Hunter/Gilchrist connection on Islay

 

                                      The Hunter gravestone erected by Mary Campbell in Kilnaughton Cemetery, Islay

There's nothing like going to where family connections lived and walking the places they would have walked. For a genealogist, an in-depth survey of their setting includes their final resting places. In 2010 I took a trip to Islay to follow up on my Hunters and Gilchrists. While there I walked the streets of Port Ellen and checked out the White Hart hotel which figured in the family somehow.

Being thorough, I also walked out to Kilnaughton Cemetery to check out the gravestones. It took me a while to understand the layout of the various areas in the cemetery as there was a new section and an old one. The old one held some gravestones that piqued my interest, particularly the one erected by Mary Campbell, the wife of Ronald Hunter. There, etched in stone, was her name and that of her spouse as well as the names of many of their children. It's probably a good thing that I took photos and notes of the names I was interested in. I've since checked out the online information for Kilnaughton Cemetery looking for the names of the Hunters on the stone that I recorded and none of the databases I checked have those names. Maybe the stone eroded so they can no longer be seen or maybe the people who recorded the information omitted that stone and a few others that I checked for.

                                                   The names that I recorded from the Hunter/Campbell gravestone

The information on the stone gives me a head start on Ronald Hunter's family. Now to see if I can find the final resting place of his brother, Hugh, and perhaps find out more about Hugh's daughter.