LNAB: Campbell, McIver, or MacIver?

Question

I'd be very grateful for help on a dilemma with Ann, married name McLeay, whose last name at birth is given in records of her children earlier in her life as McIver or MacIver, but later as Campbell. Details are in the Research Notes of her profile. I've looked for a baptism record for Ann herself without finding anything.

Why would this happen? According to the Clan MacIver team page, MacIver is a branch of Clan Campbell, but would that make the names interchangeable?

The current LNAB is Campbell, because that's what the first records I found called her. If the LNAB does have to be changed, should it be McIver, MacIver, or Maciver? All three appear in different records.

Comments

Can't speak to the "correct" name, but on the McIver versus MacIver question, I'd go with MacIver, because McIver is just a scribal abbreviation of it.

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If you find an answer, I'm interested. I have a similar situation with a woman who varied between McMillan and Miller, interchangeably throughout her life. Granted the difference in the names is not as distinct, but it does make you wonder why.

Margaret (McMillan/Miller) Rodger

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Thanks for this J! It's a good criterion to bear in mind if the LNAB does have to be changed.

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Bobbie, your case does sound similar. It may be even harder, in that not only does the surname change, the first name does too, from Margaret to Jean in the 1806 baptism record. I'll keep you informed if I find anything, and would likewise be glad to hear from you.

Answer 1

Clan MacIver is also an armigerous clan, in its own right.  It's very unlikely that the names MacIver and Campbell would have been used interchangeably.  It is possible that her mother's maiden name was MacIver (or whatever spelling).  Looking at her estimated birth dates, it's entirely possible that she was previously married to a MacIver, as the legal age for marriage at that time was still 12.  She may have used MacIver as an alias, but also seems unlikely.  In my opinion, further research would be called for to identify her parents.

Amy, Clan Campbell Team Leader

Comments

Thanks very much, Amy. Mother's maiden name or an early marriage both do seem to be possibilities. I didn't know the age threshold was only 12: that's certainly relevant.

The 1851 census recorded Ann's birth place as Blarnbee, presumably the same as Blarnabie, which was in the parish of Urray. According to Scotland's People, there are no birth or baptism OPR records for an Ann or Anne born in Urray between 1780 and 1815 with surname Campbell or any form of MacIver. Nor are there any marriage records, apart from the already noted 1820 one of Ann MacIver to Farquhar MacLeay. Possibly the birth place of Urray is wrong. Anyhow this seems to be a brick wall for now.

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Writing in 1907, GT Bisset-Smith states: "… fourteen in males and twelve in females, as in Roman law, are the lowest legal ages of marriage, although, in Scotland, marriages at these early ages are almost unknown."

Source: G T Bisset-Smith, Vital registration, A Manual of the Law and Practice Concerning the Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Registration Acts for Scotland, second edition (Edinburgh: William Green & Sons, 1907), page 66 ; Internet Archive, digital images, (https://archive.org/details/b28086181/page/n85/mode/1up : accessed 18 August 2020).

There’s a useful article is:

“What Was and Is The Minimum Age For Marriage in Scotland?” National Records of Scotland (https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/registration/getting-married-in-scotland/minimum-age-for-marriage-in-scotland : accessed 18 August 2020).

I’ve looked for statistical research on marriage ages in 18th and 19th century Scotland and there isn’t a lot available.

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Thanks for the useful and well-sourced information, David! It's reassuring to know that marriage at such young ages was very rare. This seems to make a marriage by Ann previous to the one with Farquhar McLeay more unlikely.

Answer 2

I have MacIver as a close match with FTDNA.

If I understand, Campbell took on the MacIver name with a marriage.

Comments

Thanks Leonard, that's very interesting and could certainly be relevant. Do you have a source or more details?

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I can send you the Campbell DNA oldest ancestors that gives some of the relationships.

Campbell-MacIver dropped the Campbell.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Len

Leonard Campbell

L Soup 03 (at) Gmail

NH

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And check out Page 76:

https://archive.org/details/heraldryofcampbe02john/page/76/mode/2up

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Thanks Len! Private message sent.