Lachlan McGillivray
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Lachlan McGillivray (–1799) was a prosperous fur trader and planter in colonial
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with interests that extended from
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to what is now central
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. He was the father of
Alexander McGillivray Alexander McGillivray, also known as ''Hoboi-Hili-Miko'' (December 15, 1750February 17, 1793), was a Muscogee (Creek) leader. The son of a Muscogee mother, Sehoy II, and a Scottish father, Lachlan McGillivray, he was literate and received a ...
and the great-uncle of
William McIntosh William McIntosh (c. 1775 – April 30, 1825),Hoxie, Frederick (1996)pp. 367-369/ref> also known as Tustunnuggee Hutke (White Warrior), was one of the most prominent chiefs of the Muscogee Creek Nation between the turn of the 19th-century and hi ...
and
William Weatherford William Weatherford, also known after his death as Red Eagle ( – March 24, 1824), was a Creek chief of the Upper Creek towns who led many of the Red Sticks actions in the Creek War (1813–1814) against Lower Creek towns and against allied f ...
, three of the most powerful and historically important Native American chiefs among the Creek of the Southeast.


Early life

McGillivray was born in Dunmaglass,
Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...
, Scotland. Details of his early life are sketchy; he left no account and his biographers often romanticized his tale. They claimed that he was fleeing the Highland rebellion of 1745 and that he arrived penniless in a strange land, though probably neither of these is true. He was born into the McGillivray (or ''M'Gillivray'', as he himself wrote the name) family of the
Clan Chattan Clan Chattan ( or ), also sometimes referred to as "Clan Dhugaill" (Quehele) after its progenitor Dougall-Dall, is a unique confederation of Highland clans. This distinctive allied community comprised at its greatest extent seventeen separate ...
, a large Scottish clan traditionally led by members of the MacGillivray clan McIntosh family. More probable is that he emigrated in the late 1730s to either
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, or
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, where members of his family had been engaging in the Indian trade for a generation. He may have arrived as an
indentured servant Indentured servitude is a form of Work (human activity), labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract called an "indenture", may be entered voluntarily for a prepaid lump sum, as paymen ...
to his relative Farquhar McGillivray, a merchant with interests along the southern Atlantic seaboard. Records attest that Farquhar McGillivray employed indentured servants, and it was not uncommon for such arrangements to be made between relatives. Brother to Lachlan and uncle to
Alexander McGillivray Alexander McGillivray, also known as ''Hoboi-Hili-Miko'' (December 15, 1750February 17, 1793), was a Muscogee (Creek) leader. The son of a Muscogee mother, Sehoy II, and a Scottish father, Lachlan McGillivray, he was literate and received a ...
, Captain Alexander McGillivray (d.1763) regularly transported cargos between Charleston and the West Indies. His will probated in 1764 included a bequest to "brother Lachlan McGillivray, a mourning suit of clothes and a mourning ring."


Colonist in North America

Lachlan McGillivray was one of several
Scottish Highlanders The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlan ...
recruited by
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to act as settler-soldiers protecting the frontiers of Georgia from the Spanish in Florida, the French in the Alabama basin, and the Indian allies of the Spanish and the French. On January 10, 1736, Lachlan and 176 emigrants, including women and children, arrived on board the ''Prince of Wales'' to establish the town of
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, originally known as New Inverness. The town was founded in January 1736 and named after the
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, a former Scottish colony in
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. By the mid-1740s, McGillivray was well established as a trader in the Upper Creek nation in what is now central
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. He established a
fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...
post and
plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...
at Little Tallassee (also spelled ''Talisi'' in some documents) near today's
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, possibly on the site of the former
Fort Toulouse Fort Toulouse and Fort Jackson are two forts that shared the same site at the fork of the Coosa River and the Tallapoosa River, near Wetumpka, Alabama, United States. Fort Toulouse Fort Toulouse (Muscogee: Franca choka chula), also called Fort ...
. He prospered and invested his trading and plantation profits in businesses on the Atlantic coasts of Georgia, eventually settling in
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, as a man of considerable wealth. In a will drafted in 1767, long before his death, he planned the disposition of a plantation on Hutchinson Island, Georgia, a plantation known as ''Vale Royal'' upriver from Savannah, and
cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In book-keeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-i ...
bequests totaling more than £2,500, implying that he was in possession of that amount of currency, as well as numerous bequests of
slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
and other valuable chattel. McGillivray was an accomplished Indian trader and Adair praised his skill in negotiating with the Creek to stay neutral during the French and Indian Wars (1760-1761).


Marriage and family

Though there is no record of McGillivray having married in the
Scottish Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pre ...
tradition, he took as a consort a high-status Creek woman named Sehoy Marchand. Their marriage was recognized by the Creek. Early biographers claimed Sehoy Marchand was the daughter of a French officer at
Fort Toulouse Fort Toulouse and Fort Jackson are two forts that shared the same site at the fork of the Coosa River and the Tallapoosa River, near Wetumpka, Alabama, United States. Fort Toulouse Fort Toulouse (Muscogee: Franca choka chula), also called Fort ...
named
Jean-Baptiste Marchand Jean-Baptiste Marchand (; 22 November 1863 – 14 January 1934) was a French general and explorer in Africa. Marchand is best known for commanding the French expeditionary force during the 1898 Fashoda Incident. Career Marchand was born in ...
. Her mother was also named Sehoy, and she was a high-status woman of the ''Koasati'' (alternative spelling: Coushatta), of the Wind Clan. Hers was a politically powerful family of the Upper Creek nation, which had
matrilineal Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...
system of descent and property. Sehoy's immediate family included several important chiefs. The marriage was a strategic alliance for her family as well as for the ambitious trader; she could protect her children within the tribe. Albert Pickett and other biographers portrayed Sehoy as a beautiful black-eyed Indian princess, with whom McGillivray was instantly lovestruck. Historical and circumstantial evidence suggest the marriage may have been strategic for both sides, as he gained by being allied with a high-status family of Creek, and Sehoy and her family had benefits from a connected European-American trader. They had three children: Alexander, Sophia and Jean (also spelled Jeanne) McGillivray (the latter named after Lachlan's sister). The children lived most of the time with their mother in the Creek tribe and learned its language and ways, although the father sent Alexander to a European-American school in Charleston and Augusta. Many Native American chiefs supported such alliances; European traders, who were men of capital, also sought the alliances of marriage into tribes to strengthen their relationships. Though the Creek tribes treated
marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
as a serious institution and had strong taboos against infidelity (especially by women),
divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...
was permissible and easily achieved. A husband could divorce a wife by leaving her house, and a wife her husband by leaving his possessions outside of her door. To the
matrilineal Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...
Creek tribe The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsMuscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Here they waged war again ...
. After the late 1750s, Sehoy married at least two other men (monagamously), with whom she bore at least two additional children, before McGillivray relocated to Savannah. McGillivray made neither provision nor mention of Sehoy in his 1767 will. She was the custodial parent of their son,
Alexander McGillivray Alexander McGillivray, also known as ''Hoboi-Hili-Miko'' (December 15, 1750February 17, 1793), was a Muscogee (Creek) leader. The son of a Muscogee mother, Sehoy II, and a Scottish father, Lachlan McGillivray, he was literate and received a ...
, whom he did acknowledge and provide for. The younger McGillivray became a prominent Creek chief and planter, and a slaveholder like his father. Though McGillivray made neither mention nor provision for his daughters in his will, their accounts attest to a relationship with him, as they visited him in Savannah, and Sophia named her oldest son, Lachlan McGillivray Durant, for him.Digital Library on American Slavery
University of North Carolina - Location: Mobile, Alabama - Abstract: Latchlin Durant seeks to regain possession of slaves given by his grandfather McGilveray to his mother. McGillivray's will and other surviving writings frequently noted Alexander, referred to as his "natural son," a euphemism for illegitimate. McGillivray, a
patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...
member of the Clan Chattan, may well have fought a kind of custody battle with his son's mother. As a member of the matrilineal Creeks, she considered her son and daughters as members of her own Wind Clan. As was traditional, Alexander was reared with his maternal uncle Red Shoes, who by varying accounts was either brother or uncle to his mother Sehoy. The role of maternal uncles in the upbringing of a male child was far more important to the Creek than that of the father, as they were of the same clan. The biological father belonged to a different clan. The uncle would mentor the boy through introduction to men's roles and societies. McGillivray took an interest in Alexander, for he arranged and paid (at considerable expense) for the boy's education at
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
academies in Charleston and Augusta. The father also arranged for the youth's apprenticeship in at least one mercantile house. He bequeathed him the substantial sum of £1,000 and made other bequests in his will. He bequeathed his most valuable assets, his plantations outside Savannah, to the "lawfully begotten" children of his Scottish siblings and cousins.


Loyalist and American Revolution

Lachlan McGillivray returned to Scotland for lengthy visits prior to the
American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
, but appeared to have identified as a citizen of
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, the source and location of his considerable fortune. He took an active role in Savannah's administration, where his knowledge of Creek leaders and their languages/cultures were useful for negotiations of treaties between the tribes and the city. In the Scottish insurrections of the early 18th century, his Clan Chattan had mostly sided with the cause of James the Old Pretender and
Bonnie Prince Charlie Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (31 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, ...
. In Savannah, McGillivray had signed petitions opposing certain Crown colonial policies (particularly parliamentary taxation). But he also had many business interests with British merchants and, at the outset of the American Revolution, he was a Loyalist. As the war progressed, he and other Loyalists in Savannah earned enemies among the Patriot factions and the Continental Army. Continental soldiers arrested McGillivray and at least two of his McIntosh cousins as suspected spies. They were freed when the British captured the city, and briefly fled west of Savannah after the British evacuation at the end of the war. Following the 1783 Treaty of Paris, the new US government confiscated and sold the property of many Loyalists: McGillivray lost his lands, slaves, and much of his other property. He and several of his Loyalist relatives and friends liquidated whatever property they still possessed, and left for Scotland with whatever monies they could take out, returning to the McGillivray clan's estates in Dunmaglass, Scotland.


Death and legacy

In Scotland, McGillivray served as an advisor and guardian for the orphaned head of the Clan Chattan. He continued correspondence with his son Alexander and other friends and relatives in the United States. After his son's death in 1793, McGillivray paid for Alexander's orphaned children, Alleck and Mary (their mother had also died), to be brought to Scotland. He arranged for their education. Although not returning personally to the US, McGillivray took a role in the settling of his son's complicated estate. It was difficult for attorneys to ascertain what parts of McGillivray's lands belonged to him personally and which to the Creek tribe. Some of his assets in cattle and slaves had to be sold to pay off his many debts. Further complicating matters from a Scottish view, the younger McGillivray was a
polygamist Polygamy (from Late Greek , "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more tha ...
in the Creek tradition of successful men. He had other wives, who were also of mixed Creek and European ancestry. Lachlan McGillivray died in his native Scotland in 1799 at around 80 years of age. Neither his will nor his place of interment are known. Alleck and Mary McGillivray were still living with him in Scotland at that time. Alleck died as a young adult shortly after his grandfather. Mary McGillivray's life has not been traced.


Marriage and issue

Lachlan married Sehoy Marchand, member of the Wind Clan of the Creek, a daughter of
Jean Marchand Jean Marchand (December 20, 1918 – August 28, 1988) was a French Canadian public figure, trade unionist and politician in Quebec, Canada. Life and career During the 1949 Asbestos Strike in Quebec, Marchand led the striking workers as s ...
and Sehoy They had the following: *
Alexander McGillivray Alexander McGillivray, also known as ''Hoboi-Hili-Miko'' (December 15, 1750February 17, 1793), was a Muscogee (Creek) leader. The son of a Muscogee mother, Sehoy II, and a Scottish father, Lachlan McGillivray, he was literate and received a ...
, became the leader of the Creeks as they attempted to prevent overrunning of Creek territory covering most of Middle and Southern Alabama and Georgia, as European settlers pushed inland from the Eastern seaboard. * Jean McGillivray, who married French officer Le Clerc Milfort, later of service in the Napoleonic army and famed as a memoirist. * Sophia McGillivray who married Benjamin Durant and was mother to a large family and may have died at the
Fort Mims massacre The Fort Mims massacre occurred on August 30, 1813, at a fortified homestead site 35-40 miles north of Mobile, Alabama, during the Creek War. A large force of Creek Indians belonging to the Red Sticks faction, under the command of Peter McQue ...
in which her nephew Red Eagle was involved. * John Jack "White Cloud' Ward, III - adopted son who later married Nahoga ("Nancy") Mahala Moniac. John Ward was Red Eagle's War General and Indian Interpreter. Buried at Fort Mitchell in 1813 Sehoy Marchand married again after McGillivray. She had a daughter, Sehoy III. Sehoy III married a man named Weatherford, and one of their sons was
William Weatherford William Weatherford, also known after his death as Red Eagle ( – March 24, 1824), was a Creek chief of the Upper Creek towns who led many of the Red Sticks actions in the Creek War (1813–1814) against Lower Creek towns and against allied f ...
, better known to history by his Creek name, translated as Red Eagle.


References


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McGillivray, Lachlan 1799 deaths Scottish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies 18th-century American planters Multiracial affairs in the United States Scottish people of the British Empire 1710s births American slave owners American fur traders People from Savannah, Georgia People from Inverness Loyalists in the American Revolution from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Darien, Georgia People from Elmore County, Alabama