Highland Life
At the start of the 18th century the Celtic feudal system the same as it was in the past centuries. Tacks, or areas of land held on a lease, were leased to ‘gentlemen’, often related to the clan chiefs who owned large swathes of the Highlands. These tacksmen then sub-let parcels of ground to tenants who paid their rent to them more often in kind than cash and were obliged to offer their dues and services in battle and other occasions of the chief’s bidding.
The farming townships of the Highlands were generally organized around small irregular clusters of huts, known as clachans or bailtean. For most of the year the Highlanders lived in these clusters of huts, with barns and stables. In the 1720’s Edmond Burt described these towns:
“A Highland town , as before mentioned, is composed of a few huts for dwellings, with barns and stables, and both of the latter are of a more diminutive size than the former, all irregularly placed, some one way and some another, and, at a distance, look like so many heaps of dirt, which are built in glens and straths, which are the corn countries, near rivers and rivulets, and also on the sides of lakes.”
The baile (town) was at the center of Highland life and economy except when the highlanders, in particular the women and children moved the cattle and sheep to the summer grazing grounds in the hills. Every year the land was rotated, and the land that was not fit for growing was used for grazing. Every tenant and subtenant, was allowed a fixed number of cattle, sheep and goats according to the souming (Number and type of stock an individual can graze on a common pasture for a fee) and their social and economic position.
In the late 17th century and into the mid 18th century over ½ the inhabitants lived north of the river Tay. By the mid 18th Century Highland life was permanently changed as a result of three things:
- Acts of Union in 1707 -creation of Great Britain by joining of the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland
- Collapse of the Jacobite Revolt
- Industrial revolution
These changes helped destroy the Pre-existing Highland way of life and as a result trigger a mass migration of people from the Highlands to start.
Acts of Union in 1707
Before the Union of 1707 the Scottish economy was ruined due to the
- Famines of the1690s, short lived due to climatic changes but severe just the same
- Failure of the Company of Darien, an unsuccessful attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to become a world trading nation by establishing a colony called “New Caledonia” on the Isthmus of Panama in the late 1690s, which failed and was abandoned in April of 1700. The Darien company was backed by nearly half the money circulating in Scotland, its failure left the country completely ruined.
- French wars and a rise of European nationalism which cut back the demand for Scottish exports
These weakness helped set the stage for change in 1707. Also during this time the Lowlands, estates were already changing. They were less looked at as sources of military power and authority but more as assets of revenue and profit. By 1700 trades in cattle, sheep, linen, coal and salt to England was over 40 percent of Scotland’s exports. Also access to colonial trade in the colonies was starting to open up. Scotland was faced with the possibility that if Union negotiations failed an English tariff wall could be erected in addition to those they already faced in other parts of Europe. Scotland needed to trade with England and her colonies.
The Union created the biggest free trade zone in Europe and gave the Scottish merchants the liberty to trade in American commodities with the protection of the Royal Navy. The Scottish governing classes developed a commitment to economic growth as a national goal. The lowlands were much more evolved and involved in the process of driving forward agrarian movement than the highlanders. There the new prosperity did not trickle down marketing was left to the clan gentry and the old way of life continued.
Unfortunately new market pressures were also being exerted on the highlands. As a result raising rents showed that the lands were adjusting to the new competitive market for agriculture. Also the rise of cattle and sheep ranches in Perthshire as well as other Highland areas further competed for the small tenant farmer. Finally improvements in farming, crop rotation and eventually steam powered machinery caused many farms to be consolidated into single tenant farms
Jacobite Revolt
The Jacobite revolt has it’s roots in the deposing of King James VII of Scotland and II of Britain. Early Jacobites wanted the restoration of Catholicism. Highland chieftains viewed Jacobitism as a means of resisting hostile government intrusion into their territories. The significance of their support for the Stuarts was that the Highlands was the only part of Britain which still maintained private armies, in the form of clan levies. In 1715 King James VII of Scotland and II’s son James Francis Edward Stuart raised the clans to fight the government but ultimately government forces put down the revolt. As a result the Clan Act and the (ineffectual) Disarming act were put in place to subdue the Highlanders and government troops were stationed in the Highlands. In addition efforts were underway to kill off the use of Gaelic.
In 1743 the government troops in the Highlands were removed to fight the French. In 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) , son of James Francis Edward Stuart led a rising to restore his father to his thrones.
It is reported that Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite army held 600 prisoners captured after their rout of Government forces at the Battle of Prestonpans were held at Logierait Prison in 1745. Together with the clans backing he fort deep into England until he suffered a crushing defeat in Culloden in April of 1746.
After the end of the Jacobite revolt Rebel chiefs lost their land and the Highlands were placed under military occupation. Hereditary jurisdictions and military tenures were abolished; a more stringent Disarming Act was made in the aftermath of the uprising, the wearing of tartan, the bearing of arms and the playing of bagpipes were all banned. Most significantly, the government prohibited the private armies of the chiefs, thereby effectively destroying the clan system.
“Much more than Jacobitism died at Culloden. Thereafter the disintegration of the old Highland society, already advanced in some quarters, was accelerated. The Patriarchal authority of the chiefs and great territorial magnates was gradually turned into landlordism. The demilitarization of Highland life broke the ties of mutual interest and idealized kinship which had bound chiefs and clansman and paved the way for a new social relationship in which the landlords came to regard their people solely as tenants and cottars” William Ferguson; Scotland; 1990; p154
Industrial revolution
While this was happening an Industrial revolution was starting in the Lowland towns. Towns such as Glasgow saw tremendous growth from small merchant towns to industrial cities and to become the powerhouse of the Scottish economy
There was the introduction for the first time on a large scale of mass- manufacture, applying new technology largely imported from England, leading to the growth of the ‘Factory System’ in textiles. Scotland already had a well- established textile trade, particularly wool and linen cloth production – but the new element was mechanization using water power and steam power as prime movers.
Logierait
In the statistical account of Scotland from 1790, it was noted that the population of Logierait was universally Jacobites. Of the 2000 people in the country and 200 in Logierait in 1791 there were:
Under 10 years of age…………………………………………………450
Over 96……………………………………………………………………… 1
Farmers………………………………………………………………………200
Their Children and Servents………………………………………1000
Artisans and apprentices…………………………………………… 60
Fisherman …………………………………………………………………. 10
Male servants………………………………………………………………. 50
Female servants ………………………………………………………….. 280
Day Laborers……………………………………………………………….. 100
Students at university………………………………………………….. 2
Shop keepers ……………………………………………………………….. 12
Gentlemen resident………………………………………………………. 6
Clergyman of the Established Church……………………………. 1
Clergyman of the Episcopal Church………………………………… 1
People belonging to the Established church………………… 1800
To the Episcopal church…………………………………………….. 390
Roman Catholics………………………………………………………….. 10
In 1790 there was about 3000 acres of arable land in Logierait. 
Oats (40%) and Potatoes (35%) covered 75% of the land. See the chart for the other crops that were planted. Whiskey and yarn was listed as export items to the Lowlands, with yarn being a staple.
In the Statistical account of Scotland in 1834 the changes were evident. Although the population increased a bit since 1790 to 3138 in 1831 (2774 in 1841) with 683 inhabited houses. The rents did not increase on land. Total rent increased from 3000 to 8000 between the 2 reports – some of the increase could be accounted for the increase in tillable land 3000 to 5000 Acres, but also enough cattle and sheep are grazing to be noted as a source of income. It was noted that wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, rye and clover is grown. In 1790 Linen yarn was listed as a source of income (3000L) this had reduced to nothing by 1834. In 1834 there were six distilleries in operation which consumed over 32,000 bushels of malt as compared to about 6ooo bushels of barley in 1790
According to FamilySearch and the GRO in the 1700’s there were the following Conachar/Conacher/Concher/Connachar/Connacher families married in Logierait.
Conachar Logierait Marriages 1700 to 1800
| Conachar Donald | Mcraw Elizabeth | 30 NOV 1702 |
| Conachar John | Borrie Elspet | 23 APR 1704 |
| Conachar David | Menzies Rachel | 08 OCT 1704 |
| Conachar David | Campbell Bettrice | 27 JUL 1708 |
| Conachar Thomas | Mcglashan Elspet | 30 JUL 1708 |
| Conachar Thomas | Toshiach Jannet | 25 NOV 1711 |
| Conachar William | Mcintersnich Anne | 08 FEB 1712 |
| Conchar Thomas | Duff Agnes | OCT 1730 |
| Conachar Donald | Dick Christian | 23 FEB 1734 |
| Conchar Patrick | Cameron Grissel | 25 JUL 1734 |
| Conchar Mungo | Mclagan Margaret | 23 MAY 1736 |
| Conacher Donald | Reid Jannet | 02 FEB 1740 |
| Conchar Donald | Douglas Bettie | 23 AUG 1740 |
| Conchar Donald | Robertson Margaret | 08 NOV 1740 |
| Conchar John | Campbell Margaret | 09 JAN 1742 |
| Conchar John | Mcra Elizabeth | 07 JUL 1744 |
| Conchar David | Duff Isobel | 16 JUL 1745 |
| Conchar Alexander | Wallace Dorothy | 11 JUL 1747 |
| Conchar Alexander | Mclagan Christian | 09 APR 1748 |
| Conchar Charles | Nicolson Barbara | 08 MAY 1748 |
| Conacher Chas. | Mcintosh Margt. | 14 NOV 1761 |
| Conachar John | Monro Cathrine | 30 JUL 1763 |
| Conachar Thomas | Mcfarlane Margaret | 01 NOV 1772 |
| Conachar Thomas | Mcdonald Grizel | 03 MAY 1774 |
| Connachar John | Morrison Isabel | 11 MAR 1776 |
| Connachar Charles | Mcgillewie Isobel | 11 JAN 1781 |
| Connachar Donald | Douglas Isabel | 09 MAY 1786 |
| Connachar Charles | Robertson Anne | 23 AUG 1790 |
| Connachar Charles | Forbes Helen | 09 DEC 1790 |
| Connachar Charles | Mc Farlane Margaret | 13 FEB 1791 |
| Connacher Mungo | Borrie Margaret | 14 JAN 1797 |
| Connacher Thomas | Mcleod Katharine | 23 FEB 1799 |
| Conacher David | Stewart Helen | 13 JUL 1799 |
In addition according to Family Search thethe following families were listed in the Logierait Parish registers when christening their children but there is no record of marriage in the Logierait Parish records
First child listed between 1700 and 1750 (from IGI)
| CONACHAR John | TOSHACH Katharin |
| CONACHAR Donald | CCRIMGEOR Margret |
| CONACHAR Donald | SCRIMGEOUR Margaret |
| CONACHAR Donald | MCCRAW Elizabeth |
| CONACHAR Wm. | ROBERTSON Anne |
| CONACHAR Patrick | ROBERTSON Isabel |
| CONCHAR Charles | MALLOCH Christian |
| CONCHAR John | FRAZER Margaret |
| CONCHAR Donald | STEUART Jean |
| CONCHAR Patrick | MCINROY Grissel |
| CONCHAR Patrick | MCNAB Catharin |
| CONCHAR Charles | ROBERTSON Christian |
| CONCHAR Patrick | BORRIE Catharin |
| CONCHAR Charles | ROBERTSON Christian |
| CONCHAR John | CAMPBEL Sicil |
| CONCHAR Patrick | BORRY Marjory |
| CONCHAR John | MCINROY Helen |
First child listed between 1747 and 1796 (from IGI)
| CONACHAR John | BROWN Lizie |
| CONACHAR Alexander | MCCLOUD Margt. |
| CONACHAR Charles | MCINTOSH Margt. |
| CONACHAR Donald | CAMPBELL Grisel |
| CONNACHAR James | BUTTER Margaret |
Perthshire Connachers 