Buchan Archives - Page 6 of 6

Lunatic in the Family Update

I received a quick and detailed email back from the archivist at the Grampian Archives, who searched the Asylum (& Poorhouse) records for me. The information she has given me from the admission registers, has enabled me to put some more pieces of Agnes’ life together.

Agnes was admitted into the Aberdeen Lunatic Asylum on Christmas Day (!) 1888. She was 81 and a recently widowed pauper. Her husband, Arthur had died in August earlier that year. According to the records, Agnes had suffered from her dementia for 12 years, having her first ‘attack’ when she was 69.

It seems as though the family were unable to care for Agnes after Arthur’s death and admitted her into the asylum.

Six months later, Agnes’ condition had not improved and she was transferred to the Lunatic wards of the Buchan Poorhouse. Her physical condition was described as ‘very weak’ and she was suffering from heart disease and bronchitis along with her ‘mental decay’. She was ‘sent back’ to the Lunatic Asylum another six months later as her condition had not improved. Her disorder was now recorded as “mania, senile” caused by age and heredity. She lived in the asylum for about 3 and a half years before dying in early May 1893. A post mortem examination was carried out and the cause of death recorded as senile decay. She was 85 years old.

The archivist has very helpfully offered to send me copies of the petitions to the Sheriff for Mrs Buchan’s admission to the asylum. I am told these include statements by two doctors giving reasons for committing the patient to hospital and can sometimes also contain additional information about the patient’s background. She has also offered to send me the case notes.

I also want to thank ‘The Professional Descendant’ who gave very helpful advice on this issue in the comments section of the last post. If you are after more information on this, make sure you read her comments here.

Next steps:

* Check 1881 census for family members living there at the time, possibly caring for Agnes
* Obtain more information from the petitions and case notes

A Lunatic in the Family

A lot of us joke about having families full of them but occasionally you come across things that remind you how serious it can be.

For a while now I’ve known about my lunatic ancestor (one of them!) but today I’ve actually decided to try to find out more.

Agnes BUCHAN was born in Aberdeenshire in 1807. Agnes married Arthur BUCHAN (there were a LOT of Buchans in the area), a fisherman, about 1830 and lived in the small fishing community of Lonmay with her family until Arthur died in 1888. It was sometime after this that Agnes was admitted into the Royal Lunatic Asylum in Aberdeen. She appears there in the 1891 census living at Elmhill house (part of the asylum/hospital).

The new Elmhill House featured in The Illustrated London News in 1863 via UrbexForums

In 1893, Agnes died at the asylum of senile decay. This seems like quite a broad term and would like to know the extent of her ‘lunacy’ and what the conditions may have been like for her. I searched SCAN (Scottish Archive Network) to find what kind of hospital records might be available and have sent an email to the archivist. Hopefully, I’ll be able to learn more about my troubled ancestor.

From Peterhead to Grave

Otago Harbour from Northern Cemetery Dunedin

Sometimes as genealogists we have to wait years for answers.
Waiting for the required records to become available.
Waiting for the chance to visit somewhere that may hold the key. Waiting for some kind of miracle.

But by some extraordinary stroke of luck, I didn’t have to wait long at all (or do much work) to find the answers to the puzzles I listed on my Emigrating to New Zealand post.

As I searched for more information on the Rimutaka (there were a few ships with this name), I came across The Northern Cemetery The Northern Cemetery site. This site, I’m told, “brings together information from many different research sources to offer you a unique view of one of New Zealand’s most interesting cemeteries”. On this site I found excerpts from the book “From Peterhead to Passchendaele” written by Roy Buchan, who also turns out to be one of my distant relatives.

It also contains the following transcribed monumental inscription for some members of this family buried in the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin:

Monumental Inscription

(1)
In memory of

CHARLES BUCHAN

1830 – 1910

and Wife

JANET BUCHAN

1830 – 1915

JESSIE RITCHIE BUCHAN

1888 – 1908
JOHN BUCHAN

1858 – 1926

and Wife
JESSIE BUCHAN

1860 – 1910
Arrived in NZ on ship Rimutaka, 1893

from Peterhead, Scotland

and lie buried here.

(2)
In loving memory of
ROSEMARY ANN BUCHAN

Died 5th June 1988

Aged 41 years.

(3)
In loving memory of

ANNIE ROSS BUCHAN

Dearly loved wife of ROBERT

And loved mother of

LORELEI, ROBIN and ROSEMARY

Died 22nd March 1972.

Also ROBERT BUCHAN

Died 4th January 1995

Aged 90 years.
“Keep a green bough in your heart,

And God will send you a singing bird.”

(4)
In loving memory of

Henry J.D. SCRYMGEOUR

Dearly loved husband of LORELEI

Loved father of ROSS, MURRAY & ALISTAIR

17-11-1926 – 6-1-1999

(5)
CHRISTINA BUCHAN

1894 – 1978

The information I found on this site allowed me to answer the questions I had on my Emigrating to New Zealand post :

* Which Jessie and John are recorded above Alex’s family and how do they link to my family?

Jessie is Alex’s sister and John Buchan is her husband – I would now like to find out if John’s family were closely connected to Jessie’s.

*What happened to Alex’s sister Jessie (is she the Jessie mentioned above) and brother Charles?

Jessie also travelled to New Zealand on the Rimutaka (see answer above). It appears Charles stayed in Scotland:

“Four of their children were: Peter (1858), Jessie (1860), Alexander (1862), and William (1872). These sailed with their parents to New Zealand, but there is thought to be at least one other who stayed behind”.

* Which Jessie Buchan is buried in the family grave with Charles and Jessie (born Janet RITCHIE)?

“Their daughter Jessie died at the age of twenty in 1908 of meningitis and is buried in the same plot with her mother, who died two years later in 1910”.

* Who is Master John? I’ve had no record of this person so far – is he Charles and Jessie’s son?

He is John & Jessie’s son, apparently just tagging along with his grandparents.

I also now have more family members to fit into the tree.

“From the Road to the Northern Cemetery” by George O’Brien found on Auckland Art Gallery

NOTE: I did find an error in this information, which should be a warning to all of us NOT to accept all that we’re given without question. It appears the author confused Janet/Jessie Buchan (1833) with her daughter Jessie Buchan (1860) when he writes that her maiden name was also Buchan. I have much evidence to prove that her maiden surname was RITCHIE.

Thank you to all the people involved in sharing the information I found on The Northern Cemetery site – it is VERY much appreciated.

Emigrating to New Zealand

R.M.S Rimutaka via NZ Shipping Company Association

Going through the cemetery records yesterday inspired me to look further into my family’s immigration. The Dunedin Cemetery Records often include the (original) nationality of the deceased as well as how many years they had been in New Zealand.

My Buchan family immigrated to New Zealand from Scotland in the late 19th century. For years, I’d only had a scrap of paper with family names scrawled on it, said to be from the ship my family sailed on – the Rimutaka (1893). The scrap was given to me by my grandmother, who had been given it by someone else. Although I believed the information to be accurate, any good genealogist knows the original source should be consulted. Luckily findmypast.com has made outgoing UK passenger lists between 1890 – 1960 available online. Although, not the same as the feel and smell of using the actual records themselves, it’s certainly a lot better than transcriptions (these are available too).

Despite having this information for my great grandfather Charles (and his parents and siblings), I wasn’t sure how his grandfather, also Charles Buchan, made it over to New Zealand.

Charles Buchan was born in a small fishing village in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1830. I have used the census to trace Charles through his life. A fisherman, and sometimes ship carpenter, Charles and his family were last seen in the 1891 census in Peterhead, Aberdeen but I knew he died in New Zealand. A search on findmypast.com discovered him on the same ship as his son and grandchildren!

66c7d-rimutaka1893buchan2 — Buchan, Mr Chas; Mrs Jessie; Mr Peter; Mr William; Master John

The first and last pages of the document were provided for free which fortunately contained my 5 year old great grandfather Charles with his parents and siblings!

52c3b-rimutaka1893buchan1 — Buchan, Mr Alex; Mrs Agnes; Master Chas; Master Alex; Master James

So, in 1893 Charles Buchan (Sr) moved with his wife, children and grandchildren to New Zealand.

I now have a few new puzzles to solve:

Which Jessie and John are recorded above Alex’s family and how do they link to my family?
What happened to Alex’s sister Jessie (is she the Jessie mentioned above) and brother Charles?
Which Jessie Buchan is buried in the family grave with Charles and Jessie (born Janet RITCHIE).
Who is Master John? I’ve had no record of this person so far – is he Charles and Jessie’s son?

SOLVED – answers to these questions can be found here