Ewen McGregor (abt. 1750)

Born about 1750 in Laggan, Inverness-shire, Scotland

Descendants

Died [date unknown] in Laggan, Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom

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Biography

Ewen McGregor bc.1750. married Margaret Leslie about 1775. He was of Uvie 1777 -79, of Nessentully 1779 -1785 and of Ovie 1787 -1796. John and Ewen McGregor were tacksmen of Achmore before 1800 and held a third of Uvie. From 1800 Achmore was to be made equal to a third of the whole of Achmore and Uvie for the accommodation of John and Evan McGregor, and to have 1/3 of the whole hill grass. They both signed. Hence they held the equivalent of a half between them, and half of the £120 per annum due to the Lordship of Badenoch. [SRO ref CR8 /146] Ewen and Margaret had nine children (see below). The Laggan Register records related families of this name in the farm of Uvie: Evan (or Ewan) MacGregor and Margaret Leslie and Nessintully: children baptised between 1777 and 1796, including two sons James MacGregor in Uvie (children baptised between 1816 and 1826) and Alexander MacGregor, tachsman of Auchmore of Uvie (married Anne Rose 1821, children baptised up to 1836). I think Evan was probably an older brother of Malcolm MacGregor, and that they had joint tenancy in Uvie. Evan’s two tachsmen sons and their families are buried in the graveyard at the lovely Church of Laggan at Laggan Bridge. [Letter from Alan Macpherson to Muriel Macpherson, 9 Sept 1976]

The senior family of three MacGregors (our line headed by Ewen McGregor) in Uvie was resident there in 1777 and 1779, and again in 1789 and 1796, but was in the farm of Nessintullich in 1781, 1783, and 1785. The association with Uvie and Nessintullich, like those with Breakachie and Catlaig, indicate a close relationship with the tacksman family of the Macphersons of Crubinmore which possessed the ancient duthchas rights to all of these farms. The senior Uvie family is of particular interest in that an elder son, James, was resident in Uvie between 1816 and 1826 according to the baptismal record and his family was still there in 1849 according to the record of later marriages, while a younger son, Alexander, is listed in the baptismal records as 'Tacksman of Achmore of Uvie' between 1821 and 1836, his family retaining possession until at least 1852 according to the record of marriages. The fact that the MacGregors in Uvie eventually rose to tacksman status, filling the place vacated by a cadet family of the Macphersons of Crubinmore, may be attributed in part to their having inherited substantial rights from their predecessors. [An Old Highland Parish Register- Alan G Macpherson, in Scottish Studies, 1967]

Sources

• Parish register of Laggan. An Old Highland Parish Register- Alan G Macpherson, in Scottish Studies, 1967.