Donald McKay c1720
From the inscription on the gravestone in Buiternach we know that Donald was the father of Peter (c1742-1837) and that he was the husband of Jane Robertson. Further information has however been garnered from papers contained in the Gordon Castle Muniments.
The website author had earlier mistakenly identified Donald as the son of a John McKay, baptised in 1720, from Glenlivet (Aldich) based on a document returned from an online search on Register House in Edinburgh, however the information on Donald from Elizabeth Tulloch (nee McKay, family ancestry researcher) below has corrected that error. There is no existing death record known for Donald or his wife Jane Robertson.
The earliest documented reference to Donald is in 1735 when, along with his father William, he was granted a tack on Nether Clashnore. This tack was disputed by a rival claimant, Robert Gordon of Achdregnie, who made representation to the Duke and Duchess of Gordon, requesting that the tack be withdrawn from the McKay family, whom he referred to as “poor pityfull bodys”. He would, he said, agree to let “the old man sitt” (William), but declared that he wanted nothing to do with “his pack of foolish sons”.
The outcome of this plea has not been recorded but as the next surviving tack, of 1765, was granted in favour of Robert, Donald and William McKay, it seems that the family was still in possession of the lease. This is backed up by a comparison of signatures on the relevant papers which shows that Donald was certainly one of the aforementioned 1735 “foolish sons”.
Although the name of Donald McKay appears in various tacks and documents pertinent to Nether Clashnore until 1791 it is likely that it was another, and younger, Donald who figured in the later transactions, perhaps a son or a nephew. There was so much duplication of Christian names with such large families of overlapping generations that it is sometimes not feasible to unravel the exact relationships.
Donald, William, Robert, Peter, James and John were the names most favoured by the Clashnore McKays in the 18th and 19th centuries, and several members of the different branches of the family could bear a specific name at any given time, thus making it extremely difficult to establish the exact degree of kinship. To give but one example of this confusion, there were, between 1812 and 1822, seven males by the name of Peter McKay at Clashnore.
Jane Robertson’s only known role is as the wife of Donald McKay of Nether Clashnore and the mother of Peter (c1742-1837). Like her husband she is named on the stone at Buiternach but her death pre-dated this by some years. It was a common practice for Victorians to commemorate their ancestors who had died before the erection of gravestones became routine for ordinary people. At one time only the more affluent had their earthly departure recorded for posterity. Buiternach, like all early burial grounds, contains many more graves than there were ever headstones. There are only about a dozen or so of them still standing today.
Family Members
Links to Donald and Jane’s (known) children and grandchildren sub-pages (click as required where these exist):-
- Peter McKay 1742-1837 b.Glenlivet, d.Glenlivet