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Five Men Drowned – Connections and Corrections

After beavering away at St Combs connections recently, I discovered that an error had been made in the previous post.

Father and son, Alexander and Andrew Strachan, were presented as connected to me via Elizabeth Buchan (b1874). Elizabeth was shown as a granddaughter of John (Park’s Jockie) Buchan (b1792). However, it turns out that her father was not Peter Buchan, the son of ‘Park’s Jockie’, but actually Peter Buchan, the son of ‘Park’s Pet’. ‘Park’ was a tee-name for their father, Peter Buchan. (If you’ve never heard of tee-names, Ian Kenn gives a good explanation on his site Portal to Portlethen.)

The following updated chart shows the closest way the five men were connected to me (based on current knowledge):

genealogical chart showing connetion — Closest Connections of the ‘Five Men Drowned’ to me (click to enlarge)

(Note: Andrew Bruce was the nephew of Charles Bruce but he’s more closely connected to me through his wife, Ann Buchan)

Posts in this series:

Five Men Drowned – Connections
Five Men Drowned
Five Men Drowned – Two Recovered
Five Men Drowned – Three Buried at Sea
Five Men Drowned – One Survivor

Grace Brock

I’ve had a lot of trouble finding a marriage between John STILING and Grace FREED and thought it was due to the lack of Devon records on the IGI. Thanks to the selection of Devon Parish records on findmypast, I find it’s possibly because it was mistranscribed or that Grace FREED is actually Grace BROCK:

I can imagine how Brock and Freed could look similar in faded, pre-regency period handwriting. This was one of three John STILINGs that came up in the search but the only one with a Grace for a bride. Their oldest child was born in 1811 so the dates also fit.

Oh, how I wish I could see the original record right now.

My Genius Has Been Recognised!

Yay! GeneaGeek is one of MyHeritage’s top 100 genealogy sites of 2010!

Click on the award above to see the list.

I’m off to find new genealogy blogs to follow – maybe you should too.

Antenuptial Fornication

A post by The Professional Descendant reminded me of my own ancestor’s indiscretion.

It’s easy to think that people were more chaste in the past. This may be true, but a journey through the parish records shows that people back then also indulged in sex before marriage or as the Victorians preferred to call it, ‘antenuptial fornication’.

Whilst looking through the Dunscore parish records for births and marriages, I found an entry for James BROWN’s proclamation of banns, for which he paid 3 shillings on June 10, 1827. (James was originally mentioned in this post).

James BROWN & Janet CURRIE’s marriage proclamation – Jun 1827

I believe the next entry for June 16, shows his marriage although the bride’s name appears different. In January the next year, the couple were blessed with their baby girl, Jane.

BROWN, Jane [Legitimate Daughter] of James BROWN & Janet CURRIE, Whitecairn. Born 11th January 1828.

Someone must have done the maths though, because two weeks later James paid 3 shillings and 6 pence as a fine for antenuptial fornication.

James BROWN’s fine for antenuptial fornication – Jan 1828

Janet would have been about 2 months pregnant when they announced their intentions to marry back in June. It is possible that Janet did not know she was pregnant but I think they were both aware when they decided to marry. I wonder what must have gone through their heads – were they fearful of their secret being discovered? How did their families react? Apart from the church fine, did they suffer any other repercussions or did it not matter now the child was legitimate?

Punishment Book

I am fortunate enough to have access to the log books for Rayne School in Essex. Although I have no ancestors from these parts, they still make for fascinating reading. One is ominously labelled, ‘Punishment Book’ and contains genealogical treasures within. Unfortunately, quite a few pages are missing but the pages from May 1923 to May 1933 survive and record the names of children and their offences.

The majority of punishable behaviour seems to consist of persistent inattention, talking and unspecified ‘misbehaviour’. But sometimes a tiny bit of detail is given for our amusement. William Childs, for example, received 2 strokes on the hand with a strap for ‘Damaging Phyllis Gilder’s hat’. Lucy Yeldham ‘deliberately’ broke a ruler and promptly received 2 strokes. Thomas Coe, Leonard Carder and Harold Dawes each got 2 strokes on separate occasions for ‘Wasting Time’ (this one particularly makes me chuckle).

The same names tend to keep cropping up. Often in trouble, William Livermore at one time received 4 strokes for throwing a lighted match at a girl. This didn’t seem to deter him as he was given 2 more strokes a month later for ‘Striking matches’. The Livermores seemed to be a difficult family as Stanley Livermore (possibly William’s sibling) was once given 2 strokes for biting J. Newman and Ernest Livermore was also punished a few times.

Another repeat offender, Albert Olley got 2 strokes for ‘Squirting dirty water over girls on way home from school’ and then two more the next day for ‘Again interfering with girls on way home from school’, among many other offences.

I plan to catalogue the names in this book and will probably list them here for any one researching family in Rayne.