I am trying to locate Glensaul, North Knapdale, Argyllshire. Although the place name appears in several family histories in addition to that of the Blue family, no contemporary maps show either a settlement or a landscape feature of that name or the variant "Glen Saul".

In the absence of better information, for now I am basing my assumption that my ancestor came from there on the information quoted in the following paragraphs. I hope to travel to Scotland in June of 2012 for an event in Edinburgh. I would extend the trip to two or three weeks and would first spend a day at the Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society in Glasgow. Then I would make the somewhat arduous train, ferry, local bus, ferry, local bus and walk journey to the lodging nearest to the head of a footpath to Glensaul. (But first I need to know where Glensaul is!) Any guidance will be greatly appreciated. The closest possibility I have found so far, and this is a stretch, is a glen named on Ordnance Survey Explorer Map number 358 as "Gleann Sabhail". "Gleann" translates to "Glen" and pronunciation guides to Scottish Gaelic indicate that "Sabahil" ("barn") might possibly be Anglicized to a pronunciation that could be spelled "saul". The upper end of Gleann Sabhail is less than a kilometer south of another landscape feature, Barbae Dounie (see John Blue, below), and about 1.5 km southwest of the ruins of the Arichonan settlement (see Daniel Blue, below). The lower end of the glen is about 2 km north of Tayvallich.

According to http://members.tripod.com/blue_family/scottish1.html "Prior to their emigration in 1803/4, the North Gage and River BLUEs lived in Argyllshire, Scotland. Argyll militia records during the 1797 to 1803 time period, extracted by Mr. Ian McDONALD (reference A11), indicate that a John BLUE lived in Barbea Dounie and Drynoch, Dugald (Duncan) BLUE lived in Glensaul, and Daniel (Donald) BLUE lived in Arichonan, all towns being in Argyllshire." Another brother, Malcom "(1748-1828), m. Flora JOHNSTON (1758-1809)".

"Dugald (Duncan) BLUE (1766-1853), m.1797 Catherine McKELLER (1773-1850). They both were born in Argyllshire, Scotland, he at North Knapdale. They were married in Scotland. They came to America in 1803, first settling at Norfolk VA. He was opposed to slavery, so in 1804 they joined his brothers Malcolm and John in Oneida Co. NY. He purchased 33 acres in Lot #4 of Great Lot 54. In 1819 he sold this land and they again moved, this time to Herkimer Co. NY, and settled in the town of Russia. Dugald appears in the census of Herkimer Co. from 1820 through 1850. He died at Russia and is buried at Gravesville, Herkimer Co. NY."

Their youngest child was "Archibald BLUE (1812-1875), m1. 1847 Catherine LAUDER (1819-1854), m2. Mary (WALKER) ALMY (1828-1878)." Archibald and Mary were my great-grandparents. Archibald and Catherine had a son, Ianthus, who married Patience Wood, daughter of Elias Wood, from Bull Hill near Gray, NY. When my grandmother, Mary Catherine ("Mate"), was orphaned in May of 1878 at the age of 7, they took her in and provided her with a home until she married my grandfather, Elmer Wood, Patience's much younger brother, in 1895. Via current roads, Gravesville is about 12 miles from the Elias Wood homestead on Bull Hill, so although the Archibald Blue and Elias Wood families probably would not have socialized often, they probably would have met occasionally, creating the conditions for Ianthus and Patience to meet.

Sincerely,
Marianna Stewart
(granddaughter of Mary Catherine Blue Wood and daughter of Margaret Wood, who married James Earl Stewart in Painted Post, NY in 1943)