06 July 2016

Walter McIndoe part 2

I'm still trying to sort out Walter McIndoe. I truly suspect that the Walter McIndoe born to Robert McIndoe and Bethia Duncan in Strathblane, Stirlingshire on 7th July 1763 is NOT the Walter McIndoe who lived and worked on Ladrishmore Farm, Kilmaronock, Dunbartonshire.

The Parish of Strathblane and its inhabitants (Smith, 1886) states on page 46 that "Walter McIndoe, son of Robert McIndoe and nephew of James McIndoe, last [laird] of Carbeth, was a merchant in Virginia, US, and died unmarried." 

According to A Dictionary of Scottish Immigrants to the USA (Whyte, 2009, p286), Walter McIndoe, nephew of James McIndoe of Carbeth, Stirlingshire, settled in Petersburg, Virginia, before 1821, and worked as a merchant. 

Walter McIndoe is listed for Petersburg in the Personal/Property Tax Lists for 1790 and 1799. As a result of the American Revolution a Loyalist Claim was placed by a W. McIndoe in Virginia in 1806 - it wouldn't be unheard of for a Scot to side with the British Crown. Walter McIndoe was still living in Petersburg, Dinwiddie County, Virginia, in the 1830 US Census, but no longer there by the 1840 Census, presumably because he died during that decade. Although none of these particular records  confirm this Walter McIndoe is Scottish, it all certainly fits in the timeline.

So, I am willing to provisionally accept that Walter McIndoe, son of Robert McIndoe and Bethia Duncan, did emigrate to America, and therefore that Walter McIndoe of Ladrishmore Farm is not the son of Robert McIndoe and Bethia Duncan. 

So this means I need to make some adjustments to my family tree, and find new parents for Walter McIndoe of Ladrishmore Farm. I'm not expecting it to be easy!

2 comments:

  1. Don't you wish they'd sometimes used innovative names?!

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    1. I don't mind them passing on names from one generation to the next, but a different middle name to help identify them might have been really helpful!

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