Relatively speaking, it was quite a surprising discovery. Three colleagues who help people delve into their family histories unearthed the fact they are themselves related. Not only that, they also found they are all connected to both The King and to Robert the Bruce.
Inverness family archive staff have direct link to a king Anne Fraser, Alison Mason and Alasdair MacDonald work together at the in Inverness. Family historian Anne researched her own family tree many years ago. She discovered her great, great grandfather had married a Catherine Mackenzie from Gairloch.
From there, a direct link was found to King Robert I who was victorious in the 1314 Battle of Bannockburn. Alison also took up research started by her parents on their family trees. She discovered her great (x6) grandfather was the Rev James Robertson who delivered a sermon in 1773 before one of the first emigrations from Scotland to Canada.
The Hector left from Ullapool carrying 200 passengers whose lives had become insufferable after the Jacobite defeat at . The minister married Anne Mackenzie which provided a link to Anne Fraser’s family. “As soon as I saw the name I knew exactly who she was”, said Anne.
“It was the hook I needed.” Clan chief is the common family link Alasdair started researching his family background from his grandmother, Florence Gillies, who lived in Cromarty and whose parents were from Skye. He went back a few generations to the Macdonalds of Sleat, including Sir James Macdonald who married Margaret Mackenzie in the 17th century.
The three colleagues’ families merge in the 16th century at Colin Mackenzie of Kintail, a clan chief nicknamed ‘Cam’ (crooked’ due to being one-eyed) He fought for Mary Queen of Scots at the Battle of Langside in 1568. “He is the link”, says Anne. “We are all descended from him.
“Alasdair and I are related to his son, Sir Roderick Mackenzie, who died in 1666. “Sir Roderick’s brother, Alexander, married Annabelle Mackenzie who is an ancestor of Alison’s.” It all means Anne and Alison are 10th cousins.
Anne is an 11th cousin to Alasdair, and Alasdair is a 12th cousin to Alison. All three are 20th cousins of King Charles III and are great (x22) grandchildren of Robert the Bruce. ‘To find out we’re all related is unusual’ Anne said: “To find out we were all related is unusual, particularly when we all work in the same place and family history and archives are our jobs.
“Maybe we need to research other people in the building as there may be more of us related.” Alison said: “My parents did a bit of research on our family tree. “We thought we would just get back four or five generations which would have been pretty good.
“I never thought we would be able to go back so far. And it was a big surprise to find out we are all related. “It’s also good to share that with other people and know they can do something similar.
“It’s a privilege to work with records that we have a direct connection to.” Alasdair added: “It’s not just the connection between us, but it’s also interesting that we are just everyday Highlanders who can be traced back to such prominent people.”.
