THE KINTYRE
ANTIQUARIAN and
NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY
MAGAZINE

Taken from
Issue Number 14 Early 1984

CONTENTS

An 18th Century Letter From Campbeltown to America

The Magazine has recently been privileged to see a number of family letters sent to Mr. Alexr. Galbreath, 3 miles west of Slateridge Meeting House, near Peachbottom Ferry, York County, Marryland.

A number of those mentioned in this letter are written about in some of the other articles in this number, and this is purely by chance.

The writer of this letter William Ker was the Overseer or Manager of the Coal Mine, and "Crichen" mentioned in the letter was Charles McDowall, the owner, who comes into the article on the Canal. The Provost, Colonel Porter, is a purchaser of books at Colonel Charles Campbell's Sale, and William Ker mentions selling a cow to Colonel Campbell's Grieve and also to Mr Porter.

The following letter is from Knochrioch, 21st July, 1791, and Wm. Ker whose wife is a Galbarith is a brother-in-law of Alexander Galbreath to whom it is addressed
(Note: To read this letter, first published in issue 14, go to issue 35 of the Magazine where it is included in a group of other letters in the collection that is mentioned at the beginning of this article. HR)

Emigrants To America On The Diana

In issue No.1 of this Magazine, Mr. Angus MacVicar gave a list of Kintyre emigrants to North Carolina who sailed on the Ulysses in August, 1774.
Here follows a list of those who sailed from Greenock in September of the same year in the DIANA (Dugald Ruthven, Master).
(See the records as transcribed by A R Newsome in 1934 North Carolina Historical Review.)
The reasons given for their departure from their native shores was invariably given as "High Rents and Better Encouragement.
Their destination is described as- Wilmington, North Carolina, which was the port for the Cape Fear River basin, where Kintyre natives had settled as early as 1739.
In the list women are given their maiden names as was the Scottish custom. The men are farmers except where otherwise stated:

William McDonald (40), Isobel Wright (36), Mary (4) & Jessy (2) McDonald.

Archibald Campbell (38), Jean McNeil (32), Mary (7), Lachlan (2), Grizel (6) Campbell.

Findlay Murchie (45), Catherine Hendry (35), Archd (10), Charles (5), Neil (3), Barbara.

Duncan McRob, Taylor (26), Elizabeth McMurchy (8).

Hugh Sillar (55), Catherine Currie (62), Mary Sillar (27). Catherine Sillar (23).

Gilbert McKenzie (34), Mary McKenzie (27).

Archd McMillan.

Patrick McMurchy (17), email a descendant Elizabeth Kelso (50), Hugh McMurchy (46), Archd McMurchy (21), Mary McMurchy (17). Elizabeth McMurchie (14), Robert McMurchy (9).

Neil Hendry, Tailor (27).

Coll McAlester, Tailor (24), Mary McAlester (31)

John McVicar, Glasgow, Tailor (36).

Alexander Speir, Glasgow Clerk (19).

The following comments were received from a descendant of passenger McMurchy.
Our information comes from the Murphy family Bible, confirmed by a letter written by Patrick's grandson Patrick II as published in the volume Williams and Murphy Records, ISBN: 0832827622. We have cited another well-source among genealogists:
Cameron, Viola Root, Emigrants from Scotland to America, 1774-1775, ISBN: 9780806300665. (Copied from a loose bundle of Treasury papers in the Public Record Office, London, England. Compiled and indexed in the London office of Viola Root Cameron. Baltimore, Genealogical Pub. Co., 1965.) Transcribed from old Treasury Papers in the Public Record Office in London, this work lists some 2,000 persons by age, station, occupation, residence in Scotland, destination in America, and reasons for emigrating.
Our information is a follows:
They immigrated to Wilmington, North Carolina, America, aboard the ship Diana, Dugal Ruthven, Port Greenock, September 1774
Among the list of emigrants were: Patrick MCMURCHIE, Kintyre, 54, his wife Elizabeth KELSO, 50, their children, Hugh 22, Archibald, 21, Mary 12, Elizabeth 14, Robert 9, and daughter, Margaret, born on board ship.
You will find that the age for Patrick (and for several of his children) is not in agreement with our records. Patrick was born in 1720, Elizabeth in 1724, Hugh in 1752, Archibald in 1753, Elizabeth in 1760, Mary in 1762, Robert (from whom I am descended) in 1765.
The information for Patrick's brother Finla and his family is: Finla MCMURCHIE Kintyre, 46, his wife, Catherine HENDRY (HENRY), 34, their children: Archibald 12, Elizabeth 8, Charles 5, Neil 4, Barbara 6 months.
N. Williams Chadwick, Winston-Salem, NC
Also-
I am a descendant of Gilbert McKenzie who came from Kintyre in 1774 to Wilmington, DE aboard the ship the Diana. One thing to note from your website...his wife's name was Margaret, and I believe you have her listed as Mary. I can give you proof of this through several genealogy books I have from Benton Co. Tennessee.
If you have anyone who has any information going further back than Gilbert or Margaret McKenzie, I would be of great interest.
Thank you, Christa Holland Zoeteman, Oro Valley, AZ

Copyright belongs to the authors unless otherwise stated.

The Kintyre Antiquarian & Natural History Society was founded in 1921 and exists to promote the history, archaeology and natural history of the peninsula.
It organises monthly lectures in Campbeltown - from October to April, annually - and has published its journal, 'The Kintyre Magazine', twice a year since 1977, in addition to a range of books on diverse subjects relating to Kintyre.

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