Well in the wacky world of genealogy it isnt wise to rule anything out but I am not at all convinced about the Macaulay bit. She would have had to say it in a strange and drawling way. Having been brought up in Kent and then moved to Scotland I can see how the Gravesend folk might have found her accent hard to understand and she was almost certainly a Gaelic speaker which would have complicated things further. But they would have surely known that many Scottish names began with Mc/M'/Mac. Its all very odd. If you are even the teeniest bit uncertain of the handwriting do feel free to send me a scan of the marriage entry and the census entry and I will see if I can spot any discrepancy. The name MCARA does turn up quite often and I think would be a variant of McRAE. That's not a big name in Lewis, but there were a few, including possibly my own family (although police service records have thrown doubt on that). cheers Judy On 20 Mar 2006, at 06:24, Coastal Faggs wrote: > Hi, > to my Aussie ears, none of these names sound the same. > But on a message board a while back I asked the Marcarla question > to Kent > people who would be interpretting Scotts people, & that was there > suggestion. > I am open to any others as I can't find her in any macaulay clan. > I assumed she was illiterate as she signed her name with a cross. > Is McAra a name common to Isle of Lewis? > I'll look into it. > Thank you > cheers > Karen > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "judy olsen" <copywriter@tesco.net> > To: "Coastal Faggs" <lakers@exemail.com.au> > Cc: <SCT-INVERNESS-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 7:11 AM > Subject: Re: [SCT-INV] macaulay - isle of lewis > > >> Well I'm a bit skeptical about this idea that MACAULAY might sound >> like MARCARLA. The first 'r' could be what they call an intrusive R, >> but that is more likely to happen when a Scots person hears an >> English person - the classic example being 'law' - which when English >> people say it comes out as 'loar' to Scots ears. Then there is a >> problem with the emphasis as to my mind the MAR syllable here would >> be stressed whereas in McAulay etc it would not be. >> >> Presumably you mean parish register rather than certificate but I >> dont know how you can be sure she could not read or write from that. >> >> Anyways, I think the closest would be McAra. >> >> Judy >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On 19 Mar 2006, at 09:56, Coastal Faggs wrote: >> >>> G'day >>> My gt gt gt grandmother came from Lewis Isle. >>> She was born abt 1785. >>> She was married in Gravesend Kent in 1810. >>> She was illiterate, so the person who wrote her name on the >>> marriage cert in >>> Gravesend Kent wrote her name as he heard it.........as Marcarla. >>> I am hoping that this was Macaulay as a Scottish person told me >>> that would >>> be close the the pronounciation. >>> Does anyone have an alternative? >>> Anyway, her name was Christiana Marcarla, and she married John >>> Walford. >>> >>> I am having great difficulty finding her a family in Scotland. >>> Can anyone give me some ideas please? >>> Thank you >>> Karen in Australia >>> >>> >>> ============================== >>> Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. >>> New content added every business day. Learn more: >>> http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx >>> >> >> >> >