Alexander McIntyre
Our Scottish Immigrant Grandfather
Our Scottish immigrant grandfather, Alexander McIntyre was born in Leith, Campsie, near Old Blair Atholl, Scotland on October 5, 1770. Quite a few in our family have painstakingly sought to discover who our paternal immigrant grandfather might have been. Who was this man that started the journey to America and began our McIntyre family legacy? For many years we did not know even his name, birthdate or where he was born, only that he was from Scotland. Adding to the mystery was the infamous “Jane Letters”, correspondence between Martin Luther McIntire and his half-cousin, Jane McIntire Pollet Carpenter. Martin was my great grandfather, who like all of us wondered the story of our ancestor. His granddaughters, Edna Hall Miller and Wilna Hall Treichler spent many years gathering information the “hard way”, by writing letters and spending many hours researching hard copy records. Edna was the keeper of many of these photocopied records as well as the letters between Martin and Jane, among other correspondence. Several years after both sisters had passed, Edna’s son John Miller presented me with many of these documents, including the Jane letters. I am honored and humbled to now have these artifacts in my keep and wish to share them in upcoming blog posts so they are available to any and all for generations to come. We are fortunate as family archivists to have the internet in our toolbox. This marvel of technology has continued to reinforce and support the early records such as Edna and Wilna gathered by hand. I also recognize Elliot McIntire, the late Gary McIntire, Julie Martin Felps, Audrey Kramer, John Miller, the late Jon-Stephen Hedges, Jackie Perry Steelman and Marie Clark, all from our extended McIntire family that have done amazing work and or answered questions, shared photos and just listened! Both of my brothers, Tim and Scott have humored my incessant curiosity, willingly (mostly!) engaged in many conversations about our family and freely shared their own perspective. All three of us have commiserated on what we remember and our time spent together is often with the words “I miss Dad, and wish he was still here, he’d know the answer to this!! I’ve cherished the information you have shared, all for the good of keeping our family history alive. I am most grateful for each and everyone of you.
Alexander was named after his grandfather, who was also born and baptized in Blair Atholl parish on April 20, 1712. His grandmother was Christian MacIntosh, born in 1720. Alexander senior was born to parents Donald (born 1696) and Elspeth Mcnie (born 1700) and was the firstborn to siblings Patrick (1719( and Elspeth (1723) Donald (senior) and his twin sisters, Mary and Janet (born August 6, 1693 were born to parents John McIntyre and Elspeth Kennedie. So as you can see, our immigrant grandfather Alexander McIntyre was born into a family firmly established in the Blair Atholl area of Scotland, making it all the more brave for him to venture away from family and on to an unknown, far away land.
Ruins at Ard Campsie, just east of Leith, Campsie near where Alexander was born
A wonderful research resource is the Scotland’s People site, where many birth, marriage and death records may be found. I found Alexander’s birth record in the Blair Atholl Old Parish Records (OPR). These records many be saved, added to your own tree or printed for a nominal users fee, based on “credits” or money paid upfront and used as needed. The link to Scotland’s People may be found here or also in the Resource section of this website. The image below may be found in the Documents section of the Gallery Page
Astonishingly, these handwritten documents have survived the ravages of time to be available today! As noted in the above record, Alexander was born to father Donald McIntyre and Elizabeth Robertson, in Leith, Campsie. Blair Atholl was the Protestant parish that his family attended. Elizabeth was from Clan Robertson, and Blair Atholl Parish and the surrounding townships were in the midst of Clan Robertson territory, situated in close proximity to the converging Rivers Tilt and Garry. The flat terrain is surrounded by the Grampian Mountains. Our McIntyre family lived in this region as they had for several generations prior to Alexander’s family and apart from where Clan Macintyre had settled centuries prior near Taynuilt and along the shores of Loch Etive, in western Scotland. While searching the Old Parish Records it is noteworthy to mention many of the entries were from McIntyre and Robertson families. The map below shows where Clan MacIntyre and Clan Robertson were located. The small Macintyre clan (red arrow) was surrounded by the much larger and powerful Clan Campbell, offering a sense of security and protection from attacks. The Robertson Clan (black arrow indicates Blair Atholl) was also bordered on the northern edge of the sprawling Clan Campbell, so perhaps this proximity to such a forceful people helped to solidify the McIntyre/Robertson relationships.
Excerpt from Bartholomew's Clan Map, "Scotland of Old" by Iain Moncreiffe
From Wikipedia:
“Old Blair is the original hamlet preceding the town of Blair Atholl as it stands today, which was laid out from the first half of the 19th century. Old Blair stands within the Castle grounds and here is found the former parish kirk, which was the focus of the village. The church was dedicated to St. Bride and is a probable early Christian site. John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, ‘Bonnie Dundee’ was buried in the aisle attached to the now roofless church after the Battle of Killiecrankie, 27 July 1689. The modern railed burial enclosure of the family of the Dukes adjoins the ancient unenclosed churchyard.”
Thank you for starting this journey with me. Perhaps next stop will include Scottish shortbread cookies!! See you then!
PER ARDUA
Teri
Brave ~ Loyal ~ Independent