Fergusson Archives

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)

Dardarroch, Dunscore, Dumfriesshire in 2006 – NOT Woodhead of Dardarroch

Eight years ago, I posted on the rootsweb message board regarding my BROWN ancestors farm, Woodhead of Dardarroch, in the parish of Glencairn. Recently someone replied that their ancestor was boarding with some BROWNS at Woodhead Cottage on the 1891 census. By 1891, James BROWN had died and his widow, Sarah (nee DOUGLAS) had moved away. However, it is too much of a coincidence that the BROWNs still living at Woodhead were an entirely separate family as my BROWN’s had lived there since at least 1824 (discussed in this post).

I had long ago noticed the many BROWN families at and around Woodhead. Now it was time to find out exactly how these BROWNs were connected.

First, I located William Brown at Woodhead Cottage on the 1891 census. As you can see in the photograph above, Woodhead is quite a large house. I presume Woodhead Cottage is the smaller part attached to the main building where the other family units lived together. By this time, James’ widow and youngest son had moved to Keir where they lived in another home named ‘Woodhead Cottage’.

I searched back for William BROWN (b.1829) and found him at Woodhead Cottage in all but 2 censuses.

Edited: It is here where I made a dangerous mistake.

! I found a William BROWN living at Shillanland (or Shillingland) with his uncle James FERGUSSON and a Jane and Sarah FERGUSSON. I suspected one of these women (both listed as James’ sisters) was William’s mother. Also listed was John BROWN (b. 1831) – I had discovered a brother to help with my search.

In 1841 the FERGUSSONs and BROWNs were all living at Burnhouse where the head of the household was a William FERGUSON and possible wife Mary. This time Sarah was recorded as Sarah BROWN so is apparently William’s mother. Since the 1841 census doesn’t record the relationships to the head, I will need to find records to prove William FERGUSON is his grandfather. I will also search for a marriage between Sarah FERGUSSON and a BROWN. !

I now realise that this William BROWN is not the one at Woodhead from the 1861 census through to the 1901 census. A simple traceback through the censuses show that the head of Woodhead Cottage in 1891 is the son of George BROWN and Catherine McDOWAL – living at Woodhead from. I now need only prove that George BROWN is the brother of my James BROWN

Edit 2: The picture at the top of this post is NOT Woodhead of Dardarroch as I mistakenly believed, it is actually a house called Woodhead in the nearby village of Dunscore.

Next steps:

Find marriage record of Sarah FERGUSSON and BROWN
Find birth record of William or John BROWN

See following post – Neighbouring Families – Part 2