John McLean and More Clark - 18th Century

[duncanmclean1]

As the newest member of this excellent forum (for the moment at least!) I was wondering whether anyone has come across the family of John McLean and More Clark in the Campbeltown area?

My father's family are from Paisley but my great great great grandfather, Lachlan McLean, was born in Campbeltown in 1789 and moved to Paisley, I suspect in the 1820s. He married Esther McMillan in 1817 and my great great grandfather John was born a year later. Lachlan was the son of John McLean (born about 1752) and More Clark (born 1754) who married in Campbeltown in 1770. At the time of their marriage and birth of their first child (Mary in 1771) I believe that they were living in Aros but moved into Campbeltown soon after and by the time of the Duke of Argyle's 1792 census the family were at 157 Roading & High Miln, Campbeltown. I can't find any record of John or More's deaths but Lachlan's death certificate records his father John's occupation as 'Gardener'.

I would particularly like to find out when 'my' McLeans arrived in Kintyre and where they came from previously. I think I've exhausted the parish record and cemetery sources so was wondering if anyone has any information on this family or perhaps has carried out a study of the McLean/MacLean families in the Campbeltown area up to the beginning of the 19th century? Thank you.

[gileon]

There is an excellent book called "Warriors and Priests by Nicholas Maclean-Bristol. I believe he is the present incumbent of the castle on the island of Coll. The book is probably slanted towards theMaclean of Coll rather than the Maclean's of Duart, but it is an excellent book well researched and presented.

In that book he does mention Alan nan Sop -Alan of the wisp. Alan was a buccaneer and he and his band terrorised all of South Dalriada To pacify him. They gave him the lands at the Mull of Kintyre, Machrihanish, Klochkiel and all the way up the West of Kintyre, including the island of Gigha. It is pretty certain that Alan placed his fellow clansmen in those lands and I think we can safely assume that this is where many of the Kintyre Maclean's originate. The following is taken from the Tarbert tourist guide.

"In the early years of the sixteenth century a buccaneer of the West Coast (Alan-nan-Sop), an illegitimate son of Lachlan Catanach McLean, was given possession of Tarbert Castle by Alan MacDonald of Islay, who, it is assumed had forcibly acquired it from his hereditary foes, the Campbells. Alan-nan-Sop used the castle as a base. His plundering operations took him to Cowal, Loch Lomond, Bute and the Lowlands. With his ships he is reputed to have made forays even to Ireland. Alan lived to an old age and died about 1555."

Alan got his name from the fact that he carried a wisp of grass to torch the houses where he and his band had just plundered pillaged and raped. - sometimes a stout heart is needed when tracing one's ancestry. To be fair they all lived like that in those days. Alan just did it better than most

My own family originate in North Kilmaho, which is close by Kilkenzie village. My great-great-grandfather farmed there in 1750. Another point which may interest you is the following:

Some time ago I was approached to give a DNA sample by an outfit in Texas who were trying to establish Maclean connections through Angus Martin. They wanted a sample from a senior male Maclean,- they don't come much more senior than me. What was surprising was that I am of genetic Haplo group T. This is a group which is very rare in Western Europe, but very common in the Middle East and South Russia and eastern end of the Mediterranean. This haplo group originates many centuries back - in Mesopotamia.

My wife is Helen Mitchell Her father farmed there till 1947

Gileon

[duncanmclean1]

Thanks so much for your posting gileon. I haven't seen the book 'Warriors and Priests' but it does sound as if I should try to get my hands on a copy. I tried my usual sources (Amazon, then a Google search) which came up with 3 used copies, all in the USA, with the cheapest on offer at £169.95 which for a book originally selling for £19.95 is one hell of a mark up! If anyone knows where I could buy or borrow a copy for less I would be very grateful! I'm not sure how appropriate the title is though -16th century plunder, pillage, rape and general piracy followed by the clan bankrupting itself and losing almost all of its territory topped off by numerous cases of illicit whisky distilling, smuggling and grave robbing in 18th and 19th century Kintyre. As you say, a stout heart is needed indeed when you delve into your past!

You mention Angus Martin with whom I have been in regular contact since my initial Forum posting. He has been extremely helpful and I've offered to do some research of my own into the McLeans/MacLeans of Kintyre with a view to publishing something in a future issue of the Kintyre Magazine if anything comes of it. The approach I'm taking is to try to pull together all the surviving records of McLeans etc in Kintyre up to about 1800 and relate them to the geography and settlements of the peninsula. I'm using parish records of births and marriages, grave inscriptions, the Duke of Argyle's 1792 census plus a few other sources such as Hearth tax, Horse tax and data which Angus has given me from his own research. Restricting the study to pre-1800 is to keep the size manageable, at this initial stage at least. My problem, as I'm sure you can appreciate, is the dearth of documentation before the middle of the 18th Century but I want to see what I can achieve with the data that we do have. If anyone has any information on McLeans/MacLeans in Kintyre up about 1800 I would be very grateful.

DNA testing is something that I'm seriously considering and will probably have done in the not too distant future. What a fascinating result from your own tests and I'm already becoming nervous about what my own might show. Apart from yourself are you aware of any other McLeans in Kintyre who have been tested?

[Iain]

Hi Duncan ! Welcome !

John McLean or MacLean
Birth abt 1750
Death
Wife : More or Marion Clark 1750 –
Children:
• Mary McLean or MacLean 1771 –
• More McLean or MacLean 1775 –
• Janet McLean or MacLean 1785 –
• Lachlin McLean or MacLean 1789 – 1863

Lachlin McLean or MacLean
Birth 9 May 1789 in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland
Death before 1863
Marriage to Catherine the 24th of January 1809. • Catherine Campbell 1788 – 1863
Children:
• Neill Mclean 1812 –
• Effy or Euphemia Mclean 1814 –
• Catharine McLean 1816 – 1899
• Alexander McLean 1822 –

The last 4 children mentioned will bring you up to the 1841 census.

----------------------------------------

Neill Mclean
Birth 22 Aug 1812 in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland
Death
Effy or Euphemia Mclean
Birth 19 July 1814 in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland
Death
Catharine McLean
Birth 23 July 1816 in Campbelton, Argyleshire
Death 3 Oct 1899 in Kyle Union Poorhouse, Ayr
Alexander McLean
Birth 30 Sep 1822 in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland
Death

[duncanmclean1]

In response to Iain's recent post I would like to amplify the details concerning John McLean and More Clark's family. They had seven children in total with the first, Mary, being born in Aross (a farm settlement in The Laggan, between Campbeltown and Machrihanish) in March 1771, almost a year after their marriage. Their six further children - More, Allan, Catherin, Finuell, Janet and Lachlan were all born 'in town' (ie Campbeltown) between 1775 and 1789. The family is recorded as living in High Milne, Campbeltown in the '1792 List of Inhabitants upon the Duke of Kintyre's Property in Kintyre in 1792'.

Lachlan was my great-great-great grandfather and I am descended from his son John. John died in Paisley in 1874 and his entry in the Register of Deaths confirms that his father was Lachlan McLean (a tailor) and his mother Esther McMillan. They married in Campbeltown in March 1817. The Lachlin McLean from the last posting who married Catherine Campbell in 1809 was a sailor and therefore not, I believe, the son of John McLean and More Clark.

I feel that my ancestral line is well recorded back to John McLean and More Clark in the mid-1700s but as many Scottish genealogy researchers find there isn't much information earlier than that (unless you're descended from nobility of course!). The 1792 census shows a Donald McLean (b. abt. 1717) and Mary McDonald (1723) living at Aross in 1792 together with a Flory McLean (1750). OPR Births also show a Mary McLean born in Aross in 1755. My GGGGGF John McLean was born about 1752 and living at Aross in 1771 so it seems at least possible that he was the son of Donald and Mary, and brother to Mary and Flory. I've pretty much exhausted possible further lines of research so if anyone knows any more I would be very interested to hear it. I've also started to research all McLeans/MacLeans/McLanes in Kintyre up to the end of the 18th century and intend to start a new forum topic on this wider theme within the next few days.