Haigh of Fayetteville

~o:.ndiuts oi JJu~cnn ~ Anl! (Cam~rNl) MllcRae of Seo t!a n--1 f 1il North "1t0Hna Compiled by Lawrence MacRae Greensboro, N, C. DESCENDANTS OF DUNCAN & ANN (CAMERON) MACRAE Probable line of ancestry in Scotland. I. Fionnla Dubh Mac Gillechrioad. According to the Rev. John Macrs, who wrote, in 170,l, .. A Genalogical Account of the Macrae", the founder of the Clan Macrae of Kin tail was Fionnla Dubh MacGillchriosd ( Black Finlay, the son of Christopher). He wa& a contemporary of Murdo Mackenzie, fifth chief of Kin- tail, who died in 1416. II. Christopher, eldest son of Black Finlay. of whom lit\le is known. III. Finlay, eldest eon of Christopher, wae the contempor ary and chief counsellor of John Killin, ninth Baron of Kintail, who fought at Flodden in 1513 and at Pinkie in 1547. IV. Christopher. eldest eon of Finlay. was appointed Con stable of Ellandonan Castle about 1511. V. Duncan, second son of Christopher, was a prominent man in the affairs of Kintail and gained great renown by killing Donald Gorm Macdonald, of Sleai, at the siege of Ellandonan Castle in 1539. VJ. Christopher, eldest son of Duncan, was Con&table of Ellandonan Castle. He is said to have been ''prudent and solid in counsel and advice, bold, forward and daring when need re• quired, yet remarkably merciful during the bloody wars 'twixt Mackenzie and Glengarry". He married a daughter of the Rev. Murdoch Murchison, Priest of Kintail and Constable of Ellan• donan Cas\le, who died in 1618. VII. The Rev. Farquhar Macrae, second son of Christo pher, was born at Ellandonan Casile in 1580. He studied at- Perth and at the University of Edinbun?h. In 1603, he was unanimously elected to succeed James Reid as a Regent of the University, but declined and became Headmaster of the Fortrose Grammar School. He was Vicar of Gairloch, 1608-1618. In 1618, on the death of his grandfather, the Rev. Murdoch Murchi son, be was appointed Vicar of Kintail and Constable of Ellan donan Castle. \Vben Gen. Monk's army visited Kintail in 1654, they took away 360 of his cattle. He refused to ask for compensation when Charles II was restored in 1660, being so loyal to the House of Stuart that he considered the successful restoration of the King sufficient compensation for any loss he might have suffered in the Royalist cause. He married, Dec. 1, 1611, Chris tina, eldest daughter of Macculloch of Park, Strathpeffer. He died in January, 1662, and was buried ·.vith hia ancestors at Kilduich, in Kintail. If our immigrant ancestor Duncan MacRae is to be identified with the Duncan, son of Farquhar (see p. 182 of 11The Hietory of the Clan Macrae", from which these notes are taken), he was ( 2 ) descended from two sons of the Rev. Farquhar, Alexander and John. VIII. Alexander, son of the Rev. Fti.rquhar, is mentioned in 1664 as possessed of lands in the Parish of Kintail of the year ly value of £266 13s. 4d. Scots. He was Chamberlain of Kintail under Kenneth Mor, third Earl of Seaforth. He married as his second wife, Mary, daughter of Alexander Mackenzie, fourth laird of Dochmaluag. Mary Mackenzie's descent can be traced to the Roya.I Houses of Stuart and Plantagenet. IX. Christopher, eon of Alexander by his second wife, Mary Mackenzie, was tack"man of Aryugan, in I{intail, and was known as ''Big Christopher of the Cattle''. He was alive Aug. 15, 1723, as his signature appears on a paper of that date. Many of hie descendants are still living in Kintail and Lochalsh. X. Duncan, son of Christopher, was a witness to & paper, March 19, 1700. He was killed at the Battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715. He ie said to have married Margaret, daughter of John Mackenzie of Loch broom. VIII. John. probably the youngest son of the Rev. Far quhar, was a. taoksman of Achyaragan in Kintail, and is spoken of as ''an active and succest1ful farmer, who left means behind him''. He was also under factor or chamberlain of Kintail under Kenneth Mor, third Earl of Seaforlh. He was a man of weight and influence among hie countrymen, and his death was lamented in an elegy, of which a few fragments have been orally preserved in Lochalsh and Kin tail to the present day. IX. Finlay, son of John, was E:erved heir to hie father July 28, 1696. He is said to have i~iived in plentiful circum stances" and was kiJled in the battle of Glenshiel in 17191 fighting on the Jacobite side. ''During the retreat he loitered behind to hs.ve a shot at two troopers who were following close behind. He killed one of the troopere, but the other killed him." It is uncertain who his wife waei, but she is mentioned on an old genealogicai tree as Janet Nighaan Lachlain Mhic Thearlich (daughter of Lachlan, the son of Charles). X. Farquhar, son of Finlay, married, first, a daughter of Duncan Macrae of Aryugan (8ee above). He married. second, Mary, daughter of A. ~I. McEvie Connochu from ~trathglasa (Farquhar Macrf\'s continuation of Rev. John Macra'e Geneal ogical Account, 1786.) XI. Donald and DUNCAN, sons of Farquhar by his first wife, went to America in 177 4. The name Duncan MacRae Eeems to have been fair]y common among the Scotch in North Carolina. rrhe Census of 1790 gives f!!even of that name e.s "heads of families", There are lwo con eiderationf:I, however, that give some probability to the identifica- ( 3 ) tion of our immigrant ancestor with Duncan. son of Farquhar. First. the date of hia arrival in America. Secondly, the associa tion with Strathgla~s. It eeems natural to suppose that after his second marriage, Farquhar Macrae may have removed to his wife's home in Strathglass; or that, after hie death. his widow, with her young stepiona, may have returned \o her old home. In August, 1926, 75 and 209 Cameron Farquhar MacRae walked through Strathglaes, which is the valley of the Glass River, about ten miles long and from one to three miles wide. At Struy Bridge thay found an old churchyard containing many graves of MacRaes and Camerons. The names Duncan MaoRae and Ann Cameron occur on several of the headstones, no11e of which. however, are o Ider than the early Nineteenth Century. They met no Ii ving MacRaes or Cameron• in Strathglass. ( 4 ) Duncan MacRae, of Strathglaee, I nvernes~hire, Scotland, married Ann Cameron and emigrated with his family to America., arrivinb at Norfolk, Va., in 1773 or 1774. He settled first in "\1/ilmington, N.C., removing thence first to l\Iooi-e Co. and then to Fayetteville ( then Campbelltown), Duncan Mae Rae and his wife Ann Cameron had issue: l Duncan MacRaE-, b. March 17, 1769, in Strathglass. He was clerk in the U.S. Revenue office in Hillsboro, N.C., under Col. Polle Afterwards he was appointed Postmaster at Fayette ville, being at the same time I n~pector of U.S. Revenue. He was also Cashier of the N.C. Bank at Fayetteville, and operat ed a line of boats on the Cape Fear River. He m&rried, 1790, Rhoda Young, at Fayetteville. She is said to have been a native of Virginia and her father is said to have been an Irishman. She was born in 1773 aLd died Jan. 6, 1854. 362 Judge Albert L. Coble says: ''My grandmother was born in 1800 and when a girl she visited her Uncle Duncan and her Aunt Rhoda in Fayetteville. It was al ways a great pleasure to her to talk of her Aunt Rhoda. She loved nnd es\eemed her so highly:, Duncan MacRae died Feb. 10, 1837. 2 Christopher MacRae, lost at sea, 1798, between Wil mington and the West Indies. 3 Farquhar MacRae, died unmarried. He was killed in a big fire in Wilmington, N.C., in 1819 and is buried there in St. J a.mes' Cemetery. 4 Alexander MacRae, removed to Orange. now Alamance Co., and married there. He later removed to Duck Rivar, Tenn .• where he died about 1820, leaving a large family. 5 Margaret 1\IacRae, married Henry Cook, a planter of Alamance Co., eon of Hanry Cook of Petersburg, Va., who set tled near the Daniel Holt place in 1750, near Burlington, N,C. 6 Nancy AI acRae, married Duncan McLean, probably of Harnett Co. \Vhen 125 "\Vesley L. Coble knew them last they were living in Moore Co. ( 5 ) Second Generation. 1 Duncan Mac Rae and his wife Rhoda Young had issue: 7 Ann MacRae, b. 1791; died young. 11 8 John MacRae, b. Feb. 23, 1793; d. Jan. 19, 1880. 'In my travels the other day I met a gentleman, a citizen of this state now living in Richmond County, who related the following very interesting incidents in his life: (1) "\Vas in the funeral procession of General Washington. (2) Was honorary pall bearer at the funeral of Andrew Jackson. (3) Was waiter at the marriage of Gen. Stonewall Jackson's wife's father. (4) Accompanied Gen. LaFayette through N.C. when he toured the country, (5) Spent a day on one occasion in Richmond with Wash ington Irving. (6) Was founder of the old "Fayetteville Observer.'' ( 7) Listened to his son Duncan, aged five, 1nake a speech of weclome to Gen. LaFayette when he visited Campbelltown (now .Fayetteville). (8) ,vas baptised by the first superintendent of the Univer sity of N.C., before it was a college. (9) ,vas acquainted with the first graduate of West Point Academy.

Load more