Our Ancestors

Our Scottish Ancestors and DNA

The descendants of the Farquhar MacRae, who came to Australia in 1837, are coming together to share their combined knowledge of their ancestors and their DNA matches. Unfortunately, our knowledge of our ancestors is limited. Very little has been passed down as family lore to the current generations, but slowly through DNA research progress is being made to trace our ancestors.

The Fair, Black, and Strathglass MacRaes

Before we look more closely at our Scottish ancestors and our DNA matches, we need to clarify some distinctions that are made in regards to the descendants of Fionnla Dubh mac Gillechriosd MacRae (aka Black Finlay son of Christopher), the progenitor of the MacRaes of Kintail.

Fionnla Dubh had a grandson, Christopher (Gillechroisd) MacRae, who was the Constable of Eilean Donan Castle around 1511. Christopher had six sons, three of whom, Duncan, Farquhar and Finlay, formed three separate Kintail MacRae lines as follows:

• Fair MacRaes - all the descendants of Duncan (Donnacha Mac Gileschroid) MacRae (History of Clan MacRae page 25), which includes the descendants of the Reverend Farquhar MacRae of Kintail (History of Clan MacRae page 52) and his sons Reverend John of Dingwall and John (Ian Breac).
• Black MacRaes (eventually the Torlysich MacRaes) - all the descendants of Farquhar (History of Clan MacRae chapter XIV), which includes descendants of Donnachad Mor aka Donnachad Mac Alister, Donald Og (eighth in descent from Fionnla Dubh Mac Gillechriosd) and Reverend John of Knockbain.
• Strathglass MacRaes - all the descendants of Finlay.

We know that our MacRaes descend from both the Fair and Black MacRaes. We also know from Y DNA testing that our male line descends from the Black MacRaes, see Our DNA Results below for more details.

Descendants of John of Coille Righ MacRae

It has been passed down in family lore that Farquhar's paternal grandfather was John of Coille Righ. Farquhar's first cousin Alexander is also said to be the grandson of John of Coille Righ.

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What we know about Farquhar MacRae 

Mystery surrounds the ancestors of the Farquhar MacRae who came to Australia in 1837. According to family lore, Farquhar was a descendant of John (Ian Breac) MacRae, the son of the Reverend Farquhar. However, if true, this cannot be through the male line. The reason being that Y DNA tests have shown that Farquhar is a descendant of the Black (Torlysich) MacRaes, and John (Ian Breac) was a Fair MacRae. Could it be Farquhar's mother who was a descendant of John (Ian Breac) MacRae? More details are given below, see Our DNA Results.

There is also another less popular possibility. There was another John (Ian Breac) MacRae (History of Clan MacRae pages 216 and 458). This John (Ian Breac) is a Black MacRae. Could it be that as the family history was passed down, this John (Ian Breac) of the Black MacRaes became confused with John (Ian Breac) of the Fair MacRaes? However, as yet, no evidence has been found to connect Farquhar with this John (Ian Breac) of the Black MacRaes.

Further uncertainty is created by Farquhar's Death Certificate according to which his parents were John MacRae and Mary MacRae. However, it is thought that Farquhar's mother name was not Mary but instead Christina, see MacRaes to New Zealand by Akers and McMillian, pages 59 and 62.

The only other information we have is that Farquhar had four known siblings. They were:

• Christopher Ban (1781-1873) who married his first cousin Jessie (or Janet) MacRae. According to MacRaes to New Zealand Jessie's mother, Margaret, was probably the sister of one Farquhar's parents i.e. either his father John or his mother Christina.
  
  Jessie's father, John (Ian Ban) MacRae, was a descendant of Finlay IX, the grandson of the Reverend Farquhar, making Jessie a Fair MacRae (History of Clan MacRae page 180-181 and MacRaes to New Zealand page 58).
  
  One of Christopher and Jessie's sons, Alexander, married a Mary Murchison. After Alexander's death, Mary emigrated to New Zealand together with her children. Not so long ago, several of Farquhar's grandchildren were in contact with Alexander's descendants "across the ditch" in New Zealand, even making the trip to New Zealand to meet them. One of their descendants, Monsignor Arthur James McRae, also visited descendants of Farquhar's son John, in Sydney, Australia, in 1934.
  
  
• Flora (1788-1863) who married Kenneth McLean but of whom nothing more is known.
  
  
• Jessie (1793-1871) who married Neil McKenzie but of whom nothing more is known.
  
  
• Catherine (1800-1891) never married and of whom nothing more is known.

Given the large gaps between the births of the above mentioned siblings, it is possible that Farquhar had more than four siblings. All of Farquhar's known siblings remained in Scotland. 

We would love to make contact with any descendants of Farquhar's siblings and to re-establish contact with our New Zealand cousins. If you are able to assist, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us by using the contact form.

What we know about Flora MacRae

Once again, according to family lore, Farquhar's first wife, Flora MacRae was his first cousin. Nothing more is currently known about Flora. It is thought, but not known for sure, that Farquhar and Flora only had one child, Mary, who came to Australia with Farquhar in 1837.

What we know about Barbara McLennan

Barbara's parents were Ewen Buigh McLennan and Mary Isabella MacRae (History of Clan MacRae page 151) and Barbara's maternal great grandfather was Finlay (Fionnla Buidh) MacRae (History of Clan MacRae page 149).

As Mary Isabella MacRae is a descendant of Duncan (Donnacha Mac Gileschroid) MacRae through his son the Reverend Farquhar, this makes her a Fair MacRae.

Barbara's parents, Ewen and Mary together with all of Barbara's siblings, Kenneth (with his wife Ann McLeod and four their children), Christina, Roderick, Alexander, John and Jessie emigrated to Australia in 1853 on the ship Arabian and settled in Victoria.

What we know about Alexander McRae, Farquhar's 1st cousin

Alexander McRae, his wife Ann Beaton, and their daughter Hellen (Ellen) travelled from Scotland together with Farquhar's family on the William Nicol in 1837. From a letter that Alexander wrote home to Scotland in 1876, that was found in Glasgow by either a descendant of Alexander or of Farquhar, we know that Alexander had a brother named Peter. Now Peter is not a common name amongst the MacRaes of Kintail so it was not difficult for the descendants of Alexander to locate what was once his home. It is believed that his old cottage is the small cottage located behind “Loch Shore Cottage” at 21 Camuslongart, Dornie. 

Peter McRae's cottage behind “Loch Shore Cottage”, Dornie

From descendants of Alexander, we know that Peter married Ann McLennon of Kyleakin. It is also known that Peter's grandsons, Peter and Donald MacRae (sons of William MacRae) were involved in the early days of Clan MacRae Scotland.

In addition, from Alexander's letter we know that he at had least two sisters. His youngest sister Janet married Alex McIver and another sister married a Farquhar McRae. 

Based on Alexander's Death Certificate, it is known that Farquhar was Alexander's, first cousin, and, according to family lore, Farquhar and Alexander share a paternal grandfather, John of Coilrie. Alexander's father's name was also John and his mother's name according to family lore is Catherine Morrison.

In the 1980s or 1990s several of Farquhar's descendants (Sr Clare McRae, Patricia Brown, and Phil Maloney) visited Glasgow, Scotland, and met with descendants of Peter MacRae, the brother of Alexander. Unfortunately, contact with this family has been lost, and, apart from the photos that record this meeting, no other information is available. We are hoping to re-establish contact with this branch of the family as they may have more information on our ancestors. Please contact us if you are a descendant of any of Alexander's siblings. We would love to hear from you.

Our DNA results

The following information is based on a Facebook post on our Facebook group (closed), Descendants of Farquhar MacRae, that was posted by Lucas MacRae.

Y DNA testing

Y DNA testing looks at the Y chromosome that is passed from father to son down through a family tree. So Y DNA testing is a way for us to trace Farquhar's ancestors on the male line.

As Y DNA is passed down a family tree it develops small changes usually about every 80 to 100 years (mutations). These changes can be located with a type of DNA test called SNP testing. You can also do a Big Y test which looks at all your mutations. This test is great and will tell you 100 percent if you are descended from someone or not. If you do a Big Y test, you can get added to The Big Tree chart on The Big Tree website. The Big Tree maps Y DNA mutations into a DNA tree similar to a big family tree but based on DNA mutations instead of parentage. It shows where the DNA of descendants of the Highland clans mutates from that of a common ancestor and in so doing creating a new branch (or subgroup).

Sometimes researchers have been able to work out which mutation belongs to an historical figure through their known male descendants. For example, the SNP of Christopher MacRae (Constable of Eilean Donan 1511, mentioned above) is FGC17603.

Links with our Y DNA

Big Y Tree for FGC17603
SNP of Christopher MacRae
(Constable of Eilean Donan 1511)
from The Big Tree

Farquhar's descendants test positive for the SNP FGC17603 (Christopher MacRae Constable of Eilean Donan 1511). We also test positive for FGC19785 downstream of FGC17603 which means we are Black MacRaes on the male line. And we test positive for FGC64905 downstream of that. See the screen shot from The Big Tree. In addition, with STR testing, we have at the DYS460 marker a one-step back mutation from that of the Reverend Farquhar MacRae, having 11 repeats instead of 12. This is another indicator for Black MacRaes. (However, this mutation is also inherited by descendants of Christopher of Aruygan, a Fair Macrae.)

There are two subgroups under the Black MacRae marker, FGC19785, that is FGC19782 and Y59895. (Y59895 is a newly found marker around which there is still come uncertainty, and it may actually be a Fair MacRae marker). We are negative for both these subgroups so appear to be in a new, as yet, unidentified subgroup. So the only way forward at the moment is Big Y testing to determine what SNP subgroup we are in.

Autosomal DNA testing

This test looks at your whole DNA both from your mother and father. (Ancestry.com tests, MyHeritage, FamilyTree Family Finder and others are in this group). A child receives 50% of their autosomal DNA from each of their parents, and similarly on average a child receives a 25% contribution to their DNA from each of their four grandparents. This means that it can be used to find matches with any or all of our ancestor lines. However, due to the random nature in which individual blocks of autosomal DNA are passed down from parent to child, this is only reliable up to five generations i.e. fifth cousins.

A group of autosomal DNA matches, that several of Farquhar's descendants all have, has been analysed in order to find common ancestors. Three of these matches are from Australia (one female and two males), one is from Scotland, and there a number of matches from Canada most of whom are related.

Black MacRae Links with our Autosomal DNA

Two Australian matches, one female and one male, and the one female from Scotland are descendants of Christina MacRae who married Donald MacRae (History of Clan MacRae page 191 and 464). Christina is a Black MacRae. Her father Christopher was tenth in line from Fionnla Dubh mac Gillechriosd MacRae. Some of her descendants believe that her husband's name was Donald based on History of Clan MacRae. Others believe that his name was Alexander based on the death certificate of his son Quarter-Master Sergeant Alexander MacRae. Donald/Alexander and Christina had four sons Duncan (Donnacha Sealgair, the hunter), Farquhar (Ferachar Buie), Donald Roy and Alexander QMS.

The Australian female match descends from Alexander QMS (Family 18 in MacRaes Down Under by Willmott and McRae). The Australian male match and the match from Scotland descend from Donald Roy’s son, Donald (Saor) MacRae.

Although not recorded in the History of Clan MacRae it is believed that Donald/Alexander MacRae is the son of Duncan (Donnachad Mor or Donnachad Mac Alister) MacRae, who was killed at Sheriffmuir in 1715, (History of Clan MacRae page 198). If this is the case then as Duncan is a Black MacRae, then Donald/Alexander MacRae is also a Black MacRae.

The Canadian matches have also tested Y DNA and have found that their ancestor Duncan Ban MacRae is also a Black MacRae. However, the Canadian matches don't appear to link in with Duncan (Donnachad Mor or Donnachad Mac Alister) MacRae and neither do the descendants of Farquhar.

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Fair MacRae Links with our Autosomal DNA

Another link has been discovered between most of our DNA matches via a Christina MacRae, a descendant of John (Ian Breac) who married a Duncan MacDonald  (History of Clan MacRae page 183). All the above mentioned people except one female Australian match are linked this way. This one female Australian match does have a MacDonald ancestor so maybe linked via the MacDonalds.

Click image to enlarge

In the above chart, Christina MacRae, wife of Duncan MacDonald, was a Fair MacRae. As our oral tradition says that Farquhar descends from John (Ian Breac) MacRae, a Fair MacRae, then our connection to the above chart could be on his mother Christina's line. (It could also be on his paternal grandmother's line, that is the unknown wife of John of Coilrie.)

A possible link to the above chart might be Finlay X, son of John (Ian Breac), who died at the battle of Glenshiel in 1719. Jessie, the wife of Farquhar's brother, Christopher Ban, is a descendant of Finlay X. Could it be that Farquhar's mother, Christina, was also a descendant of Finlay X?

Jessie's father, John (Ian Ban), had a sister Janet. Janet married Duncan MacRae, a descendent of Christopher of Aryugan (History of Clan MacRae page 124). They had a daughter Christina but unfortunately the History of Clan MacRae does not provide any more information about Christina. Could this Christina is our Farquhar’s mother? If so, this would make Christopher Ban and his wife, Jessie, first cousins once removed which is consistent with family lore. This could also explain the very close DNA matches with the Canadians. However, it is not known if Christina, the daughter of Janet and Duncan, has been accounted for in other research.

This post will be updated as more information comes to light.

Many thanks to our DNA matches, Lucas MacRae, and Maree Paine for kindly assisting with the history of the MacRaes and for sharing their DNA results.

Many thanks also to the following people for kindly providing supporting documents: Peter Arthur (Farquhar's Death Certificate), Margaret Duffus (Alexander's Death Certificate found in the MacRae folder at BDHS, Mittagong), and Patrick MacRae (Alexander's letter).

 ● Akers, Molly Justine, and McMillan, Eileen Alice, MacRaes to New Zealand: Genealogies of Clan Macrae Families in New Zealand up to 1990, Palmerston North, N.Z., Unknown Publisher, 1994.
 ● Macrae, Alexander, History of the Clan Macrae with Genealogies, Dingwall, Ross, George Souter, 1910.
 ● McRae, Jackie, and Willmott, Flora, MacRaes Down Under: Pioneer Families in Australia, McRae, John R., 2007.
 ● The Big Tree, “The Big Tree: R-FGC17603”, https://www.ytree.net/DisplayTree.php?blockID=404, viewed 17 March 2019.