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Week 44: Spirits #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

Anyone who ever attended a McAra family wedding would easily have been able to tell which guests were on the McAra side by looking at what they were drinking - lemonade and orange juice mainly! For some unknown reason, the McAras were teetotal. It did not seem to be anything to do with religion, nor were they a part of some temperance movement. My dad would have alcohol in the house -  as a civil engineer, he used to be given bottles of whisky by various contractors, and he was happy to offer a whisky to a visitor to our home - but he never touched it himself. Although the reason for this 'family trait' was never spoken about, I always felt there had to be something.

It was when I was researching my 3 x great grandfather, Alexander McAra, that I came across a story that may possibly have started this family trait. Alexander McAra was the ancestor who was killed by his brother in 1810 in the iron mill at Cramond, near Edinburgh. The altercation which led to his death seems to have been fuelled by alcohol and took place when his brother, James, returned from the pub to discover that the forge fire had been allowed to go out. James blamed his brother Thomas, and a brawl with Alexander ensued, during which James hit Alexander on the head with a metal tongs. Alexander died four days later and James was convicted of manslaughter at Edinburgh High Court in 1811 and sentenced to deportation to Tasmania. All this is laid out in quite graphic detail in a transcription of the trial in The Scottish Chronicle in February 1811, where it is also stated :

"It is to be wished that this refreshment had not taken place in the way that it did, as liquor had been used by the parties which was not only unnecessary but improper; for it had appeared that the prisoner had been in a state of intoxication during the early part of that day"

At the time of his death Alexander was only 31 and left behind a wife and six children between the ages of 1 and 10, my great-great grandfather John being the eldest. James, sent away from Scotland, left behind a wife and six children aged between 1 year and 9 years old. It is impossible to imagine what effect this senseless killing had on both families. I do not think it is unreasonable on my part to suppose that alcohol was thereafter seen as something that should be avoided and, even if the story was lost down the generations, the sentiment still stayed.

In Tasmania, James was eventually pardoned by the Governor and given a portion of land. He was friends with the town magistrate  (but that's another story!) and was very well thought of. However, he doesn't appear to have learned the same lesson about the evils of alcohol as those he left behind in Scotland. James died at the age of 63. At the inquest into his death, excessive drinking was the given as the cause.


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