FAMILY GROUP RECORD OF
MALCOLM MACCALLUM AND
ANNE MAXWELL

Malcolm was born in about 1763 in Muckairn, Argyllshire, Scotland, the son of Dugald MacCallum and Anne McGregor. Muckairn is a parish about eleven miles northeast of Kilbrandon. Muckairn was united with the parish of Ardchattan in the early 1600s.

Malcolm married Anne Maxwell in about 1781. Malcolm worked as a crofter and innkeeper in Kilbrandon parish, then a carter and slate labourer as he became older. Anne is shown as Agnes at son George's christening.

In 1787, Malcolm was shown as an "innkeeper of Caolis" in Kilbrandon parish at his son John's christening. Caolas is a townland in the village of Ellanabeich, just across the sound from Easdale Island, Easdale was the center of the British slate mining industry, and "Easdale had a community of more than 500 working as many as seven quarries". (www.wikipedia.com)  The quarries included Easdale, Ellanabeich, and Balvicar. "By the end of the seventeenth century the Earl of Breadalbane and his cousin the Duke of Argyll, who between them owned most of the county and much of Perthshire and Stirlingshire besides, began to exploit the slate deposits on a commercial basis and in 1745 a company was formally registered, the Easdale Marble and Slate Quarrying Company. Villages were built to accommodate the influx of workers and because of the dangerous nature of the work a surgeon was appointed to minister to the men and their families." (The Easdale Doctor, Mary Withall)

Caolas was described: "in the tiny township of Caolas at the most westerly point of the Isle of Seil. The settlement was at the time composed of a few cottages gathered around the tiny harbour of Easdale and overshadowed by the towering cliffs of Ben Mor. While Caolas itself had been settled from earliest times, in the first two decades of the nineteenth century the village had been enlarged to accommodate a growing population of quarry workers. The quarrymen and their families were housed in three rows of terraced, whitewashed cottages whose harled stone walls and slated roofs were a match for anything the elements might send against them. In winter these houses are swept by gales from the north and west and the shores beside them are pounded by the Atlantic Ocean." (The Easdale Doctor)

In 1792, Malcolm and Anne are shown as of "Balvicar" in their son George's christening. "Balvicar is a village on the island of Seil, a small island 7 miles southwest of Oban, Scotland. It is one of three villages on the island along with Ellenabeich and Clachan-Seil." (www.wikipedia.com) Balvicar was a former slate mining village on the island of Seil.

In 1834, a list of the male heads of households was taken in Kilbrandon parish. Malcolm does not appear on this list, but two MacCallums are listed in Ellanabeich. They may be his family.

Alexandr Mccallum  Ellanabeich

Dougald Mccallum  Ellanabeich

(Male Heads of Families, 1834; www.oldscottish.com)

Malcolm is found in the 1841 census in Kilbrandon, in the village of Easdale. "Easdale is one of the Slate Islands. The Slate Islands are an island group in the Inner Hebrides, lying immediately off the west coast of Scotland, north of Jura and southwest of Oban. The main islands are Seil, Easdale, Luing, Shuna, Torsa and Belnahua.The underlying geology of the islands is Dalradian slate, which was quarried widely until the mid-20th century. Quarry working began in 1630 and at the turn of the 20th century, the quarries were yielding some eight million slates every year." (www.wikipedia.com) "Once all the available slate had been removed to sea level, the men began to dig down into the ground following the dip of the tilted slate beds. Over a period of two hundred years or more the quarrying reached depths of as much as seventy metres below sea level. Keeping the quarries dry while the men were working required both ingenuity and perseverance from the engineers who ran the quarries. When work finally ceased at the beginning of the twentieth century these great pits in the ground quickly filled with water, creating a landscape dotted with deep, tranquil pools surrounded by heaps of waste slate." (The Easdale Doctor)

Easdale was both an island and a village: "A hundred and fifty metres off shore, the island of Easdale sported a fine harbour of its own and a village of quarry workers’ houses which had been built a quarter of a century earlier than those on Seil. Easdale Island accommodated some four hundred and fifty people in 1870 while the population of Easdale Village on Seil was around three hundred. Because the whole district was called Easdale, the two settlements came to be known as the Island and the Village, and, although the manager of the quarries was responsible for the work of both, the inhabitants set themselves apart from one another as though they might be two different nations." (The Easdale Doctor)

Easdale    Malcolm McCallum, age 71, carter, born in the county

                Catherine McCallum, age 61, born in the county

                Mary McGregor, age 25, born in the county

It seems that Anne has died, and Malcolm has married Catherine.

In the 1851 census in Kilbrandon, Malcolm is found living with Joseph and Anne MacLean.

Malcolm and Anne had the following children:

 

1. John, christened 27 January 1787 in Kilbrandon: "John son to Malcom MacCallum Inkeeper at Caolis and Ann Maxwell his wife was born 27 January 1787".

2. George, christened 10 July 1792 in Kilbrandon: "George son to Malcom MacCallum and Agnes Maxwell, Balvicar".

 

*3. Catherine, born about 1793 in Kilbrandon; married Alexander Cameron 9 December 1813 in Kilmelford; died 18 March 1862 in Strachur. Her death certificate listed her parents as Malcolm MacCallum and Anne Maxwell.

SOURCES: Kilbrandon parish register; FHS# 102373; www.scotlandspeople.org; 1841 census, Kilbrandon; 1851 census, Kilbrandon; Death certificate for Malcolm MacCallum; The Easdale Doctor, by Mary Withall.

Dugald MacCallum was born in about 1730 of Muckairn, Argyllshire. He married Ann McGregor (also known as Ann McIntyre). Muckairn is a quoad sacra parish in the civil parish of Ardchatten. The name in Gaelic means "the den of the wild boars".

The nearest town to Muckairn is Oban, which is twelve miles west.

Dugald is found in the Farm Horse Tax roll of 1797-8 in Ardchattan and Muckairn:

The list shows:

Dugald MacCallum, Laitt   2  2   4

(Later, in 1834, Duncan, John and Gregor McGregor are listed in Laitt in a census of male heads of household. Possibly these are Ann's family.)

Dugald and Ann had the following children:

1. Katarine, christened 12 January 1760 in Ardchattan (christened as the daughter of Dugal MacCallum and Ann McIntyre).

*2. Malcolm, born in about 1767 in Muckairn; married Anne Maxwell; died 24 April 1856 in Kilbrandon.

SOURCE: Farm Horse Tax Roll 1797-8, Ardchattan and Muckairn, www.scotlandsplaces.com; Death certificate for Malcolm MacCallum.

Other early MacCallums in Muckairn were:

• John MacCallum and his wife Ann MacCallum, who had children baptized in Muckairn: Duncan (1754), John (1756), and Donald (1766).
• Archibald MacCallum and his wife Mary MacPherson, married 9 March 1759 in Ardchattan, who had a son baptized in Muckairn: John (1766). A descendant said that there were other children: Donald, Archibald, and Malcolm. (www.genealogy.com)
  
• Malcolm MacCallum and his wife Catharine Colquhoun, who had children baptized in Muckairn: Marion (1774) and Mary (1776).
• Duncan MacCallum and his wife Catharine Campbell, who had a daughter baptized in Muckairn: Mary (1773)
• John MacCallum married Margaret MacInnes 30 October 1774

In 1774, Janet MacCallum is shown in Muckairn as the mistress of a spinning school, and paid a salary of 3£. (An Account of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, 1774)

John MacCallum, born Muckairn, served in the 91st Foot Regiment, discharged at age 48, (born 1768), served as a corporal. He was 5 feet 10 3/4 inches tall, had dark brown hair, gray eyes, and fair complexion, by trade a labourer. He enlisted at age 26, and served in the regiment for 22 years. He was discharged as a consequence of "being worn out".   (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

The Farm Horse Tax Roll 1797-8 showed two additional MacCallums in Ardchattan and Muckairn, in the townland of Achnacreemore - John and Archibald MacCallum. (www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk)

Censuses taken of male heads of household in 1834, 1835, and 1836 listed John and Malcolm MacCallum in Airdeny, Archibald and Alexander MacCallum in Bay, Duncan, James and John MacCallum in Airds and Particles, Hugh MacCallum in Culnadaluch, and Duncan MacCallum in Achlevan.

The 1851 census in Muckairn shows these MacCallums born in Muckairn or Ardchattan: Mary MacCallum, born 1760 in Muckairn, Catharine MacCallum, born 1769 in Muckairn, residence Ardchattan, Janet MacCalllum, born 1773 in Ardchattan, residence Muckairn.



The clan name MacCallum literally means “bald dove”, and indicates a priestly follower of St. Columba, whose sign was the dove of peace. The MacCallum lands are in Argyll. The name is sometimes Malcolm. The clan motto is: “He has attempted difficult things” and “God is our refuge”. The clan tartan is blue and green, and the plant is the mountain ash.