James Shaw (abt. 1730 - 1791)

Born about 1730 in Kinrara, Badenoch and Strathspey, Inverness-shire, Scotland

Husband of Margaret Grant — married about 1772 in Scotland

Descendants

Died 1791 at about age 61 in Scotland

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Biography

James Shaw was the son of Angus Shaw and Jean Macpherson.^[1]

He married as his second wife, Margaret Grant, third daughter of John Grant of Ballantomb, on 20 Jun 1763.^[1]

Margaret Grant was the second wife of James Shaw, married around 1772, his first wife having died in Jul 1771.^[2] Col Jame Shaw was clansman but not related to her first husband.^[3] Their daughter Helen Macdonald (née Shaw) was the mother of Sir John A. Macdonald, GCB, who became Canada's first and third prime minister.^[3]

James Shaw as a soldier in the Jacobite Army and fought at Preston, Falkirk and Culloden and assumed the title of Lt-Col. as indicated by the inscription on the tombstone of his first wife (d. July 24th, 1771) in the Cathedral grounds of St. Andrews.^[4]

After the defeat of the Stuart army at Culloden, he, along with so many other Highlanders joined the Hanoverian Army (British), and became a Lieutenant of the Northern Fencibles on September 13th, 1780 but left by 1782 in consequence of some disagreement with his superior officers.^[4] He is mentioned in Kenneth MacKenzie's "Oran Ghaidhealadch" published in Edinburgh in 1792, as the hero, who, before the Battle of Falkirk (17 Jan. 1746), stepped forward to carry the Royal Standard when the oldest captain in the regiment declined the honour.^[4] His story is in Grant's "Legends of the Braes of Mar"; and he is mentioned in A.M. MacKintosh's article, "Scottish Notes and Queries", 3rd series, vol. iii, of January; May, 1925.^[4]

His claim to fame seems to rest on his descendants achieving greater fame and glory, namely: the aforementioned grandson Sir John Alexander Macdonald; a daughter who became the grandmother of John Brown, the well-known attendant of Queen Victoria.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} MacPherson, James Pennington; Life of the Right Hon. Sir John A. Macdonald; (Earle Pub. House; St. John, NB 1891); pg. 74
2. ↑ [Ancestry.com MACDONALD FAMILY TREE Owner: Paul MacDonald]
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Donald Creighton. 2018. "John A. MacDonald: The Young Politician, The Old Chieftain". University of Toronto Press. 1236 pages.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4} Ancestry.com MACDONALD FAMILY TREE Owner: Paul MacDonald