The Browns in Scotland

Islay, by Jens Mayer Creative Commons license

In previous posts I have mentioned the document I have that summarizes material from the Brown family Bible. The document states that the Browns in Victoria County, Ontario, came to Canada from the island of Islay, in Scotland. 

Islay is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides, to the west of the Scottish mainland. An article from an 1830 Scottish encyclopedia notes that the island at its greatest length is about 31 miles long, and its breadth from east to west is about 24 miles. Some of the mountains in the east and north are nearly 1,800 feet high. Islay has a river and a number of freshwater lakes. Various kinds of crops were grown on the island in the 19th century. The main export was “black cattle.” In the course of the 1800s, a number of distilleries were established on the island. 

Dr. David Caldwell writes the following about the people of Islay: “The people of Islay in the Middle Ages were Gaelic speakers. The English language probably only started to make real inroads in the eighteenth century. They were of mixed ethnic origin, mostly with Celtic and Scandinavian blood. Unlike many parts of Scotland there was no admixture of Anglo-Norman or Flemish stock.” One of the lesser Islay clans, according to Caldwell, was the MacBraynes. A charter of 1408, written in Gaelic, was signed by Patrick McAbriuin, “who was probably an ancestor of the MacBraynes, a name sometimes later Anglified as Brown. It also appears early on without the `Mac’, as Brihoune in the case of Donald, one of the `sheriffs in that part’ (substitute for a sheriff)....” Caldwell continues, “The family, as indicated by their name, were the hereditary judges or Brehons of Islay, with their judgement mound, the Torr a’ Bhreitheimh, a natural hillock now largely quarried away, beside the road from Port Ellen to Bowmore.” 

Cottage on Islay, 18th century

Islay was divided into three parishes: Killarow (or Kilarrow), Kilchoman, and Kildalton. The population of Islay in 1811 was 10,035. According to Wikipedia, in the mid-nineteenth century, large landowners on Islay evicted smaller farmers and forced many to emigrate. But by 1850, our Brown ancestors had already been in Canada for some time. 

According to the family Bible information, the parents of Donald Brown (III) (1840 - 1918) were Donald Brown (II) and Ann (or Anna) Brown, who are said to be cousins. According to one online genealogy, the parents of Donald (II) were (again!) Donald Brown (I) and Marion Campbell. The parents of Ann were Peter Brown and Effie ______. 

Some parish records and cemetery records for the parishes of Islay are available online. Kilarrow includes the ancestral lands of the MacBraynes, so it is not surprising that especially in the Kilarrow records a number of Browns are listed. From these records, however, I have not been able to learn anything definite about Donald Brown (II) or Ann Brown.

I do find parish records for the family of Peter Brown and Euphemia (Effie) Currie Brown. If they are Ann Brown’s parents, her birth does not appear in the records. Peter and Euphemia lived in Talant in the parish of Kilarrow. Also living in Talant were a Neil Brown, married to Catherine Currie, and a Duncan Brown, married to Mary McErrol. The parents of Neil and Peter may be John Brown and Flora McAlpin. They lived in Talant and had children John, born 1771, Neil, born 1774, and Peter, born 1777. Angus Campbell and Marrion Brown also lived in Talant and had a daughter named Marrion who was born on February 17, 1793. Possibly this is the Marion Campbell who became the wife of Donald Brown (I) and the grandmother of Donald Brown (1840-1918). 

In my next post I hope to show that Peter and Effie Brown and their family emigrated from Islay to Victoria County, Ontario, sometime after 1830. If they were relatives of Donald (II) and Ann Brown, it seems likely that Donald and Ann would have emigrated at the same time.