Anne MacBean - Correction

Erica,

Thank you, you are absolute correct, that Wikitree pedigree is a complete mix up with many errors.

Aeneas / Æneas MacBean younger of Kinchyle was the eldest son of William MacBean of Kinchyle 13th Chief of the Clan MacBean. Aeneas died sometime between 1720 and 1722. His only surviving child into later adulthood was Margaret who is found cited in 1765 as his ‘heir of provision’.

Aeneas’s next eldest brother was the famous Major Gillies ‘Mor’ MacBean, Tacksman of Bunachton and of Dalmagarry until his death at Culloden 16th April 1746.

The ultimate heir to Kinchyle was the son of Major Gillies ‘Mor’ MacBean - Captain Donald MacBean of Kinchyle.

I will take a look at the Wikitree profiles and see if they can be rectified. There may be a 2nd, parallel profile for some of them.

It is an almost impossible task to correct Pedigree errors on the internet, as they multiply and get repeated so much.

In terms of the the Chiefly like of Clan MacBean, a new official pedigree is due to be published on the Clan’s website in the not too distant future, which should we hope provide a trusted reference point for all.

One reference connecting Anne and Alexander Beaton comes from the book Mabou Pioneers Volume I by A.D MacDonald. In it, on page 88, he states that following:

"Alexander Beaton, son of Donald, son of Ronald, son of Malcolm, son of Donald Beaton of Skye, left the Isle of Skye and came to the district of Lochaber, Scotland around the middle of the 18th century. He was a Protestant when he left the Isle of Skye, but in Lochaber he became a convert to the Catholic Faith. He married Anne MacBain (or MacBean), sister of the notable Gillies MacBain"

Another reference is from The History of Inverness by J L MacDougall. Pages 595-596:

"These two Beaton brothers were grandsons of one Alexander Beaton from the Isle of Skye, who had gone to Lochaber about the middle of the 18th century. This Alexander Beaton was a Protestant when he left Skye but became a Catholic in Lochaber and married Ann McBain by whom he had four sons, namely: Donald, John, Finlay and
Alexander."

Thank you for sharing these sources Daniel. I wonder from which sources A. D. MacDonald took this information. It would be so good to know the answer to this. Perhaps some record exists? It would seem too unlikely that Anne/Anna the sister of the famous Major Gillies 'Mor' MacBean of the Kinchyle family could have remmarried after 1740 and then given birth to 4 sons into her late 50s or even her early 60s.

If Alexander Beaton was married to a sister of a man called Gillies MacBean, who had also been at Culloden, then one has to bear in mind that there were 4 men called 'Gillies MacBean' who were at Culloden - all, or perhaps only the first three, in Lady Anne Mackintosh's (Clan Chattan) Regiment:

1. Major Gillies 'Mor' MacBean (14th Chief), 2nd son of William MacBean of Kinchyle (13th Chief), who was until his death at Culloden, Tacksman of Bunachton and Tacksman of Dalmagarry.

2. Gillies MacBean, one of the Lieutenants in Lady Anne Mackintosh's Regiment, who had been Major Gillies' tenant at Bunachton and then became the next Tacksman of Bunachton after his namesake's death. Whilst it is important to note that they were NOT father and son, they are likely to have been closely related: the Testament Dative & Inventory of Major Gillies records that it was "faithfully made and given up by Gilles McBean in Bunachton & present Tacksman of the Lands of Bunachton" (29th October 1746 - at Aldourie). He may have been the same man as Gillies MacBean one of the sons of Donald MacBean Tacksman of Aldourie, a cousin of Major Gillies 'Mor' MacBean.

3. Gillies MacBean 'Servant' in Aldourie. If Gillies MacBean, Tacksman of Bunachton after Culloden, was not the son of Donald MacBean Tacksman of Aldourie, then this Gillies the servant in Aldourie might be that son of Donald. There is no certain proof one way or the other.

4. Gillies MacBean - often described as 'of Free' (a farm by Tomatin in Strathdearn) and 'formerly of Faillie'. James Logan in his 1845 book 'The Clans of the Scottish Highlands' published this anecdotal story about him within the chapter for Clan MacBean (page 272 in some editions):
"There was another of the same name and of no less daring, who fought in this battle-field under the banner of Cameron of Lochiel. This was Gillies of Free, formerly of Falie, whom some considered the elder male branch. Lochiel being wounded at Culloden in both ankles, was carried out of the field by two near relatives, when it would seem that this Mac Bean undertook to convey him to a hiding place whence he might get safely to Lochaber. Upon crossing the river Nairn at Craigie, they met with a party of Cumberland’s soldiers with whom they were obliged to fight ; but killing some of them, the others made off. The wife of Gillies paid every attention to the wounded fugitives, and with a pair of scissors extracted two bullets from the leg of her husband, who lived long afterwards, and is commemorated by an altar, or table monument, in the churchyard of Moy, with a suitable inscription in the Gaelic language."
- Logan did not give his source for this data.
- his table monument would appear not to have survived, unless it now lies under the grass.