My Family Tree

This branch of the McLean family came from Mull, Scotland in 1808. They weren't the first McLeans in Prince County. A Margaret McLean from Princetown married Thomas Simpson in 1793, Joseph McLean was a head of household in Princetown, and Allan McLean in Lot 16, at the time of the 1798 census.

There was a marriage of a Lachlan McLean to Catherine McKinnon on August 14 1789 in Mull - the date might mean this is a different couple, or perhaps Catherine was a second wife - there was a gap of 5 years between Ann and Hector. I was unable to find a household with Lachlan that fit this family in a transcription of the 1779 census of Mull.

Laughlin and his wife, Catherine and family were on the passenger list for the Clarendon, which sailed from Oban, Argylshire in 1808, arriving in Charlottetown in August of that year. The passenger list had the following family group:
Lauchn. McLean, age 60 - Labourer - Mull, Argyle
Cath. McLean, age 56, his wife - Mull, Argyle
Flora McLean, age 30, his daughter - Mull, Argyle
Hugh McLean, age 25, his son - Mull, Argyle
Ann McLean, age 20, his daughter - Mull, Argyle
Hector McLean, aged 15, his son - Mull, Argyle
John McLean, age 12, his son - Mull, Argyle
Euphemia McLean, age 10, his daughter - Mull, Argyle (could be the same daughter as Harriet)

Other McLeans from Mull on this ship were Allan, 38; Angus 60, daughters Mary 26 and Ann, 25; Lach. 25, wife Ann and daughter Janet, age1; Sarah McLean, 24.

Another son, Alexander (1777-1870) also emigrated to the Island, but not on this ship. He married Nancy MacKinnon, and resided at North River. There were other ships leaving Oban for Prince Edward Island around 1808 - perhaps the family was separated.

Local histories say the family stayed in the Belfast area before moving to Prince County. By March of the next year, Laughlin McLean had leased 100 acres of land in Lot 16 according to the History of Brae, Lot 9. (see also Pages from the Past: Central Lot 16 on Island Lives website, "A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants Before Confederation" by Donald Whyte. pg 282 #8073, and CLARENDON passenger list, PEI Colonial Office Papers reference 226 volume 23, published in ISLAND MAGAZINE 1977 and the Island Register)

Land Transaction to Laughlin in Lot 9, dated 28 Feb 1768 and registered 28 Aug 1790 .

From A Century of Farewells, which cites the history of Lot 16 and a history of Brae:

Hugh (1783-1859), m. Margaret MacKendrick, of Lot 14, resided at Low Point, Lot 12;
Ann (1788-1878), m. Alex. MacDougall, of Bideford, Lot 12;
Hector (1793-1883), m. Agnes Sinclair, of Malpeque, Princetown Royalty, resided in Lot 16;
John A. (1796-1890), m. Jane MacLaughlin, resided at Lot 16 until about 1850 when he moved to Brae, Lot 9 and settled on Green's Mill Farm; and
Euphemia (1802-). [This date doesn't fit with her age in 1808, which was 10.]

Death notices for Laughlin, Hugh and Alexander state that they emigrated from Mull in 1808.

John's family was in the history of the Brae, and for Hector's family, see Lot 16 United Church and its People.

I haven't been able to verify these children for variations of the names Laughlin/Lauchlan and Catherine in the Scotland's people databases. However, Scotland had marriages that were not recorded in the parish records, and many families could not afford the fee to baptize a child. Certainly, the names Catherine and Laughlin appear in the families of their descendants. (transcriptions of Mull records show a marriage between Lachlan McLean and Catherine McKinnon August 14 1789, and a Lachlan and Kate McKinnon Dec 6 1795.)

"Lot 16, Lauchlin Mclean at 92, emigrated from Argyll 1809". Royal Gazette 5 April 1842. Death card says died 1842 at age 98, or born 1744; new gravestone errected later by the family gives 1748-1842

THE COLONIAL HERALD & P.E.I. ADVERTISER, SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1842
DEATH: MACLEAN - At the Cove, Lot 16, on the 29th ultimo, Mr. Lauchlan M'Lean, a native of Argyle, N.B., in the 92d year of his age; he came to this Island in 1809.

Possible signature of Laughlin McLean on a petition, sometime between 1824-1831