Ian’s ancestry may be traced back fourteen generations by the male line, and also by a line with one female link, to the founder of the Clan in Kintail:
*Here and elsewhere in "The Ian and Blanche Story," ca. (circa) indicates uncertainty of a date.
Source: Information on IX Alexander and X Duncan was supplied by John G. McRae of Vermont South, Victoria, Australia.
The lives of Ian’s forebears reflect historical events in Scotland in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
In the wake of the 1715 uprising against the English, Seaforth and his followers were stripped of their lands and so the MacRas became tenants of English masters. The Seaforth line of Chiefs of Kintail died out in 1815, and the passing of the Seaforths left the MacRas without even titular land. This was the end of the Clan as it had existed for centuries. Then came the clearances—the forced consolidation of the small holdings of the MacRas and other highland tenant farmers into larger estates—and the mass emigration of the now leaderless and landless farm folk to America and to Australia.
The career of XII Alexander McRae the Quartermaster Sergeant marks the historical transition. Alexander’s ancestors lived and died in the Scottish highlands. Alexander himself, lacking employment in Scotland yet loath to emigrate, opted to join the British army. After serving twenty-five years abroad, he returned to live out his life in the Highlands. His son, XIII Alexander McKenzie McRae, emigrated to Australia, and neither he nor any of his descendants returned to live in Scotland.
Continue reading: 1.1.4 Quartermaster Sergeant Alexander McRae (1771-1855)
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1. Ian McRae (1904-1975) Background and Youth (-1929)
1.1 Scottish Origins
1.1.2 Eilean Donan
This Topic1.1.3 Restless feet
Next Topic1.1.4 Quartermaster Sergeant Alexander McRae (1771-1855)
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