Neil, your praise goes over the top! I would consider myself a student
(and perhaps, a fanatic) of Islay history, and the Sinclair families who
lived there. I'm trying to connect the various families, if possible, and
also tracing at least one generation after emigration. Most of them came to
Canada, but certainly not all. That brings me to the "Irish Sinclairs":
I was at the local LDS library in Hamilton, Ontario this week, going through
the 1881 census records for Ontario. I printed out the townships where I
knew some Sinclair pioneers settled, and Im now trying to identify them.
What surprised me was that several Sinclairs are listed with "Irish" as
their origin.
I have this little story to relate:
Our Neil Sinclair emigrated to Victoria Co., Ontario in 1842 with a large
family. His granddaughter Mary (dau. of eldest son, John), married a man by
the name of William Holmes. I found a writeup about them in a local history
called "Eldon Connections" by Rae Fleming -
"Although the Holmes were originally Scottish, William Holmes was born in
Ireland in 1844, the day after his parents arrived there, and therefore he
was an Irish citizen. From there the family moved to Upper Canada,
settling............"
So, it might depend on how the question was asked by the person taking the
census. "Where were you born?" instead of "What is your nationality?". I
know that some of the people who left the islands of the Western Hebrides
caught a boat from Ireland, possibly because that was when there was space
for them, or the timing was better, or possibly cheaper. Being able to save
a schilling or two would have made a big difference to people with very
little money.
Speaking of Neil Sinclairs, and Argyll, ...... well, that's a different
subject, so I'll send it to you under a different subject line.
Toni
----- Original Message -----
From: "Neil Sinclair" <rinsin@globalserve.net>
To: <sinclair@quarterman.org>
Sent: Friday, September 20, 2002 12:12 AM
Subject: RE: Origin of Irish Sinclairs: Sinclair -> Nokaird?????
> By the by for the readers of the list Toni Sinclair is one of the great
> academics on our list and did exhaustive research on the Isle of Islay,
> Argylleshire. To top it off in 2000 she hosted the first large reunion of
> the Ontario clans from Islay that migrated to Ontario, connecting people,
> names and heritages all together. I regard her as a friend and also an
[ Excess quotations omitted. ]
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