Peter Blackhall McDougall

My maternal grandfather, Peter Blackhall McDougall, was born on the 19^th May 1869 at 2.30pm in Kilmun. He was the second of six children. At the time of his marriage Peter was 23 years old working as a grocery assistant and living at 1 Ward Street, Partick. Peter died at home on the 22 April 1950, 27 days before his 81^st birthday.

I met him when we holidayed at Hunters Quay from 1946 to 1949, but did not have much contact with him on those occasions. I was fascinated by the way he ate his porridge by dipping his spoon of porridge into a cup of cold milk rather than pouring the milk over the porridge. It is something I affect just because he did. He also had an afternoon nap and snored loudly which amused us children. He did have a lovely sense of humour and in his last letter to my mother he writes:

 

He died 18 days later.

Both my grandmother (Granny) and my grandfather (Grandad) were well read and interested in music and languages, but neither were educated beyond secondary level. However my mother’s family were all very academic and six of the seven children went onto further education which must have been very unusual in those days as well as being expensive. The seventh child, Peter, ran away to sea at the age of 12 or 14.

Peter Blackhall McDougall’s parents, Ivie McDougall and Jane Blackhall were married in Broxburn on the 28^th December 1865. Ivie was 28 years old and Jane 30. Ivie is an unusual name for a boy these days but was used in Argyllshire at that time. It is interesting to note that my grandparents when naming their children after their parents changed Ivie to Iver when my Uncle was born in Glasgow in1898. The Victorians had started using plants and flowers for girls’ names by then and I would have thought that Glasgow is the last place on earth that you would want to saddle a boy with a girl’s name.

Jane Blackhall was born in Kelso in 1835 to Alexander Blackhall and Jane Burn. Note it is Burn and not Burns as in Robert Burns. Jane Burn was born in Cessford in 1812 and her parents were Joseph Burn and Jean Tinline. Alexander Blackhall’s parents were Thomas Blackhall and Agnes Turner, who was born in 1770. The Burn and Blackhall families were very much local to the area around Kelso and are still to be found there.

Ivie McDougall was born in Ardentinny in 1837 and his parents were Peter McDougall and Mary McFarlane. Peter in turn was born in Lochgoilhead in 1805 and Mary in Ardentinny. Peter’s father was Hugh McDougall and he married Janet McKeller in 1791

In summary we have the McDougalls living in the Cowal Peninsula and the Blackhalls living round Kelso in the Scottish Borders.

The McDougall clan is one of the oldest in Scotland and takes its name from Dugall, son of King Somerled a warrior from a Norse royal house who held sway over a large portion of western Scotland. For a time the McDougalls held allegiance to both the Norwegian King and the Scottish King and it was their withdrawal of support for the Norwegian King which swung the Battle of Largs (1263) in the Scots favour. In later years the McDougalls did not support Robert the Bruce or Bonnie Prince Charlie.

The Cameron clan’s origins are less clear and the first real evidence of the clan is in the 1400s. They were mainly responsible for raising the clans to support Bonnie Prince Charlie and after Culloden(1746) the clan was extremely harshly treated.

My Scottish ancestors, McDougalls, Camerons, Crams and Blackhalls come from four distinct areas, the Cowal Peninsula and the Morvern Peninsula in the west and the Glen Devon and Kelso areas in the east. If you are ever passing through these beautiful areas it will add an extra dimension to the enjoyment by recalling that our ancestors once lived there.