| Notes |
- From Clan MacNab records:
Donald, the second son of John Macnab of Acharn, married Anne Shower in 1740. She was the only daughter of Edward Shower, Mariner, and Tacksman of Lurgavoin. He had met his wife while on Military duty in Exeter. His father-in-law took part in the rebellion of 1745, in the course of which he was taken prisoner and confined at Perth, where he was forgotten in prison and died of hunger. His daughter, on 10 August 1752, was served as heir to her father of Lurgavoin, which lies at the west end of the Kirkton of Callandr in Menteith, on a feu charter to Edward Shower from James Drummon of Perth and a bond of £100 from Edward Shower to MacNab in Inneshewan.
Donald, who was born about 1715 and had entered the army at the age of eighteen, retired in 1741, and took the farm of Brae Leny near the Bracklinn Falls. After his death his son Alexander enjoyed the possession of the same farm.
Donald with his military education and physical strength played a considerable part in the battle of Falkirk.
After the battle of Culloen he was a fugitive and took refuge in Ben Cruachan, where the daughter of the famous Macnab armorer of Dalmally brought him food. One day when he was visiting his house he was surprised by a party of soldiers who had come to hunt for him. He leapt out of a back window, seized a billet of wood, came round to the door, slew two of the soldiers and made good his escape.
His name is to be found in the list of proclaimed fugitives as Donald of Braeleing
On the occasion of the fair at Dound he met a sergeant of the garrison at Stirling, who had been deputized to arrest a certain Donald Macnab, whom, he had been told, would be found at the fair. Donald remarked that he knew him well, and if the sergeant would dine with him at the inn, the infamous Donald would be delivered into his hands. Arrived at the inn, Donald called for whisky and invited the sergeant to join him while they waited for their dinner.
‘You know the custom of the country’, remarked Donald; ‘Before having a drink we shake hands. Here’s to your good health’, and he gave his hand to the unsuspecting English sergeant. However, Donald squeezed his victim’s hand with such force that he smashed his fingers and blood spurted from under the nails. ‘I promised to put Donald’s hand in yours - and you have my hand for I am Donald!’ So saying he fled, leaving the unhappy sergeant to nurse his mutilated hand. After the amnesty Donald settled down on his farm and brought up a numerous family.
Edward Daniel was born in 1740. He had two sisters, Jane and Catherine, and three brothers, Alexander, James and John. It seems certain that this Alexander was born in 1745, and was saved from the redcoats as a baby by his nurse, and became ancestor of the Epping Branch.
Anne Shower was a Roman Catholic and grieved to bind herself to a Protestant family. At the age of twelve her eldest son Edward Daniel was sent to the Scottish College at Douai, in France, to become a priest; but when his education was complete, he sought a commission as an ensign in the Royal Scottish Regiment in which his uncle Duncan was a captain. He served throughout the Seven Years’ War and in the campaign of Hanover he was wounded by a bullet in the leg, which never afterwards healed properly, and caused him much trouble in his later years.
In the peace of 1763 the officers of the regiment were put on half pay. Some returned to Scotland. Lord Nairn and Lord Lewis Drummond persuaded Edward Daniel to remain in France, and suggested that he should enter the Bodyguard of King Louis XV. He was the last Scotsman to enter this corps, twenty-four years of age, five feet nine in height and a find figure of a man.
---
Donald Macnab and Anna Shower had a son Alexander. The records of the French Branch make it probable that this Alexander was the baby saved by his nurse from the redcoats in 1746.
---
The detailed information about this branch has been preserved in an account written by Edward Macnab, who was born in 1811. His grandfather Edward Daniel was prevented by the Revolution, old age and infirmity, and eventually his death in 1814 from returning to his native land. Since his uncle Duncan had returned to Scotland he had not seen anyone of his own name, although he had often seen Major Buchanan of Cambusmore and ‘Mr Ophilan” (Olifant?) Of Condie. At last in 1814, a few days before his death, he was visited by Duncan Macnab, who belonged to the family of armourers of Dalmally (Barachastalain). He was also disappointed in not being able to accept a commission offered to him by Louis XVIII of a Sub-Lieutenancy in the Scottish Company at the Royal Bodyguard in June 1814, only a month before his death. He did, however, exact a promise from his son Edward Alexander that he should visit Scotland.
In 1820 Uncle Alexander (of Millbank) sent his son ‘Sandy’ to spend a year with his French relatives, who were to bring him back. Edward Alexander and his small son Edward took a month to reach Aberdeen.
They spent eight days in Paris, where they were present at the festivities for the baptism of Henri, Duke de Bordeaux. The small son was greatly impressed by his sight of Louis XVIII with his remarkable blue eyes, which he never forgot. They arrived in London just before the Coronation of George IV.
In Aberdeen they were met at the port by their uncle Alexander and his son-in-law ‘Mr. Mellie’. At Westertown they found their aunt Mrs. Macnab and her seven daughters, and their cousin ‘Stewart’ and several friends. This was a great family reunion, never forgotten by the small boy, who recorded it all many years afterwards.
|
Abt 1700 - UNKNOWN
