Dalmally Historical Association has gathered some information about the main families in
the area. Much of it has come from visitors looking up their ancestors. If people left the
area to go to Canada, America, Australia, we have no record of them leaving, but the
receiving countries often have records of their arrival. If enquirers have names and
dates, and possibly names of homes here, we might be able to trace parent and
grandparents, but chances are not high, as records were not kept well and many have been
lost.
Unfortunately, everything we have is still on paper, not computerised, so
searching takes a lot of effort. We are working on setting up a local archive of family
names so that we can respond quickly to enquiries, but time, other work, and finance are
all against us.Family names which are local include MacNab, MacNicol, MacGregor, Campbell,
Fletcher, MacIntyre, MacPherson, MacArthur, Cameron and many others. We have notes on the
names inscribed in the churchyards of the Parish, at Achallader, Dalmally, Inishail and
Innisherrich, some going back to the 1700s. Before then, names on gravestones were not
common.
The Church records of marriages and christenings are very variable before
1856, when registration became normal, and even after that, the records are not always
very full. We would do our best to help enquirers, provided there is some information to
go on. In fact we nearly always obtain more information from visitors than we give.
