G'day everyone My interesting snippet isn't a newspaper article, it's an MI that raises several questions: "son James (FINNIE) taxman, Little Cumbrae, lost off the castle there 23.3.1827, (aged) 37". Your imagination can run wild when you've only got that much info to go on.We know that the FINNIEs lived at Kirkton on Cumbrae, from at least the early 1700s till the early 1900s. Instead of working the family farm, was James a revenue officer killed in a running fight with smugglers? Did he fall to his death from the castle on Little Cumbrae? What was he doing up there? Was it a look-out post of some sort? As someone has previously suggested, was this a misspelling of "tacksman" (sailor), which makes it a simple drowning, probably in a fall from a boat - incidentally, I would assume that the water up there in March is somewhat chilly :-)? Unfortunately, the questions will probably remain unanswered. As for who you would invite to dinner, I thought that would be obvious - you would invite your particular brick wall to ask them what happened to the rest of the family, &/or where did they appear from :-)? In my case, it would be William GILLIES. He was born 15 Oct 1826, but all the Rothesay OPR's say then is "see June 1848". The 1848 OPR's then show him baptised on 3 June, "the son of Thomas GILLIES, Cooper, Rothesay & Isabella BLACK". When he married in 1853 he was a writer (solicitor), & by 1858 he was "clerk to the Town Clerk of Rothesay". Once again, there's lot's of questions to ask him. Why wasn't he baptised until the age of 21? In the 1840's, what was required to become a writer - did you need to go to University to become qualified? Did he need to be baptised to enter Uni? What happened to Thomas & Isabella - I can't find any record of them being born, married or dying in Rothesay? If not Rothesay, where did Thomas come from? William is the only child of this couple listed in the OPR's - was he an only child (fairly unusual back then, I would have thought)? What is the connection between my William, and William GILLIES, who was the Town Clerk of Rothesay - were they cousins, or just a co-incidence of names? How did the son of a Cooper (who had died prior to 1853) become a writer? I think it would all make for a fairly lengthy dinner! Graeme Fitzpatrick Gold Coast Queensland Australia (sweltering, with yesterday setting an all time record of 40.5ºC plus 80% humidity - ohhh, for some of that chilly water!!!!)

I'm sorry, Graeme, but I would guess it's probably something much more mundane. Taxman is probably a variant spelling of tacksman, meaning "tenant" or "leaseholder", and "off" in the context in which it appears probably simply means "offshore". Regards, Jack ----- Original Message ----- From: "Graeme Fitzpatrick" <graemefitz@dodo.com.au> To: <ButeshireGenWeb-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 23, 2004 3:01 AM Subject: [BUT] Monthly topics > G'day everyone > > My interesting snippet isn't a newspaper article, it's an MI that raises > several questions: > > "son James (FINNIE) taxman, Little Cumbrae, lost off the castle there > 23.3.1827, (aged) 37". > > Your imagination can run wild when you've only got that much info to go > on.We know that the FINNIEs lived at Kirkton on Cumbrae, from at least the > early 1700s till the early 1900s. Instead of working the family farm, was > James a revenue officer killed in a running fight with smugglers? Did he > fall to his death from the castle on Little Cumbrae? What was he doing up > there? Was it a look-out post of some sort? As someone has previously > suggested, was this a misspelling of "tacksman" (sailor), which makes it a > simple drowning, probably in a fall from a boat - incidentally, I would > assume that the water up there in March is somewhat chilly :-)? > > Unfortunately, the questions will probably remain unanswered. > > As for who you would invite to dinner, I thought that would be obvious - you > would invite your particular brick wall to ask them what happened to the > rest of the family, &/or where did they appear from :-)? > > In my case, it would be William GILLIES. He was born 15 Oct 1826, but all > the Rothesay OPR's say then is "see June 1848". The 1848 OPR's then show him > baptised on 3 June, "the son of Thomas GILLIES, Cooper, Rothesay & Isabella > BLACK". When he married in 1853 he was a writer (solicitor), & by 1858 he > was "clerk to the Town Clerk of Rothesay". Once again, there's lot's of > questions to ask him. > > Why wasn't he baptised until the age of 21? In the 1840's, what was > required to become a writer - did you need to go to University to become > qualified? Did he need to be baptised to enter Uni? What happened to Thomas > & Isabella - I can't find any record of them being born, married or dying in > Rothesay? If not Rothesay, where did Thomas come from? William is the only > child of this couple listed in the OPR's - was he an only child (fairly > unusual back then, I would have thought)? What is the connection between my > William, and William GILLIES, who was the Town Clerk of Rothesay - were they > cousins, or just a co-incidence of names? How did the son of a Cooper (who > had died prior to 1853) become a writer? > > I think it would all make for a fairly lengthy dinner! > > Graeme Fitzpatrick > Gold Coast > Queensland > Australia > (sweltering, with yesterday setting an all time record of 40.5ºC plus 80% > humidity - ohhh, for some of that chilly water!!!!) > > > ==== ButeshireGenWeb Mailing List ==== > *********************************************************************** > The Buteshire GenWeb page is at > http://www.rootsweb.com/~sctbutes/ >