Kate MacGregor

Sources

1. Old Parish Registers of Births and Baptisms, Scotland

   Church of Scotland

   Baptisms 1725, Balquhidder, 331/10 41, entry for Katharine, child of Coll Campbel late McGriger (register image read)

   Very high confidence Cited for baptism, parentage

   Transcript and reading notes

   Old Parish Registers of Balquhidder, births and baptisms, volume 10, page 41 (331/10 41). ScotlandsPeople: CAMPBEL, KATHARINE, 1725. Transcribed from the register image.

   Aprile 26th [1725]. Coll Campbel late McGriger in Inner[...] had a child bapt. called Katharine.

   On this page the clerk wrote each child’s name at the right-hand end of the line above its entry. The name Katharine stands at the end of the line for John McLaren in Carnlea, and the name at the end of Coll’s own line belongs to the next entry. Read line by line, the entry would wrongly give Coll a child called George. The ScotlandsPeople index agrees with Katharine. The farm name after Inner is not confidently read. No mother is named.

2. Registers of Testaments, Scotland

   Commissary Courts of Scotland. National Records of Scotland, CC series; images on ScotlandsPeople, Wills and Testaments

   Dunblane Commissary Court, CC6/5/24, images 147 to 150, testament dative and inventory of Coll Campbell in Kirktoun of Balquhidder, confirmed 18 December 1735 (register images read)

   Very high confidence Cited for death of father coll macgregor, parentage

   Transcript and reading notes

   Register of Testaments, Commissariot of Dunblane, National Records of Scotland CC6/5/24, images 147 to 150 (the register’s folios 167 to 170). ScotlandsPeople: Wills and testaments, Coll Campbell, 1735. The heading and executry clause are transcribed from the images. The debts and the inventory are given in the order written, with the amounts as written, and minor items shortened.

   In the margin: Coll Campbell.

   The Testament Dative and Inventary of the goods gear Household plenishing and others which pertained and belonged to the Deceased Coll Campbell in Kirktoun in Balquedder within the parish of Balquidder and Commissariot of Dunblane the time of his decease which was in the month of [blank] last. Faithfully made and given up by Margaret Campbell Relict of the said Defunct, Robert Murray of Glencarnock for themselves and in name of Alexander Stuart Writer in Stirling and James Alexander Sadler in Stirling, Which Margaret Campbell, Robert Murray, Alexander Stuart and James Alexander are decerned only Executors dative qua Creditors to the said Defunct for payment and satisfaction to them of the sums of money respectively underwritten.

   Debts. To Margaret Campbell, 286 pounds 11 shillings and 6 pennies Scots, expended and debursed by her on the Defunct the time of his sickness, for his funerals, servants’ fees and rents, with the expenses of confirmation. To Robert Murray, 26 pounds sterling by a bill drawn by him on and accepted by the Defunct, dated 2 May 1733, payable at Martinmas next thereafter, protested for not payment and registered in the Books of Council and Session on 31 January 1734, with letters of horning raised the same day. To Alexander Stuart, 5 pounds 5 shillings sterling by the Defunct’s accepted bill of 28 August 1722. To James Alexander, 25 pounds Scots by a bill dated 18 December 1723, payable on demand, protested for not payment and registered in the Sheriff Court Books of Perth on 21 May 1734. Margaret Campbell is to be paid first, and the other three after her, equally.

   Inventory, apprized by virtue of the Commissary’s warrant of the twenty third of September last. A brown horse going six years old, forty merks Scots. A little old small shaltie horse, ten merks. An old brown horse, four pounds Scots. An old cow, ten merks. Two little stots, eight pounds. A copper chaldron and aquavitae stellator, sixty four pounds. The pewter vessels with a brass candlestick. The brewing vessels, barrels and puncheons. Five chests within the house. Three ambries or presses. The bedsteads of nine beds, twelve pounds. Two pots. Eleven chairs whole and broken. Three tables. Bed plaids, sheets and bed covers. His body apparel including his plaid and trews, fifteen pounds six shillings and eight pennies. A feather bed and seven bolsters. Bottles, drinking cups, two drinking glasses and seventeen spoons. Yarn, lint and wool. A saddle, eight pounds. Iron work, two little wheels, a wool creel and baskets. Corn and hay upon the land. Three bolls corn and a firlot bear sown upon the Kirktoun with the Red land, computed to be four bolls at eight pounds per boll, thirty two pounds. Upon the lands of Portnellan in Stra[...], eight bolls at the said price, sixty four pounds. Two swords, six pounds. Two holsters and pistols, four pounds. A gun not sighted but reputed by the friends, one pound ten shillings. Five two-year-old wedders. A little pot. Ewes. A little piece of cloth. Peats and turfs. Leather. An old gray pony, three pounds. Some plough irons. Potatoes, two shillings. Some green kail in the yard, six shillings. All Scots money.

   Summa Inventarij, the total in roman numerals not confidently read. Confirmed 18 Decr 1735. John Drummond Writer in Edinburgh Cautioner.

   The month of death is left blank and no children are named. The goods were apprized on 23 September 1735, in a testament confirmed that December, so he died before that date. The place after Portnellan is not confidently read.

3. Stirling Observer

   Stirling Observer (newspaper). Stirling; Saturday edition, The Stirling Saturday Observer. Pages read on Newspapers.com

   28 Aug 1880, p. 4, letter to the editor, Rob Roy’s Sons, signed N. A.: Coll, his children John and Kate Col, his gravestone of 1770, and Duncan of Strathyre (page read)

   Normal confidence Cited for death of father coll macgregor, burial of father coll macgregor, parentage, partnership

   Transcript and reading notes

   The Stirling Saturday Observer, 28 August 1880, page 4, Letter to the Editor, “Rob Roy’s Sons”, signed N. A. Transcribed from the downloaded page. Only the passages about Coll, his children, and Duncan McGregor of Strathyre are given.

   “Col or Colin was a quiet-living respectable man, and being the eldest son, his occupation was to look after the affairs of his aged father in his declining years. Col died a young man in 1735, the same year his father, who died 28th December, 1734, was buried, and the remains of both were laid in the Churchyard of Balquhidder. Col left two children, a son and a daughter, respectively named John and Kate, or Kate Col, as she was commonly called in the district. When John grew up he sought fortune abroad as a soldier in the German Wars, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant, and was known as Lieutenant John M’Gregor. He returned to Balquhidder, and in 1770 he erected a handsome memorial stone in the churchyard to the memory of his father. The inscription upon the stone tells that ‘This stone is erected by Lieut. John Macgregor, 1770.’ Below this inscription, the Macgregor armorial bearings are elaborately displayed, with the legends, ‘E’en Do and Spare Not,’ and underneath follows the words ‘Heir lyes interred the corps of Col Macgregor, who died in the year 1735, aged 31 years.’ Lieut. John Macgregor was never married. It may be noticed that the finger-ring of Lieut. Macgregor is still preserved carefully, and bears his initials. Col’s daughter Kate lived to a great age, and was married, but of her it will be proper to treat hereafter.”

   On Duncan: “In his trial Duncan is described as ‘Duncan M’Gregor, alias Drummond, in Strathyre, in the parish of [...], and Shire of Perth, and now prisoner in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh.’” And later: “It so happens that a grand-daughter of Duncan’s still survives, and is a very worthy person, and to her are due the following statements relating to the grandfather. Duncan, as mentioned in the trial, belonged to Strathyre, and was in no way directly connected with Rob Roy’s family, although he was on very friendly terms with the young M’Gregors. It was this intimacy that led him to take part in the abduction of Jean Kay, and this affair was the cause of much loss and suffering to him for years afterwards. He was long imprisoned in Perth as well as in Edinburgh, and when he regained his liberty he was to be considered very much as a broken man. But his cup of bitterness seems to have been drained off with his trial at Edinburgh. He returned to Balquhidder, and afterwards married Kate Col, the daughter of Rob Roy’s eldest son, and subsequently followed the calling of a farmer, and was considered on the whole a prosperous man. In his later years he occupied the lands where the present Railway Station stands at Lochearnhead. Kate survived her husband many years.”

   The letter argues that Rob Roy left four sons, Col or Colin, James, Ronald and Robert, and that Duncan was not a son. The editor’s note after it agrees, from The Trials of Rob Roy’s Sons (Edinburgh, 1818). The letter first appeared in the Thursday Observer of 26 August 1880, according to the article of 27 August 1881.

4. History of the Clan Gregor

   Amelia Georgiana Murray MacGregor. Compiled at the request of the Clan Gregor Society, 2 volumes, Edinburgh, 1898 and 1901. Volume II read on archive.org

   Vol. II, printed pages 336, 337, 344 and 510 (archive.org scan pages 364, 365, 372 and 538): Coll, eldest son of Rob Roy, married December 1721 Margaret, eldest daughter of John Campbell or MacGregor in Kerletter, Glen Falloch; tacksman of the Kirkton of Balquhidder; died 1735; married a second time, no family by that wife (page images read)

   Normal confidence Cited for death of father coll macgregor, parentage

   View the sourceIn the archiveBibliography

   Transcript and reading notes

   A. G. M. MacGregor, History of the Clan Gregor, volume II (1901). Passages found by searching the text of the archive.org copy on 11 Sep 2026. Page numbers are the archive.org scan pages, with the printed page numbers in brackets.

   Scan page 364 (printed page 336): “Coll married in Dec. 1721 Margaret eldest daughter of John Campbell, or MacGregor in Kerletter in Glenfalloch i.e. Caol-letir.” And: “He was tacksman of the Kirkton of Balquhidder, he died in 1735 a few months after his Father.”

   Scan page 365 (printed page 337): “Coll married a second time, but the name of his wife is not known, and by her he had no family.”

   Scan page 372 (printed page 344), of Rob Roy’s sons: “Happily the eldest son Coll was of a different stamp.”

   Scan page 538 (printed page 510), genealogical index: “Coll, eldest son of Rob Roy, in Kirkton of Balquhidder, d. in 1745, he married first Margaret, dr. of John Campbell or MacGregor, in Kerletter, and married a second time, name of wife not known, and no family.” The year 1745 there disagrees with the 1735 of the main text and of his testament.

   Reading note, 11 Sep 2026. The sentence on Coll’s marriage is part of a quoted list of Rob Roy’s sons; printed page 337, note 3, says most of the details of his descendants came from Gregor MacGregor in Glasgow by way of Mr Lee and Mr Skene of Avonmore. It describes Margaret in the words of the tocher discharge in Appendix O, which page 337 says was found among the Edinchip Papers while the book was being compiled. That discharge dates the marriage to December 1720, and its date is preferred to the 1721 here.

5. Old Parish Registers of Births and Baptisms, Scotland

   Church of Scotland

   Baptisms 1748, Balquhidder, 331/10 101, entry for Janet, child of Duncan Drummond and Katharine McGrigar in Immervouline (register image read)

   Very high confidence Cited for residence, baptism of daughter janet drummond, partnership, parentage

   Transcript and reading notes

   Old Parish Registers of Balquhidder, births and baptisms, volume 10, page 101 (331/10 101). ScotlandsPeople: DRUMMOND, JANET, 1748. Transcribed from the register image.

   November 28th [1748]. Duncan Drummond and Katharine McGrigar in Immervouline had a child baptisd & called Janet.

   Further down the same page: January 20th [1749]. Duncan Drummond and Janet McLaren in Achtoomore had a child baptisd & called John. That is another couple, with a husband of the same name. The farm name in that entry is not certainly read.

6. Stirling Observer

   Stirling Observer (newspaper). Stirling; Saturday edition, The Stirling Saturday Observer. Pages read on Newspapers.com

   27 Aug 1881, p. 3, Rob Roy’s Sons, from Local Notes and Queries: Duncan of Cuilt, Kate Col’s death at Auchtoo in 1812 and their burial place (page read)

   Normal confidence Cited for residence, death of husband duncan drummond, death, burial, partnership, parentage

   Transcript and reading notes

   The Stirling Saturday Observer, 27 August 1881, page 3, “Rob Roy’s Sons (From ‘Local Notes and Queries’ in the Stirling Observer)”. Transcribed from the downloaded page. Only the opening and the passage about Duncan and Kate Col are given.

   “In a letter given in the Observer of 26th August last year, it appears to be fully made out that Rob Roy, at his death in 1734, left four sons only, namely, Col, or Colin, James, Ronald, and Robert. It had been customary to add a fifth name, Duncan, to the list of sons, but strict inquiry into the family history has resulted in settling the point that Duncan was not a son of the renowned Highland chieftain. Duncan was concerned with the young MacGregors in the abduction of Jane Kay from Edinbelly in 1750, and for this offence he was tried at Edinburgh in 1753, and was acquitted at the bar. In his trial Duncan was described as Duncan MacGregor, alias Drummond, in Strathyre, Perthshire, no reference being made to him as a son of Rob Roy. Duncan was, however, related to Rob Roy’s family, he having married, it is understood, in 1748 or close upon that year, Catherine, or Kate Col, as she was called through life, the only daughter of Colin MacGregor, Rob Roy’s eldest son.”

   “Duncan was out with the clans for Prince Charles, and after the failure of that enterprise he suffered many hardships, but he escaped with his life, though it was more than a year before he was allowed to consider himself a free man again. Duncan bore the character of a most respectable man in after life, and was well known as tenant of the farm of Cuilt, a plot of land near the present Lochearnhead railway station. It is understood that Duncan died in 179[0], and was buried in Balquhidder churchyard. His widow, Kate Col, left Cuilt after her husband’s death, and resided at Auchtu, where she died in 1812, having survived Duncan 22 years. She was 88 years of age, having been born in 1724. Kate Col, was laid beside her husband’s remains in Balquhidder. A stranger would find no stone marking out their resting-place in the churchyard, but yet there is a memorial of the spot where they were laid. About the middle of the ground, upon the south side, there is a gravestone, with an inscription now difficult to read, but with care the letters will be found to form these words: This stone was erected by Duncan MacGregor in Cuilt, in memory of his son Alexander MacGregor, who died Decr 1773, aged 16 years. Upon the authority of a grand-daughter, now living, it is here stated that this grave contains the remains of Duncan and Kate Col, though no inscription has been placed over them.”

   The last digit of the year of Duncan’s death is not clear on the downloaded page, and could be read as 0 or 9. Twenty-two years before 1812 is 1790, which is taken to be the intended year.

7. Stirling Observer

   Stirling Observer (newspaper). Stirling; Saturday edition, The Stirling Saturday Observer. Pages read on Newspapers.com

   25 Sep 1880, p. 3, Rob Roy, from Local Notes and Queries, signed N. A.: Duncan and Kate Col of Cuilt and their children, on the authority of their granddaughter (page read)

   Normal confidence Cited for residence, death of husband duncan drummond, death, partnership, parentage

   Transcript and reading notes

   The Stirling Saturday Observer, 25 September 1880, page 3, “Rob Roy (From ‘Local Notes and Queries’ in the Stirling Observer)”, signed N. A. Transcribed from the downloaded page. Only the passages about Rob Roy’s burial place, Duncan and Kate Col are given.

   On the grave: “The M’Farlanes seem to have been wholly unaware that Rob Roy was buried in the south-east quarter of the churchyard of Balquhidder.”

   On Duncan: “Of Duncan, the alleged son of Rob Roy, much less is, however, generally known. Though Duncan was not a son of Rob Roy, his connection with the sons has made his name very famous, and it is now proposed to add a few notes of him, authorised by his grand-daughter, still alive, with a view to reflecting some more truthful light upon the character and individuality of the man. A large body of the Macgregors followed the fortunes of Prince Charles in the rebellion of 1745, and Duncan was out with the clan, and was engaged in all the conflicts of that daring and disastrous enterprise. After Culloden he returned to the district of Balquhidder, and remained there for more than a year under hidings among the hills and glens, suffering many privations. ... At this period Duncan was in the prime of youthful manhood, and is understood to have resided at Strathyre. Duncan was married to Kate Col, as she was called, daughter of Colin, the eldest son of Rob Roy, but it is now an open question when the marriage took place, whether before or after 1750.”

   “Duncan was long confined in the jails of Perth and Edinburgh, and was not brought to trial till the month of January, 1753. The Court did not recognise him as a principal in the affair, and he was accordingly discharged from the bar. As formerly stated, Duncan, soon after his acquittal, returned to Balquhidder, and it is known that about this time he was living in the associations of married life with Kate Col, the daughter of Rob Roy’s eldest son Colin, and followed the calling of a hill farmer, having taken the lands of Cuilt, where the present Lochearnhead railway station stands, and where he died towards the close of the century. Duncan’s widow, Kate Col, survived her husband many years, and died so recently as 1812 at Auchtow, in Balquhidder, aged 88 years, having been born in 1724. Sir John MacGregor, of Lanrick Castle and Balquhidder, recognised her as a near relative, and was very kind to her in the decline of life. Duncan and Kate had eight children, four sons and four daughters. Two of the sons emigrated to America, one of whom was accidentally drowned there, the other two sons remained at home in the district. Three of the daughters were married, one to a farmer at Raploch near Stirling, another to a farmer in the carse of Blairdrummond, and the third was well married in the home district, and one daughter died young. The youngest member of the family was a son, John, who died in 1845, aged 80 years, having been born in 1765, being the youngest of eight children.”

   “There were eight children born of the marriage, the latest event taking place in 1765, and, according to the ordinary rates of succession in these cases, and making allowance for Duncan’s long imprisonment, inquiry goes back to 1748, and fixes the time of the marriage at or about this year, and the probability is that the marriage took place at that time.”

   On the burial ground: “One note more may be added in conclusion, relating to the burying-place of Rob Roy’s family in the churchyard of Balquhidder. The resting-place has been enclosed within a stone wall on three sides, the remains of the wall being still visible among the grass. The enclosure contains eight tombstones, in two divisions of four each, forming a square space. Three of the stones are quite intelligible, but the other five stones are perfect blanks, being turned upside down.”

   The Balquhidder register has nine baptisms to Duncan Drummond and Katharine McGrigar from 1748 to 1767, not eight children ending in 1765.

8. History of the Clan Gregor

   Amelia Georgiana Murray MacGregor. Compiled at the request of the Clan Gregor Society, 2 volumes, Edinburgh, 1898 and 1901. Volume II read on archive.org

   Vol. II, printed pages 372 and 525 (archive.org scan pages 400 and 553): journal of the MacGregor regiment in 1745, signed Duncan McGregor at Cuill, 12 February 1788, called the Standard Bearer of the Clan (page images read)

   Normal confidence Cited for residence

   View the sourceIn the archiveBibliography

   Transcript and reading notes

   A. G. M. MacGregor, History of the Clan Gregor, volume II (1901). Passages found by searching the text of the archive.org copy on 11 Sep 2026. Page numbers are the archive.org scan pages, with the printed page numbers in brackets.

   Scan page 400 (printed page 372), after the journal of the MacGregor regiment in the campaign of 1745: “This account is signed by Duncan McGregor, and dated Cuill 12th Febr 1788, nearly forty-three years after the campaign.” A marginal note in a family copy of the Baronage, in Sir Evan Murray MacGregor’s hand, calls the writer “the Standard Bearer of the Clan” and names him Duncan McPharie.

   Scan page 553 (printed page 525), index: “Duncan M’harrie wrote MS. Journal of the MacGregor Regiment in 1745, dated Cuill, possibly son of Patrick in Innerlochlaraig.”

9. Genealogy of the Clan Gregor

   Peter Lawrie. Glen Discovery, glendiscovery.com (online, cited by page)

   Page 96, Descendants of Kate daughter of Coll: Kate married about 1748 Duncan, possibly the Duncan McPharrie born 7 Nov 1725; Janet born 28 Nov 1748 Immervoulin, married Duncan (MacAlpin) 1770; notes on Old Cuilt, who married the daughter of Coll, and on Steven Robertson’s DNA proposal (page read 11 Sep 2026)

   Low confidence Cited for partnership, parentage

   View the source
10. History of the Clan Gregor

    Amelia Georgiana Murray MacGregor. Compiled at the request of the Clan Gregor Society, 2 volumes, Edinburgh, 1898 and 1901. Volume II read on archive.org

    Vol. II, Appendix O, printed pages 490 and 491 (archive.org scan pages 518 and 519): discharge of the tocher of Margaret Campbell, eldest lawful daughter of John Campbell in Kerletter, signed by Coll Campbell at Inveraray, 21 February 1721, reciting their marriage the December before (page images read)

    Normal confidence Cited for parentage

    View the sourceIn the archiveBibliography

    Transcript and reading notes

    A. G. M. MacGregor, History of the Clan Gregor, volume II (1901). Passages found by searching the text of the archive.org copy on 11 Sep 2026. Page numbers are the archive.org scan pages, with the printed page numbers in brackets.

    Scan pages 518 and 519 (printed pages 490 and 491), Appendix O, headed “Marriage Contract of Coll Campbell (Rob Roy’s Eldest Son)” and cited to the Edinchip Papers. It is a discharge by Coll Campbell, “Son to Robert Campbell late of Inversnaid”, of the tocher of two thousand merks Scots promised by his father-in-law. It recites that “in the month of December last bypast there was a marriage betwixt me and Margaret Campbell eldest lawful daughter to John Campbell in Kerletter in Glenfalloch”. Her mother is named as Katherine Campbell.

    Reading note, 11 Sep 2026, from the page images. The document ends “written upon stampe paper by Angus Campbell writer in Inverary the 21st day of Feb. 1721 years before these witnesses Charles Stewart and Colin Campbell both writers in Inveraray. (Signed) Coll Campbell.” If that date is right, the December “last bypast” was December 1720, a year earlier than the December 1721 given in the main text (scan page 364, printed page 336).

    Resolved later on 11 Sep 2026 in favour of December 1720, the date this discharge gives: Scotland counted the year from 1 January, and the main text’s 1721 appears to be worked out from this document.

11. Old Parish Registers of Births and Baptisms, Scotland

    Church of Scotland

    Baptisms 1732, Balquhidder, 331/10 57, entry for John, son of Coll McGrigor in Kirktown and Margaret Murray (register image read)

    Very high confidence Cited for parentage

    Transcript and reading notes

    Old Parish Registers of Balquhidder, births and baptisms, 331/10 page 57, which carries the clerk’s own folio number 52 at the top right. Read as an image on 13 September 2026. The page opens with the last entries of 1732 and passes to 1733 about a quarter of the way down.

    The second entry on the page, in the hand of the same clerk as the entries round it:

    “[Decem]r 19 Coll Mcgrigor in Kirktown & Mart. Murray his wife had a child Bapt. called John”

    The entry above it: “Decemr 10 Alexr Mcgrigor & Christian McLaren his wife had a child Baptised called Duncan”. The month is written once, on that line, and the day of Coll’s entry, 19, stands in the margin at the left of his line where the page is dark and rubbed. The entry below is a Pat. Wright in Crigan and his wife, a Ferguson, with a child called Patrick.

    Reading notes. Mart. is the clerk’s usual abbreviation of Margaret.

    Kirktown is the Kirkton of Balquhidder, where Coll’s testament of 1735 places him as Coll Campbell in Kirktoun in Balquedder.

    Coll is entered as Mcgrigor here. At Katharine’s baptism in April 1725 the same register has him as Coll Campbel late McGriger, and in the discharge of 1721 and the testament of 1735 he is Coll Campbell. His wife is Murray here; in 1721 and 1735 she is Margaret Campbell, eldest daughter of John Campbell in Kerletter in Glenfalloch, and Campbell there is the proscription alias for MacGregor. Murray is another MacGregor alias in this parish. She is taken as the same Margaret.

    This is the second and last entry for a child of Coll in the Balquhidder register. A sweep of every baptism indexed for the parish from 1721 to 1740, 1,003 entries under every surname, run on ScotlandsPeople on 13 September 2026, found only Katharine in 1725 and this John. The ScotlandsPeople index gives the entry as MCGRIGOR, JOHN, parents COLL. MCGRIGOR / MART. MURRAY, 19/12/1732, 331, 10 / 57.