isle of Barra research

[garstonite]

I am going to google Isle of Barra research - but - has anyone else done any research of Barra ?...if so - any tips would really be appreciated...thanks

ADDED - Glad to say Barra now has a Facebook page for Barra Genealogy - https://www.facebook.com/groups/294653877345866/ ..
so - I have asked to join and I will update any progress I make

previous thread from 12 years ago
http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=9257&highlight=angus+mcdonald

[Merry]

Having read the other thread and look in UK newspapers on FMP I see The Daily Post 21 Feb 1980 reports that Angus was aged 59 when he died. On the other thread it's mentioned there were birth registrations in 1919 and 1920 for his name in Barra.

So....IF the newspaper article is correct, and one of those is him, you will probably need his marriage cert to establish who his father is and hope the two possible births don't have the same father's first name! Only thing I can think of to help is to see if there's a death for either Angus early enough to be able to separate them....

Having said that.... here are the two births:

MACDONALD ANGUS JOHN mmn BUCHANAN M 1919 108 / 56 BARRA

MACDONALD ANGUS M 1920 108 / 25 BARRA

and there is this death,

MACDONALD ANGUS JOHN 67 M 1966 108 / 2 BARRA

which I suppose is likely to be the man born in 1919, leaving the 1920 birth to be your Angus (which is the better match for age and no middle name)! A bit risky TBH, I would be happier if the father matched with the 1955 marriage cert!

The index for the 1921 Scottish census is no help - it records two Angus McDonalds both aged 1 and neither with a middle name, so impossible to sort out who is who!!

Oh, I suppose knowing the mmn for the 1919 'wrong' birth (Buchanan) could help sort those two out? No time for that now though...........

[Merry]

Made a bit of time!

One household:

MCDONALD CHRISTINA 1921 F 41 108/ 3/ 10 BARRA INVERNESS
MCDONALD MARY 1921 F 7 108/ 3/ 10 BARRA INVERNESS
MCDONALD ANGUS 1921 M 25 108/ 3/ 10 BARRA INVERNESS
MCDONALD DONALD 1921 M 10 108/ 3/ 10 BARRA INVERNESS
MCDONALD ANGUS 1921 M 1 108/ 3/ 10 BARRA INVERNESS
MCDONALD ANNIE 1921 F 8 108/ 3/ 10 BARRA INVERNESS
MCDONALD DONALD 1921 M 52 108/ 3/ 10 BARRA INVERNESS
MCDONALD DONALD 1921 M 54 108/ 3/ 10 BARRA INVERNESS
MCDONALD MARION 1921 F 68 108/ 3/ 10 BARRA INVERNESS
MCDONALD JAMES 1921 M 27 108/ 3/ 10 BARRA INVERNESS

the other household:

MCDONALD LIZZIE 1921 F 5 108/ 3/ 11 BARRA INVERNESS
MCDONALD ANGUS 1921 M 1 108/ 3/ 11 BARRA INVERNESS
MCDONALD ANN 1921 F 33 108/ 3/ 11 BARRA INVERNESS
MCDONALD MURDOCH 1921 M 3 108/ 3/ 11 BARRA INVERNESS

So the second household is probably a mum with three children. I don't know if I can work out if Ann is a Buchanan without her husband's first name.

The first household is a right mix - goodness knows who are this Angus's parents!! So that's very unhelpful!

[Merry]

Oooh, it may be Ann who is the Buchanan:

MACDONALD MURDOCH mmn BUCHANAN M 1917 108 / 35 BARRA

So, of course 'your' likely Angus would be the one from the more complicated family group!!

[garstonite]

Thank you so much Merry once again - we DO KNOW that there was a Donald who became a ships Captain - he once docked at Garston and we went on his ship to meet him - so the first household seems to be his family ...you are a star we are thinking of taking a trip to Barra ....xxxx

[Merry]

I did look at the index for the 1911 census but it didn't really help to sort out who might be married to who and which children belonged to which couple etc.

[garstonite]

I am now a member of Barra Genealogy on Facebook and have left a message - wish me luck ...x

[Merry]

Yeh, good luck!

[garstonite]

Fabulous News - we have now made contact with family and family friends - over the moon - A BIG THANKS to all who helped - I am being sent an e mail later today of ALL the family details - I will post tomorrow what we find out ....xxxx by far the best genealogy site ...

[garstonite]

Mary McDonald b 14-10 1909
Donald 17-04-1911
Ann 18-03 1913
Mary Ann 13 -04- 1914
Angus 05-05-1920 ( I presume their dad was away during WW2 )
Neil James 27-06-1923
writing is difficult to read
I have asked for confirmation but it looks like parents are Donald and Eliza ??

waiting for another e mail

[Merry]

WW1 lol!!

I looked to see if I'd missed an Eliza from the larger household in 1921, but it doesn't look like it unless she has been badly indexed. Still two adult Donald's to choose from!

I forgot to say before, the order of those names in 1921 is just the order they appeared in the index, so not the order they may appear on the actual census record.

[garstonite]

Added
Parents Donald "Beag" McDonald ( son of Donald )and Kate McLean ( daughter of Ewen )- address 8 Caolas , Barra

[garstonite]

Well Merry
8 Caolas is on the island of Vatersay - evidently a small island next to Barra which has been connected to Barra by a concrete road/causeway - so although called Barra it is actually the adjoining Island - and it was a Croft - sadly demolished years ago - Donald - Angus's father died in that croft 11-02 1950 - would loved to have seen that croft - Angus was born in Criochan just outside Castlebay on Barra