William McKay c1788 – 1863

Around 1845 William, Marjory and family (daughter Jane, and sons Peter and James) left The Braes of Glenlivet and settled at Lockers, in the Aultmore district of Banffshire, where they built a house on Lockers croft and cultivated, initially, approximately 13 acres of land.

Although we have no exact record of his birth as the Roman Catholic records for Glenlivet do not go back sufficiently far, we know from his death registration that William was the son of Peter McKay and Elizabeth Thom. From the age given at this time and from various census returns we can point to 1788 as being the likely year of his birth. We do not know for sure why he, as the elder son, did not succeed his father in Nether Clashnore, Glenlivet, but whatever the circumstances it was his younger brother Robert who continued the McKay line at Clashnore and Robert’s descendants were still in Glenlivet until the 1930s.

Aultmore was an area where colonisation of previously useless land was being encouraged by the proprietor, the Earl of Fife. ‘Improving leases’ were readily granted to anyone willing and able to accept the terms and many of the landless crofting fraternity took this opportunity. A contemporary document which delineates the disputed boundaries between the property of the Duke of Gordon, the Earl of Fife and the Earl of Seafield, refers to the “arable lands of the poor-man improvement”. These new settlers were generally tenants of other holdings who had been displaced since the advent of land enclosures in the second half of the eighteenth century. By this means large ‘improved’ farms had been created in place of the several small units which had made up the old farm townships. It seems likely that this was the situation in which William had found himself as it is known that the Duke of Richmond, taking advantage of the expiry of leases, added many of his smaller properties to the larger farms in Glenlivet. This would account for the family’s migration from Glenlivet to Aultmore (Lockers).

The national census of 1841 shows William and Marjory (both aged 50) at Upper Achnarrow, with children Peter (25), William (19) and Jane (14). The census of 1851 shows William and Marjory now at Lockers with children Peter (named as Patrick, aged 33, unmarried) and Jane (25, unmarried). The names Peter and Patrick can be interchangeable especially where Scots Gaelic is in common use, which may have been the case for the census recorder in 1851 Banffshire. The veracity of census information might further be questionable in those early days of data gathering, given that Marjory is named as Magdalene in the 1851 census.

William died June 30th 1863 at Lockers croft (from obstruction of the bowels) and son Peter continued farming Lockers until his own son George took it on in 1879 following Peter’s death. William and family were buried in Keith (now Keith Old) cemetery Section number 336 which is of ground extent 7ft 6 ins. There are fourteen other persons buried there in three different graves, all with a connection to William and/or Lockers.

Readers may have noticed the dotted line tentative additions to William’s family members in the chart below. The cemetery records which documents William’s burial lair shows that Alexander is buried in that family lair. Alexander’s father is documented on his death record as “William McKay, Farmer” whilst showing his mother as “unknown”. It is an assumption, but a very close family tie would seem to make it likely that this William is the father of Alexander who was born at Mortlach neighbouring Glenlivet and geographically on the road from Glenlivet to Lockers. No more information is currently available. Alexander lived and had family in the village of Newmill between Lockers and Keith after marrying Jessie Littlejohn. His son Francis is buried in Broomhill cemetery, Keith.

George (William’s grandson) had a son he named Peter William McKay who lived in and had children in Newmill, one of whom he named Jeannie Littlejohn McKay, so the Littlejohn connection continued. Newmill was a known stamping ground for McKays from the time of William’s move from Glenlivet in the 1840s (and perhaps others before him) no doubt up until the present day where family connections might well still be identified.

Family Members

Very little is known of Marjory Stuart prior to her marriage to William McKay, other than the approximate year of her birth and the parish in which she was born. We have no clues as to her parentage and the only member of her immediate family who can be identified with certainty is her sister, Margaret Stuart of Eskemore. She acted as sponsor at the baptism of Marjory’s son Peter in 1815, when it was stated that she was the child’s aunt. The reason for this dearth of information is the lack of Roman Catholic records; these do not as a general rule go back further than the 19th century, and this unfortunately applies to the Glenlivet area. From the census returns of 1851 we learn that Marjory was born in the parish of Inveravon, in which Glenlivet lies, and that the likely year of her birth is 1788. This makes her roughly the same age as her husband William whom she had married prior to April 1814.

The earliest address we have for them is Tomoriough, Clashnore and they moved to Timberford, Clashnore and then to Upper Achnarrow, Clashnore before leaving the district around 1845.

The occasion of the baptism of their son John on 10th September 1817 is the only time Marjory is referred to as Marjory Stuart McAlay, this being the additional surname used by her family, as was the custom in many parts at the time. A variation of this appears in the Muster Roll of the Northern Fencibles (4th Duke of Gordon’s 3rd Regiment) of 1793-1799, in Lewis Stewart alias McLea, of Desky. There is also one instance of Marjory being referred to as Magdalene although this could be an error of transcription.

Links to William and Marjory’s children and grandchildren sub-pages (click as required where these exist):-

John McKay 1814-1816

Baptised 23rd April 1814. Infant death.

Peter McKay 1815-1879, b.Glenlivet, d. Lockers, Keith

Born 4th November 1815 and baptised on the 5th in Glenlivet. Buried in Keith Old cemetery. Father of George McKay of Lockers.

John McKay 1817-tbc, b. Glenlivet

Sponsors at baptism were Helen McKay of Newbiggings and John Stuart of Kennykyle.

Robert McKay 1818-tbc, b. Glenlivet
James McKay 1821-1859, b.Glenlivet, d. Lockers, Keith
William McKay 1822-tbc, b. Glenlivet
Jane McKay 1825-1859, b. Glenlivet, d. Lockers, Keith, cause of death consumption.