A version of this article originally appeared in issue 74 of the Caithness Family History Society newsletter.

When I began researching our family tree back in 1983, I was very fortunate as my uncle, the late George Insill (1917-2010), was a keen and meticulous genealogist who had researched his own ancestral line.  However, as George had hit several brick walls in his own line, he then started looking into the tree of his wife, my father’s sister. His many years of in-depth and painstaking research were carried out back in the days before the internet, when it was necessary to make an in-person appointment at Register House in Edinburgh and trawl through unindexed records. Therefore, thanks to George, I started with a detailed family tree for my paternal ancestry that went back to the 1700s and I was able to concentrate my initial efforts on researching my maternal line.

On my paternal side, George’s research had revealed several individuals with colourful names including the posthumously born Moses Sutherland. There was also a Honeyman Old, who had married a woman named Elder Samuel: Elder Samuel’s name had obviously caused some confusion as in her baptismal record she was recorded as a boy! Although Elder Samuel’s unusual christian name did not appear amongst any of her children or grandchildren, it did in the name of one of her great (x2) granddaughters, who was born in Oslo in 1898, and named Elder Wilde Samson.

Honeyman Old was the first brick wall that I tackled in my paternal line. According to the Old Parish Register of Banns & Marriages for Leith South parish in Midlothian: “Honeyman Old, Cooper in Leith, and Elder Samuel, Residenter in Leith, and Daughter of John Samuel, Mason in Corstorphine, after proclamation of banns were married, May 31st 1799.”

Honeyman and Elder went on to have at least eight children: David, born 27 March 1800; Katharine, born 26 December 1801; Elizabeth, born 01 April 1804; Margaret, born 24 December 1805; Helen, born 21 December 1807; Allan, born in 1814 (with no baptismal record found); a second Elizabeth, born 22 October 1818; and Jane Crisp, born 14 October 1821.

Of Honeyman’s children, Helen Old, is of interest as she seemingly married Robert Dalton Hutchison, an agent who worked in Norway and who wrote a book about fly fishing – in Norwegian.

Helen died on 28 July 1861, aged 53 , an “Enkefru” or widow at Bragerhaugen in Bragernes, which is now part of the city of Drammen, in the then county of Buskerud, in Norway. The cause of death was “Kræft i brystet” or cancer of the breast. The couple had four children and one of Helen’s granddaughters, Helen Marie Hutchison, married the celebrated Norwegian photographer, Anders Beer Wilske.  

Going back to Honeyman Old, at the time of the 1841 census, he and his wife Elder Samuel were living at Giles Street, Kemps Close, in south Leith parish in Midlothian. He was described as being aged 63, born in Midlothian, and his occupation was Cooper Journeyman, with a note which appears to read: ”Parish aid now”.

Honeyman must have died at some unknown date between 1841 and 1851 as in the 1851 census, Elder Samuel is described as a widow.

Honeyman Old remained a brick wall for many years as my uncle George had been unable to find anyone of that name born in Midlothian. It was not until 2010 that I discovered there was a “Honyman Oal” who had been born, of all places, in “The Bog” in Bower parish in Caithness and baptised on 28 June 1776. His parents were David Oal and Elizabeth Durran, and the witnesses were David Miller and William Oal. Was this our Honeyman Old? The similarities between the names – Honeyman/Honyman and Old/Oal – were striking. The year of birth was much as expected from Honeyman’s recorded age in the 1841 census. Meanwhile, Honeyman and Elder’s eldest son had been named David, after his paternal grandfather, and their second (and fifth) daughter was named Elizabeth, after her paternal grandmother, as would be expected had they followed Scottish traditional naming patterns. It appeared that we had finally broken through our brick wall and to our great surprise, it seemed that our Honeyman Old had not been born in Midlothian, but in Bower parish in Caithness, Scotland’s most northern mainland country, as Honyman Oal!

David Oal, Honyman Oal’s father, had married Elizabeth Durran(d) or Murran, and appears to have had only one son but five daughters. The eldest daughter, Jean Ole, was born at Thura, Honeyman at “The Bog”, Margaret and Katharine at “Oakhorn”and “Oukhor” (Auchorn) where their father, David, also appears to have been born. Helen was born at Greenlaw in the Parish of Dunnett while Eliza was born back at Thura in Bower parish.

The fate of the two elder daughters is unknown and they may well have died in infancy. On the other hand, Honeyman’s three youngest sisters Katharine, Helen and Eliza lived into old age and passed their twilight years as spinsters at nearby Whitegar in Bower parish.

Honeyman’s father was born at “Oucorn” (Auchorn) and baptised on 11 March 1742. He was recorded as David Oall, son of George Oall but no mother was named in the OPR entry. The witnesses to the baptism were William Coggill there (i.e. Auchorn) and Allexander Miller in Smerrell. 

David also had a younger sister who was also born at “Owcorn” (Auchorn) and baptised on 06 May 1751. She was recorded as Hellian Oll, daughter of George Oall and again no mother was named. The witnesses to the baptism were Alexander Millar in Smyrall and Donald Robson there (i.e. Auchorn). There may have been other siblings who went unrecorded.

Honyman Oal is believed to have been given his unusual name in honour of Euphan (or Euphemia) Honyman, the wife of Mr George Taylor of Thura, one of the farmsteads where the Oals lived and worked. Euphemia was a daughter of William Honyman of Graemsay, Orkney, a grandson of Andrew Honyman, Lord Bishop of Orkney & Zetland.  She was also a descendant of the Stewart Kings of Scots through her great grandmother, Mary Stewart, the second wife of Andrew Honyman. Mary Stewart was herself the daughter and heiress of James Stewart of of Graemsay, an illegitimate son of Sir Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney, who was an illegitimate son of King James V and Euphemia Elphinstone.

Euphemia Honyman was also a cousin of the notorious William Honyman, Lord Armadale, one of the instigators of the Highland Clearances in which many people were driven off their land.

The Oals are especially associated with several locations in Bower parish including Thura, Auchorn, and Whitegar. 

Whitegar, as previously mentioned, was the place where Honeyman’s three younger sisters spent their twilight years. The 1871-1873 OS Name Books describe Whitegar as “This name applies to a dwelling house and small farm-steading situated a few chains south of the graveyard. Property of David Sinclair Wemyes Esq of Southdun.”

Thura was described in the OS Name Books as “This name applies to a large farm-steading, situated a little east of the Established Church. Property of A Sinclair, Esq. of Freswick.” We know a fair bit about the history of Thura: In 1754, Daniel Taylor, a merchant in Thurso, purchased Thura from John Sinclair, last of Thura. He disponed it in 1759 to his brother, George, who married Euphemia, daughter of William Honyman of Graemsay. George’s son and heir, Captain John Taylor of the Caithness Fencibles, sold Thura in 1801 to William Sinclair of Freswick, and settled in Ireland. In addition to his legitimate children, Captain John Taylor, left an illegitimate son, a schoolmaster named Mr. Taylor of Phibsboro House, Dublin, who claimed to be “the last of the Taylors of Thura”, until 1868 when Captain Taylor’s family declared themselves to be “the only legal representatives of his name“.

Auchorn is described in the OS Name Books as “This name applies to a ordinary sized farm-steading dwelling house and small garden garden attached. Property of D. Sinclair Wemyes, Esq; of Southdun.” Auchorn was visited some years ago by my fourth cousin Allan Old (see photo above) who described it as “Auchorn, a place of many spellings.  It is variously Acorn, Aukhorn, Occorn and so on and even mis-transcribed as Buckhorn, all making it difficult to find by computer searches.  There is even another farm of the same name less than 5 miles to the east to confuse matters.  We do know this was the birthplace of David Oal, or at least Oucorn was.  I was able to walk round the farm buildings when I visited the area as the place was unoccupied and up for sale.  Old maps show that some parts are older than others and this is supported by the building materials used.  Despite obvious changes over the years I know I have trodden the same ground as my ancestors from the 1740s and probably before.

Another notable Bower place associated with the Oals was “The Bog” where Honyman was born. In 2021, Ian Leith of CFHS gave a talk at one of the excellent Scottish Indexes Conferences run by Graeme and Emma Maxwell. I asked Mr Leith if he knew where “The Bog” in Bower parish might be: He smiled and replied that there were a lot of bogs in Caithness!

Our earliest known direct male line ancestor was George Oall or Oll, who may have been born circa 1721 in Caithness. George, as noted, was the father of David Oall, who was born at “Oucorn” (Auchorn) in Bower parish and his sister Hellian (Helen) Oll, who was also born at “Owcorn“.

However, we can find a link a generation further back, as when Honyman’s sister, Helen Oal died at Whitegar on 8 May 1869, her death was registered by “William Auld, second cousin”. We have identified this William, who was born as William Oal at Halcro in Bower parish on 9th March 1795, the son of William Oal and Mary Manson. 

The William Oal/Auld who witnessed Helen’s death also had a brother, John Oal, who opened a (legal) whisky distillery at Bowertower in 1826. Sadly, the distillery soon went into receivership and on 17 February 1827, John Oal, who was described as “Merchant at Whitegar” and “Distiller at Bowertower” was cited in the London Gazette. John then emigrated to Nova Scotia, where he set up a successful distillery before retiring and returning home to Caithness.

To summarise, in Caithness our family name was Oal or variants of this such as Oall, Ole, Oll, Oil, and even Old. Our direct ancestors lived in the parish of Bower with other likely-related branches of the family living in other parishes of Caithness, especially Wick and Canisbay.

Oal was not a common name. There were only 85 baptisms recorded in the Old Parish Registers and 18 births in the Statutory Registers. While there were 47 Oals listed in the 1841 census, by 1891 there was only one Oal recorded, and by 1911 the name had disappeared from the records.

Honyman Oal’s family in Edinburgh had adopted the Anglicised surname of Old, while the Oals who remained in Caithness gradually evolved into the more Scottish variant of the surname as Aulds.

In a final twist, my mother discovered that she too has Caithness roots. She has a number of DNA matches with descendants of James Sinclair Murray and Elizabeth Jack who were married on 01 August 1873 in Dunnet parish. We are currently investigating this additional Caithness connection and hope one day to determine exactly how they are related.
We are also investigating our paternal ancestry using BigY700 testing, which has revealed some surprises. But that is a story for another day.

More on the Oals and Olds: My fourth cousin, Allan Old, has a website with additional information regarding Honyman Oal and his family.
Map images are reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (https://maps.nls.uk/)