Small Isles, Inverness-shire, Scotland Genealogy

Small Isles, Canna, Eigg, Rum, and Muck #116

History
This parish derives its name from the islands of which it consists namely, Eigg, Muck, Rum and Canna. Three of them are attached or nearly so, Eigg, Ellain Chaistal, or Castle Island to Muck, Ellain no’ n Each, or Horse Island; and to Canna Ellain Gainmhich or Sandy Island. The only inhabited island is Canna.

Dr. Hugh Macpherson, Professor of Greek in King’s College, Aberdeen, is the proprietor of the Island of Eigg. It became his property by purchase at Whitsunday 1828. Before that period, it, with the Island of Canna, formed a part of the large and extensive possessions of the ancient family of Clanranald. The Islands of Rum and Muck belong to Maclean of Coll, and the Island of Canna to Macneil, who likewise got possession of it by purchase in 1828.

Agriculture, raising potatoes the main crop, and rearing of black-cattle and sheep, is the main occupation in these islands.

Parochial registers have never been regularly kept in this parish.

There is no church on any of the islands. In Eigg they assembled in the school-house for public worship; but in the other islands they sometimes met in the fields when they could not conveniently get a house to receive them. The manse was erected in the Island of Eigg in 1790. It has often been repaired, but it is so much exposed to the winter gales, and so high above the level of the sea, that it is hardly possible to make it comfortable, or to keep it so for any length of time.

This account was written January 1836.

Source: New Statistical Account of Scotland, FHL book 941 B4sa, series 2, vol. 14.

Established Church—Old Parochial Registers
No records prior to 1885.

Condition of Original Registers:
Index: For an index to these records, see the Scottish Church Records Index available on computers at the Family History Library and family history centers. The records may be indexed in the International Genealogical Index.

Established Church—Kirk Session Records
None available

Small Isles Free Church
History— The minister of this parish, comprising the four inhabited islands, Eigg, Rum, Canna, and Muck, came out in 1843. The population of the group was about 1000, nearly half of whom were Roman Catholics. There was no church building on the islands. No site could be got on Eigg. These adherents were few and when the minister was transferred in 1847, the congregation was reduced to a preaching station. Source: Annals of the Free Church of Scotland, 1843–1900, ed. Rev. William Ewing, D.D., 2 vols. pub. 1914. Film #918572. More details may be given in the source

Records— The extent of records is unknown.

Roman Catholic Church in The Small Isles
History— There has been a Catholic presence in the Small Isles since long before the Scottish Reformation, the inhabitants having been converted in ancient times. In 1700 the Catholic population stood at 300 on Eigg, 130 on Canna; and the residents of Rum and Muck were said to be all Catholic. Shortly before that time many islanders on Eigg had suffered martyrdon at the hands of an English pirate named Porringer who held a knife to their throats and forced them to either renounce the Catholic faith or die, and many chose to die. A Catholic chapel was located on Eigg. Today the Catholics in the Small Isles are served from Fort William on the mainland. Sources: History of the Catholic Church of Scotland, by Alphons Bellesheim, 1890, FHL British Book 941 K2be vol. 4; also The Catholic Directory for Scotland, 1987, FHL Brit Ref. Book 941 K24ca.

Records— There was a resident priest at Eigg from 1842, but there are no known records.