Australian Mctavish

[brucemctavish]

Hello all,

My name is Bruce McTavish and I am a descendant of William McTavish, born 1834 in Boleskine. I have conflicting information on his fathers name so am keen to solve that riddle! I live in Alexandra, Victoria, Australia with my wife and daughter.

Hoping to hear from other McTavish's.

Compliments of the season to you all,

Bruce

[cathy]

Welcome Bruce!

Who did William McTavish marry?? What is your families story? I love a mystery, and will be happy to see if I can find any information for you! Boleskine is such a small area, that our families must tie in at some point! I look forward to hearing back from you!

Cathy McTavish
Rockford, IL
USA

[brucemctavish]

Cathy,

It is wonderful to get your email. Some of the forums I have tried have been hard to get responses!.

In answer to your question William married Jessie McAlister on 3 January 1860 in New South Wales, Australia. To a large extent the information I have agrees with the information on your web site though there is some deviation. As mentioned I have Williams father as Donald. Are Donald and Dugald one and the same? He certainly ended up mining tin in Elsmore NSW. I have Williams mother as Janet or 'Jessie' Fraser, daughter of William Fraser and Christiana McPherson.

The above info has been received from others so I cannot verify it. I am in contact with another descendant of William's who I met by accident some years ago and they have a photo of William and Jessie that I once saw. I must follow it up.

My father was the son of John Lachlan McT and Martha Olive Kerr. My father passed away prematurely when I was a baby and due that and to some schism in the family I have little contact with other McT's. I have one older brother and a handful of cousins, two of whom are in Canada (BC).

I look forward to sharing more information with you in the near future.

Regards
Bruce

[cathy]

Thanks for the quick reply! I am rather busy here until the weekend, but I will see what I can dig up on your William. There are lots of clues for you to look for.....When did William die? One of my surprises was that I had a church registration for my 2nd great grandfathers death, with his age in years, months and days......I overlooked that for an entire year, and then was able to piece the puzzle togethor. Of Course, as in the case in the study of Genealogy, that only lead to more pieces of the puzzle to put togethor.

Your William does sound like a ancestor that we can pin down though, and I will do what I can to help you!

Have a great week and I will get back to you soon!

Cathy

[cathy]

Hello again Bruce!

I did some quick checking and Dugald and Donald were often used alternatively. So yes, I believe this family is the same as yours. I will find the contact information for the person who gave me this line and send it to you. I have some evidence that the father of Dugald or Donald is John McTavish and his mother Mary Fraser.......as common as those two names were in that time and place of the Highlands, that is not much help is it! I am working on a combined data base of all the families from this area of Scotland and will let you know when it is done! I will send you more information as I uncover it!

Cathy

[brucemctavish]

Thanks for this info Cathy. It is consistent with all I know. Like you I have information that suggests Donald's parents were John and Mary (Fraser). They had at least two children, Donald, born 1791, and Janet, born 1814. Donald and Janet both came to Australia in 1839. I suspect there may be other children that stayed in Scotland. Donald had married Janet Fraser c.1827. They went to Araluen, a gold mining area in southern New South Wales where I presume they stayed. They had 7 children one of whom, William, headed North to Emmaville and then Elsmore, both in northern NSW to mine for tin. This must have been after 1860 because he married Jessie McAlister at Moruya which is on the south coast of NSW then. They had 10 children including John Lachlan McTavish, b.7/1/1877. He married Martha Olive Kerr of Elsmore in 1908. My father, Harold Jack, was born in Stanthorpe, Queensland in 1910. At this time John Lachlan was a miner.

I have considerable information on the other Australian McTavish lines that originated from John and Mary McTavish, though as I mention earlier I suspect there may be some other lines that remained in Scotland.

I appreciate any further information that you can provide.

Regards
Bruce