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From: gordon harbison <>
Subject: MacKenzies (Babaich) on the Isle of Lewis (early 1800s)
Date: Tue, 02 May 2000 04:59:15 -0400

Donald MacKenzie was a cottar on the croft at 10 Grimshader, and was a
son of Neil MacKenzie and Mary Kennedy of 18 Crossbost. Neil MacKenzie
was listed as a tenant in Lemreway in an early Estate Rental of Lewis in
1826, and was a son of Donald MacKenzie and Kirsty MacKenzie. Lemreway
is in the south of the Parish of Lochs, and was cleared to add to the
sheep-farm of Pairc in 1846, most of the displaced families coming to
Crossbost, or to Glen Tolsta, north of Stornoway. This MacKenzie family
were known by the by-name of Babaich, and appear in records under the
name of Baby or Babi until the early 1800s, when they took the name
MacKenzie. It is said that they were named Babaich because of their
descent from followers of Barbara Stewart, daughter of Andrew Lord
Avondale and wife of Roderick, the last of the MacLeod chiefs of Lewis.
If so, it is strange that they took the name of the MacKenzies, who were
the supplanters of the MacLeods in Lewis, but on the other hand it is
curious that the names Barbara and Andrew are common in all the Babaich
families. Neil MacKenzie’s wife Mary was a daughter of Roderick Kennedy
and Mary MacLeod, and Roderick Kennedy appears in a list of kelp workers
from 1810, living in Lemreway.

I received the above from a genealogy report done by a Scottish
researcher. I am looking for any connections to the Villages or any
further information on the Babiach angle presented here.

Kindest Regards,
Gordon Harbison
Canton, Mic

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• MacKenzies (Babaich) on the Isle of Lewis (early 1800s) by gordon harbison <>