John McCall of Belvidere

JOHN M'CALL OF BELVIDERE

John M'Call was born 1715. He was, as already stated, eldest son of Samuel M'Call. He married Helen Cross, and had issue, ten children, viz.: (1.) SARAH, married Alexander Bonar, banker, Edinburgh, and had issue, seven daughters, of whom Margaret married Andrew Tawse, W.S., and three sons John, Alexander, and Alexander; (2.) MARGARET married James Spreull, of Linthouse, and had five daughters - Margaret, Helen, Hannah, Janet, Sarah, and five sons - John, James, married Margaret Lamb Finlayson, and died without issue, Samuel, Samuel, William; (3.) HELEN married Robert M'Nair, of Jeanfield, and had three sons and six daughters; (4.) SAMUEL, of whom afterwards; (5.) JOHN; (6.) MARION, married John Mackintosh and had Helen, Ebenezer, and Marion; (7.) GRACE, married John Caw, and had Helen, John, Jane, Samuel, Grace, Annie; (8.) ROBERT; (9.) WILLIAM, married Agnes Liston, and had six sons and three daughters; (10.) ELIZABETH.

From Hardy-/Bertram McCall's Memoirs of My Ancestors 1884

He was a merchant in Glasgow, where he built for himself, about the year 1775, the 'Black House,' a handsome old mansion which formerly stood upon the site now occupied by the corner of Queen St and Argyle St. this was sold at his death and was taken down about 1815, although a substantial edifice, to make room for what is now a busy city throughfare, - but his country residence 'Belvidere' near Glasgow, is still standing and is used as a hospital or asylum of some sort. Mr John McCall was a staunch royalist, and suffered serverely by the American Revolution, the whole of his property in Virginia and Maryland, which he inherited from his father, being lost through his loyalty and adherence to the British Crown, during the war of Independence (1783). His heirs after the lapse of many years received a certain amount from Government, but far beneath what was sufficient to have indemnified the family for the injuries which he sustained. He died on 8Oct1790, aged 75 and is buried in the family vault at the Glasgow High Churchyard.

Genealogy

1. Memoirs of my Ancestors. A collection of Genealogical Memoranda Respecting Several old Scottish Families. With an Appendix Consisting of a Genealogy of the McCall Family. By Hardy Bertram McCall. (Privately Printed by Watson and Ball, Birmingham, 1884), 116 pp. plus Appendices
2. The old country houses of the old Glasgow gentry