Jim Patterson posted in November, "> Whatever the reality of this wee mystery and whether my John McClure > and his > wife Sarah McClung or McClurg is their son was baptised "In > Lespraig" a > place likely nr Minnigaff and most likely nr the lead mines as > that's where > my kin all lived at Craigtoun/Blackcraig area at this time.." I had googled lead mines and Wigtown, as I really think there was one, and kept coming up with lists of names that included Minnigaff and Newtown Stewart and may refer to nothing in particular. The only McKinstry whose Y DNA has ever been tested is of a line that settled in the U.S. midwest. The only person to research it thoroughly continually questions if men of the line were the biological sons of their fathers. Maybe they weren't. My brother in law's father's Y DNA has been submitted, so this won't remain the only McKinstry Y DNA ever. However, the McKinstry Y DNA that exists appears to be Central European Celtic R1b1b2. It is in the SMGF database, and it is incomplete. (Not all the markers are there.) It may or may not be teh real McKinstry Y DNA lineage. The McKinstry surname traces to Minnigaff and what is now Newton Stewart, between 1499 and 1600. Central European Celts were in Britain beginning 600 BC, their version of the Celtic language familyt, which they didn't develop until 600 BC, took over England and Scotland. The Cumbrian dialect was their kind of Celtic but Gaelic is an older version of Celtic confined to Ireland, that spread to Scotland in the early middle ages. Central European Celts would have been drawn to lead mines, just like every other early group that came to Britain was. I think that Wigtown has megaliths, which were produced by the Neolithic (not Celtic) civilization of the area thousands of years earlier. The place wasn't newly settled by Norse and Gaels, if the Norse even got that far inland at this location. It's actually still a mystery why Welsh Celts came to Galloway, apparently in large numbers. Cumbric was a Welsh dialect, and it was once the main language of Galloway. I keep seeing researchers ask what them Welsh were doing in Galloway. When it comes to lead mines, you think of Wales and southwestern England, and true to form, this discussion and others referred to people involved with mines moving between the Wigtown/ Minnigaff area and Wales. How long have these lead mines been in the area? Please also provide more information on lead mines at Blackcraig. It's the earliest place I so far have those McKinstry's living. Maybe their ancestors were involved with a lead mine at Blackcraig? And how do I find these lead mines on Google Earth? They should have left highly visible scars upon the earth. If they aren't indeed still there. By the way, Google Earth says Blackcraig is in Newtown Stewart, but I see that it is on the Minnigaff side of the river, which I guess separates both the two parishes, and the two counties. Is Blackcraig actually in Minnigaff parish or in the parish of PEnninghame, much of which must have the Newton Stewart postal code? Actually, my tale and Jim Patterson's are full of coincidences. Google Earth shows that Blackcraig is a set of fields in the woods, almost a mile long, and a third of a mile wide at its widest point, less than a tenth of a mile from the main highway. There are no buildings or ruins visible. Certainly not signs of lead mines. In 1499 it was apparenlty farmland. Now, I have, in 1565, when Thomas McKinstry died, three of his fields that were located there were sold to John Creighton. Jim Patterson mentions that latter name as interchangeable with the name of Blackcraig. I also notice that Jim Patterson cites two families who lived at Blackcraig who have really strange sounding Gaelic names, reminiscent of, get ready for this, Mac An Aistrigh. Galloway's Gaelic names don't sound like Gaelic names from anywhere else. Yours, Villandra Thorsdottir Austin, Texas

http://geo.nls.uk/os6inch/ Choose the map with gazetteer; put Blackcraig in the search box; select Blackcraig, D & G NX4464 and zoom in on the name.  You will note Daltamie Hill right above Blackcraig area and just below the word Hill, is Blackcraig Mines with lead in parentheses. ----- Jo-Ann Croft  ----- Original Message ---- > From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Tue, January 4, 2011 1:23:00 PM > Subject: [WIG LIST] Come again with lead mines at Minnigaff? > And how do I find these lead mines on Google Earth? They should have left >highly visible scars upon the earth.  If they aren't indeed still there.  > >