Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

This is the second part of tracing records back to the first ‘official’ records. The censuses of Roderick Campbell’s family provide a good starting point as they can be traced from 1841 to 1911.

The 1871 census – Donald Campbell

In the 1871 census, it seems there are four houses at Galmisdale, Eigg. Donald Campbell (65) is the head of the household. There are six people living in the croft: his wife Margaret (63), daughter Ann (30), son Roderick (28), son Angus (18), and daughter Margaret (14). Margaret is still unmarried in 1881 and living together with them. 

Marrying ‘the girl next door’

Roderick literally married ‘the girl next door.’

Roderick later marries (five years later in 1876) the ‘girl-next-door’, Marion MacKinnon (16), who is the granddaughter of the neighbouring MacKays. In 1876, Marion is 21 years old; mysteriously, Roderick has only aged by two years (30 years). His age on the 1876 marriage certificate as compared to his age on the 1871 census).

It can only be imagined that the authorities relied on the information given to them by the people they were registering. Roderick perhaps didn’t want to appear ‘too old’ (35 years) when he married, so he wiped five years off his age! In this context, the ages on the certificates often vary by 2-3 years or more.  

The 1881 Census – Roderick Campbell

The 1881 census shows that they are living at Galmisdale, Eigg (7 people): Roderick (39); his wife Marion (25); Flora Campbell (48), Roderick’s sister; Margaret Campbell (24), Roderick’s sister; Catherine Campbell (26), Roderick’s sister-in-law; Anne Campbell (3); and Donald Campbell (2 months). Catherine Campbell is born in Bracadale, Skye.  Roderick is a crofter, while Margaret and Flora are farm servants, probably working on one of the three large farms on Eigg. 

The 1891 Census – Roderick Campbell

The 1891 census shows nine people living in the cottage at Galmisdale. Roderick and his wife Sarah (Marion), six children, Ann (13), Donald (10), Flora (8), Margaret (4), Mary (2) and Hugh (6 months), and Roderick’s sister, Flora (60). My grandmother Morag was born in the following year (1892). In other words, there was a 10 year difference between her and Donald and Flora. Their Galmisdale cottage has three windows.  

The ‘Ancestral Home’: Galmisdale cottage – photos and drawings

I discuss the ‘ancestral home’, Galmisdale cottage, elsewhere in this book, but will also insert a photo and a drawing here as a point of reference and interest. It was also called the “Gamekeeper’s Cottage”. ‘Galmis’ should not be confused with ‘Glamis Castle’ in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, although the meanings of ‘Galmis’ and ‘Glamis’ may be related.

Glamis Castle is the ancestral home of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Galmisdale cottage is the ancestral home, and birthplace, of my grandmother, Morag Campbell (nee MacGillivray). So, indirectly, my grandmother was ‘related’ to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, at least by the name of domicile. This is a sketch by Edgeworth – it seems to be dated 1858. The photograph below is from 1926. 

The 1901 Census – Roderick Campbell

The 1901 census shows that of Roderick and Sarah Campbell’s (nee McKinnon) ten children, only four were still living together with their father (Sarah died some years before). The household in 1901 consisted of six people: Roderick, Donald, Maggie, Hugh, Sarah and Roderick’s sister, Flora. Of these six, only two speak English, while, the two English speakers have Gaelic as their mother tongue. In other words, it seems that the Gaelic language and culture were still dominant on Eigg in 1901, but the language would be undermined, and the culture watered down by ‘Anglo-education’, and later by emigration and immigration (much later) of non-Gaelic speaking people to the island.  

This census does not state the location as far as I can see, but by 1901 it seems they had moved to Cuagach, because the census states that their house had five rooms with one or more windows! The purchase of the island by Thomson, and the moving of the crofters to the north of the island so he would “not have to see the poor people” (Dressler, 2007: 99) seems to have been a stroke of luck for the Campbells in terms of housing improvement – at least until an avalanche destroyed their Cuagach house 55 years later (see elsewhere in this book, ‘Person Gallery – Donald Campbell).   

1911 Census – Roderick Campbell

This census shows 5 family members living at Cuagach. Roderick is 71, while his son Donald is 30 years old. Flora is 28 years old and Hugh 20 years old. They have a boarder, Hugh McKenzie (45 years old). Donald and his sons are working on the croft, while the boarder is a slater.