MacGillivray Family History

Gary McGillivray has done extensive research, including much travel into Canada pursuing the McGillivray family history. With information from Gary's cousin, June Leafblad, a granddaughter of Edward McGillivray, who did some traveling and research in Scotland he has set about the task of sorting and organizing the information. The following information was written by Gary McGillivray with only minor editing by myself. No credit whatsoever is taken by the author of the Olin Family History for McGillivray research. Thank you very much to Gary for sharing this wealth of information with us.

The earliest proven McGillivray ancestor found to date is James MacGillivray and his wife Anne Barren. They were married on June 8, 1808 in the County of Morayshire and the town of Rafford in Scotland. A christening record for a James McGilwray was found in Dyke Morayshire which is next to Rafford. In this record his father is listed as Alexr. McGilwray, the dates are about right for James' birth. Gary has stated that in viewing the records that McGilwray was probably McGillivray as the two l's and the iv were written closely together. This is only speculation but information is given here based on Gary's very good judgment. It might also be noted that Alexander is an inherited name through many generations of the McGillivrays. Alexr. McGilwray(753) married Janet Nicol on December 14, 1775 in Dyke Morayshire. Their children:

James McGilwray christened: November 24, 1776 at Dyke, Moray Scotland
Alexander McGilwray christened: July 19, 1778 at Dyke, Moray Scotland
Margaret McGilwray christened: September 17, 1780 at Dyke, Moray Scotland
Isabel McGilwray christened: March 10, 1783 at at Dyke, Moray Scotland

Note: Records in Scotland show the family name spelled as MacGillivray and Canada records show the then shortened McGillivray spelling.

The James McGillivray family migrated to Lachute, Quebec, Canada in 1835. It is not certain that James came with his family. The church records in Lachute show that Anne Barrendied in 1859 and indicate that James had already passed away. The 1842 census shows an older female living with their son, William, so its possible that this was Anne Barren McGillivray and that James had died before the census was taken.

Gary feels that Annie Barren McGillivray may have been persuaded to leave her homeland for Canada by one of her kin. There is a book, "A History of Lachute" by G.R. Rigby that mentions the Barron family extensively. Thomas Barren was the first Scottish settler in 1809 and was from Morayshire. He was probably related to Anne. Thomas rapidly began to purchase all the land on which the center of Lachute now stands. He and his family dominated the Lachute area for many years.#[1]

The children of James MacGillivray and Annie Barren are as follows:

Anne McGillivray(1615) born March 10, 1809 in Rafford, Moray, Scotland. Anne was a twin to Isabel. Records found at Moray, Scotland, parish of Rafford, indicate that an Ann McGillivray married William Barren, on July 25, 1826. When her mother, Annie Barren died, one of the witnesses was William Barren. Anne died June 18, 1888, William died December 30, 1873.

Isabel McGillivray (Isabella) born March 10, 1809 in Moray, Scotland#[2]
Some previous records from Canada had Isabella born in 1811. She married Thomas Stornach#[3]
John McGillivray born April 9, 1811 in Moray, Scotland#[4]No records.

William McGillivray born September 4, 1814 in Moray, Scotland#[5] and died between 1842 and 1847. William married Mary Loggie on March 17, 1840 in Dalesville, Quebec, Canada at the Dalesville Baptist Church. He was a farmer from Lachute (5 miles from Dalesville) and Mary Loggie's father had a 200 acre farm just about 3 miles west of Dalesville on range 9, lot 14. Mary was born and died April 15, 1847 in Lachute, Quebec, Canada.#[6]They had three sons:

John McGillivray born March 15, 1841 in Dalesville, Quebec and died February 13, 1893
Staples, MN married Mary Jane Hudson (see below)
James McGillivray born December 7, 1842.
William McGillivray born December 15, 1844 and died August 23, 1844 in Jerusalem, Quebec,
Canada.#[7]

There is the possibility of yet another son, Donald McGillivray, who was born in 1816 to James MacGillivray and Annie Barren and would have been the brother of William, Sr. above. The headstone for Donald shows that he was a native of Morayshire, Scotland, the same as Annie Barren. This appears to have been the only other McGillivray family in Lachute. Donald came to Canada in 1835, the same year as William. He married Flora Loynachen, was born in Argylshire Scotland in 1813 and died on July 10, 1877. Donald died January 28, 1892 and both he and Flora are buried in the Lachute cemetery. Donald is shown in the 1842 census on the same page as William. Donald and Flora had the following children:

Jane McGillivray born 1849 in Lachute, Quebec, Canada. [Jane may be the Jean McGillivray (1847-1935) who was second wife of John W. Todd (1835-1903)

John Loynachan McGillivray born September 24, 1850 in Lachute and died February 14, 1927 and is buried in Lachute, Quebec, Canada. Married June 14, 1882 to Mary McAllister in Lachute. Mary was born September 20, 1853 and died April 23, 1924. Their children:

Florence McGillivray born February 24, 1883 and married Oliver J. Wood. She died December 13, 1969.
Gladys McGillivray born April 29, 1886 and married Charles McFaul. She died October 16, 1956. They had one son, Donald McFaul who as of 1985 owns his late father's clothing store in Lachute.

John may have had a second wife, Agnes McAllister who died April 22, 1922 and had one son-Percy Nichols.

Simon McGillivray born January 25, 1851 in Lachute, Quebec, Canada, married Catherine Walker Craizer in Lachute on November 10, 1875. The 1881 census shows that Simon and Katie Walker had two girls Edna McGillivray age 5, and Maggie/Robina McGillivray age 3. Maggie died April 1, 1884 at 6 years, 4 days.

Donald McGillivray born April 9, 1852 in Lachute, Quebec, Canada.

JOHN MCGILLIVRAY AND MARY JANE HUDSON

John McGillivray was born March 15, 1841 in Lachute, Quebec, Canada (probably on his grandfather Loggie's farm). He was the son of William McGillivray and Mary Loggie. He was married on December 5, 1864 at Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to Mary Jane Hudson, daughter of Henry Smith Hudson and Ellen Fairbairn. Mary was born December 16, 1842 in Bristol, Quebec, Canada. The following is taken from the Staples newspaper on the ancestry of the town of Staples:

"Staples township was pretty much a wilderness when John McGillivray chose it for a home, and his name is associated with the earliest days of that region. The name of McGillivray is not unknown in American history. One of that name was an Indian trader in the southern colonies before the Revolution and sided with the British during that war. In 1792 he visited New York to confer with President Washington and was appointed by the president to act as United States agent with several Indian tribes in the southern states. In the early years of the last century, one William McGillivray was an influential member of the Northwest company, an Indian trading organization which competed with the Hudson's Bay company for the fur trade in what became the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas. This Northwest company was an organization of men at Montreal interested in Indian trade and its agents monopolized that trade on Lake Superior and tributary territory, expelling all private enterprise along that line. The Hudson's Bay company's posts were pushing down into Minnesota from the north and the rival interests came to open war in the forests and plains of Minnesota. The Northwest company built a post at Grand Portage, Minnesota, where the entire trade in this region was managed and where the partners forming the company held annual meetings to look after their interests. When it was understood that this site was within the boundaries of the United States, the western headquarters were changed to Fort William a little farther up the northeast shore of Lake Superior. The fort was given the name in recognition of the influence and authority of William McGillivray of that company. Fort William is today an important trade center for Canada in the Lake Superior region. It will be seen from this that the name of one of Staples' pioneers is closely associated with the history of Minnesota and the entire northwest.

John McGillivray, who came to Todd county in 1879, was born in the Province of Quebec on March 5, 1841. His parents died when he was a small child and he was thrown upon the world to make his own way. In 1878 he came to Duluth for a short time and then moved to Motley, which was at that time a thriving frontier settlement. On the first of April, 1879 he arrived in Staples township and he chose a homestead a little southwest of the present city and established himself and family there. However, he soon saw another piece of land in Section 22 of the same town and as a result, relinquished the first choice to the government and made a homestead filing on the land in Section 22, where he and his family resided for many years. Our inspection of the early records and reports from Staples township show that he took part in the public affairs of the town and served on the board of supervisors and that in those early days he received his mail at the Dower Lake post office, instead of the office at Staples Mills, while the former office was maintained. With the rapid growth of Staples, he transferred his trading to that point.

On the fifteenth day of December, 1864, he married Miss Mary Jane Hudson, in the Province of Quebec, and Canada continued to be their home until they moved to Duluth in 1868. To Mr. and Mrs. McGillivray were born the following named children: Robert John who married Emma Borchert, and lives at Alder, Washington; Edward James who married Alice Mooney, and lives at Zion City, Illinois; Fred who married Minnie Zachow, and we believe lives at Zion City, also; Ellen who married Willard Owen#[8], and is now dead; Alexander, who married Miss Maud Goodrich and lives in Staples; Benjamin who married Ethel Dobson and lives in Duluth; George who is the twin of Benjamin is single and lives at Tacoma, Washington; Minnie is single, and resides at Tacoma, and William Henry, who married Minnie Frary, now resides at Birchdale, in Koochiching county, Minnesota.

John McGillivray was killed in a railroad crossing accident in the city of Staples on February 13, 1893 and of his children, only Alex still resides in Todd county.#[9]

Alexander McGillivray, son of John and Mary, was born at Port Arthur, Canada, on January 28, 1874, and was a little boy of five years at the time the family settled on the homestead in Staples township. In the town he grew to manhood working on the farm and attending the local school. When the Spanish-American war came on he enlisted in Company K, 14th Minnesota Infantry and was honorably discharged at the end of the war.

On March 24, 1903, he married Miss Maud Goodrich and to them have been born 12 children named as follows: Ruth, who married Arthur Knosalla; Archie, who married Viola Baxter; Clifford, who is single; Frank, who married Olga Peterson, Benjamin, who is single; John, who married Irene Olmschenk; Glenda, who married Albert Bittner; Rita, Willard [named for Willard Olin], Gertrude, Maxine and Paul, who are single. All the children reside in Staples."

According to Roy McGilvray of Ontario, Canada, Mary Jane Hudson's father was a dairy farmer. John McGillivray was a Presbyterian. After their marriage they migrated first to Kaministrikuuia, Algoma in 1871, where John was engaged in the lumber industry.

[1] The Barron family are mentioned extensively in the book A History of Lachute by G.R. Rigby.
[2] Anne and Isabel's birth record from the Old Parish Registers of Rafford, Scotland reads as follows: 1809 "McGillivray. March 1809. Isabel and Anne, lawful twin daughters to James McGillivray and Anne Barron in Upper Phorp were born the 10th and bapt. the 15th. Witnesses: Alexander Davidson in Warend, James Paul in Bothies, Thomas Buie and Pebter Barro both in Locnavando."
[3]If you look at the signatures of her daughter Jannet's baptism, you will see that baptism record was witnessed by Thomas Lockie and John Loggie. We don't know if John Loggie was Mary Loggie's father or brother. Thomas Lockie married Mary Loggie's sister, Jane. Mary Loggie was the mother of John McGillivray.
[4 ]John's birth record from the Old Parish Registers of Rafford, Scotland reads as follows: 1811 "McGillivray April, 1811. John, lawful son to James MacGillivray and Anne Barron in Phorp was born the 9th and baptized the 18th. Witnesses: John Laing in Breach and John Barron in Lochnavandor."
[5 ]William's birth record from the Old Parish Registers of Rafford, Scotland reads as follows: 1814 born the 4th and baptized 11th. Witnesses: William Malker in Baremuir and William Bruce in Craigrou."
[6] Lachute Presbyterian Records
[7] Lachute Presbyterian Records, also William McGillivray, farmer in Jerusalem, was found in the 1842 census of Quebec.
[8] This was incorrectly spelled in the original document.
[9]John was killed while driving his team across the Northern Pacific railroad track on the Sixth street crossing and was struck by a flat car which was being switched.

DESCENDANTS OF JOHN MCGILLIVRAY AND MARY JANE HUDSON

John McGillivray b: March 15, 1841 Lachute, Quebec, Canada d: February 13, 1893 in Staples, Todd Cty, MN m: December 5, 1864 Bristol, Quebec, Canada to Mary Jane Hudson b: December 16, 1842 Bristol, Quebec, Canada d: August 23, 1933 Tacoma, WA and is buried in Staples, Todd Cty, MN. It is said that John McGillivray was related to the McGillivray family associated with the Northwest Fur Trading Company (William McGillivray-Fort William) and that Mary Jane's family were from the Hudson Fur Trading Company. When Mary Jane fell in love with John and chose to marry him her family disinherited her. They had the following children:

William Henry McGillivray b: November 4, 1865 New Market, Ontario, Canada m: May 1, 1889 to Minnie Maude Frary b: January 15, 1868 Dane Cty, WI. He is buried at Birchdale, MN. Their children:

Beulah Esther McGillivray b: May 30, 1894 Staples, Todd Cty, MN
Joyce Hope McGillivray b: August 21, 1911 Minneapolis, Hennepin, MN.

Robert John McGillivray b: November 19, 1867 Thornbury, Ontario, Can. and is buried at Alder, WA.

Edward James McGillivray b: January 22, 1870 Thornbury, Ontario, Can. d: December 20, 1946 Zion, IL m: Alice Pearl Mooney. Their children:

Grace Viola McGillivray b: 1896 Staples, Todd Cty, MN d: October 22, 1913
John Harold McGillivray "Jack" b: July 15, 1897 Staples, Todd Cty, MN m: July 1927 to Pearl  Alice Wortman. Their child: Edward Hugh McGillivray b: May 29, 1899 Staples, Todd Cty, MN d: October 9, 1968 m: July 21, 1926 to Gertrude Opal Ely.
Lilly Mae McGillivray b: January 16, 1901 Staples, Todd Cty, MN m: December 7, 1929 Woodstock, IL to Paul Neilsen.
George Melvin McGillivray b: September 22, 1902 Staples, Todd Cty, MN m: May 14, 1931 to Edna Naffsziger.
Norman Alec McGillivray b: 1903 and d: 1903 in Staples, Todd Cty, MN
Norman Clifford McGillivray b: 1905 Staples, Todd Cty, MN 5d
Esther Mary McGillivray b: June 8, 1907 Martinsville, IN m: January 1932 to Beull Myhre.
Robert Russell McGillivray b: February 25, 1909 Martinsville, IN m: Anne.
Eschol Leroy McGillivray b: July 3, 1911 Staples, Todd Cty, MN m: Dorothy Miller.
Myrtle Elizabeth McGillivray b: October 2, 1912 Staples, Todd Cty, MN m: March 12, 1931 to Samuel Hazel.
Daniel Augustus McGillivray b: July 21, 1914 Staples, Todd Cty, MN m: Dawn Willard.
Albert Joseph McGillivray b: July 16, 1921 Staples, Todd Cty, MN m: 1940 to Lazarene Varner.

Frederick McGillivray b: December 16, 1871 Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada d: June 9, 1943 at Staples, Todd Cty, MN

Alexander McGillivray b: January 28, 1874 Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada, d: July 21, 1957 buried at Staples, Todd Cty, MN m: March 24, 1903 Grand Rapids, Itasca Cty, MN to Maude Alvina Goodrich b: November 30, 1887 Verndale, Todd Cty, MN d: May 28, 1971 Staples, Todd Cty, MN. Both are buried at Staples, Todd Cty, MN. Veteran of Spanish/American War.

Ellen Jane McGillivray b: August 10, 1876 Port Arthur, Canada d: September 18, 1923 Duluth, St. Louis Cty, MN m: October 22, 1893 Brainerd, Crow Wing Cty, MN to Willard E. Olin. It was said that Ellen "Ella" married Willard against the wishes of her family and church and as a result she was ostracized by the church. Their family is given in great detail in the chapter on Willard E. Olin. (Picture on left)

Benjamin McGillivray b: August 26, 1879 Staples, Todd Cty, MN d: August 4, 1942 buried at Staples, Todd Cty, MN m: December 16, 1902 to Ethel Dobson b: January 30, 1886 Wrightstown, Ottertail Cty, MN.

George McGillivray b: August 26, 1879 Staples, Todd Cty, MN

Mary Jane McGillivray"Minnie" b: December 15, 1881 Staples, Todd Cty, MN (picture on right)

Some pictures were found in a Barron family album and are in the possession of Don and Joyce Jones. They have graciously allowed me to display them in the hopes that someone may recognize the people in the pictures. They are believed to be McGillivrays. Click here to view those pictures.

For general information on the MacGillivray Clan click here.

Clan Site (look under Clan Chattan)

Query on James Hale McGillivray

Another McGillivray Family

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