Which Roderick?
At 11pm on the 10 August 1867 John McKinnon took his fist breaths, his cries carried on the clear, cold air over Direcleit, Harris. John was the first-born of Anne Kerr and her husband Alex McKinnon, who came from Scalpay which was where the couple had lived since their wedding on 18 December 1866. The birth was registered by a cousin, Roderick Kerr of Strond, Harris who signed the register with ‘his mark’, an upright cross.
Now, there are two possible candidates for the informant for at that time there was Roderick Kerr, the Post Runner in Strond and also Roderick Kerr the Fisherman in An t-Ob, which today is called Leverburgh.
I am a little confused because a couple of years later Roderick the postie witnessed the marriage of Roderick the fisher, but seemingly with a signature rather than a simple cross. However, Roderick the fisher, who certainly never learnt to write and would have had to sign the register with a cross, wasn’t a resident of Strond at the time of John McKinnon’s birth.
Which Roderick was it? Well, the post runner was Anne’s cousin and the fisherman was her nephew, and therefore John McKinnon’s cousin so, although it surprises me slightly that there’s a hint here that Strond’s postman couldn’t write, it looks as if it could have been either of them who registered the birth of their first Scalpaich relation!
More on the two Roderick’s here:
Plus a wee snippet giving something of a flavour of the time:
Note on spellings: I have shown those used on the birth certificate in case others wish to look that document up online.
Wandering & Wondering 