top of page
Search
Writer's pictureDonna Hechler Porter

To Daughter or not to Daughter . . . Part III, Anne

Updated: Apr 14, 2022


My world fell apart, and all they could do, the whole universe, was to silently move on.

Khadija Rupa, Unexpressed Feelings


In previous postings, here and here, I detailed why, according to available evidence and the paper trail, there is no reason to believe Dugal McQueen had a daughter named Sarah (contrary to many genealogies and family trees online) and why the issue of a daughter Ruth is problematic at best.


Daughter Anne?


Yes, there is a clear paper trail for her, and the story is a sad one of forced abandonment and broken life threads – as is so much of Dugal’s life.


It appears, based on available records, that Dugal McQueen married Elizabeth M’Intosh about 1710. Elizabeth was the daughter of the 20th Chief of Clan Chattan, Lachlan M’Intosh. But before that, in October of 1700, M’Intosh made a provision of 100 merks Scots of yearly aliment for his eldest lawful daughter Elizabeth M’Intosh. By 1702, M’Intosh had died, and she trades her previous provision for one from her brother, the 21st Chief of Clan Chattan, Lachlan M’Intosh (Mackintosh Muniments, pg 149).


In 1714, Dugal entered into a lease with Lachlan M’Intosh, probably by now his brother-in-law, for a period of four years: Dougal M’Queen of Pollackack, of the four auchten parts in the western end of Bivvan [Ruthven], which he presently possesses (Mackintosh Muniments, pg 155). Ruthven, it should be noted, lay one third of a mile southwest of Pollochaig where Dugal grew up with his father and mother, John McQueen and Anne (perhaps Mackintosh). Today a tiny settlement of one house lies at Ruthven.


Not long after the couple's marriage, which I surmise to have been about 1713 or 14 at the latest, the couple welcomed a daughter whom they named Anne – very possibly after Dugal’s mother.


About this time, on the world stage, in June of 1714, the Empress Sophia, the heir to Queen Anne for the throne of Great Britain, died. Queen Anne followed two months later in August. Because of the Act of Settlement of 1701 and the Act of Union in 1707, Anne’s brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, was kept from the throne because he was a Catholic, and the monarchy passed to George I, son of Empress Sophia.


The House of Hanover, and not the House of Stuart, thus began its rule, and Dugal and Elizabeth’s world exploded. Dugal joined the Jacobite forces, was captured after the Battle of Preston, and exiled to the English colonies. He never saw Elizabeth or Anne again, nor his father or brother.


Proof of Anne’s daughtership to Dugal and Elizabeth is found in the Mackintosh Muniments. I will cite them here as the best reference for Anne’s parentage:


816. Eetour of the General Service of Anna M'Queen, only lawful child of Dougald M'Queen of Pollochach, and the deceased Elizabeth Mackintosh, his spouse, who was sister-german of the deceased Lachlan Mackintosh of that Ilk, as lawful and nearest heir of the said Lachlan Mackintosh, her uncle; exped at Inverness, on 2d November 1756.


817. Disposition by Ann Mackqueen, niece and heir-general served and retoured to the deceased Lachlan Mackintosh of that Ilk, and Eobert Mackintosh, tacksman of Termit, her spouse, to Æneas Mackintosh, now of that Ilk, and his heirs and assignees, of all right of reversion which they may have to the lands of Kinlochlaggan; dated at Moyhall, 15th November 1756: Also two Discharges by them, to one of which as witnesses appear William MTntosh, sailor at Inverness, their second lawful son, and William Mackintosh, eldest lawful son to the deceased James Mackintosh of Strone.


As you can see, Anne’s parents, as well as her husband, are both clearly named. Furthermore, she is cited as the only lawful child of Dugal McQueen. Dugal was, of course, deceased by this date, having died ten years previous in 1746.


Anne, herself, married Robert Mackintosh, about 1735 (based on available evidence) and by 1737, she and he owned the eight auchten parts of Ruthven (The Mackintosh Muniments, pg 167).


On the face of the words only lawful child it may well be assumed (although there is no way of knowing for certain) that neither Elizabeth, nor Anne, nor Dugal’s brother, nor any one else knew of his marriage or children in the colonies. At one time, I would have thought this the norm, but I have since learned that the world was still a rather small place at that time.


Letters were sent back and forth. Word still traveled from one continent to the next. Men, especially, traveled on the high seas. But the truth is, we have no way of knowing if Dugal ever corresponded with his father, his brother, or Elizabeth after his exile to the colonies. We have no way of knowing if he ever corresponded with his daughter, Anne, either.


The only thing we do know for certain, is that Anne remained far from him across an ocean of sadness. The world moved on after Dugal was exiled. Anne grew to womanhood without her father. There seems to be no indication Elizabeth Mackintosh McQueen remarried, although she seems to have died not long after Dugal's exile.


Dugal's sorrows, which were no doubt shared by Elizabeth, his father and brother, and most certainly, his daughter, ran deep and raw even as the universe silently moved onward.




111 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comentarios


bottom of page