Tag Archives: Fraser

My ggg aunt Mary ended up as matron of a Poorhouse in Aberdeenshire. There’s also a Haddow from Ayrshire who migrated to Pittsburgh, and a Haddow descendant who didn’t marry and lived in Ardrossan, working as a servant.

22 March 1839
Baptism of my ggg aunt Mary Fraser at Mosside croft, near Hatton, Aberdeenshire, daughter of William Fraser and Christian Hutcheon. She is with her family in the 1841 census at Mosside, which was in a location named Yonderton back then. In 1851 she was a servant and scholar living with the Hutton family of Tillburn in Cruden parish: the father was a weaver and his adult daughter was a dressmaker. In 1859 Mary gave birth to an illegitimate daughter: she was registered as Isabella Fraser but was known as Isabella Shewan and on her marriage certificate names her father as Alexander Shewan, a farm servant. In 1861 Mary is at Mosside croft with her parents, siblings, her daughter and several nieces and nephews. Mary gave birth to a second illegitimate daughter in 1863 known as Mary Clark. Then in 1877, Mary married David Rennie, a crofter and neighbour, who had been widowed: he was 20 years older than Mary. In 1881 Mary is with her husband at a croft at Hardslacks with her daughter Mary Clark and a grandson of her husband’s. By 1891, however, Mary and David are living apart: Mary is using the name Fraser and is domestic servant for a farmer’s son at Corsshill, Ellon, and David is a labourer living with his daughter and her 2 children in Kirk Street, Peterhead. It would seem that David was probably unwell in 1891, and it may be that he and Mary had separated, for he died in 1893 at the Old Machar Poorhouse and on his death certificate is described as a pauper lunatic, with cause of death bronchitis and chronic Bright’s disease. By 1901, Mary has become the matron of the Poorhouse at Midmill, parish of Cruden, though at the time of the census there was only 1 inmate. Mary Rennie nee Fraser died in May 1901 at Midmill, Cruden of rheumatic fever and apoplexy (stroke).

22 March 1859
Birth of John Haddow at Kilwinning, Ayrshire, son of my gg uncle coal miner Colin Shearer Haddow and Ann Orr. He’s with his family at Kenneth’s Row, Kilwinning in 1861 – where many of my ancestors lived – and at Lylestone Row, Kilwinning in 1871. At the age of 12, John is already working at the coal mine. The family moved to Coylton in the late 1880s, and Colin there, still with his parents and siblings, in 1881 working as an iron miner. In 1887 he migrated to the USA and went to Pittsburgh. He married neighbour and widow Elizabeth Little, also a Scottish migrant, in about 1903 and in the 1910 is at Grail Street, Pittsburgh with his wife and 3 stepdaughters, working as a labourer for the City Water Department – his brother Duncan Haddow was living next door.

22 March 1862
Birth of Margaret Lewis at Saltcoats, Ayrshire, daughter of my gg aunt Wilson Haddow and Morgan Lewis. Her father was a sailor, and was at sea in 1871, as Margaret is at Chapelwell Street, Saltcoats with her mother and siblings. Her father died at Hong Kong in 1872. In 1881 Margaret is a domestic servant for the Gow family in Govan, and in 1891 is a servant for two elderly ladies in New Ardrossan, close to where her widowed mother lived. Margaret remained in New Ardrossan and in 1901 us a servant for a shipping agent and his family. In 1901 she was the informant when registering her mother’s death.

My gg aunt Mary Ann Fraser, who married David Michael, was born on the 25th and my mother remembered her. Also today is a Haddow coal miner.

25 February 1867
Birth of my gg aunt Mary Ann Fraser at Collieston, Slains, Aberdeenshire, daughter of Alexander Fraser and Mary Ann Logan. Mary Ann’s mother died in August 1867 when Mary Ann was only 6 months old: it’s likely that Mary Ann and her older brother William went to Mosside croft to live with their Fraser grandparents immediately after their mother died. But in June 1868 her father married Margaret Booth at Longside, and in 1871 Mary Anna is at Fortrie, Ellon with her farm servant father, stepmother, brother, Margaret Booth’s son, 2 young half sisters, and 2 visitors. In 1877 Mary Ann’s grandfather William Fraser died and her father Alexander took over Mosside Croft near Hatton, in Cruden parish. By 1881, at the age of 14, Mary Ann is working away from home as a domestic servant and is at Bogbrae, Cruden (not far from Mosside) working for a blacksmith and his wife. In September 1886 Mary Ann gave birth to an illegitimate son at Mosside, then in January 1887 married the father of her child, stone quarrier David Ewan Michael of Stirling Hill, near Peterhead. In the 1891 Mary Ann and David are at Lendrum Terrace, up the hill from Boddom, and have 2 children – husband David’s widowed mother is living next door. In 1891 the family can be found at Wickersgill near Shap in Westmoreland, England (now Cumbria and in the Lake District), David working as a granite quarry foreman. Mary Ann and David have 6 children and 2 boarders living with them. They must have moved to England after 1897, as their youngest child was born in 1897 in Scotland. In 1901 they had a son born in Wickersgill, but their next child was born in 1904 in Boddom. In 1911 the family are at Little Tillymaud, Coldwells, Cruden, David continuing to work as a granite quarryman. They have 8 of their 10 children at home, plus a granddaughter. Mary Ann Michael nee Fraser died in January 1940 at Thistle Cottage, Longhaven, Cruden – she was 74 and died on a tumour to the lung.

25 February 1873
Birth of John Haddow at Kilwinning, Ayrshire, son of my gg uncle coal miner Hugh Richmond Haddow and Marion Mackay and grandson of John Haddow and Amelia Murphie. John’s father died in a pit head accident 1876, and John is with his mother and maternal grandmother in Kilwinning in 1881 and 1891. He became a coal miner and is with his mother and uncle John Strannigan, who was a mill keeper, in Fergushill, Kilwinning in 1901.