Tour Scotland 4K Summer travel video of a road trip drive, with Scottish music, East on the A827 road on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit to Logierait, Highland Perthshire, Britain, United Kingdom. Alexander Mackenzie, second prime minister of Canada, was born on 28 January 1822 in Logierait, Perthshire, the son of Mary Stewart Fleming and Alexander Mackenzie, Senior, born 1784, who were married in 1817. The site of his birthplace is known as Clais-'n-deoir meaning The Hollow of the Weeping, where families said their goodbyes as the convicted were led to nearby Gallows Hill. The house in which he was born was built by his father and is still standing. He was the third of 10 boys, seven of whom survived infancy. He apprenticed as a stonemason and met his future wife, Helen Neil, in Irvine, where her father was also a stonemason. The Neils were Baptist and shortly thereafter, Mackenzie converted from Presbyterianism to Baptist beliefs. Together with the Neils, he immigrated to Canada in 1842 to seek a better life. Mackenzie's faith was to link him to the increasingly influential temperance cause, particularly strong in Canada West where he lived, a constituency of which he was to represent in the Parliament of Canada. Mackenzie married Helen Neil in 1845 and with her had three children, with only one girl, Mary, surviving infancy. Helen and he moved to Sarnia, Ontario, known as Canada West, in 1847 and Mary was born in 1848. They were soon joined from Scotland by the rest of Mackenzie's brothers and his mother. He began working as a general contractor, earning a reputation for being a hard working, honest man, as well as having a working man's view on fiscal policy. Mackenzie helped construct many courthouses and jails across southern Ontario. A number of these still stand today, including the Sandwich Courthouse and Jail now known as the Mackenzie Hall Cultural Centre in Windsor, Ontario, and the Kent County Courthouse and Jail in Chatham, Ontario. When the Macdonald government fell due to the Pacific Scandal in 1873, the Governor General, Lord Dufferin, called upon Mackenzie, who had been chosen as the leader of the Liberal Party a few months earlier, to form a new government. Mackenzie formed a government and asked the Governor General to call an election for January 1874. The Liberals won, having garnered 53.8% of the popular vote. The voter support of 53.8% remains the record in Canada for all federal elections. Mackenzie remained prime minister until the 1878 election when Macdonald's Conservatives returned to power with a majority government. After his government's defeat, Mackenzie remained Leader of the Opposition for another two years, until 1880. He was soon struck with a mysterious ailment that sapped his strength and all but took his voice. Sitting in silence, he nevertheless remained an undefeated MP until his death in 1892 from a stroke that resulted from hitting his head during a fall. He died in Toronto and was buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. William Mackenzie, was a Scottish Convict was convicted in Inverness, in the Higlands of Scotland for 7 years, and was transported aboard the Asia on 5th November 1835, arriving in Tasmania in 1836; John MacKenzie, arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship Helen Thompson in 1840; Duncan MacKenzie who settled in Canada in 1784; Elizabeth MacKenzie, landed in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1801; William Mackenzie, landed in Cape Fear, North Carolina, America, in 1746; Mary Mackenzie, arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, America, in 1758. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. Find things to see and do in Scotland where you are always welcome. When driving on Scottish roads in Scotland slow down and enjoy the trip. The date for astronomical Summer in Scotland is Tuesday, 21 June, ending on Friday, 23 September. @tourscotland
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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