This family history works backwards in time from Dugald McKechnie (1886 - 1966). It comprises four main components:

• A traditional family tree in diagram form
• A "CV" page for each person, summarising what we know of the main milestones in their life
• Further detailed information, photographs, and scanned documents.
• Background information on the places and times in which our subjects lived.

The tree diagram uses the following symbols and abbreviations:

Clicking on a name on the tree takes you to the "CV" page for that person.

The CV page comprises a common-format table followed by additional text and photographs where available. Clicking on any name in the table (parents, children, or spouse), will open the CV page for that person, where one exists. In this way it is possible to navigate up or down through the branches of the family tree. Other hyperlinks are to source references, photographs, more detailed information, or in some cases another web site. Where information is based on unconfirmed circumstantial evidence or calculated to be approximate, the text is printed in grey.

To protect the privacy of the living, no details are included for the generations born after 1900; they won't normally be added to the internet edition of the family tree until about 100 years after their birth. Note that hyperlinks leading to these "youngsters" will result in a "page not found" message.

Family Tree

Other information

The origin of the name McKechnie is discussed here.

The town of Greenock figures strongly in the family history from the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century. A brief history of the town as it relates to the family is therefore included, to bring the personal details into context. There is a similar history for the Lochgilphead and Campbeltown areas.

The medical terms used in the 19th century are often quite different from those used today. To help interpret death certificates, a glossary of medical terms is included.

To get a full flavour of life in the cities and towns of Scotland in the late 19th and early 20th century, you would be well advised to read beyond the confines of these pages. An excellent source is Neil Munro's "Erchie" and "Jimmy Swan" stories (ISBN 1 874744 05 X, Birlinn, 1996). Also worth reading is "Wee McGreegor" by J.J.Bell (ISBN 0 586 04706 9, Panther, 1981), which is particularly notable for its characterisation of the Glasgow dialect and family life. And of course no library of Scottish culture would be complete without a few volumes of "Oor Wullie" and "The Broons" ("Sunday Post", D.C.Thomson, Dundee). Although dating from about 1950 onwards, these stories seem to reflect the timeless aspects of Scottish urban life.

For an insight into the character of the west coast highlander of the same era, there could be nothing more compelling and entertaining than Neil Munro's "Para Handy" (ISBN 1 874744 02 5), Birlinn, 1993).

Extracts from a number of census returns have been collected. These are in mainly tabular format transcribed from the original documents or the LDS 1881 CD set, and in most cases links are provided from the relevant individual's page. Hyperlinks in the following table lead to the extracts currently available:

In some cases, images of pages from the contemporary hand-written documents are also available, and these can be accessed via a hyperlink in the transcribed tables.

Most of the early family photographs appearing in these pages have been passed down through the generations until they reached the author. Any photographs not yet identified to an individual have been included in a "photos awaiting identification" page.

This site is best viewed with a minimum screen resolution of 800x600 in at least 256 colours and has been designed to be compatible with Internet Explorer 4 or 5. If you have any difficulties with other browsers, or have any other comments or suggestions on this site, please email the webmaster.

Page last updated 19-11-05