Needle in a Haystack

I'm not really posting to request help, just a knowing nod.

My 3rd-great-grandfather, Alexander Rankin, born in 1794 was "begotten in fornication" to Hector Rankin and Kate McLean at Feall, Isle of Coll, Scotland. Hector and Alex immigrated to Prince Edward Island, Canada with the rest of Hector's family in 1820. The problem is Kate. Coll and the neighboring islands of Mull and Tiree are "ground zero" for Clan McLean. It seems every third girl is named Catharine (including Hector's mother - Catharine McLean). I have a few candidates based on the 1776 List of Inhabitants of Coll. If I can find enough time in the next few weeks, I'll trace those leads, but on the surface it appears like a very tall haystack! There may be a brick wall hiding underneath all that hay...

The biggest challenge right now is having enough uninterrupted time to concentrate and keep all the Catharine's straight and sorted out. I'm saving my few remaining credits at Scotland's People for other research. Fortunately, the site for Coll genealogy, along with the sister sites for Mull and Tiree, holds lots of useful information.

Okay... back to the fray...
Barb

 

Good Luck Granny Barb.
So happy it wasn't me that had to sort out our Margaret Sutherland's

 

Good Luck Barb!

 

Good luck, Barb!

 

Goodluck and I hope you get required time for a decent interval

 

Just curious @GrannyBarb did you have any luck?

 

Thanks for asking, Sis. Umm. I've found some great resources, both old and new, on McLean/Maclean history, including one that specifically mentions my Hector Rankin (he had legal problems). I've eliminated some candidates for Alex Rankin's mother, but haven't got a definitive answer yet. I many never know, and I'm okay with that. Have you run across any helpful tidbits???

I've been busy in Scotland sorting out Buchanan's and Stewarts with some success. Getting ready to zero in on Browne's and Sinclairs, all the time organizing transcriptions from that old Bowker account book and doing Granny Daycare duty in between.

 

Sorry Barb not found anything. Am home sick and was looking for something different to do.

 

Oh, Sis. Hope it's nothing serious. I was very productive last week, but this week seems a bust. I find myself getting sidetracked in the digital gallery at the National Library of Scotland. Lots of fun stuff there.

Code:

http://digital.nls.uk/gallery.cfm

Feel better soon!

 

Here, here

 

Thanks ladies, just trying to get blood pressure meds sorted out. Too woozy to go to work. Will have another look around Barb after my visit to the docs. Genealogy is good for the soul

 

Get well soon Sis

 

sort 'em out Lass.

 

hope they sort you out soon Sis.

 

Thank you everyone

 

Checking the stats on my blog, some little bunny Down Under has looked at my Rankin/Maclean posts. The NLS Digital gallery has at least 3 Maclean/Gillean genealogies. I managed to download 2 (and one Buchanan book) before my internet dropped.

Sis, you are not alone balancing meds. Just be careful operating heavy machinery until you get it sorted.

 

Your blog is very interesting Barb. The heaviest machinery I operate is my computer