Red River Settlement, Rupert's Land (Manitoba, Canada)
Meet descendants and learn more about where to find information on your Red River ancestors and their culture/history here. Includes fur traders, First Nations, Scots/Irish/Swiss Selkirk Settlers, and Metis.
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lauras@rbbmt.org
Thank you,
Laura
Don't have a lot on any of them. Laura Seward
Our Scottish lines came into Canada and settled first in Glengarry County, Canada. First came the MacRaes. John (our line) and older brother Farquhar McRae left the property called Achnagart in Kintail and came to Canada They emigrated to Upper Canada in 1786 on the ship MacDonald or Sandaig. At the time of emigration Farquhar was already married to his wife, Catherine MacDonald, daughter of Angus Ban MacDonald of M'hunial, one of the organizers of the emigration. They were among the first settlers of Glengarry County. This emigration from Knoydart was 520 people - about one-quarter of the district's population and one-half of its tenants. First Farquhar and John were in Lot 2, 7th concession Charlottenburgh near the present city of Cornwall on the St. Lawrence River.
One of our McRae cousins has tested his DNA and it is confirmed to be of the chiefly line of the MacRaes of Kintail. The genealogy trail of the MacDonald line says our MacDonalds were descended from the chiefly line of MacDonald which started with Somerled.
Our Mathesons didn't come until about 1844-45. Widower Alexander Matheson came with his son Dougald and his family from Lochalsh Parish, which contains Kyle of Lochals, Scotland. Dougald;s wife was Isabella McKenzie who was b. 1810 in Ardelve, Lochalsh, Ross-shire, Scotland in a croft house that is still thatched and standing. They had 5 children in Scotland, John, Mary, Janet, Kenneth, and Alexander. Isabella died aboard ship and was buried at sea. We don't know if John and Alex died in Scotland or at sea. These Mathesons lived on a rented farm in Glengarry/Stormont area. The children were never schooled. Kenneth went to sea on the Sta. Lawrence and never returned home. Janet and Mary both married McRaes--Mary married a great-grandson of emigrant John McRae who was also named John McRae. Janet married Alex McRae whose roots were near Inverness. Both of these families came to Minnesota in the 1880-period.
Since the male Matheson line from Dougald disappeared and Alexander's other male children went to Glasgow and we don't know anything of their family, we found cousins descended from Alexander's older brother Murdoch who had two wives and many sons. We have had male descendants from 3 of the sons do DNA tests and they all match the chiefly line of the Mathesons.
That's why I do the Matheson, McRae, and McKenzie DNA projects and communicate with the McDonald DNA administrators.
It is through intermarriages in these four clans that we trace to James IV of Scotland through his bastard daughter, Margaret, who married a Gordon, and thence through various lines until we get Alexander MacRae of Inverinate marrying a MacKenzie and their granddaughter marrying into the Matheson line. So it has been a great adventure! - Alice
Bratten Of Leatty, Rogart, Sutherland, Scotland. Immigrated in 1814. The family was uprooted in the clearances after which they sailed to Pictou, Nova Scotia and settled in Earltown. On my husband's Fraser side there is a Christy Campbell who married Donald Fraser. In 1847, he came with his family from Gleneg, Inverness-shire, Scotland, to Glengary, Ontario, Canada where he lived two years, and then moved to the 5th Range in Harrington, Quebec, Canada. Any relation?
You can email me at alicefairhurst@gmail.com
BTY, some Campbells are also from the Kingdom of Dalriada as are MacGregors and some MacDonalds.
--Alice Fairhurst
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