An Aberdeenshire Hutcheon and an Aberdeenshire Aitken today. They both had what reads as ordinary, even dull lives – but then we don’t know the detail, what interested them, or what created their joyful moments
25 November 1807
Baptism of my gggg uncle Alexander Hutcheon at Longside, son of Alexander Hutcheon and Agnes Bruce. In 1841 he’s an ag lab at Red Lums, Longside with his mother, sister and a niece. He married Margaret Hutcheon or Hutchison in 1842 at Longside, who was the daughter of another Alexander Hutcheon and Jane Sangster, so the couple were most probably related. In 1851 they are at Kirk Street, Longside with 4 children and Alexander is a road maker, but he was an ag lab in 1861 and 1871, when they were at High Street, Longside, though his death certificate says he was a crofter. Alexander died in 1875 at Longside at age 68.
25 November 1849
Birth of Helen Aitken at Longside, Aberdeenshire, daughter of William Aitken and Elizabeth Milne and aunt of my step great grandmother Helen Ann Morgan. The name Helen Aitken reappears on my family tree as my father’s sister Helen Strachan became Helen Aitken when she married, but there’s no connection between the Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire families! The born in 1849 Helen Aitken was living in Cruden parish with her parents in 1861, her father a farm overseer. She married young, as in September 1865 she married George Davidson, a farm labourer. They led the usual life of a farm servant and his family, moving from farm to farm, with their children being born in various places within the Buchan part of Aberdeenshire. By 1901, though, Helen had been widowed, was earning a living as a charwoman, and had a grandson living with her.
