taggerty

Family history research can be so rewarding – not to mention addictive. Also, progress is so much faster when we collaborate! Thanks everybody and, as usual, you all know who you are! 🙂 The James McLean described in the previous post who was a Saddler in Bathurst is INDEED the same James who arrived on the Sarah Botsford in 1842 with Edward and Mary Jane McLean (nee Gordon) as a baby.

I’m deeply grateful to descendants of his who have provided more information. Apparently the family weren’t aware of the newspaper reports (see previous post), but did know that their ancestor James MacLean (or McLean), had arrived on the Sarah Botsford as a toddler. They also knew that the Sarah Botsford had sailed from Glasgow, so had naturally assumed (given their Scottish name) that James was Scottish. The information in those news reports must have been provided by family members, or friends of James though, so he is clearly from the north of Ireland. Also I read through the whole list of people on the Sarah Botsford and can only find one James McLean or any name like it. We still don’t know for sure that James wasn’t born in Glasgow. As Bruce suggested it’s possible that the McLeans could have been there for some time arranging their passage to Australia. Possibly James’ son who provided the death certificate information and was closer to events was right about this. I think it most likely that James was born in Ireland before they left though. Margaret Long had “travelled with him [Edward] from home” entrusted to his care by her family – probably the arrangements to emigrate had already been made.

On the down side, unfortunately Geoff, the Eliza McLean who died in Penrith in 1922 isn’t ours either! She was born about 1842 and married to Donald Hugh McLean. I don’t know what else to try apart from sending for more certificates! Does anybody have any suggestions?

Our McLean ancestors are starting to seem less shadowy and more interesting though, so I’ll write a chapter of “The story” about them next.