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Toni,
I am mailing what I have gathered today.
Please realize that this is not all I have on this branch. I gathered this
material while working on another line in Louisiana and have not had time to
search my files for other records.
I am still not convinced of the brother
statement. I know in my own personal family hearing my mother speak of
"Uncle Pack St. Clair" all of my life. I assumed he was her
mother's brother and would have probably stated that if anyone had asked
me. It was only years after her death that I learned that he was her
great-great Uncle and had died before her birth. If the letter you have
was written by Neil Bethell, Duncan would have been his great uncle. Do
you have a date for the letter you have? If it was written after 1893, it
was written by Neil Bethell Sinclair as Neil, II was then deceased. The
man who recorded the material on Duncan was a personal friend of Neil II and I
really think he knew what he was talking about. I will do some more
digging on this. The names Neil and Margaret as siblings come up in other
materials I have but I haven't found them yet.
Also, Duncan and Margaret were in New Orleans prior
to 1840. Their first child was Marion born in New Orleans in 1839. I
have not been able to locate Neil in any Louisiana census which is puzzling me
no end! Without a census, I have no earthly idea what his ca. birth year
was. This would help us in determining who was who. Do you have any
idea what year Neil Bethell was born - I assume it is on the death record you
have. That would at least give me an idea of when they left Louisiana as
he was born in Tennessee.
Another conflict - Neil II states that his wife's
name is Minnie Dalton Smith. This does not agree with Neil Bethell being
named Bethell for his mother's surname. Possibly for his grandparent
surname?
Jean
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2000 10:29 AM
Subject: Re: lost branch of Sinclairs
Jean,
This is the most exciting breakthrough I've had in
quite a while! We definitely have the right family, even though its very
confusing with so many Neil's. Here's another interesting twist - The
Boston Mills cemetery is full of Sinclairs and Campbells, all related to one
another, plus a few others. The Campbells are also intermarried
with the Lyons family! I correspond with some of their
descendants, and I will definitely telephone them today. Can't wait for
the mail.
In Neil's (II) letter he definitely referred to his father's brother
Duncan. Duncan's wife Margaret Sinclair must be the in-law, and possible
related to the John Sinclair from Campbelton. If this John
went to New Orleans at an earlier time, that might explain why the shipwreck
survivors ended up there, instead of Canada. It didn't make any sense
before. By the way, I don't think there's a Cambeldon. Its
probably meant to be Campbeltown, on the Kintyre peninsula, argyllshire.
Question to the list: Do any of you know of a website of
sunken emigrant ships?
This one sank in 1845, possibly from Cambeltown or
Greenock. I don't know where
on the North American coast it sank.
Thanks to everyone for making this such a great interactive website!
PS Laurel - I'll be happy to send it to you, along with the brothers in
Canada, when it gets sorted out.
Toni
Jean Grigsby wrote:
Toni,I have
promised several people this week so if I don't get to it in the next couple
of days let me tell you this much now so you can be working on that
angle. I have a copy of a letter written by Neil, SR. who
married Margaret Lyons. (Your letter was apparently written by his
son, Neil or his grandson, Neil Bethell? Neil, Jr. named a son Neil
Bethell Sinclair so actually we are looking at Neil I, Neil II, and Neil
III. My records show that Neil II died ca. 1893 in Memphis. He did
name a son Neil Bethell Sinclair and perhaps he is the one who wrote your
letter? My records show that Neil II's aunt was Margaret Sinclair
(wife of Duncan Sinclair). That would make Duncan his uncle through
marriage. So really you have two Sinclair lines here which was not
uncommon for cousins to marry in that time era. Now that is
confusing. To put it in a nutshell - The parent of Neil I and the
parent of Margaret were siblings. Yes, I remember very well your gift of the book and one of these
days I will finally get all of my Canadian material to you. There is a
lot of it in my files but not yet sorted. It is only in cases like
this that I have it documented. The only other possible connection in
New Orleans would be John, b. ca. 1811. I researched him also and
found he was born in Campeldon, Argylshire, Scotland. I would be
surprised if he was closely related to Duncan or Neil as he was not
mentioned in the letter.However, he could have been related to Duncan since
Neil's connection was through his wife. If anyone out there descends
from John I will be happy to furnish copies of what I found on
him. I am fascinated with the
tombstone reference to New OrleansMore later.Jean
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