SCOTLAND Archives - Page 4 of 6

Desperately Seeking John

A couple of months ago, I found out via an 1896 newspaper article that my ancestor, Alexander Ritchie BUCHAN, had a brother called John. John was there when Alex died pulling in a fishing net but where was he all those other years?

18 foot shark caught in Otago Harbour 1894

Charles BUCHAN and his wife Jessie (Janet RITCHIE) migrated to New Zealand on the Rimutaka in 1893. All their children (except Charles), some of whom had begun their own families went too. Peter, Jessie (married to John BUCHAN), Alex and William all arrived on the Rimutaka. John had never appeared with the family on the censuses and so I hadn’t realised he was missing.

A little bit of research proved that John was actually twin brother of William – born 11th July 1868 in Peterhead. Was it just coincidence that he was away from home all those census nights? Did he stay in Scotland or

A search of shipping lists from 1890 don’t seem to show John’s arrival in New Zealand so it seems likely that he migrated before the rest of the family.

A search of the IGI comes up with 9 other John BUCHANs born in Scotland in 1868 alone. I have scribbled down these parents names to avoid confusion as the long census search begins…

Edited to add:
Just reread an excerpt from Roy BUCHANs book about the family:

The Buchan family settled in Carey’s Bay, a mile from Port Chalmers. They fished in the comparative calm of the inner Otago Harbour instead of the hazardous and stormy North Sea. The main breadwinners were Jack, his brother-in-law Alexander and father-in-law Dade [Charles]. The younger two men would fish from an open boat in the harbour and Dade would sell the fish.

Could brother John actually refer to his brother-in-law John (married to Jessie)? The newspaper article mentions that Charles also gave evidence at the hearing which means he was probably also there (as the excerpt suggests).

Will or Testament?

I noticed this morning that the Scotlands People website has changed a bit (at least cosmetically) which in turn led me to notice the free wills and testaments search in the left bar. So I started plugging away at some of my Scottish ancestors and came across a possible record for William MURRAY, dated 1839:

William MURRAY was the father of Margaret MURRAY (who married William GLAISTER in 1843). It seems I had been unable to locate Margaret or her family in the 1841 census NOR find a record of the marriage of her parents when last researching the line and so left the family there for the time being. Today, after consulting the new Family Search BETA and 1841 census transcriptions on a site called Graham Maxwell Ancestry, I was able to discover the marriage of William MURRAY to Janet BELL in the Kelso parish registers, 1817:

William Murray, Stocking-maker here & Janet Bell, Daughter of Alexr. Bell, Stocking-maker in Melrose, after the publication of the banns of marriage in the Church of Kelso, were married, at Melrose, on the eighth day of Decr. 1817 by the Revd. Mr. Thomson, Minister of Melrose, in presence of these witnesses Lieut. Lachlan Burn of the R.N. – Kelso & George Hart – Melrose

As the marriage obviously took place in Melrose, I decided to see if the Melrose records held any more information. It’s quite amusing how little they actually held compared to the Kelso registers:

[1817, Nov 30] William Murray residing in the parish of Kelso and Janet Bell residing in this parish.

I’m pretty sure this is the family on the 1841 census:

The names and ages of the children are all correct (as found on the IGI) – only Margaret is missing (possibly working elsewhere). The only other concern is that William, who was recorded as a stocking maker at marriage is now a barber. Not impossible by any means but a concern nonetheless.

So, back to the testaments – is this my guy? Is the testament dated in 1839 because that William MURRAY had died OR was it drawn up before death? If the 1839 date indicates the date of death, it is not my guy because he appears to be alive on the 1841 census. I’m a tad confused.

UPDATE: The will bequeaths all to this man’s niece, Anne P. Murray or Montgomerie as the sole beneficiary so apparently NOT my William MURRAY. However, he was residing in Kelso at time of death so I feel he must be related somehow, even if distantly.

Next Steps:

Determine how this William Murray & Anne Murray/Montgomerie fit in my tree (if at all)

Twins

At the end of my last post, I mentioned that I had no idea that Alexander Ritchie BUCHAN had a brother called John.

I did a ‘parent search’ on familysearch.org for Alex’s parents, Charles and Jessie (nee RITCHIE) and up he popped! While checking the information, I noticed that his birth date was identical to brother William’s but perhaps this was confused with a christening date (children were sometimes baptised in ‘bunches’).

I managed to download the birth entry on Scotlands People and sure enough, John and William were twins!

Birth record of Charles & William BUCHAN, Peterhad 1868

Anyone else found twins in their families? I think this was the first instance I’ve come across.

Neighbouring Families – Part 3

Part of a series of posts – beginning with Neighbouring Families

Back on track after my William BROWN confusion – I pick up with proving George BROWN and James BROWN are brothers. Thereby proving that the William BROWN on the 1891 census is indeed related to me.

Proving Brotherhood

I had previously sought to prove George BROWN and James were brothers and so had some of George’s records at hand. George’s death record states that his parents are John BROWN and Jane [Jean] Maxwell:

Statutory Death Record of George BROWN – 1862

James BROWN’s death record also gives his parents as John BROWN and Jean Maxwell:

Statutory Death Record of James BROWN – 1873

This proves that James and George are brothers. A search for BROWN births in Glencairn show that there was also a William born to John BROWN and Jean MAXWELL:

Birth Record of William BROWN in Glencairn Parish Register – 1807

So, I have proved the heads of household at Woodhead, George and James BROWN are brothers. I have also found the existence of another brother, William (as there are no statutory death records of a William BROWN with a mother named MAXWELL, I can only assume he died before 1855).

I have therefore come to the conclusion that the William BROWN (b.1829) living at Woodhead on the 1891 census is in fact James BROWN’s nephew.

*bows and wipes the sweat from her furrowed brow*

Neighbouring Families – Part 2

This is a follow on from my previous post – Neighbouring Families.

! The results here are accurate, however not the William BROWN I was tracing (see previous post for correction). I have chosen to leave this information here to help others.

Using FamilySearch, I searched the IGI for Sarah FERGUSSON with a spouse named BROWN.

Success: It listed Sarah marrying a John BROWN in Glencairn, 1826 (about 3 years before William BROWN was born according to the censuses). This seemed a very good match indeed so I began to search for birth records of William and his brother, John.

No sign of William but I found a birth and christening record for John (parents John BROWN and Sarah FERGUSON) in the nearby parish of Keir, for September 1825. However, this was a year before his parents’ marriage so although it is not impossible, I could not be sure. Perhaps the parish record will say whether the birth was ‘legitimate’ or not? I bit the bullet and viewed the actual parish record on ScotlandsPeople. The birth had been transcribed incorrectly and actually took place in December 1828 – remember ALWAYS view the actual record where possible!

Birth entry for John BROWN, son of John BROWN & Sarah FERGUSSON – December 1828

While checking my previous searches on ScotlandsPeople, I found an entry for William, legitimate son of John BROWN and Sarah FERGUSON of Snade Mill (the residence was indecipherable to me at first but the ordnance survey maps helped me a great deal) He was born on the 2nd December 1826 and christened the 6th December.

Birth entry for William BROWN, son of John BROWN & Sarah Fergusson – December 1826

Snade Mill (Cairn Water), Glencairn parish via ScotlandsPlaces

Now I need to link this John BROWN to my James BROWN to prove these neighbours were also family. I would also like to find the family connection to George BROWN who also lived at Woodhead throughout these censuses.

Next steps (edited):

~~Find a family link between these BROWNs and the BROWNs at Woodhead~~ (see next post in the series)