And the farmer who worked "Mains of X" was sometimes addressed as "Mains". Tony

Ray, Thanks for your feedback. I agree that the mistake (if that is what it is) is more likely to have been made by the informant rather than the registrar. I think that I will accept the possibility of the mistake and record that in my database as a conclusion pro tem. I have viewed the parish registers of Logie Buchan on microfilm and the marriage between James BUCHAN & Isabella CRUIKSHANK is recorded there, noting that they are both in the parish and John was in North Artrochie. I don't have Alexander BUCHAN in the 1881 census; but I believe that he married a Mary ROGER in 1884, and they appear in the 1891 census at 11 Baltic Street Aberdeen Kind regards Ed -----Original Message----- From: aberdeen-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aberdeen-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Ray Hennessy Sent: Thursday, 1 April 2010 9:57 AM To: aberdeen@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] John BUCHAN of Logie Buchan On 31 March 2010 13:03, Ed Stewart <stewarte@tpg.com.au> wrote: > I am inclined to suggest that the name ROSS [for the mother of James BUCHAN] is an error made either by the informant or the registrar. [full text below] Hi Ed It seems unlikely that the Registrar made such an unrelated error - unless there is another occurrence of ROSS on the same page. However, the likelihood of Alex not knowing his grandmother's maiden name is not unreasonable. Presumably his mother didn't accompany him to register his father's death otherwise she would have been named as the informant. She should have known her mother-in-law's maiden name! The references on the IGI to a marriage between James BUCHAN & Isabella CRUIKSHANK are LDS submissions and so probably can't be checked against original documents. The entries may or may not be reliable. I haven't been able to identify Alex BUCHAN on the 1881Census. His birth record for 1852 in Logie Buchan shows he should be 28 at the time of the 1881 Census but He doesn't appear in the Scottish so-called Highlands CD. If Alex muddled the name there may be something in his history to indicate a reason. I have to admit I am very confused but you may be able to look into it from your position of having the details properly recorded!! Good luck Ray ------------------------------------------------------------- On 31 March 2010 13:03, Ed Stewart <stewarte@tpg.com.au> wrote: Well, I got the death certificate 1895 St Nicholas Aberdeen ABD 168/01/0947 > which records that John BUCHAN, coal store keeper married to Janet WILLOX, > died 1895 September third 7h30m AM at 19 Lodge Walk Aberdeen; male aged 68 > years; father James BUCHAN crofter (deceased) mother Isabella BUCHAN ms > ROSS > (deceased); informant Alex BUCHAN, son, 8 Shiprow Aberdeen > > Which all fits my theory as to his parents except that his mother > Isabella's > maiden surname is shown as ROSS not CRUICKSHANK as I expected it to be. > > So I got the death certificate for Isabella - 1884 Ellon ABD 192/00 0036 > which records Isabella BUCHAN, widow of James BUCHAN crofter, died 1884 > December second 10h0m AM at Tillydesk parish of Ellon, female aged 85 > years, > father John CRUICKSHANK crofter (deceased) mother Mary CRUICKSHANK ms > CRUICKSHANK (deceased), cause of death senile debility, informant James > Thomson son in law present > > Based on the above I am inclined to suggest that the name ROSS is an error > made either by the informant or the registrar. > Any thoughts? > > Ed > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ABERDEEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Bob Wallace wrote: > This may seem like a silly question, particularly for someone who has been > reading messages in this group for some number of years, and has traveled to > Scotland on several occasions. No, the really silly thing is *not* to ask, when it appears you are short of some information. > A fairly recent message mentioned the "Mains of" > a town or village that got my curiosity going again. What exactly is the > meaning of "Mains of ..." whatever village or town? Not a town or a village. "Mains of X" is always a single farm. In times past, the countryside was split up into estates, each normally containing more than one farm. Patterns of ownership will almost certainly have changed, but you can often recognise such former estates because there is a common element to all the farm names. So you may find "North X", South X", "Upper X", "Burnside of X" etc. etc. If, in this mix, there is also a "Mains of X" then that will originally have been a farm which, unlike the others on the estate, was not rented out, but was farmed by the estate owner or his manager. In England, the equivalent would be the "Home farm", and you do occasionally find this in Scotland too. Gavin Bell

Bob Wallace wrote: > This may seem like a silly question, particularly for someone who has been > reading messages in this group for some number of years, and has traveled to > Scotland on several occasions. A fairly recent message mentioned the "Mains of" > a town or village that got my curiosity going again. What exactly is the > meaning of "Mains of ..." whatever village or town? > > Bob Wallace > Dayton, Nevada > > > > Mains has an obsolete meaning of a broad flat expanse of land. It is sometimes used in a name for the flat former flood-plain of a river which has later been left high and dry due to the river cutting deeper into the valley floor. Cheers Guy -- http://freespace.virgin.net/guy.etchells/ The site that gives you facts not promises http://anguline.co.uk/ Old and rare books on CD

On 31 March 2010 13:03, Ed Stewart <stewarte@tpg.com.au> wrote: > I am inclined to suggest that the name ROSS [for the mother of James BUCHAN] is an error made either by the informant or the registrar. [full text below] Hi Ed It seems unlikely that the Registrar made such an unrelated error - unless there is another occurrence of ROSS on the same page. However, the likelihood of Alex not knowing his grandmother's maiden name is not unreasonable. Presumably his mother didn't accompany him to register his father's death otherwise she would have been named as the informant. She should have known her mother-in-law's maiden name! The references on the IGI to a marriage between James BUCHAN & Isabella CRUIKSHANK are LDS submissions and so probably can't be checked against original documents. The entries may or may not be reliable. I haven't been able to identify Alex BUCHAN on the 1881Census. His birth record for 1852 in Logie Buchan shows he should be 28 at the time of the 1881 Census but He doesn't appear in the Scottish so-called Highlands CD. If Alex muddled the name there may be something in his history to indicate a reason. I have to admit I am very confused but you may be able to look into it from your position of having the details properly recorded!! Good luck Ray ------------------------------------------------------------- On 31 March 2010 13:03, Ed Stewart <stewarte@tpg.com.au> wrote: Well, I got the death certificate 1895 St Nicholas Aberdeen ABD 168/01/0947 > which records that John BUCHAN, coal store keeper married to Janet WILLOX, > died 1895 September third 7h30m AM at 19 Lodge Walk Aberdeen; male aged 68 > years; father James BUCHAN crofter (deceased) mother Isabella BUCHAN ms > ROSS > (deceased); informant Alex BUCHAN, son, 8 Shiprow Aberdeen > > Which all fits my theory as to his parents except that his mother > Isabella's > maiden surname is shown as ROSS not CRUICKSHANK as I expected it to be. > > So I got the death certificate for Isabella - 1884 Ellon ABD 192/00 0036 > which records Isabella BUCHAN, widow of James BUCHAN crofter, died 1884 > December second 10h0m AM at Tillydesk parish of Ellon, female aged 85 > years, > father John CRUICKSHANK crofter (deceased) mother Mary CRUICKSHANK ms > CRUICKSHANK (deceased), cause of death senile debility, informant James > Thomson son in law present > > Based on the above I am inclined to suggest that the name ROSS is an error > made either by the informant or the registrar. > Any thoughts? > > Ed >

Well, I got the death certificate 1895 St Nicholas Aberdeen ABD 168/01/0947 which records that John BUCHAN, coal store keeper married to Janet WILLOX, died 1895 September third 7h30m AM at 19 Lodge Walk Aberdeen; male aged 68 years; father James BUCHAN crofter (deceased) mother Isabella BUCHAN ms ROSS (deceased); informant Alex BUCHAN, son, 8 Shiprow Aberdeen Which all fits my theory as to his parents except that his mother Isabella's maiden surname is shown as ROSS not CRUICKSHANK as I expected it to be. So I got the death certificate for Isabella - 1884 Ellon ABD 192/00 0036 which records Isabella BUCHAN, widow of James BUCHAN crofter, died 1884 December second 10h0m AM at Tillydesk parish of Ellon, female aged 85 years, father John CRUICKSHANK crofter (deceased) mother Mary CRUICKSHANK ms CRUICKSHANK (deceased), cause of death senile debility, informant James Thomson son in law present Based on the above I am inclined to suggest that the name ROSS is an error made either by the informant or the registrar. Any thoughts? Ed

You know, I thought I had recalled seeing the name George Smith on a McBain baptismal OPR for Old Machar, so I went and found it - I have a George Smith as a witness to the birth of Angus McBAIN at Old Machar in 1830. Always trying to find hints/clues/links, I looked up all possible George Smiths who may have been asked to witness the birth of a boy to a 57-year old Chelsea Pensioner (John MCBAIN) and his wife Christian. So, George SMITH and Elisabeth THOMSON came up as a possibility, and of course he and she had seven kids (atleast those listed on the IGI) in Old Machar from 1806 through to 1822. Did any of their births have a McBAIN as a witness? Just asking!! Causeway End also figures prominently in my family history as my GGGG grandpa John MCBAIN, wife Christian and their daughter Grace lives at Causeway End in the 1851 census and their son Allan McBAIN in 1861... who kows, may be someone from your line knew someone from my line... as far as going back further I was very fortunate in having two Chelsea Pensionsers so I could go back before 1740... try finding George SMITH's born in Aberdeen on IGI or ScotsPeople or perhaps the mason angle could be used... Cam ________________________________ From: philip booker <ky3215@yahoo.com.au> To: ABERDEEN@rootsweb.com Sent: Wed, March 31, 2010 8:01:18 PM Subject: [ABERDEEN] George SMITH and Elizabeth THOMSON I am trying to trace the genealogy of George Smith and Elizabeth Thomson who married in Old Machar on 1 June 1805. George was born in Aberdeenshire in about 1772 (1841 census)and died on 29 January 1845 in Aberdeen (will details, death certificate not found). I believe he was buried at Belhelvie cemetery on 1 February 1845 but do not know if there is a gravestone. Elizabeth was born about 1776 in Aberdeenshire and died after the 1841 census but before 2 February 1844, when George added a codicil to his will. George was a mason and builder and built houses in Causewayend road near the Aberdeen Canal and at Spital Hill. In 1841 the family were living in Canal road at Greyfriars. George owned a house at Spital which he received from George Smith, a shoemaker of New Deer. This shoemaker was a grand nephew of Alexander Smith, former resident of Spital and thus related to my George, but I don't know how. I have produced a modest biography on George's son Alexander who married Clementina Cobban and became a Congregational minister at Rendall in Orkney and who's children scattered to Glasgow, Forfar, Vancouver and Sydney, Australia. I have also traced George's son George who remained at Causewayend (censuses and IGI only). I'd like to go further back with George and Elizabeth and also trace their other descendants. Can anyone help? regards, Philip       ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ABERDEEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

This is a correction. My blog on the Google site is http://innesgenealogy.blogspot.com . Sorry for the inconvenience. William

Hi everyone. Many of you know that I have been researching my Innes roots in Inveravon and Kirkmichael, Banff, Scotland. I have now started two Blogs on my roots and they are: http://innesgenealogy.com with Google and http://wjgigenealogy.spaces.live.com with Microsoft on their Window's Live site. Where possible, I have shown photographs of my ancestors and I am, every day, adding additional information as well as pictures. If you feel that you have additional information let me know. Thanks everyone William in Montreal

Hi I would be interested to hear how you treat this matter when the surname for one person is spelt differently in nearly every document you find. ie. Dakar, Dyker, Dykar, Dikker, Daker I put a note with the Source Documentation that the name is spelt thus on that document but would be interested to hear of any other methods. My friend has 26 different variants of his family name. regards Pauline Melbourne, Australia

This may seem like a silly question, particularly for someone who has been reading messages in this group for some number of years, and has traveled to Scotland on several occasions. A fairly recent message mentioned the "Mains of" a town or village that got my curiosity going again. What exactly is the meaning of "Mains of ..." whatever village or town? Bob Wallace Dayton, Nevada

I am trying to trace the genealogy of George Smith and Elizabeth Thomson who married in Old Machar on 1 June 1805. George was born in Aberdeenshire in about 1772 (1841 census)and died on 29 January 1845 in Aberdeen (will details, death certificate not found). I believe he was buried at Belhelvie cemetery on 1 February 1845 but do not know if there is a gravestone. Elizabeth was born about 1776 in Aberdeenshire and died after the 1841 census but before 2 February 1844, when George added a codicil to his will. George was a mason and builder and built houses in Causewayend road near the Aberdeen Canal and at Spital Hill. In 1841 the family were living in Canal road at Greyfriars. George owned a house at Spital which he received from George Smith, a shoemaker of New Deer. This shoemaker was a grand nephew of Alexander Smith, former resident of Spital and thus related to my George, but I don't know how. I have produced a modest biography on George's son Alexander who married Clementina Cobban and became a Congregational minister at Rendall in Orkney and who's children scattered to Glasgow, Forfar, Vancouver and Sydney, Australia. I have also traced George's son George who remained at Causewayend (censuses and IGI only). I'd like to go further back with George and Elizabeth and also trace their other descendants. Can anyone help? regards, Philip

Hello Alexander, I had previously written to an Alexander Bisset but I don't know if you are one in the same or not. If you are, my message may not have gotten through. Anyway, the following message posted by A Bisset shows a Catherine STEPHEN married to a Robert JACKSON. http://newsfeed.rootsweb.com/th/read/BISSETT/2007-06/1180954810 And also this site... http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/peterhead/d0004/g0000012.html#I01905 My interest is with Catherine Stephen. The above site shows her parents to be James STEPHEN and Janet DAVIDSON. My 4th great grandparents are James Stephen and Janet Davidson through their son William Stephen, brother to Catherine. The only speculative data I have is the 1841 and 1851 census for Robert Jackson and Catherine Stephen. The 1851 shows Catherine born in Kintore, the same time frame as James S and Janet D's daughter Catherine. The above site shows Catherine died prior to 1855. I have not yet checked for any SP death records on Catherine. I just thought I would check with you to see if you have any proof that the Catherine Stephen married to Robert Jackson is the dau of James Stephen and Janet Davidson. Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Here is my Stephen tree... http://home.windstream.net/smith27/Barbswebpage/STEPHEN.html Thank you in advance. Barbara

On 31 March 2010 08:51, Pauline Lyons <hannaford@netspace.net.au> wrote: > My friend has 26 different variants of his family name. > Tell me about it! I've given up caring. Ray ¯¯¯ A.k.a. [a selection] Henesy Henesey Hennesy Hennesey Hennessy [hooray] Hennessey Hensey Hensay Hendersy Hendersey Hannassy Henersy Hennersy Hennersee etc etc And best of all: My mother was a Sarf Londoner! She spelled the name carefully over the phone but the parcel came addressed to: Mrs Enersea

Schani Biermann wrote: > a topic for general discussion > > In my research i have encountered various spellings of the surname > GARDEN. in the earliest records the name is spelled as > Gardyne/Gardne. then it appears as Gairden/Gardin and then by the > latter part of the 19th cent = Garden > > In my FTM genealogy program i have decided to stay with the surname > as GARDEN all the way through the generations and in brackets i place > the variant spelling > > EXAMPLE: > > William (Gairden) Garden James (Gardne (Garden) = Sarah Clerk > > if sometimes it seems just to be a minor variant on spelling > last > name > McBe(a)th , i "bracket" the vowel > > how does everyone else approach this "problem"? is there a "proper" > way, genealogically speaking, a preferred method or simply depends on > each individual My take on this would be that there is no "correct" version - our ancestors were clearly more relaxed about spelling than we are (and in good company - Shakespeare seemingly wrote his name in numerous different ways). Following on from this, I would suggest that by "standardising" the name you use in your genealogy program, you are actually falsifying the historical record. If the software can't accommodate people with variable name-spellings, then the fault is with the program, not with the names! Gavin Bell

thanks to everyone who provided their input on this topic i really understand better now how important it is to go with the variant spelling contained in the "original" record. Since it is almost impossible to view every possible record of every ancestor, either on microfilm (LDS) or get to Edinburgh to view records, i will for now use the spelling transcribed by ScotslandPeople (ScP) and then obviously "source" the spelling to ScP Gavin's point that you are actually "falsifying the historical record" by "standardising the name" is well taken! thanks Gavin i also enjoyed the humour in Keith Abel's comments! thanks, Keith i hope this topic proved beneficial to everyone Schani Biermann

My own methodology is to use the features built into the GEDCOM standard. Ie: I record the name in the name field as it appears in the record I've found and the source of that record. For variants I simply record an alternate name fact and source that fact. The variant that I think should be used is the one I mark as the preferred fact. Typically this is the spelling as per an original document. However with early records you often find the same person with multiple different spellings in the ORIGINAL documents this is simply because it's how the clerk writing the document heard the name. In which case I try to go with the most "consistent" one, but would record all variants I found in case it helped future searches. I would never ever use brackets in the middle of a name or at the end as this will utterly screw up any form of matching software that might automate your searching. Far far better to use the provided features of your software and simply record multiple facts. On the spelling of Garden as Gairden I can well imagine a clerk today writing Garden as Gairden if he just heard it. An Aberdeenshire native today with a strong accent would usually pronounce Garden as Gair-den. As in "I wis oot potterin aboot in my gairden, fin ye caad." Translation "I was out spending some time in my garden, when you called." With apologies to anyone who can write Scots/Doric I was attempting to imply phonetic spellings rather than true Scots/Doric spellings. -- Alexander Bisset IT Administrator Aberdeen Harbour Board -----Original Message----- From: aberdeen-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aberdeen-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Pauline Lyons Sent: 31 March 2010 08:52 To: aberdeen@rootsweb.com Subject: [ABERDEEN] variant name spellings Hi I would be interested to hear how you treat this matter when the surname for one person is spelt differently in nearly every document you find. ie. Dakar, Dyker, Dykar, Dikker, Daker I put a note with the Source Documentation that the name is spelt thus on that document but would be interested to hear of any other methods. My friend has 26 different variants of his family name. regards Pauline Melbourne, Australia ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ABERDEEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ______________________________________________________________________ This message has been checked by Dionach for all known viruses using MessageLabs Virus Scanning Service. For further information visit http://www.dionach.com ______________________________________________________________________ This message has been checked by Dionach for all known viruses using MessageLabs Virus Scanning Service. For further information visit http://www.dionach.com

David, Thanks - I will try that! Kind regards Ed -----Original Message----- From: aberdeen-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aberdeen-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of David Britt Sent: Tuesday, 30 March 2010 1:07 AM To: aberdeen@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] John BUCHAN of Logie Buchan While this doesn't confirm the connection you might email the owners and see if they know.  http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jaheld&id=I6149 regards.. db ----edited for brevity ----

Ray, Thanks also for following up on this family. I will get some ScotlandsPeople credits and see what I can find there. Kind regards Ed -----Original Message----- From: aberdeen-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aberdeen-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Ray Hennessy Sent: Monday, 29 March 2010 10:35 PM To: aberdeen@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] John BUCHAN of Logie Buchan Hi karen & Ed Further to Jen's detailed comments, if you look at the neighbouring records on the 1851 Census for Logie Buchan North Artrochie which follow John BUCHAN aged 23 you will find, James aged 85 and James aged 46 with wife Isabella aged 50 and all their family. The proximity of all these families does NOT guarantee relationships but by finding John's death certificate on Scotland's People, and possibly the ones for either James who may have died after 1855, you should get a lot more data. There are only 8 BUCHAN deaths in Logie Buchan on ScP so looking at all of them shouldn't be very expensive. There are 15 deaths for John BUCHAN in Aberdeenshire born 1822-1832 so looking at the hit list should show if your John died there. There are two born apparently in 1827 and one apparently in 1828. [I say "apparently" because ages on death certificates are nortoriously unreliable. As Gavin says, the person who knows best aint talking!] For James BUCHAN born c. 1765 +/-5, there are five possible deaths on ScP. For James born c. 1805 +/- 5, there are six possibles. In 1881, Isabella BUCHAN is in Ellon, widowed. living with her unmarried 55-year-old daughter Barbara and a granddaughter Helen WEBSTER, aged 5. FreeCEN 1851 says Isabella was born in Ellon but 1881 gives her place of birth as Rayne. More details if you want them. ---- edited for brevity----

Hello Jen, Thanks for your advice and for looking for them in the census records. I suppose that my theory is based upon that information and that I can find only one baptism of a John BUCHAN in 1827 in Logie Buchan. I suspect that the James Buchan aged 75 in the 1841 census is not John's grandfather but his grand-uncle. I have viewed the parish registers for Logie Buchan and the recognizable witnesses are a James BUCHAN or a John BUCHAN which could be related or one of the several BUCHAN families living on nearby farms. I will look for John's death certificate on Scotlandpeople. Kind regards Ed -----Original Message----- From: aberdeen-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aberdeen-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Brad and Jen Sent: Monday, 29 March 2010 10:02 PM To: aberdeen@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] John BUCHAN of Logie Buchan Hi there, There's lots of ways to try and confirm this information. Firstly I looked at the 1841 and 1851 Census on the Freecen site - http://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl. In 1841 John is living with James BUCHAN (Snr) in Artochie, Logie Buchan aged 13 and in 1851 Census he is still living in Artochie aged 23 with wife Janet. Both ages give him an approximate birth year of 1827. In 1851 Census James Snr and wife Isabella are still living in Artochie and this is a good indication that they are related. I also note that in the 1841 Census in Artochie there is also a James Buchan Independent aged 75 living with them and it's quite possible that this is John's grandfather. Secondly John and Janet had at least 7 children born in Logie Buchan and most likely in Artochie. I would spend some credits on Scotlandspeople - http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ and see if there were any witnesses named at the baptisms of the children. If James Snr is listed living in Artochie then it is most likely that he is John's father as most witnesses at baptisms were relatives. Thirdly I'd look for John's death certificate on Scotlandpeople and see if I could confirm it that way. I hope this helps and happy hunting, Jen. ---- edited for brevity -----