Farr, Sutherland, Scotland Genealogy

Parish # 50

History
The parish appears to have been called Farr, for more than 400 years. The name is probably derived from the Gaelic word Faire, a watch or sentinel. It is bounded on the north by the Northern Ocean; on the east, by the parish of Reay in Caithness; on the south, by the parishes of Kildonan and Lairg; and on the west, by the parish of Tongue.

The nearest market-town is Thurso, thirty-two miles from this place.

The only printed accounts of the ancient state of the parish, are to be found in Sir Robert Gordon’s History of the Earldom of Sutherland, and in Mr. Robert Mackay’s History of the House and Clan of Mackay, published in 1829.

About 400 years ago, the Mackays began to make themselves conspicuous in this district as a clan. Farr and Strathnaver appear to have been the principle residence of the Mackays during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and part of the seventeeth centuries, and that clan is still the most numerous in the parish. After the Earls of Sutherland formed a marriage alliance with the Gordons, some of the clan came to reside in Strathnaver, so that at one period, perhaps a hundred years ago, there were few in the parish but Mackays and Gordons. They are still the most numerous names.

The Duke of Sutherland is the proprietor of this parish.

The census of 1831, compared with the return in 1790, shows a decrease of 400 in the population. This was owing to the introduction of the sheep-farming system. The people who had been removed from the interior in 1818 and 1819, when these great changes took place, are thickly settled along the sea-coast of the parish, in some instances about thirty lotters occupying the land formerly in the possession of twelve, and some of them placed on ground which had been formerly uncultivated.

The sheep-farmers rear the Cheviot or white-faced kind of sheep. The lotters have a breed of small Highland cattle; a few ponies of a similar description; and sheep of the black-faced kind.

The only parochial registers in existence are in a book in which the minutes of the kirk-session are kept; and another, in which births and marriages are recorded. The earliest entry in the first is in the year 1754; and in the second, in the year 1800.

The parish church is conveniently situated for the population who are now attached to it, since the erection of the government church. It stands close to the sea-coast, and is about thirty miles from some parts of the interior. It is seated for about 750. There is Government church and manse at Strathy, ten miles east from this parish. It accommodates about 350 sitters, thus in a parish, the population of which is about 2100, there is church accommodation for 1160 persons. There is no Dissenting chapel in the parish; and, with the exception of one shepherd from the borders, who is of the Anitburgher persuasion, and a shepherd’s wife from Lochaber, who is a Roman Catholic, there is not a dissenter of any description in the parish.

This account was written August 1834.

Source: New Statistical Account of Scotland, FHL book 941 B4sa, series 2, vol. 15.

Also available online at http://edina.ac.uk/stat-acc-scot/. Browse the scanned pages under ‘For non-subscribers,’ then search for the parish report.

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. Births: There are only eight entries prior to 1800. There are irregular entries throughout and only eight entries 1804–1819 on the first page after 1817. Marriages: There is only one entry in 1803 and there are slight irregularities in the order of dates. Source: Key to the Parochial Registers of Scotland, by V. Ben Bloxham, pub. 1970. British Book 941 K23b.

Established Church—Kirk Session Records
The extent of records is unknown.

Farr Free Church
History— David MacKenzie, minister of Farr, and nearly all his people, "came out" in 1843. For two years, the Duke of Sutherland, misled by his factors, persecuted the Free Church. After personally attending a Free Church service at Lairg in 1845, he made the factors change their attitude. The Farr congregation, which had for some time worshiped in a tent, then obtained a site on which a church, manse and schoolhouse were erected. Membership: 1855, 500; 1900, 90. Source: Annals of the Free Church of Scotland, 1843–1900, ed. Rev. William Ewing, D.D., pub. 1914. Film #918572. More details may be given in the source, including ministers.

Records— The extent of records is unknown.

Altnaharra Free Church
History— In this remote district of the parish of Farr, at the head of Strathnaver, the people, about 160 in number, all adhered to the Free Church in 1843. The minister of Farr gave them occasional services. The charge was sanctioned in 1869. Church and school had already been built, and a manse was in prospect. With the settlement of Mr. MacKay in 1871, the session records that "the thread of organized church life was resumed after a long and dreary gap of fifty-two years". The "gap" was caused by the great Strathnaver evictions in 1819, when, in a single day, Donald Sage, minister of the church which formerly stood at Achness, with 100 of his people, was ejected. Membership: 1877, 47; 1900, 7. Source: Annals of the Free Church of Scotland, 1843–1900, ed. Rev. William Ewing, D.D., pub. 1914. Film #918572. More details may be given in the source, including ministers.

Records— No known pre–1855 records.

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