A Middle Name

This story is inspired by the prompt “middle”.  Discovering my ancestor Elizabeth Harvie explained the unusual (for a girl) middle name of my more recent ancestor Elizabeth Harvie McDonald, the subject of a previous post.

I think Elizabeth Harvie was baptised 10 August 1735 in the parish of Killearn, Stirlingshire, Scotland.  Elizabeth Harvie was the youngest child, that I know of, of Andrew Harvey and Agnes Neilson.  Andrew and Agnes had at least six other children baptised in Killearn: Elizabeth (who presumably died before 1735*), Janet, Jean, John, Andrew and Agnes.  Father, Andrew, had a farm at Ballinkinrain just outside of Balfron in Stirlingshire, only a few miles from the Highlands.

Thanks to a book published in 1899, “The Bowie’s and their kindred”, I have a couple of notable anecdotes from Elizabeth’s childhood that either she told he grandchildren or that were passed down through the family.  I suspect the source for the book was a great grandson who lived in Canada and must have heard the stories from his father, Dr John Bowie.

When Elizabeth Harvie was about 10 years old in early 1746, Bonnie Prince Charlie and his army were retreating through Scotland towards Culloden when they apparently passed the family farm.  The Harvie family, concerned about being pillaged, hid in the bushes near their house with their cows and a big loaf of bread.  I haven’t been able to find a detailed route map of the army’s march to confirm the truth of this story, but the army certainly marched from Glasgow to Stirling and following the valleys, via the area where the Harvie’s lived, would make more sense than a direct route over the mountains.

Nearly ten years later, Robert Macgregor (son of the famous Rob Roy), and his friends, invited themselves to the Harvie house for a meal before crossing the river (Endrick Water) to Edinbellie. Robert Macgregor proceeded to kidnap a young woman, Jean Kay, from Edinbellie.  He was later captured, tried and hanged for this.  The story as told by Elizabeth Harvie was that the kidnapped woman was the young wife of an old man and the woman supported Robert Macgregor at his trial, so may not have been an unwilling victim.  I have been able to verify the story of Robert Macgregor kidnapping a young widow heiress and he was hanged in Edinburgh in 1754 for his crime. Edinbellie and Ballinkinrain are about a kilometre apart and there is a bridge across the river between the two farms, so the story seems feasible and it helped me locate Elizabeth Harvie’s baptism and family.

At some point, possibly not long after the Robert Macgregor episode, Elizabeth Harvie seems to have moved to Glasgow.  Perhaps she went into service or maybe her family fell on hard times and relocated from the country to the city.  The period following the Jacobite uprising lead by Bonnie Prince Charlie was a difficult time in Scotland.

In May 1759, Elizabeth Harvie of the City of Glasgow and Andrew Neilson of Killearn “listed their names for proclamation in order to marriage and being proclaimed and nothing objected were married” in the parish of Killearn.  I like the wording in the Scottish parish registers.  I don’t know yet if Andrew was related to Elizabeth’s mother, Agnes Neilson, but I think it is plausible. Andrew Harvie was about 5 years younger than Elizabeth, a groom at 19.  He was from a place called Head of Balglass, which is about a kilometre from Ballinkinrain, with little between the two farms, so Elizabeth and Andrew were neighbours growing up as well as possibly cousins of some degree.

Elizabeth Harvie and Andrew Neilson had six children that I know of: John (who died young?), Andrew, John, William, Elizabeth (my ancestor) and Agnes. The children were all baptised in Balfron.

I don’t know what happened to Andrew Neilson.  Scottish burial records are sparse.

Elizabeth Harvie was said to have been over 100 years old when she died, so that would most likely be sometime in the late 1830s, when her great granddaughter who inherited her name, Elizabeth Harvie McDonald, would have been in her early teens and old enough to remember the stories.

*In historical times, it was common to re-use the names of older siblings who died young.

 

Note on Lineage: Me > Mum > John Macdonald Charley > Constance Mary Macdonald > James Gordon Macdonald > Elizabeth Harvie Macdonald > Margaret Bowie > Elizabeth Neilson > Elizabeth Harvie