Margaret Ross

Margaret Ross was born in Tain to William and Ann Ross, maiden surname also Ross, which makes her birth extremely hard to locate.  Don't misunderstand me; I can find a Margaret Ross born to William and Ann Ross in Tain, it's just that the names are so common I can't be certain I'd have the right one.  I have one example which shows something of interest -

No day quoted
Which day William Ross alias Roy shoemaker in Tain had by his wife Ann Ross a daughter born to him lawfully begot and baptized the 22 day same month and year named Margaret Witnesses William Munro and William Ross alias Clearach both in Tain

Notice that there were so many William Rosses that they had to use nicknames to distinguish between them.  We know that Margaret's father was given as a Sheriff's Officer at his death but could he have been a shoemaker earlier on and changed jobs when the Clearances really got under way?  A search for a marriage between William and Ann Ross in the time and place offers up five viable possibilities so it's difficult to be certain about anything.  I do have a birth to a John Ross, Kirk-officer, which seems to me to feel right but as an indication of the difficulties of tracing Rosses in Ross-shire, this is one of seven consecutive Ross births in the register.  The Sheriff Officer occupation allowed me to find him with his wife in the 1851 census and this allowed me to find his place of birth as Logie, just five miles up the road from Tain.  The records are so full of Rosses and there are so many flaws with the records around that period that I've left it at that.

Let me illustrate this point.  From the 1841 and 1851 censuses we can estimate Margaret's mother's birthdate as 1776 to 1783 and we know that she was born in Tain.  There are 11, yes 11, Ann Rosses born in Tain in that period. For future reference, the couples' forenames are
David & Ann 1776
Charles & Margaret 1776
Andrew & Margaret 1777
Alexander & Janet 1779
David & Ann 1779
Alexander & Katherine 1781
John & Janet 1781
Donald & Henereta 1781
Hugh & Margaret 1781
Alexander & Barbara 1782
David & Ann 1783
Note that all David & Anns have different maiden surnames.

How am I supposed to choose from that list when I don't know what their children's names are due to the numbers of Willaim and Ann Ross couples breeding in the time and place?

No wonder they called it Ross-shire.

Margret seems to have been about thirty at the birth of her children as she was a few years older than husband James.  They only had three children as a result but this may have helped them financially and allowed them to give their children a better start in life.

Certainly the West Port wasn't the place to be for this purpose and after moving from place to place around this run-down area they took advantage of the building of Rosemount Buildings to move there in the early 1860s by which time their children had started in comparatively good jobs.   There is an interesting set of illustrations produced in the 1860s by Jane Stewart Smith, showing the conditions in Crombie's Land (shown on the map as St Cuthbert's Close), a few steps from Lady Lawson Wynd, Stevenson's Close and 153 West Port, in fact right at the latter address.  I've selected the most relevant prints showing the neighbourhood the Mackays lived in at the time but take the links above for detailed information about them.