Florance Maclean | Ray-Jones Family

Florance Maclean

b: ABT 1744
d: 17 JUL 1815

Biography

Alan Ray-Jones writes:

The only evidence I have that Florance, Allan Maclean Skinner's maternal grandmother, was a daughter of John Maclean, 10th of Ardgour, is from Allan Maclean Skinner's book about his family, 'Sketch of the Military Services of Lieutenant-General Skinner and his Sons'. He wrote in it, to his mother:

"I will not detail from this point your descent to be found in the pedigree of Maclean, but content myself with this additional fact, that through your mother Florance (daughter of John Maclean of Inverscadell,) married at Kiel, in Ardgour, July 17th 1766, you are also descended from Sir Ewan Cameron of Lochiel; her grandfather, Allan, 10th Maclean of Ardgour, having married Ann Cameron of Lochiel, in whose honour you were christened Ann. Not only did Sir Walter Scott delight to relate the achievements of Lochiel, but in Macaulay's history we find the following account of him................."

I have not yet been able to find confirmation of Florance's birth in Scottish records of births, nor is her name mentioned in the accounts I have so far obtained of the Macleans of Ardgour, namely 'A History of Clan Maclean' by J P Maclean, 1899; and 'The Clan Gillean' by Alexander Maclean Sinclair, 1899 - chapter on the Macleans of Ardour. The latter relies heavily on the former but varies in some details and is rather less clear in some respects. The two books differ on the position of some of the main names:

'A History of Clan Maclean' 'The Clan Gillean'
1st of Ardgour Donald, first son of Lachlan Bronnach Donald, first son of Lachlan Bronnach
2nd Ewen, first son of Donald (1st) Ewen, son of Donald (1st)
3rd Allan, first son of Ewen (2nd) Lachlan, son of Ewen (2nd), no issue, succeeded by nephew
4th John, son of Allan (3rd) John, son of Charles - estate reverted to the crown
5th Allan, son of John (4th) - no issue Allan, son of John, son of Allan - 3rd son of Ewen (2nd)
6th Ewen, son of John (4th) Ewen, son of Allan (5th)
7th Allan, son of Ewen (6th) Allan, son of Ewen (6th)
8th John, son of Allan (7th) John, son of Allan (7th)
9th Ewen, son of John (8th) Ewen, son of John (8th)
10th Allan, son of Ewen (9th) Allan, son of Ewen (9th
11th John, son of Allan (10th) - died before his father Donald, son of Allan (10th) - predeceased his father
12th Hugh, son of John (11th) Ewen, son of Donald (11th)
13th Alexander, son of Hugh (12th) Alexander, son of Ewen (12th)
14th Alexander, son of Alexander (13th) Alexander, son of Alexander (13th)

At the moment the family tree follows the 1899 book, and accounts of the Macleans of Ardgour in Burke's of later dates will perhaps show which account is correct in which particulars, and perhaps even mention Florance. The absence of her name in the published histories of the house of Ardgour does not mean that Allan Maclean Skinner's history is wrong - he should after all have known the origin of his grandmother. There is however a problem over her date of birth and her presumed father's date of death (March 1739).

According to 'Sketch of the Military Services of Lieutenant-General Skinner and his Sons' his father "returned home, which he reached July 12, 1815, in time to comfort his wife in her anxious attention to her dying mother, who at the age of 71, expired on the 17th". That makes her year of birth 1744, which won't do! Of course women of that time wished to appear younger than they really were, so it is quite possible that she died aged 76, not 71. Or, less likely, that the year of her father's death is reported incorrectly. Or, possibly that her father John Maclean of Sorn, Mull, was not John Maclean, 11th of Ardgour. Yet her grandfather Allan Maclean was 10th of Ardgour (see top) and he had a son John, who became 11th of Ardgour! So where there two Johns, sons of Allan?

Names of Clan Maclean chieftains earlier than Donald son of Lachlan Bronnach - back to Gillean of the Battleaxe- are taken from 'Clan Gillean' by James Noel Maclean, 1954 which includes the 'Clan MacLean: Short History' by The Very Rec. Laughlan Maclean Watt, first published June 1939 in the S.M.T Magazine, Edinburgh.

(to continue with info from Burkes)

Facts

ABT 1744 - Birth -
17 JUL 1815 - Death -

Ancestors

		Charles Maclean -

	John Maclean -

		Mary MacLean -

Florance Maclean ABT 1744 - 17 JUL 1815

		Allan Maclean 1668 - NOV 1756

	Mary Maclean ABT 1704 -

		Ann Cameron -

Family Group Sheet - Child

PARENT (M) John Maclean
	Birth
	Death
	Marriage		to Mary Maclean
	Father	Charles Maclean
	Mother	Mary MacLean
PARENT (F) Mary Maclean
	Birth	ABT 1704
	Death
	Marriage		to John Maclean
	Father	Allan Maclean
	Mother	Ann Cameron
CHILDREN
M	John Maclean
	Birth
	Death
F	Florance Maclean
	Birth	ABT 1744
	Death	17 JUL 1815
	Marriage	17 JUL 1766	to John Maclean at Kiel, Ardgour

Family Group Sheet - Spouse

PARENT (M) John Maclean
	Birth
	Death
	Marriage	17 JUL 1766	to Florance Maclean at Kiel, Ardgour
	Father	Donald Maclean
	Mother	Isobelle Campbell
PARENT (F) Florance Maclean
	Birth	ABT 1744
	Death	17 JUL 1815
	Marriage	17 JUL 1766	to John Maclean at Kiel, Ardgour
	Father	John Maclean
	Mother	Mary Maclean
CHILDREN
M	James Maclean
	Birth	5 FEB 1769	Date of christening, at Kilninian, Argyll
	Death
	Marriage		to Emma Hartley
M	Donald Maclean
	Birth
	Death
	Marriage		to Jean Brown
F	Barbra Maclean
	Birth	20 APR 1777	Kilmalie, Argyll
	Death	FEB 1809	Barbados
	Marriage	4 JUN 1807	to Mathew Mahon , Major General
M	Hugh Maclean
	Birth	9 MAY 1779	Kilmallie
	Death
M	Charles Maclean
	Birth
	Death
	Marriage		to Mary Campbell
M	John Maclean
	Birth
	Death	NOV 1837	London, Middlesex
F	Isabel Maclean
	Birth	29 MAR 1769
	Death	27 AUG 1843
	Marriage	2 APR 1791	to John Maclean at Saint Cuthberts, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland - an Isobella Maclean married John Lieutenant Maclean [NB: Ann was also
F	Ann Maclean
	Birth	12 DEC 1773	Ardgour House (Cooil House), Kilmallie, Argyleshire, Scotland (IGI gives date as 1 December)
	Death	16 JAN 1864	8 Stratton Street, Picadilly, London, of bronchitis
	Marriage	18 DEC 1797	to John Major Skinner , Lieut General at St Cuthberts, Edinburgh, Scotland by the Rev Dr Mudie (additional source: IGI)