That sounds quite likely. There were plenty Cathel Kerrs born in Assynt at the time although the earliest parish register baptisms seem to be from about 1798. In fact amazingly it seems to be the only parish in all of Scotland where Cathels were baptized (and the majority of them were Kerrs).

Barbara – we need to talk! My third great grandfather was called Castle Kerr once he arrived in Nova Scotia, but I’m starting to think he may have been born Cathel Kerr in Assynt! He was born around 1792 and left Scotland when he was about 10 for Canada. I’ve been doing a lot of research on this and would LOVE to speak with you!

Barbara – the story of a name or names can be really interesting. Let me see if I can address this one. Firstly I don’t think that there’s an Ulster connection.

Although Cathal was a well understood Irish first name, the name (normally spelt Cathel) also existed in Scots Gaelic. It seems to have died out now but lasted longest in NW Sutherland.

Now there were quite a number of Border names migrated to Sutherland to become shepherds and to manage the large flocks of Cheviot sheep which followed the Clearances. My first thought was that would be the origin of the name Kerr. However, I wouldn’t have expected non-Gaelic speakers to adopt the Gaelic name of Cathel so easily into their families. So I looked at the earliest Assynt records that I could find – the Hearth Tax records from 1694 and I found a couple of Kerrs within those lists. So it is clearly not associated with the Clearances. My own thought is that Kerr is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic ‘Ciar’ meaning dark or black and did exist as a surname from the earliest times.

The McCormacks (or McCormicks) have long been found in many parts of Scotland although most of the early records that I can find suggest that it’s Ayrshire and Galloway in south-west Scotland where they were most prevalent. They most likely moved for economic reasons – the prospects of a better life / more opportunities – if you knew roughly when they emigrated then that might help to understand the reasons.

I am part of the McCormack clan and we have no real answered as to why we emigrated to the U.S. but I’m very curious if anyone has any answers for me. I believe we were originally from the southern of Scotland if that helps.

There are mill records at Heriot-Watt University but note that it is at their School of Textiles & Design which is in Galashiels in the Borders. There are also some limited mill records at the Heritage Hub archive in Hawick run by Scottish Borders Council.