Tree #1 – Generation 2 – Child 5 Peter McCuaig or McLeod

The children of John MacCuaig and Ann or Nancy MacDougall

Child # 5 – Peter McCuaig or McLeod

There is a lot that we don’t know about Peter.  We are not even sure when he was born.  We have assigned him this spot in the family order because there was a large gap here.  It seemed possible that he might belong here.  We suspect he may have born sometime between 1814 and 1818.

We do know that his parents and his siblings were all located on the farm of Giol in Kildalton, Argyll Scotland  (on the Island of Islay) so it seems likely that he too was born there.

We do know that he was found purchasing land in 1847 in King Township, York County, Ontario, Canada.  The land was located at Concession 7 SW1/4 Lot 12 (50 acres) and E1/4 of W1/2 Lot 13 (50 acres), King Township, York County, Ontario. Lot 12 was purchased  in 1847 for ₤12/10s; Lot 13 was purchased in 1850 for ₤175

At his death both lots were deeded to his brother and wife, Donald and Catherine McLeod, for life, after which Lot 13 was to go to his sisters Margaret and Nancy McLeod in Scotland and  Lot 12 was willed to his nephew John McLeod (son of his brother Angus) in Canada.

His will (dated 31 October 1851) was probated  21 Jul 1852. 

He was buried at St Andrews Presbyterian Cemetery which is located at Concession 6 Lot 10, Strange, King Township, York County, Ontario, Canada.  The tombstone is broken but is described as follows:

Row 2 Stone 16 (broken, in the ground, finger pointing upwards, sun rays)
MCLEOD
In memory of / Hugh McLeod / died Jan 21, 1849 / Aged 22 years / also / Peter McLeod (broken stone)

Source: (York Region Branch OGS), FHL book 971.354 V3 no. 4765.

You can see that any indication of his birth date or age at death that might have originally been on the stone is now lost.  He has not been found on the 1851/52 census. He does not appear to be in Scotland for the 1841 census.  We have not found any record of a marriage.

As we searched and found the children in the family of John and Nancy McCuaig we found a child christened 10 Jul 1819 (see the family descendancy chart posted to this blog Saturday Oct 30, 2010).  As with Donald, no name was recorded for this child.  There is a possibility that Peter could be this unnamed child but until we can find something – ANYTHING – to indicate what his age might be we can’t make that assumption.  The possibility that there were two children is as great as the possibility that there was only one.  We just don’t know.