed as a holiday let on AirBnB.)

On the census night of 6 June 1841, at an actual 29 years of age, we find Margaret living with her widowed mother and youngest brother at Meikle Logie.  Nine months later, she marries William Roy, and is described in the parish register as 'residing at Bankfoot',19 which would suggest she had moved there - perhaps to work, or to live with her brother John (who died at Bankfoot in 1853, according to the inscription on the gravestone).  

So that brings us up to date with approximately the first 30 years of both William and Margaret's lives. Next up...their marriage and family life in Bankfoot. 

Confused about where these characters fit into the family tree? Or where this action is occurring?  You can always check The Family Tree and Map pages for visual clues.

* There are multiple spellings of Meikle Logie and Laganallachy in the records - i.e. Mickle Logie, Mickeloggie, Lagganallachie... For simplicity, I have chosen to stick with Meikle Logie and Laganallachy. 

Notes

1. Baptism of Margaret Campbell, born 29 March 1812, Old Parish Registers Births, 373/ 10 Little Dunkeld, p.316.
2. Marriage of John Campbell and Susan Cameron, married 6 December 1812, Old Parish Registers Marriages, 373/10, p.413.
3. Old Parish Registers – Marriages and Proclamation of Banns', National Record of Scotland, https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/birth-death-and-marriage-records/old-parish-registers/marriages-and-proclamation-of-banns, accessed 29 March 2022.
4. Baptism of James Campbell, born 10 May 1809, Old Parish Registers Births, 373/ 10 Little Dunkeld, p.301.
5. Baptism of James Campbell.
6. Baptism of Margaret Campbell.
7. Baptism of John Campbell, born 30 July 1814, Old Parish Registers Births, 373/10, p.331.
8. Baptism of Donald Campbell, born 30 June 1816, Old Parish Registers Births, 373/10, p.341.
9. Baptism of Euphan Campbell, born 6 June 1820, Old Parish Registers Births, 373/10, p.408.
10. Death registration of Margaret Campbell, died 13 July 1872, Glasgow, National Records of Scotland, scotlandspeople.gov.uk.
11. Census record for Susan Campbell, aged 67, Mickellogge, Little Dunkeld, 1851 Scotland Census, National Records of Scotland, scotlandspeople.gov.uk.
12. W. & A.K. Johnston, Report of the Commissioners of Religious Instruction, Scotland, Commissioners of Religious Instruction (Scotland), 1838.
13. J Gordon (ed), The New Statistical Account of Scotland / by the ministers of the respective parishes, under the superintendence of a committee of the Society for the Benefit of the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy, Little Dunkeld, Perth, Vol. 10, Edinburgh: Blackwoods and Sons, 1845, p. 1010. University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow. (1999) The Statistical Accounts of Scotland online service: https://stataccscot.edina.ac.uk:443/link/nsa-vol10-p1010-parish-perth-little_dunkeld.
14. Charles W. J. Withers. ‘A Geography of Language: Gaelic-Speaking in Perthshire, 1698-1879’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 8, no. 2 (1983): 125–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/622107.
15. W. & A.K. Johnston, Report of the Commissioners of Religious Instruction, Scotland.
16. Alison Mitchell (ed) Monumental Inscriptions (pre 1855) in North Perthshire, Vol. 2, p.211.
17. Census record for Susan Campbell, aged 55, Meikle Logie, Little Dunkeld Scotland, 1841 Scotland Census, National Records of Scotland, scotlandspeople.gov.uk.
18. Ordnance Survey Map, Six-inch 1st edition, 1843-1882, Perthshire, Sheet LXI, Survey date: 1863-4,  Publication date: 1867, National Library of Scotland, https://maps.nls.uk/.
19. Marriage of William Roy and Margaret Campbell, married 4 March 1842, Old Parish Registers Marriages, 330/20 Auchtergaven, p.339.