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THE MELVILLES OF THE DOLL AND RELATED FAMILIES

 An Overview

The community of the Doll is situated between Golspie and Brora in the county of Sutherland.  The area is one of reasonably good farmland, with easy access to the sea and close to forested countryside and hill land.  The Doll is in the parish of Clyne but the Sputie Burn, which separates the parishes of Golspie and Clyne runs close to the eastern edge of this scattered community.  Some of the land and a few of the houses of my ancestors were in the parish of Golspie rather than Clyne.

My mother's maiden is Melville and her father, George Melville, was born in the Doll in 1875.  It is worth noting that the name was variously spelt as Melvelle, Melven,  Melvin,  Melvelle and even as late as 1850 a birth, in Lairg, to one of the 'direct'  Melville line was recorded as Melvin.  Here I will generally use the present spelling of Melville.  My mother, Annie Isabella Fraser Melville, is the youngest of nine children born in 1923 at Culmailly to George and Annabella (Annie)  Fraser or Ross.  George was a ploughman at Culmaily Farm, Golspie at the time of her birth.  Annabella Fraser or Ross was the illegitimate daughter of Christina Ross (b. 1853) from Invercasley, Rosehall and John Ross, said to be a pupil teacher, from that area who after fathering Annabella moved to England to study and died there.  It is said he was a weakly youth and his death was not all that surprising.  Unfortunately, at present little more is known about him though the small amount of information about him is almost certainly correct as it was told to my mother as she nursed her own mother before she died.  Additionally, on the marriage certificate of George Melville and Annie Fraser the latter’s father is given as John Ross.  However, in this instance he is listed as a crofter and not as a pupil teacher.  The two are not entirely at odds as it is possible that he was at one time a pupil teacher but this does throw some doubt on the story of his death.

One further snippet of information about John is that he had a brother Daniel (Donald maybe) who went to New Zealand and became rather successful in sheep farming.  Correspondence from him was said to have been sent to a Rosehall woman who at first gave brief information regarding his life in the Southern Hemisphere and then claimed to have lost the address when she was asked for it by Annabella Fraser.

Christina Ross later married George Ross (b. 1854), blacksmith of Rosehall and Brora, and had a large family to him before he went to Canada to work on the building of the Duke of Sutherland's railway.  George Ross, unfortunately, died in Canada before he could send for his own family and Annabella.  Family tradition has it that George was a prolific and successful poacher on the Brora river and that the Duke was more than pleased to get rid of him to Canada - he may even have almost been 'exiled' there.  The Ross descendants of the marriage of George and Annabella are numerous and widespread.  There are many in Sutherland, particularly Brora, some in Caithness and other parts of Scotland and others even further afield.  Further information on the Ross family and its connections to Frasers, Blacks and other families in the Rosehall area and North West Sutherland follows the Melville information in this section as does information on the related Sutherland, McLean and Young families from the Doll.

George Melville was also illegitimate.  His father was John Melville (b.1854), a farm worker from Strathsteven in the parish of Golspie, the son of a horse breaker and coachman.  John later married Margaret Munro (b.1861) from Lairg and they had nine children born at various farms in East Sutherland where he worked.  George's mother was Catherine Sutherland (b.1854), known as 'Kate Roy', from the Doll.  Catherine never married and as far is as known she had no more children.  She died in the poorhouses at Mosshill, Brora in 1925 having been put there after her house in the Doll burnt down.  It is said that she left some herrings in a covered pan on the fire to cook while she walked to Brora to the sacraments and while away the thatch caught fire.

Kate was interred in the old part of the Golspie cemetery near the wall separating the burial area from the primary school grounds.  The grave is unmarked but was shown to me by my uncle Neddie (Janatus) Melville shortly before his death.  He was present at the funeral and remembered the place of the grave.  This grave is in the same section of the burial grounds as the graves of the Melvilles of the Doll but is some distance from their lairs.  It is likely that Kate was buried with her parents as there were few new lairs available in this section of the burial ground.

Four distinct but closely related Melville lines originating in the Doll have been identified by my research with virtually all the Melvilles in the area linking into at least one of those lines.  The lines may come from common ancestors William Melven and Ana Sutherland born circa 1730.  While this earliest generation is connected circumstantially by grave records and other indirect evidence there is little doubt as to the other lines and their relationship to one another.

The direct line from my mother through, George (b. 1875), John (b. 1854), John (b. 1821), Henry (b. 1875) and Alexander Melville (b. c1755) takes us back to the mid-18th century.  This line has three other related lines running parallel with it.  One is headed by a John Melville and Betty Munro and also originates in the middle of the 18th century.  There is every likelihood that John and Alexander were brothers.  However, as both lines are joined at an early stage by the marriage of Sarah Melville (b. 1814) and Francis Melville (b. 1815) even if there had been no prior relationship they can be legitimately incorporated into the overall family tree.  Sarah's parents were William Melville (b. 1799) and Elizabeth Sutherland (b. 1786) and Francis's parents were John Melville and Elizabeth Munro.

This John may have been the son of an earlier John Melville who was possibly married twice. Firstly to Kate Sutherland and later to Helen MacDonald.  Evidence for those marriages and the relationship of the Johns is a little thin being circumstantial and by way of the careful study of OPRs, naming patterns and a family tradition which seemed to clearly know relationships in the earlier generations.

John Melville, the son of John and Helen, married in Cromarty and returned to the Doll.  This family were the forebearers of the 'Coalmine' Melvilles and later members of this line emigrated to Australia.  An Australian descendant of this line, Richard Snedden, was a former member of the Highland Family History Society and I have corresponded with him after I responded to a query of his in the Society's journal.  He initially sent me some information on his Australian relatives including the news that one relative was Kerry Reid (nee Melville), the former Australian and Wimbledon tennis star and another had wed Miss Australia 1947!  Over recent years he has provided me with much detailed information on Melvilles in the Southern Hemisphere.

John's family to Kate Sutherland originated a line connecting to many families still in the Doll and Brora areas including Murrays and McBeaths.  It is possible that in addition to a daughter, Isabella, who was an ancestor of those in the ‘McBeath’ Line, John and Kate had a son John.  This John married Elizabeth Munro.

The John Melville/Betty Munro line produced a number of interesting family connections into the other Melville families and other Doll families.  It was, however, often dogged by bad luck and illness and never became as widespread locally as my own direct line from Alexander Melville who was born circa 1750.  However, those members who did survive and leave the area made good in the antipodes.  There is also a line extant in the Doll at the present time.

Regular correspondence over a period of some years with two avid family history researchers, Heather and Una Melville, in New Zealand resulted in a very useful exchange of information.  Much detail of Melvilles in the Southern Hemisphere was received from them and the information clearly relating to my own Melvilles has been reproduced in this family history research.  Heather and Una claim descent from a Donald Melville born in the Doll at the end of the 18th century.  Sadly, Heather died in February of 1991 and the correspondence from Una has at this time ceased.

The various ancestors who went to Australia seemed to grasp the opportunities presented to them and they made their way successfully in their new surroundings.  Medicine seems to have been one of the favoured professions though others did well in land speculation and another, Donald Melville,  reached 'giddy' heights in government in Australia.  By all accounts he was not the only politician as one Melville, an expert in forestry, brushed aside a question from Heather Melville about his ancestors by saying 'they were all mad politicians'!  Though this Melville did not co-operate at that time in the quest for information it is reported that he did tell others at the University in Christchurch that he was related to the Accommodations Officer, Heather Melville.

The inter-linking of the Melville families in the Doll with their own lines and with other families seems to have continued in Australia and New Zealand.  A number of members of the same family travelled to the other side of the world, met with 'cousins' from Clyne and Golspie and married.  Some of those 'cousins' were close relatives while others were related distantly by marriage in the land of their birth.

Some of the Melvilles of the Doll settled in Canada and though I have not corresponded with their descendants I hear mention of them from time to time from other family members who are interested in family history research.  Since a number of individual Melville family members disappeared in the early years of the 19th century it is likely that while a number would have followed relatives to the Southern Hemisphere others probably crossed the Atlantic. 

A family I dearly wanted to find held the lease of Crislich at the head of The Black Water to the upper end of Loch Brora.  An Alexander Melville, possibly a son of the earlier Alexander and his wife Sarah MacKay though another Alexander may have a better claim, and his wife Margaret Graham had at least five children while residing there  -  John (b. 1806), Katherine (b.1808), Margaret (b.1810), Jean (b. 1814) and William (b. 1816).  The only tenuous lead I had was the marriage of an Adam Graham Melville in Australia who married twice to sisters Isabella and Mary Melville in Australia.  The descendants in Australia said that Adam Graham Melville's ancestors came from Brora and that he had married cousins. 

Since Isabella and Mary were the daughters of John Melville and Roberta Pope, the 'Coalmine' family, the other members of this family including a son Hector and another daughter Davidina went to Sydney it was certainly possible that my missing family was cleared from their croft and emigrated.  The last reference to Alexander Melville and Margaret Graham found was in estate papers in 1818 where they received the lease of Crislich at £60 per year.  However, correspondence from a Dr Bangor-Jones in Dundee, after he had read an article I wrote for the Highland Family History Society,  indicated that they had left for Dundee in 1820.  They could have been either looking for work in the industrialising south or in passage to one of the colonies.

Just when it appeared that the mystery was never to be solved the word came from Richard Snedden in Australia that Adam Graham Melville had been born in Edinburgh and married there.  A visit to New Register House resulted in the discovery that Adam was the son of John Melville who was in turn the son of the missing Alexander Melville and Margaret Graham.  Now whether or not they were in Edinburgh themselves it is clear that at least one member of their family, John, lived and worked there.  Further research is required to find out if they also moved to Edinburgh or to elsewhere.

It is worth pointing out that the marriage of those cousins is yet another link between Melville lines.  However, it also further suggests that there was a common ancestry for all the Golspie/Clyne families.  Alexander from Crislich could only have been a ‘cousin german’, as he was described on Adam and Isabella Melville’s marriage certificate if he came through the main Melville line.  It is possible that he was the ‘missing’ Alexander born to Alexander Melville and Sarah MacKay in the 1780s.  He is probably the Sergeant Alexander mentioned in the Sutherland estate records though it is actually possible that for a time his father Alexander held the lease of Crishlich and resided there also.  It is not impossible for the young Alexander to have been a Sergeant in the regulars or in a local volunteer force but is it equally worth speculating that his father might have been more likely to have served and reached that rank. However, there is also the possibilty that Alexander married to Lilie Sutherland was the son of Alexander and Sarah and circumstantial evidence gives at least equal credence to that possibility.

Adam Graham Melville appears to have been a bit of a character.  Married to two sisters, who were his cousins, and after the death of his second wife to an Elizabeth McKennery or Trennery.  His second marriage to Mary Melville was in Adelaide and he described himself as a bachelor.  They were only resident in Adelaide for one week at the time of marriage and it has now become clear that as they were cousins they could not marry in Melbourne at that time.  The reason for Adam saying he was a bachelor is not entirely clear.  It could have been a mistake on the part of the person recording the marriage though it is more likely that while he was not breaking and law in South Australia he did not wish to take any chance of being challenged on the matter elsewhere.

Another interesting link within the Australian Melvilles is created by the marriage of Adam Graham Melville's great grandson to Christina Leslie who is described as his cousin.  The Leslies were from the Doll but earlier, in Australia, Margaret Melville (b. 1833) married a cousin Donald Leslie.  This Margaret was the daughter of Donald Melville (b. 1797) in the Doll) and Margaret Jolly (b. Aberdeen) and the grand-daughter of John Melville (b. c1760 and Betty Munro (b. 1774).

While researching in the Brora records office, Jack MacLennan, the registrar, told me that he had met great, grandmother Kate 'Roy' Sutherland in the early twenties as they sheltered at the Iron Bridge at Strathsteven in a particularly fierce storm.  He was returning to Brora after watching a Boys Brigade football match in Golspie and she was making her way from her house in the Doll to visit George Melville and his family at Culmailly.  This was a journey that she made regularly until near the time of her death.  Sometimes she would follow the line of the road but more often she would follow the track passing a little inland by the Big Barns and Dunrobin Farm.  I believe this is close to where, at an earlier time, a prosperous merchant by the name of Munro operated from.

It would appear that though the Doll was in the parish of Clyne the majority of burials took place in the grounds of St. Andrew's Church in Golspie.  Despite the longer distance to Golspie and the more undulating route it is said that the families of the dead were happier to go to the extra effort rather than cross the River Brora.  The Clyne cemetery was, however, not the one presently in use and the further distance to the old burial ground at Clyne Kirkton might have been a factor.  An earlier George Melville (b. 1803) and some members of his family and descendants are buried in the Clyne Kirkton cemetery near where he farmed.

The Melville gravestones in Golspie were not very obvious until they were unearthed and cleaned by members of a Job Creation team a few years ago.  The writing on the upright stones was cleared of algae and flat stones were found beneath turf.  All the stones except two can be linked directly to known family members.  One flat stone closely associated with vertical stones in the same plot is that of William Melville (Melven) and Ana Sutherland and comparison of names and position of the stone leads one to believe that this could be the parents of my first certain ancestor,  Alexander Melville of the Doll and Brora.

Nearby is a flat table stone with a considerable amount of carving upon it and some names and writing on it were easily discernible after cleaning though within a year or two the deterioration in the state of the stone was significant.  This stone seems to pre-date all the others and is a memorial to Adam Melvin and Elizabeth Elphinstone.  Unfortunately the corner with the important date is badly worn and partly broken away.  All efforts to enhance the inscription have failed and there is little likelihood of it providing further information.  The name Adam does not seem to appear again in the Melville family except in the interesting marriage between Melvilles in Australia outlined earlier.  This makes the existence of the stone and its place in the family's history all the more perplexing.  Elphinstones were present in the parishes of Golspie and Clyne at least as early as the Melvilles and also there are some Elphinstone and Melville connections in the Doll in the early and mid-19th century.

In the tidied Golspie cemetery I came across two interesting fragments of stone.  One engraved Alexr Melvin, about 2 feet by five feet but irregular in shape, and the other engraved Hector Melvin.  The latter stone also had the name Katr engraved on it.  They were situated about 30 yards from the bulk of the Melville stones but the second mentioned of the fragments might have been out of place. It was about 2-3 feet square had been placed between other, larger existing stones.  

It is obviously possible that this was the Alexander of Alexander and Sarah but no proof exists. To my knowledge, the name Hector is only found, in early times, in one instance in the Melville family of the Doll but it is found in the Melvilles who lived 12, or so, miles away in the Portgower area of Kildonan parish.  Some of those Melvilles have only been indirectly connected to the Melvilles in my study.

Close to where the fragments of stone were found I noted more recent stones in a Ferguson plot with a Margaret Melville (b. 1818) on one of them.  This Margaret was the daughter of Henry Melville (B. 1785) and Christina Gordon (b. 1797)  and she was the wife of John Ferguson (b. 1804) who worked as a farm servant.  John Ferguson's family lived at Rose Cottage, Golspie and one of his sons became a tea planter in India and another was Factor at the Duke of Sutherland's estate at Lillieshall in Shropshire. 

Henry's son George, mentioned above, married a Margaret Grant, daughter Euphemia married William Turner and son William married twice and founded an Australian branch of the family.  His first wife was Annie MacDonald, probably married before he emigrated, and his second wife, Annette Bayles, was wed in Australia.  Whether, Annie died in Scotland, on the way to Australia or in Australia is not clear at present.  Comprehensive information on the above marriages and their descendants can be obtained from my charts and tables. 

Some speculation on the origins of the Melvilles of the Doll suggested that they were descended from a family of Melvilles who came to work at the Brora coalmine.  Further it was thought that the extent in number of the family members was not very great.  Both those suppositions have proved to be incorrect with the discovery that the Melvilles were in the area before family members went to work at, and eventually lease, the coalmine and the number of Melvilles in the Doll, Golspie and Brora areas was larger than had been imagined.  Not only were the individuals holding the Melville name found to be large in number but also a complicated marriage and inter-marriage structure between the families of the area resulted in many cross-links. So many, in fact, that constructing separate family trees proved extremely difficult and charts became difficult to follow and number in a logical way.

The Sutherland origins of the Melvilles is unresolved at present though I am of the opinion that they were in the area from about the early to mid-1700s and the first Melville may have, indeed, arrived at the end of the 1600s.  A suggestion that they came in with the sheep as shepherds is unlikely as they tended to be lotters, crofters and small farmers and later many were farm labourers as their families grew and the small tenancies could not support all family members.  In addition there is clear evidence that they pre-date most, if not all, the clearances and suffered themselves with the advent of the sheep.

Since the Melville lines lead back in pyramid form to what appears to be a common ancestor around the time above it is reasonable to speculate that a single family or individual appeared in the area and lines from this source developed but had not become very widespread before records began to be kept of births, baptisms and marriages.  In other words, if Melvilles had been in the area for a longer time it is likely that there would have been a number of lines which I could not link back to a single or almost single source.  With the exception of an Alexander Melville in Brora, who was an innkeeper, and his family the only unidentified Melvilles are females born about the  mid-1700s.  They could easily be the daughters of William and Ana and sisters to Alexander (c1755) and John (c1750). It is possible to ’find a spot’ in the early structure for this Alexander but proof if not at this time forthcoming and circumstantial evidence too thin to sustain an argument for the position.

Examination of Sutherland Estate records has been of little help in identifying the time of arrival of the Melvilles in the Doll area.  To date the only records there found before 1800 are in the lists of men able to hold arms in 1745 with the exception of one reference to a Melville paying a hearth tax in the latter part of the 1600s.  The military records include a John Melvin in Lothbeg, a Paul Melvin in Kintradwell and John Meline in Kilbrora.  In addition, there is a John Melvin listed as a member of Captain Gordon's Militia Company from 17th February 1745 to 1st July 1746.  This John may be one of the above Johns.  Whether this indicates other Melvilles in the area prior to William Melven or a son to this William is uncertain.  The other possibility is that those Melvilles have some connection with Kildonan parish and the Melvilles at Loth and Portgower.  Further examination of Sutherland Estate papers may be required if any headway is to be made in establishing their origins in the area. 

It would be very interesting to find out which Alexander was the son of Alexander and Sarah.  It is almost inconceivable that they would not have had an Alexander since they had a large family including a number of boys. The Alexander, known as Sgt. Alexander could be the correct age and his family had the appropriate names for the naming structure of the time.  However, Alexander and Sarah had their early family members, according to the OPR, in Brora rather than the Doll of Brora so Alexander the innkeeper cannot be entirely discounted as his two children were born in the Doll and he is buried in Golspie cemetery adjacent to the Melville burial area.

Golspie's Story by Margaret Grant outlines a number of periods of improvement in East Sutherland and many of the influences that moulded the communities along the Sutherland coast.  There was clearly a great deal of movement of people by land and sea into and through the area and the Melville family could possibly have arrived in one of those periods of change.  It is possible their arrival was associated with changes at Dunrobin Castle or the Sutherland Estates or may have been connected to the Gordon's of Carroll who, I believe, were landowners in the Golspie and Clyne area.  It is also worth considering the possibility that the first Melville was a soldier who settled in the area during or after active service.  He could have been granted a tenancy for service rendered in any one of a number of campaigns not least the possibility that there was a connection with the Jacobite uprisings of 1715 or 1745.  Naming evidence suggest a definite Protestant family with the name James not appearing until later in the 19th century and Charles being absent until the 20th century.  The fact that Alexander Melville of Crislich was described in the Sutherland Estate records as Sergeant Alexander would also indicate a military connection and that he was at the very least a local volunteer.  It is also interesting that John Melville, born at Crislich and later to appear in Edinburgh, married the daughter of a military man.  It is possible that the connection with the army led to the meeting and union of John and his wife.

Movement from the Melville 'homelands' in Angus or Lothian, or possibly Fife, might have been directly in response to the need for certain skills in the Sutherland area or might have taken place in stages through Aberdeenshire and North East Scotland.  There is also the possibility that the Elphinstones, who appear to have had links with the Sutherland family at Dunrobin may have been responsible for bringing the Melville name north.

One final speculative suggestion on the origins of the Melvilles of the Doll, and already touched on above, is that they were the result of the settling in the parish of Clyne by a Melville from Loth or Portgower.  Melvilles in those latter areas were fewer in number and the links between families is not nearly as easy to identify.  The difficulty of linking all those Melville families is possibly indicative of a longer association with the area.  However, equally, the smaller numbers might suggest unrelated members moving in from a not too distant group such as the Clyne grouping.

Not a great deal is known of the 'roots' of great, grandmother Kate 'Roy' Sutherland's family.  They appear to have been residents of the Doll living of the land in similar fashion to those around them.  Her father was Alexander Sutherland (b.1810) and her mother Janet Matheson (b. 1817).

Grandfather on the paternal side was also Alexander married to Jane Murray and on the maternal side the grandparents were names prevalent in the area John Matheson and Catherine McLean.  Those grandparents can be traced back a further generation to William Matheson and Mary Young and John McLean and Ann McIntosh.

The tabulated lines show the descendants of Alexander Sutherland and Jane Murray to be rather more extensive than those of the line on the Matheson/McLean side.  However, neither line has been examined closely enough in a 'sideways' direction to reveal the inter-linkages, if they indeed exist, to the extent of those of the Melvilles.

The area of residence of the Sutherlands was in the lower area of the Doll and one field in on the Brora side of the Doll road that leaves the main A9 at Sputie.  This is on the opposite side of the Doll road from Lingmore and Torbeg the home of some of the Melvilles, including the John Melville and Betty Munro line.  It is interesting to note that Frasers who married into the Sutherland line through a cousin of Kate 'Roy's, also called Catherine, resided at Lingmore.

The movement of Annie Ross to Brora with her mother and step-father led to her meeting with George Melville my grandfather.  The Ross family moved, as was noted earlier, from Invercasley near Rosehall.  Mother Christina Fraser and her husband George Ross had eight children of their own in addition to Annabella Fraser (Annie Ross) by Christina's liaison with John Ross the teacher.

Christina had at least five brothers or sisters and was the daughter of Alexander Fraser (b. 1811) and Ann Black (b. 1809).  Alexander was born in Assynt but it is not known for certain if his wife was born in Sutherland or in the Borders from where her parents originated.  However, other family members were born at Durness, one in 1807, and so it is unlikely, though not impossible, that the family would have moved south and then back north again before the birth of another child, Agnes, in 1813.  Her father James Black was a shepherd born in Roxburgh and her mother Jane Turner came from Yetholm.  Clearly Ann's parents came up from the border country to tend the sheep brought to the county by the Duke of Sutherland.

The Frasers, too, were shepherds and Alexander Fraser was the son of John Fraser and Isabella MacDonald.  He had a number of brothers and sisters born in Assynt.  The family history is not complete enough in this area to determine whether the whole family moved to Rosehall in Creich parish but it is likely that only Alexander set up home at Invercasley. A number of the Fraser lines eventually settled in Easter Ross and they may have originated in that area though Fraser is also a name that was extant in the north west of Sutherland from before the time of church and official recording of births, baptisms and marriages.

One interesting family member who stayed on at Invercasley was Christina Fraser's brother, John.  He was a well known character in the area who though unmarried seems to have been the father of a daughter, Mary Ross, to another Christina Ross.  Old Johnnie, as he was known, was a shoemaker who died aged 91 years at Invercasley in 1930.  It is said that he was dead for some days and guarded by his dog before he was found.  There is also a suggestion that he may have been mutilated by the dog after his death.  The family house in which he stayed was in a ruinous state in 1967 and by the mid-70s it had been raised to the ground.

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08/01/2009