Tag Archives: Hutcheon

12 and 13 March

Posted on March 17, 2014 | 3 comments

I’ve been busy and am struggling to catch up! So two days today, with an Alexander from Aberdeenshire who became a successful merchant in London and Sunderland, a Hutcheon from Cruden who was a farm servant and cattleman, and my Fraser half great uncle who died aged 21 from tuberculosis.

13 March 1785
Baptism of William Alexander and Chapel of Garioch, Aberdeenshire, son of my gggggg uncle William Alexander and Isobel Galloway. William took himself off to England and did very well for himself. In 1810 he married Ann Guest, a ship-owner’s daughter, at Bishopwearmouth, Sunderland and they had three children born there before moving to Newington, London: they had two children baptised there in 1824, when they were living at Union Buildings, Kent Road and William was a merchant. In 1841 William is at Bishopwearmouth with his married daughter and son in law: his son in law was also a merchant and probably did business with William. William’s wife and two other daughters (his son seems to have died young) are at 7 Stepney Green, Tower Hamlets. In 1851 William is at 11 South Terrace, Kensington with 2 servants – his wife is with their widowed son in law at Ford Hall, Durham. William Alexander died in London in 1855 and was buried at Kensal Green.

12 March 1862
Baptism of James Davidson Hutcheon at Cruden, Aberdeenshire, son of my gggg uncle Keith Hutcheon and his second wife Ann McPherson. He is with his parents and siblings in 1871, in Cruden, his father a tailor and letter carrier and his mother a seamstress. In 1881 he is working as a farm servant at Mains of Waterton, Ellon, a farm of 300 acres. In 1885 he was working as a farm servant at Mains of Amrage, Ellon, when he married domestic servant Annie Fraser: she Midtown, Cruden with 2 children and in 1901 James is a cattleman at Wateridgemuir, Logie Buchan with no children but with a 4 year old boarder, which usually means they were looking after a relative’s orphaned child. His son is nearby working as a farm servant and his daighter is a domestic servant in Aberdeen. In 1911 Keith is still a cattleman and is living at Craighall, Ellon with wife Annie, the orphan from 1901 who is now an apprentice grocer, and a grandson who is the son of his daughter. His son has migrated to Canada. James Davidson Hutchison died in 1927, age 65, at Cruden.

13 March 1908
Birth of my half great uncle Alexander Fraser at Hatton Lodge, Aberdeenshire, son of William Fraser and his second wife Helen Ann Morgan. Alexander is with his parents and siblings at Hatton Lodge in 1911, though shortly afterwards the family moved to Mosside Croft, which William Fraser took over from when his father died. Alexander worked as a farm servant but died in July 1929, age 21, of tuberculosis, and is commemorated on the headstone at Cruden Kirk.

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29 February and 1 March

Posted on March 1, 2014 | Leave a comment

There are two leap year babies on my tree – my gggg uncle Peter Strachan, and William Lamb born in Aberdeenshire. On 1 March there’s my ggg aunt Jessie Fraser who managed to bring 5 illegitimate children into the world.

29 February 1784
Birth of my gggg uncle Peter Strachan who was baptised on 7 March at Irvine, son of collier Thomas Strachan and Susannah Alexander. Peter would have been about 8 years old when the family moved to Gorbals, Lanakshire. There is a marriage of Peter Strachan and Elizabeth Strachan in 1804 at Gorbals, and there is also the baptism of Jean Strachan in 1805 at Gorbals to Peter Strachan and Catherine Calderwood. However, a Peter Strachan and Mary Monroe had children baptised in Riccarton parish from 1809, including a daughter called Susan, and in the 1841 census Peter Strachan age 55 and a coal miner, born Ayrshire, is with his wife Mary, four of their children and two lodgers, living in Croftfoot, Kilmarnock. Unfortunately it looks as if this Peter died before statutory registration in 1855, but he seems to be the most likely candidate for Thomas’s son Peter though it cannot be proven. No marriage record exists for Peter Strachan and Mary Monro but they had 10 childen, 8 of whom can be traced to adulthood. They were all coal miners or the wives of coal miners, and they all lived in Ayrshire except for one son who moved to Paisley, in Renfrewshire.

1 March 1834
Baptism of my ggg aunt Janet Fraser (known as Jessie) at Cruden, daughter of William Fraser and Christian Hutcheon. In 1841 she is with her her parents and siblings at Yonderton, which is where Mosside croft was located, and again in 1851 when she was 16. In 1854 she gave birth to an illegitimate daughter Mary Ann Matthew and in 1855 to an illegitimate son James Matthew – the father of them both was Thomas Matthew of Burnhead who was a wright and carpenter. I’ve no idea why he and Jessie did not marry, but continued to live nearby and married someone else. In 1856 Jessie had another illegitimate child named Margaret Pirie in the census, and an illegitimate son named Alexander Milne in 1859. In 1861 Jessie, still only aged 24, is working as an ag lab and living at Mosside croft with her parents, two siblings, her own 4 children, a child of one of her sisters, and the long term boarder. In 1870 her daughter Margaret Pirie, aged 16, married 38 year old Alexander Smith, a blacksmith of Cruden, and in 1871 Jessie is lliving with Alexander and Margaret at Burnthill Smithy Croft, along with Alexander’s aged father and his
daughter, and Jessie’s youngest son who is an apprentice blacksmith. On 1872 Jessie then gave birth to a fifth illegitimate child and took out a “an action relating to the paternity of a child … born June 20th 1872 against William Simpson shoemaker Peterhead, the Sherriff Court of Aberdeen & Kincardine (Peterhead District) on the 17th day of September 1872 found that the said child was the illegitimate child of the said Jessie Fraser and William Simpson”. In 1881 Jessie was working as a house maid to a farmer at Longside and had her youngest daughter with her. In 1891 she is at Damhead, Peterhead, living with her son James Milne and his wife and working as a domestic servant, and 1901 sees her at West Gask, Cruden, housekeeper to a farmer. By 1911 she is back living with her son James and his family and is listed as a storekeeper. Jessie Fraser died in 1915 at Peterhead.

29 February 1840
Birth of William Lamb, son of my gggg aunt Mary Hutcheon and Robert Lamb, who was baptised at Peterhead in April 1840 though he may have been born in Longside. In 1851 he is at Newseat, Peterhead with his parents and sister, his father working as an ag lab. The family are in Cuminstown, Monquhitter in 1851. In 1861 there is a William Lamb born in Peterhead working as a ship’s carpenter and lodging in Kingston near Urguhart, Moray which could well be him, but he then disappears from the records as I’ve not found anything further for him.

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28 February

Posted on February 28, 2014 | Leave a comment

One of my Yorkshire gggg grandmothers’ today, a pair of Yorkshire twins, an Aberdeenshure Hutcheon/Hutchison who disappear from the records, and my nephew who lives in Australia.

28 February 1775
Baptism of my gggg grandmother Sarah Hattersley at Royston, Yorkshire, the daughter of John Hattersley of Carlton and Elizabeth Milner. She married carpenter William Senyer or Senior at Royston in September 1801, and they had 5 children baptised in Royston. Her husband William died in 1817 at age 45. The 1822 Bains Directory lists a Sarah Senior wheelwright living in Carlton, which may well be her. Sarah Senyer died in Carlton at age 59 and was buried in Royston in April 1834.

28 February 1802
Baptism of twins Joseph and John Green at Worsbrough, Yorkshire, sons of my ggggg uncle John Green and Mary Addey. It looks as though they did not survive infancy as nothing further can be found for them.

28 February 1867
Baptism of John Hutcheon at Cruden, son of my gggg uncle Keith Hutcheon and Ann McPherson and grandson of Alexander Hutcheon and Agnes Bruce. His father was a tailor and letter carrier who lived in Hatton, and John is with his parents and siblings in 1871 and 1881: in the latter, at age 14, he is an apprentice baker. In 1891 he’s a boarder at Old Meldrum, age 24 and a baker and after that he seems to disappear as I haven’t been able to find him in the available records.

28 February 1972
Happy birthday to my nephew in Australia!

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14 February

Posted on February 14, 2014 | Leave a comment

An Aberdeenshire female who married a police constable and then disappears from the records, and my Yorkshire great aunt Charlotte who died in early childhood.

14 February 1837
Baptism of Ann Cowie Davidson at Longside, Aberdeenshire, daughter of my gggg aunt Margaret Hutcheon and farm servant Charles Davidson. She is with her family at St Fergus, Banffshire in 1841, and at Rora, Longside in 1851 when she was 14 and employed at home. She marriage James Smith at Longside in August 1858 and they had a child born in Longside then a child in Fyvie. In 1861 she is in Fyvie with her husband and 2 children: her husband is a police constable and the family’s address is the Police Station. The youngest child died in 1861, and Ann and her husband disappear from the records, although their daughter is with her maternal grandparents in 1871.

14 February 1901
Birth of my great aunt Charlotte Green at Hope Grove, Armley, Yorkshire, daughter of Joseph Green and Charlotte Senior. Her parents moved to Kirkstall not long after her birth, and she was baptised in 1904 at St Stephen’s, Kirkstall. Charlotte died at age 3 in January 1905 and was buried at St Stephen’s. Her father was a carpenter, and my mother said the family story was he made Charlotte’s coffin in the cellar and cried as he worked on it.

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10, 11 and 12 February

Posted on February 13, 2014 | Leave a comment

10th February is my ggg grandfather Robert Marshall, a saddler of Kilmarnock. There was no-one on the 11th. On the 12th there were two Lamb cousin in Aberdeenshire, one of whom had illegitimate children and never married, and the other who went to England and became a public parks superintendent. Plus a Fraser who migrated to California and a McCrae who lived, worked and died in Kilmarnock.

10 February 1761
Baptism of my ggg grandfather Robert Marshall in Kilmarnock: at least think it’s the right Robert Marshall. The one baptised in 1761 was the son of Alexander Marshall, a brazier of Kilmarnock, and Agnes Gibson. A brazier was someone who made or repaired things made from brass. Evidence to support this being the correct Robert is that “my” Robert married Agnes Logan on 10 February 1792 in Kilmarnock, and they called their eldest son Alexander. Robert Marshall and Agnes had 11 children baptised in Kilmarnock, and the baptism entries give his occupation as saddler. Robert died before 1841, but his widow died in 1865 age 93, and her death certificate says she was the widow of Robert Marshall saddler.

12 February 1843
Baptism of Elizabeth Lamb at Longside, Aberdeenshire, daughter of my gggg aunt Elizabeth Hutcheon and John Lamb. Elizabeth was born illegitimate but her parents married in 1846, then her mother died in 1847. In 1851 Elizabeth is with her mother’s sister Margaret, who had married Charles Davidson, and her father is a farm overseer at a nearby farm. Elizabeth had an illegitimate daughter in 1863, the father not named. In 1871 Elizabeth is at Rora, Longside with her aunt Margaret, and her 7 year old daughter is in Longside with Elizabeth’s father and his second wife. Later in 1871 Elizabeth had an illegitimate son, again father not named. In 1881 Elizabeth’s 2 children are both at Rora with Elizabeth’s aunt Margaret while Elizabeth is working as a domestic servant in Peterhead.

12 February 1843
Baptism of Robert Lamb at Longside, Aberdeenshire, son of my gggg aunt Mary Hutcheon and Robert Lamb (and cousin of Elizabeth Lamb baptised on the same day) – his census entries all say he was born in Peterhead, and his parents were in Newseat, Peterhead in 1841. In 1851 he is with his family at Cuminstown, Monquhitter where his father was working as an ag lab. By 1861 his family had moved up to Rafford in Moray, and Robert is close by at Edinkilie, Moray working as an apprentice gardener. By 1871 he had moved to England and is at Waldron, Sussex working as a domestic gardener. The he married Ruth Stone in 1879 at Cheltenham, and in 1881 they are in Stockport, Cheshire with a baby daughter, Robert working as a gardener. In 1891 he is the head gardener working and living at Phillip’s Park near Prestwich, with his wife and daughter. By 1901 Robert is a superintendent of public parks, and in 1911 is still a superintendent of pubic parks, living at The Cottage, Heaton Park. He died there in 1914, after his wife had died, and probate of his will went to his daughter Mildred, who had married James Lamb, who may have been a relative.

12 February 1862
Birth of Samuel Fraser at Old Deer, son of my ggg uncle shoemaker William Fraser and Barbara Cordiner and grandson of William Fraser and Christian Hutcheon. In 1871 he’s with his parents and siblings at Kinknockie, old Deer, and in 1881 is a farm servant at Mains of Tarty, Logie Buchan. He migrated to USA not long afterwards, though I haven’t found him on a passenger list, and went to California. In 1894 he married Helen Andrews, who also had migrated from Scotland, and they are in the 1900 USA census in San Francisco with 2 children, Samuel working as a stationery engine fireman. He then seems to have acquired some land further up the coast, as in the 1910, 1920 and 1930 census he’s a farmer at Big River, Mendocino. Samuel and Helen had 3 children, and Samuel was buried at Little River, Mendocino in 1939.

12 February 1870
Birth of my great uncle Matthew McIncarne McCrae in Kilmarnock, son of John McCrae and Mary Ann Mcinairney. He is with his parents in Kilmarnock in 1871, 1881 and 1891, and became a coal miner like his father and brothers. In January 1895 he married mill worker Annie McCubbin at The Manse, Kilmarnock, and one of the witnesses was Matthew’s sister Helen, my grandmother, who signed herself as Nelly McCrae. |n 1901 Matthew, Annie and 2 children are at 41 High Street, Kilmarnock, a tenement building where Matthew’s brother William and family also lived. In 1911 Matthew and Annie were at 19 Boyd Street, Kilmarnock in a house with their 6 children and Annie’s sister. The Valuation Roll of 1915 shows Matt McCrae tenant of 15 Boyd Street, which was owned by Mars Catherine Bailey of Ayr. Matthew’s son John died in Russia in WW1. Matthew McCrae died in 1941 age 70, in Kilmarnock.

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17 January

Posted on January 17, 2014 | Leave a comment

Another Joseph Green from Yorkshire today (there were a lot of the) who looks as if he fathered an illegitimate child with his housekeeper. Also a Lamb from Aberdeenshire and a Hamilton from Ayrshire who there’s not much to say about, and a George from Aberdeenshire who went to Canada and ended up at Port Credit.

17 January 1809
Baptism of my gggg uncle Joseph Green at Worsbrough, son of Joseph Green and Ann Cox. (I did wish the Green family tree didn’t contain so many Josephs!) This Joseph was the son of my linen bleacher and innkeeper gggg grandfather who ran the Rose & Crown at Worsbrough Common. In 1834 Joseph Green junior married Mary White at Silkstone, although the parish register entry shows they were both living in Barnsley. In 1841 Joseph and Mary, with 3 children, are at Nelson Street, Barnsley and Joseph is a bleacher. Wife Mary died in 1850 and in 1851 widower Joseph Green is at Castlereagh Street, Barnsley with 4 children and a female servant, and has become a green grocer with his two eldest sons also working as green grocers. His father Joseph Green died in 1853, and Joseph junior seems to have taken over running the Rose & Crown as in 1861 he is an innkeeper at Worsbrough Common with a son working as a huckster (salesman) and a housekeeper called Martha Nuttall. His son John was born in 1862 but does not seem to have been baptised, so without ordering his birth certificate I don’t know who his mother was. In 1871 Joseph is still an innkeeper at Worsbrough Common and has his son George and 10 year old son John Green living with him, as well as female servant Mary Day and a 1 year old boy visitor with the surname Day. However, there is a death registered in Barnsley (the registration district for Worsbrough) in 1867 for Martha Nuttall age 34, and I suspect the housekeeper in 1851 was John’s mother but she died in 1867. Joseph Green died in 1876 age 70.

17 January 1848
Birth of Barbara Lamb at Monquhitter, Aberdeenshire, daughter of my gggg aunt Mary Hutcheon and Robert Lamb. Barbara is with her parents and siblings in 1851, her father an ag lab, but she is not with them in 1861 and cannot be found elsewhere, so it looks as if she died in childhood.

17 January 1855
Birth of David Hamilton at Knockintiber, Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, son of coal miner John Hamilton and Janet Strachan and grandson of my ggg uncle Thomas Strachan and Elizabeth Nisbet. David is with his parents at Knockintiber in 1861, then his father died in 1869. He was with his widowed mother in 1861, who was a spirit dealer at Kilmaurs Road, Kilmarnock. David Hamilton died in Kilmarnock in 1878, age 23, but I haven’t downloaded his death certificate so don’t know the cause of his early death.

17 January 1871
Birth of James George at Dyce, Aberdeeenshire, son of my ggg aunt Barbara Logan and James George. James migrated, with his family, to Canada in 1872 and is with his family at Brant, Ontario in 1881, his father a farmer. He is still with his parents in 1891 and is helping his father on the farm. His mother died, and in 1901 James is with his father and a sister at Walkerton, Ontario working as a farm labourer, though as his father is a farmer he was most probably still working for his father. James married Sarah Hare at Port Credit, Ontario in 1906 and by then was an iron worker. He’d changed jobs again by 1911 and was a “teamster on street” (which will mean driving horse-drawn vehicles) in Toronto, and he and Sarah have a son plus another family of similar ages living with them as lodgers. James George died in 1937 at Port Credit.

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4 January

Posted on January 4, 2014 | Leave a comment

Today there’s an ancestor from the Strachan tree born in 1691, an Aberdeenshire birth of someone who seems to have died young, and an Ayrshire Haddow whose husband became a colliery under manager.

4 January 1691
I’m going back over 300 years here so it’s very difficult to know I have the right person: however, on this day Thomas Reid was baptised at Kilwinning, Ayrshire, the son of Thomas Reid and Jannet Love. He could well be my gggggg grandfather. In the 1691 Hearth Tax records for Clonbeith in Kilwinning parish there is a Thomas Reid listed as having one hearth, who could be the father of Thomas baptised in 1891, and his name appears next to that of William Reid. Clonbeith Castle, now a ruin, was the property of the Cunningham family, who were the first to develop commercial coal mining in Ayrshire. The estate would have comprised tenanted farms and cottages back then: the 1691 Hearth Tax records list Clonbeith House plus 19 other homes with a hearth forming the Clonbeith estate. An early map of Ayrshire shows “Climbeth” to the north east of Kilwinning in the area where many coal mines would be opened in the 1800s. In 1721 there was a marriage in Kilwinning between Thomas Reid and Janet Eddy, and from 1722 to 1733 this couple had children baptised at Kilwinning, including Christian Reid baptised 10 October 1725. In November 1751 at Kilwinning, Christian Reid married John Alexander of the parish of Auchinleck. Then in October 1752, a John Alexander of Birnieknowe had a daughter Susannah baptised at Auchinleck, although the baptism record does not say who the mother was. But in 1755 there is a baptism in Auchinleck for Charles, son of John Alexander in Birniknou (as it was written) and his spouse Christian. So all in, there is a good case for saying that Thomas Reid born in 1691 was the grandfather of the Susannah Alexander who married Thomas Strachan at Irvine in 1771. Thomas and Susannah’s children include John, Christian, Charles and Thomas, which adds to the evidence. Nothing else is known about Thomas Reid so I don’t know whether he was a coal miner or not, but I suspect John Alexander of Birnieknowe was, given the location.

4 January 1846
Birth of George Lamb at Monquhitter, Aberdeenshire, son of my gggg aunt Mary Hutcheon and Robert Lamb. George is not with his family in 1851 and no other record of him has been found, so I suspect he died young.

4 January 1864
Birth of Agnes Hay Haddow at Kilwinning, Ayrshire, daughter of my gg uncle Colin Shearer Haddow and Ann Orr Richmond. In 1871 she’s at Kilwinning with her parents, siblings, maternal grandmother and a boarder, her father, an older brother and the boarder all coal miners. Agnes married widowed miner James Bunyan at Rankiston Row, Coylton in 1880 (which is where she had moved to with her parents sometime after 1877) and in 1881 they are in Coylton with children from James Bunyan’s first marriage. They moved to Taiglum, Stair in about 1883, and are there in 1891 with 5 children plus one of James’s daughters. According to the birth places for their younger children they moved to Ochiltree in the early 1890s and then to Dalmellington in the late 1890s, where James was the colliery under manager. Agnes Bunyan nee Haddow died in 1913 age 49 at Waterside, north of Galston.

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27 December (2)

Posted on December 30, 2013 | Leave a comment

A few more for the 27th: my ggggg grandfather who was an innkeeper at Worsbrough, Yorkshire, a Haigh descendant from Royston who married an ostler (groom), a Hutcheon up in Aberdeenshire who didn’t marry and lived with her unmarried brother, the second wife of my Fraser great grandfather, and a Sangster descendent who married a farm servant and llived in Turriff.

27 December 1768 (born about 1744)
My ggggg grandfather Joseph Green was born I know not where, but it would have been somewhere in or near Worsbrough, Yorkshire I assume. There are a couple of possibilities in the OPRs but no way of knowing which, if any, are the correct one. There was a John Green who married Ann Cawthorne at Darfield and had a son Joseph baptised there in 1746, and there was was also a Joseph Green born in Felkirk in 1744. What is certain, however, is that Joseph Green married Alice Rock in Barnsley in 1768, and all their children were baptised at Worsbrough. Thanks to a recorded Monumental Inscription in Worsbrough church yard – which doesn’t seem to there any more – I know that Alice wife of Joseph Green innkeeper of Ward Green died age 79 in 1823, and that Joseph Green innkeeper of Ward Green died age 86 in 1830. Ward Green is north of the village of Worsbrough, heading into Barnsley, and back then was on the main Sheffield to Barnsley road, which was part of the major route from London to the north. The inn was most probably the Horse & Jockey, which his son George took over, and which has since been demolished.

27 December 1837
Birth of Hannah Womack at Royston, Yorkshire, daughter of my gggg aunt Maria Haigh and James Womack. She is with her parents in Royston, then in 1861 is on Northgate, Wakefield living with William Mantle, a groom and widower, with her younger sister Ellen as a visitor. She married William Mantle in 1861 at the Methodist Church in Wakefield, and they had 5 daughters. In 1871 William is an ostler and in 1881 is a cab driver – horse drawn, of course. William died in 1889 at Wakefield and Hannah followed him in 1891, age only 54.

27 December 1842
Margaret Hutcheon was batised at Longside, Aberdeenshire, daughter of my gggg uncle Alexander Hutcheon and Margaret Hutcheon: his parents shared a surname but I don’t know if they were related. In 1851 Margaret is with her parents at Kirk Street, Longside and her father is a road maker. By 1861 she was working as a domestic servant and is at Mill of Faichfield, Longside, working for the miller and his family. In March 1870 she gave birth to an illegitimate son, John William Hutchison, and is with her parents in 1871, at High Street, Longside, working as a domestic servant. Her father died in 1875, and in 1881 Margaret is with her mother, two brothers and her son working a 3.5 acre croft with her mother at Hutchison Street: this may well be the croft her father had. Her mother died in 1887 and in 1891 Margaret and her son are living with her unmarried brother John in Longside, and her son has become a tailor. Margaret and her brother are still together in Longside in 1901. Margaret died in 1927 age 84 at Longside.

27 December 1867
Birth of Helen Ann Morgan at Peterhead, daughter of William Souter Morgan and Jane Aitken. Helen was to become the second wife of my great grandfather. In 1871 she is with her parents and siblings at Lochside, Cruden where her father was a farm servant, in 1881 the family is at Collie Hill, Cruden and in 1891 they are Little Tillymaud, Cruden and Helen seems to be helping her mother at home. In 1901 Helen is working as a domestic servant in Peterhead for a vintner and his family. She must then have gone to work at Blackstrath, Keithhall, for it was there that she gave birth to her illegitimate daughter Chrissie Gray Morgan in 1904 – the father not named but his surname might have been Gray. The year before, my grandfather William Fraser’s first wife had died and it’s possible Helen Ann Morgan became his housekeeper, as he had several young children to be cared for. Nature then took its course as Helen gave birth to their son at Hatton in April 1906, though she and William didn’t get married until April 1907, and they subsequently had 4 more sons. In about 1910, William and Helen took over Mosside Croft, on the death of William’s father Alexander. My mother remembered “Granny Fraser” – she was short and wore little round glasses, and had a dairy attached to the cottage where she made cheese. Helen Ann Fraser nee Morgan died in 1938 at the age of 70 of a coronary thrombosis.

27 December 1860
Birth of Christian Pirie at Old Deer, daughter of my half ggg aunt Janet Hay McWilliam and James Pirie and granddaughter of Janet Sangster and William McWilliam. She is with her parents at Old Deer in 1861, 1871 and 1881 at different farms, as her father was a farm servant. She married farm servant James Tough at Old Deer in 1885 and in 1891 they are at Burnside, Turriff with 4 children and Christian’s widower father. They are still there in 1901, James a cattleman, with 2 more children and still with Christian’s father. She died in 1908 of pulmonary tuberculosis.

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18 and 19 December

Posted on December 19, 2013 | 1 comment

Today are two happy birthday wishes to send to cousins, one in USA and one in Canada.Nothing on the 18th, but also on the 19th are a Hutcheon descendant from Aberdeen who was a shoemaker at Longside, and a Strachan who probably died as a result of childbirth.

19 December 1834
Baptism of Alexander Davidson at Longside, Aberdeenshire, son of my gggg aunt Margaret Hutcheon and Charles Davidson. In 1841 he is with his parents and siblings at St Fergus, which was then in Banffshire, and is in Burnhead, Banffshire in 1851 working, at age 16, as a farm labourer for a miller with 12 acres. In 1861 he is Mosside, Longside (not to be confused with the Fraser croft of Mosside near Hatton) working as a shoemaker, and is with his parents and grandmother. His father died in 1862 and in 1865 Alexander married Susan Angus at Udny, and they had children baptised at Longside. In 1871 Alexander is a shoemaker journeyman living at Back Wynd, Longside with wife Susan and 3 children, and is at Old Toll House, Longside in 1881 with his wife and 7 children. In 1891, working as a shoemaker and general labourer, he is still at Longside with his wife and 3 youngest children still at home. He was present when his mother died at Mosside, Rora, Longside in 1893 and was the informant on her death certificate. Alexander died in 1899 at Longside age 64.

19 December 1858
Birth of my half gg aunt Susan Strachan at Kilwinning, daughter of my gg grandfather Robert Strachan and his second wife Susan Cran. Susan is with her parents at Kenneth’s Row, Kilwinning in 1861 and 1871, and married coal miner Peter Lawson in Kilwinning in 1880. They are in Corsehill, Kilwinning in 1881 with a 3 month old son, and are still there in 1891 with 4 children. she had another 2 children in the early 1890s, then died of a haemorrhage in February 1897: her death certificate does not say this was in childbirth but it’s possible it was. Her husband Peter remarried.

19 December 1954
Happy birthday Betty in the USA, daughter of my cousin Harry.

19 December 1959
Happy birthday Debra in Canada, daughter of my cousin Colin.

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3 and 4 December

Posted on December 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

An early migration to Canada from Ayrshire, to the coal mining district of Pictou in Nova Scotia. Apart from that, the rest of today’s birth are for people who died young. Surviving childhood was a perilous task back then.

4 December 1802
Birth of my ggg aunt Mary Marshall at Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, daughter of Robert Marshall and Agnes Logan. She married Michael Muir in Kilmarnock in June 1823 and they had 5 children born in Kilmarnock and Riccarton, and then at some time between 1836 and 1840 they migrated to Canada and settled in Pictou, Nova Scotia. Given the locations in Ayrshire and Canada, Michael Muir was most probably a coal miner. Someone on Ancestry posted a message about this family, and they had 3 more children born in Nova Scotia. Mary Marshall wife of Michael Muir died on 29 January 1864 age 59. In the 1871 census of Canada her widowed husband Michael is in Pictou with their son Robert, a farmer.

4 December 1810
Birth of Alexander Hunter at Stevenston, Ayrshire, son of my gggg uncle Robert Hunter and my gggg aunt Margaret Haddow. He is with his parents at Cow Roading, Stevenston in 1819 but his name is circled on the minister’s census and the person who transcribed it thinks this means the person died between 1819 and 1822.

3 December 1858
Birth of John Logan at Cruden, Aberdeenshire, son of my ggg uncle John Logan and Jane Marr. He’s in Cruden with his parents in 1861, when his father was an ag lab, and in 1871 with his parents on their 6 acres farm at Muirtack, Cruden. By 1881 John has become a slater and boarding at Dyce with a Smith family, and he’s still there in 1891, this time boarding with a Davidson family. John Logan, slater journeyman, died in October 1892 at his parent’s farm at Muirtack at age 33, of tuberculosis.

3 December 1859
Thomas Strachan was born at Dreghorn, Ayrshire, son of John Strachan and Margaret Lambie and grandson of my gggg uncle Robert Strachan and Jean Kelly. Thomas died before 1871 as he not with family in the census then, and is not mentioned in his father’s 1879 application for Poor Relief.

3 December 1860
Alexander Davidson Smith was born at Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, son of James Smith and Ann Cowie Davidson and grandson of my gggg aunt Margaret Hutcheon and Charles Davidson. Alexander’s father was the police constable at Fyvie, and 4 month old Alexander is with his parents and sister living at Fyvie Police Station in the 1861 census. Alexander died at Fyvie in his infancy, later in 1861 – but the mystery is what happened to his parents as they seem to just disappear. His sister is with her grandparents in 1871.

4 December 1863
Birth of Mary Findlay at Riccarton, daughter of Hugh Findlay and Margaret Miller, granddaughter of David Findlay and Susanna Strachan, and great granddaughter of my gggg uncle Peter Strachan and Mary Monroe. Mary is with her mother and siblings in Loudon in 1871, and her father was visiting Edinburgh with a work colleague and they are both listed as mining contractors. Mary died in about 1868.

4 December 1865
Birth of Robert Kean at Kilwinning, son of my gg aunt Agnes Strachan and William Kean. Robert died in infancy in 1866 at Kilwinning.

4 December 1866
Birth of Mary Muir at Dalry, daughter of John Muir and Mary Holland, and granddaughter of Elizabeth Strachan and Andrew Muir, and also granddaughter of Agnes Strachan and Robert Armour Holland. She therefore had the same great grandparents twice over: my gggg uncle Peter Strachan and Mary Monroe. She is with her parents in Seaton Deveral, Northumberland in 1871 but I can’t find her in the 1881 census and she is not listed with her parents, who were in Arlecdon, Cumbria. The family migrated to USA in 1886 and the passenger list includes Mary Muir age 19 – this could be her although she was actually 21 in June 1886. The family went to Pennsylvania but I haven’t been able to trace Mary.

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