OA

Oa is one of the newer parishes on the island.   It actually began as a quoad sacra parish created out of the Parish of Kildalton. 

                               

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia we learn that:

A quoad sacra parish is a type of parish in Scotland which is used for ecclesiastical purposes only. Quoad sacra translates from Latin as 'concerning sacred matters'. This type of parish can be distinguished from the 'parish proper' a parish combining both civil and eccesiastical functions. ^[1][2]

Ordinary civil parishes were designated as parishes quoad omnia (English: concerning all matters being parishes quoad civilia et sacra (English: concerning civil matters and sacred matters. Typically, a number of quoad sacra parishes could exist within a single civil parish, each often maintain its own parish church.

The site Scotlands Places states that it was a civil parish from 1845 to 1975. 

However The Gazetteer of Scotland tell us that it was incorporated in 1849.

The Gazetteer also speaks of  a lofty promontory in the south – south east portion of the parish which is known as the Mull of Oa. At the top of this promontory are the ruins of an ancient castle or fortress. 

Parish records began in 1833.  In my own family tree we have found one family were the christening record of the first two children are found in the Parish of Kildalton records and the rest of the children’s christening records are found in the Parish of Oa records.  The family didn’t move – just the parish where the records were kept. 

An interesting landmark found in the parish of Oa is the American Monument. The following description and photos can be found at thttp://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/United_Kingdom/Scotland/Strathclyde/Islay-310807/Things_To_Do-Islay-BR-1.html

Two ships carrying American troops to the battlefields of the First World War went down off the shores of Islay in the months of 1918.

Feb 5th saw the SS Tuscania torpedoed four miles off the Mull of Oa peninsula. Luckily, the weather was decent enough and most of the 2397 men aboard survived, but some 266 died, many due to accidents when the inexperienced crew dumped a couple of lifeboats.

On Oct 6th, another ship collided with the Otranto which was carrying some 665 American troops (the Otranto had been fitted out to carry 18000 troops!) in 40 foot high seas and force 11 winds. The death toll that day was 431 men, the worst convoy disaster of the First World War.

In remembrance of the American lives lost, the American Red Cross erected a monument in the shape and size of a lighthouse. The monument can be seen from a large part of the island standing alone atop the cliffs at the end of the Oa peninsula. The familiar poem inscribed at the bottom of the inscription is found at many American military cemeteries, "The Bivouac of the Dead".

                                            
                                             The American Monument on
                                             the Mull of Oa  by mtncorg,

Islay Weblog  http://blog.islayinfo.com/index.php?topic=Islayhistory  dated September 3, 2010 has this interesting article about the first shipwreck The Tuscania on Feb 15, 1918

A while back Alice Bailey contacted me through the Isle of Islay Facebook page. The uncle of Alice was one of the 2,000 American soldiers on board the Tuscania. On February 5, 1918, the American troopship, en route to Britain, was torpedoed by a German submarine in the North Channel and sank seven miles off the Mull of Oa. More than 200 men drowned and her uncle was one of the victims. Years later Alice visited Islay and had a chance to visit the Islay museum where she found a hand written copy of a poem by Katherine Lee Bates. Being an American history teacher it immediately caught her attention and she found out that the poem was about the Tuscania tragedy.

When she read the poem again, she realized once more how closely it parallels the actual events published in the faded, yellowed booklet sent to her great-grandmother from the Glasgow Islay Association ninety years ago. The fishermen DID retrieve the bodies, the Scottish women DID lovingly prepare them for burial. And more heartfelt than ever, the women of Islay DID work through the night stitching by hand an American flag to be used in the funeral procession.                                            

You can see a picture of the funeral possession and read more including the poem referred to at the above mentioned site.   
   
Oa has been assigned the parish number of #546.  Parish records can be found on FHL film # 1041080 Item 5


Item 5 Births and Marriages 1833 – 1854


There is also computer generated index for the Parish Oa
Births and Christenings 1833 – 1854 FHL #6901116 (1 fiche)                                                     Marriages 1833 – 1855 FHL # 6901117 (12 fiche)