McNairn Descendants

Last Updated 08/16/2003
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I first started researching the McNairn family back in the 1970's and at that time Robert McNairn of Waterdown was very helpful giving me information that he and his brother and father had all researched - Since then I have verified some things myself on Microfilms received some more info from Norman McNairn and shared info back and forth with Cheryl Grice from Indiana who has done a great deal of research on the descendants of John McNairn b 1745 as she is one.  I have also had a great deal of help and sharing of information with various friends and family that I have met on the internet in my search for genealogy.  I want to share this info with people but if you use this I would like you to give credit to those who have researched the information.

Alexander was the 2nd Laird of Knowe near Newton Stewart, Scotland.  I have been unable to find Alexander in the OPR as yet.

Data from Norman McNairn has a birth year of 1746 - 10 years earlier than my previous notes, However - when I look at the age in the letter of the fact she was 70 when she died in 1826 - she must have been born in 1756.

+ 17 M i. William MCNARIN was born on 10 Mar 1780. He died on 9 May 1865.

18 M ii. John MCNARIN was christened on 28 Jul 1782 in Wigtown, Penninghame Parish, Sco.

19 M iii. Thomas MCNARIN was christened on 28 Jul 1785 in Wigtown, Penninghame Parish, Sco. He died⁵ on 13 Apr 1830 in Jamaica.

Lived in Jamaica for 27 years before dying there in 1830.

20 M iv. James MCNARIN was christened on 18 Oct 1790 in Wigtown, Penninghame Parish, Sco.

21 F v. Jean MCNARIN was born⁶ in 1791.

22 F vi. Agnes MCNARIN was born in 1796. She died⁷ on 1 Aug 1856. She was buried in Wigtown, Penninghame Parish, Sco.

Steven Byrne in an e-mail July 22, 2002 - indicates that this Agnes never married. 

23 F vii. Maggie MCNARIN was born ?.

The following is from Cheryl Grice - Muncie, Indiana

Excerpts from A PERSONAL APPROACH TO LOYALIST HISTORY  by Rev. Norman McNairn, B.A., B.D., S.M.I.

Foreward by Stanley McNairn
Loyalist family who settled in Cornwall Township in 1784: John McNairn was a frontier farmer. His farm was passed down by direct descent to the present generation. Family genealogical records indicate John McNairn was a Sergeant in the King?s Royal Regiment of New York, and that Alexander McNairn, his son of Cornwall township, was a Lieutenant in the 2nd Regiment of Stormont, and would have been in his early 20?s during the War of 1812-14.

In 1783 John McNairn & his fellow soldiers wrote an appeal to the Governor because they had lost all their personal property in New York, and had been serving in the King?s Royal Regiment of New York, some for five years or more. They were members of the Baeau Company of the Regiment, under the command of Captain Jost Herchimer. They were posted at Coteau du Lac. Jost Harkimer, Joseph Anderson, Rudolph Shoemaker, John Coyne, John McNairn, and eight others signed the document.

Here it is in brief:

?To His Excellency Frederick Haldimand...Governor in ...the Province of Quebec...?(This) Memorial ...humbly showeth?That yor memorialists having now no expectations of every hereafter returning to the peaceable enjoyment of their respective properties in the Province of New York...in Consequence thereof have no dependence for the future living left them, wherefore wish to settle upon lands that they might with their industry get a living, and some dependence for their posperity.  Therefore pray, that your Excellency would take into Consideraton your Memorialists Deplorable Situation, and would be pleased to grant to them a Tract or Parcel of Land...at Fort Erie...extending in length twelve mile...and in depth...four miles, the said Tract or Parcel of Land having hertofore been purchased from the Indian Owners...?  It was eventually determined that every Loyalist veteran would receive at least a hundred acres of good land from the Crown, officers receiving larger but limited grants.  John McNairn and his family arrived at New Johnstown in May or June 1784 to claim their new property, which was just the land; they had to build their own homes and make their own furniture.  Here is another interesting paragraph: ?One interesting feature of this settlement was what might be described as racial segregation. The two eastern townships were allocated to Highland Scots. Since  many of these were Roman Catholics, it may have been thought that they would get along best with the French to the east. The western townships were settled largely of Loyalists of German ancestry, Palatines from the Mohawk Valley. In between, in what is now Cornwall Township, they planted  everybody else, mostly English and Lowland Scots, including John McNairn, who was Scottish but not a Highlander.?  In the Autumn of 1784 it is noted that John McNairn had a wife, a daughter aged four, another about two, and probably a son who was an infant in arms.  The Loyalist Claims Commission held hearings in Montreal in February, 1788, for Loyalist refugees who had not had the opportunity to appear in 1783. Among those who were there were John McNairn and his old friend James Forsyth. Here is the record of the testimony tiven to the Commission on the 9th of  February 1788:  ?337. Evidence on the claim of John McNairn, late of Tryon County, N.Y. Province. Claimt. sworn: Says that in 1783 he was on duty at Coteau du Lac. Major Leake carried his claim home. He is native of Scotland and came to America in 1773. Before the war he was settled on the  Susquehanna. He came to Canada in 1778. Before that he had been twice taken prisoner. He never would join them. He served during the war in the Bateaux Company. Produced a certificate from Capt. John McDonnell, N.Y. Regt. to Claimt.?s Loyalty & Character. Improvements on a farm on the Susquehanna, 15 acres cleared. With a house & barn & barracks, 5 horses, some hogs, 2 year old cattle, some furniture & farming utensils. Witts., James Forsyth, Sworn...?

In 1961, Norman McNairn visited the Public Records Office in London, England, and found a number of the original papers relating to this case. One of these was the certificate mentioned in the minutes of the Commission. It reads as follows: 

New Johnstown 5th Febry. 1788

These are to certify that the bearer John McNairn has always been a good Loyalist and that he harboured and supported several individuals who were forced to leave their places of abode on acct. of their fidelity to His Majesty and attached to the British Government. To Whom it May Concern. John McDonnell, Captn. Late KsR1Rt. N.Y.

A further document in the Public Records Office indicated that the Commission granted in this case a compensation of sixty pounds sterling.

In 1797 John McNairn received a royal patent to his farm in the name of the King, George the Third (presently preserved by McNairn descendants). In the year 1811 John McNairn drew up his will and testament: ?IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. I John McNairn of the township of Cornwall in the easten district of the Province of Upper Canada, yoeman, being weak in body but perfect in mind and memory, thanks be to God, Calling to mind the Mortality of my Body and Knowing that it appointed for all men to die, do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament. First of all I give and recommend my soul in the Hand of Almighty God That gave it, and my body I recommend to the Earth to be buried in a decent Christian manner at the discrection of my friends. Nothing doubting but at the General Resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mightly Power of God, and as touching such worldly Estate wherewith it pleased god to bless me in this life, I give devise  and dispose of it in the following manner and form...?

The provision of the will left farms to two sons and stock to four daughters. The will was registered after his death, in the year 1814. He was buried in the Anglican cemetery in Cornwall, even though he was Presbyterian, because that was the only burial ground in town. 
All that remains of the original Crown Grant Farm is now the ?Picnic Area? of Guindon Park, south of  Richmond Drive and Highway 2. The rest was flooded during the Inundation.

From the McNairn Family Record:

John, along with a party of Scottish settler, his wife, and their eldest daughter Margaret, arrived in New  York 1773. The party seems to have included James Forsyth, a friend and maybe a cousin, and probabaly others from Galloway. Since the Susquehanna River valley was just opening up, the McNarin group made arrangements to purchase farm lots from Sir William Johnson, who had patents to several  miles along the Susquehanna down its main tributary. He farmed in Tryon County, New York Province. He was jailed twice for refusing to take part in the American Revolution and aiding refugees. He was finally forced to abandon his home and came to Canada in 1778. The women and children were soon accommodated in a refugee camp, and John enlisted in the King's Royal Regiment of New York, served as a sargeant in Bateau Company under Capt. Jost Herkimer. He was stationed at Coteau du Lac for the duration of the war. In 1784 the regiment was disbanded. John and his family settled at New Johnstown, which was later renamed Cornwall. Numbered tickets were drawn from a hat, and John drew Lot 25 on the front of Cornwall Township. The Homestead was held by McNairns until the St. Lawrence Seaway was flooded in 1957. Stanley McNairn had the house moved, brick by brick, to its present location along Highway 2 in Long Sault. 

From Handwritten McNairn Family History at Lynne Cook's Research Center: 

John McNairn came to the U.S.A. in 1773. He settled in the Mohawk Valley, but when the war of Independence broke out he remained loyal to Britain. He was a sergeant in the King's Royal Regiment of New York. After hostilities ended he remained in Canada. He settled on Lot 25 Concession 1 in Cornwall Tsp. This property was handed down from father to son, to his great-great-grandson, Stanley  McNairn, and finally was flooded with the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

LDS IGI, Batch#8202802 Sheet #86 Source Call # 0884743
OPR Batch#8202802 Sheet #86 Source Call 0884743 page 89
Also information from: "Sons and Daughters of American Loyalists" by
W.D. Reid; "Loyalist Lineages, Vol. 1"; "Family History Of Loyalists and their
Descendants" from holdings at the UELA, Toronto; "American Migrations
1765-1799" by Peter WIlson Coldham; "Loyalist Lineages of Canada";
"Upper Canada Land Petitions"; St. Lawrence Valley Union Cemetary.

New notes from Cheryl - June 2/01 - say her name is Annie Elizabeth instead of just Elizabeth. However discussion with Norman McNairn since indicates that there is no verification for this addition of the name Annie - and as far as he has researched her name is Elizabeth.

+ 24 F i. Margaret MCNAIRN was born in 1771. She died in 1815.

+ 25 F ii. Agnes MCNAIRN was born in 1782. She died in 1825.

26 M iii. John MCNAIRN was born about 1784.

His crown grant of land in Reach Township, Ontario County, was sold by his brother William in 1850, which may indicate that John had died by that time.

+ 27 F iv. Elizabeth MCNAIRN was born in 1785. She died in 1873.

28 F v. Hannah MCNAIRN was born about 1788.

Hannah remained single, and died probably prior to 1843, as her crown grant in Reach Township was sold by her brother William in that year.

+ 29 M vi. William MCNAIRN was born in 1790. He died about 1860.

+ 30 M vii. Alexander MCNAIRN was born on 28 Nov 1791. He died on 23 Dec 1854.

+ 31 M i. John MCNAIRN was born in Sep 1800. He died in 1889.