This Site Comes With Music!

Welcome to our site, called 'Teaglach' which is Scots Gaelic for 'family'. This site has been re-designed as a collection point for McBirnie/McBurnie research information since our Family Gathering in Ayrshire August 2009.

Our branch of the family descends from James McBurnie and Ann Thomson, who were poor illiterate weavers in Ayrshire (certificates for those times shows 'His X Mark'). Most of their married life was spent in Crosshill and Kirkmichael areas.

Their children were: James b 1810, Thomas b 1813, Samuel b 1816, Elizabeth b 1818, John b 1820, William b 1822, Anne b 1828, David b 1831, and Helen b 1833. The first few children were born in the Girvan area, and the remainder around Crosshill. So we know there was a movement from Girvan to Crosshill at one point. later generations left the weaving trade as it failed, and moved into other labouring jobs around Ayrshire in places including Maybole.

Research on James McBurnie has been difficult due to the early date and lost records. However various records show a James McBurnie born to a Robert McBurnie and Bella (Isabella) Spence at Hollywood. This was first throught to be in Ireland, however there now seems to be a chance that it was in the Hollywood, Dumfries area of Scotland. More research is underway!

We have found that.....land clearances in Scotland and the chance of a better life lead to a vast migration from Scotland, especially the lowlands to Ireland which was a short boat ride away. By 1700 there were several hundred thousand Scots in Northern Ireland, but they too had enough of the endless battles, land clearances, and large increases in their rental amounts. The entire feudal system was under attack.

The lives of these folk centered around their church and parish and as dissenters against all forms of government, courts, they were ready to move on to America and other colonies of the Crown

It is known that the Irish were so numerous in Ayrshire as almost to outnumber the locals. Records show that.....’excepting a few coarse woollens and blankets all the fabrics woven are pullicates, imitation thibets, and mull and jaconet muslins. Maybole, jointly with the villages of Crosshill and Kirkmichael, had, in 1828, 1700 hand-looms, and, in 1838, 1360. The condition of the weavers is similar to that in other towns where weaving is the chief occupation, and if darkened by some peculiar local features is perhaps at least equally lightened by others’.  

Research seems to indicate that all Burnie, Burney, McBurnie, McBirnie or McBurney as living mainly in the counties of Antrim, Armagh and Down.  

There was a short lived rebellion around the turn of the 18th century - interestingly, around the time our McBurnies moved to Scotland - when many were forced to seek exile in other countries. Could this have been where they were from, or was it Dumfries?

I have updated the original Family Gathering website to allow us to work together in the future, and store and share information. Contact me using: