My Family Tree

Malcolm was not in the Scotland births database on familysearch, or in the old parish records on the Scotland's People database, but there are gaps in the coverage of the parish where John and Margaret lived.

According to Westcountrymen in Prince Edward's Isle, Malcolm and Michael Ramsay settled near Low Point around 1775.

As a member of the legislature, it is likely that he was the Mal. Ramsay Esq. in Lot 16 for the 1798 census, with 3 males and 4 females under 16, and an older man and woman. (fits with children Donald, John, Archibald; Jennie, Helen, Margaret, Mary)

According to the History of Belmont, PEI: "In 1809, Malcome (1757-1841) received a 100 yr. lease to 115 acres of land, at the end of Shemody Creek. He was married to Mary Murphy (1759—1839). He was agent for Governor Patterson and was a member of the House of Assembly. He was nicknamed Moccasin Ramsay because he wore moccasins when he went to Charlottetown to attend the sessions."

He later lived in Lot 17. There is a conveyance of 100 acres of land in Lot 17 to Malcolm Ramsay dated July 1801. In 1839, Malcolm Ramsay signed a conveyance for 106 acres in Lot 17 to Charles Ramsay, possibly his son. (This might be why Charles was not named in Malcolm's will.)

The will of Malcolm Ramsay Lot 17, signed 1837 but never put through probate: 46 acre farm to his son Archibald. Will also names wife Mary, children Jannet, Nelly, Mary, Margaret, James and John. (See Early PEI probate, by Linda Jean Nicholson)

The family tree on the Island Register, as well as the histories of Hamilton, Lot 18 and Elmsdale, Lot 4 says 17 children, with 8 names lost. The known names were Jennie, Nellie, John, Donald, Mary, Margaret, Archibald, Charles and James. The booklet put together by Thomas Ramsay in the 1920s says:
Jane or Janet, called Jennie, married Matthew Stewart
Ellen or Helen, called Nellie, married George Ellison
John married Coy McKay
Donald married Betsy Green
Mary, married William Hutchinson
Margaret married George Montgomery and later, George Murray
Archibald married Helen Stewart
Charles married Miss Hunter [Margaret]
James married Ann Maxfield

What about missing children, how likely is that? Mary might have expected to have had children about ever 2 years, from 1782-1807. There were no missing children in the 1798 census, which accounts for the children born about every 2 years from 1782-1796, and then Charles and James, born when Mary was in her early forties. I can't see that she had the space to have had another 8 - any children born before 1798 did not survive to be counted in that census. The William Ramsay who had a daughter baptized in Bedeque in 1821 might fit with Malcolm and Mary, and the Ann Ramsay who married Thomas Boyle in 1835. Malcolm Ramsay - there were a couple - was a witness at her mariage.

On the whole, Malcolm's family has been fairly well documented.

DNA link to a descendant