Welcome to my genealogical pages

A gathering at Errol in 2011 of all my sisters, parents, aunts and uncles and some three quarters of first cousins and their children

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Daoine Pharaig means "Peter's People" in Scottish Gaelic (with thanks for this translation to my cousins Elma McArthur and Catriona Watt, née McPhail, both native speakers of Tiree Gaelic, although I take full responsibility for any mistakes in spelling etc). At least one quarter of my great grandparents are known to have had Gaelic as their mother tongue, rising to between one third and one half two or three generations further back, including ancestors from the once Gaelic speaking regions of Highland Perthshire (Strathtay and Strathardle).

Details of some 120 ancestors over eight generations are provided in an Ancestor Table, usually called an "Ahnentafel" in genealogical research. A graphic summary (hand-drawn) is here. All identities are known for six generations, all 63 persons up to and including great-great-great grandparents of myself. Identities are known for at least 42 out of 64 in generation 7 (4xgreat grandparents), 10 out of 128 in generation 8, and 4 out of 256 in generation 9 (my 6x-great grandparents; i.e. my grandparents' grandparents' grandparents' grandparents).

The earliest family record so far identified with confidence is of the marriage, on 19 August 1732, in Errol parish, Perthshire, between James Playfair and Helen Sim. They were ancestors of my father's mother, Mary Ann Campbell Smart. The earliest record for patrilineal Symon ancestors is the marriage, in Errol village, in 1785 of David Symon and Elizabeth Wilson. The Symon family name is found in the Errol parish from at least 1720 and from elsewhere in the Carse of Gowrie from slightly earlier.

Below is a list of the family names encountered, which are also listed here and the places they are found in are listed here.

ON THE PATERNAL SIDE (SYMON & SMART):

Names from the Carse of Gowrie:

Allan, Bruce, Campsie, Hendry, Kelt, Melville, Playfair, Scot, Shaw, Sim, Smart, Symon, Wilson, Wylie

from elsewhere in Gowrie:

Hall, Hutcheson, Mercer, Miller, Taylor, Wanless, Watson

from Strathtay and Strathardle:

Bruce, Ferguson, Nicolson, Robertson

from Lismore:

Campbell, Kennedy, McColl, McKay

ON THE MATERNAL SIDE (SWANNEY & SMITH):

from Strathnairn:

Catanach, McBean, Macdonald, McGillivray, McIntosh, McIntyre, Reid, Rose, Smith

from Stratherrick:

Fraser, McKenzie

from Tiree:

McArthur, McDougall, Maclean, McKinnon

from Orkney:

Cursitor, Swanney, Tulloch, Wards

Legal stuff

All text on these pages, and all images unless otherwise stated, are copyright 2013-2022 Peter Symon. Should you have reason to believe that you or another person or body hold rights in any of the images published on these pages, please contact me and I shall be pleased to make the necessary arrangements including inserting acknowledgements and photo credits.

I am sure that more ancestors have yet to emerge from the registers and archive records. Also please note that this is work in progress and to be updated and amended. At present there are many individuals about whom material has still to be put up on this website, but I do intend to do so soon, so please be patient and keep visiting, while I take the strimmer to the family hedge!

Very few of my ancestors had so much as a death notice in the local paper and no diaries have been found. As mentioned above, some five generations or so back, and in some cases even fewer, Gaelic was the mother tongue of my ancestors in Strathardle and Strathtay in north east Perthshire, Strathnairn, Stratherrick and Strathspey in Invernessshire, and on Lismore and Tiree in Argyll. No point, then, in attempting an organised biography in Who's Who form. But because sometimes there is information orally transmitted about certain individuals and their families, I have varied the length of entries according to what is known about each person and to incorporate contextual information from secondary sources about the local social, economic and geographical worlds in which they lived.

Most of my ancestors may have recognised the bare facts of their lives, but would possibly not have known whom I was talking about in using their officially-recorded names. Many people went by, and were known by, either a pet name, in the case of the English speakers, or by a patronymic in the case of the Gaels. What is more, the orthography (spelling) frequently varies from generation to generation, or even from one record to another, for the same individual, over a lifetime. In some cases I have had to select a modern-day accepted name form, or in other cases have mentioned the different recorded spellings.

Peter W. Symon

32, place des Diligences

49730 Montsoreau

France

I created the guestbook below a few years ago. Since the early part of 2020 a number of comments have been posted and I have been pleased to be able to share interesting information with a range of people. If you have any comments of queries, please fill in the form below and click "Send". Please note that comments and queries will be moderated. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Comments: 12

#12
Peter Symon (Monday, 27 November 2023 10:56)

Dear Gary,

Thank you for your comment on my website and for suggesting names of places and persons. I have amended the family group sheet on this website for James Wanless [44] and Isabella Mercer [45] accordingly. My notes are archived at present so I am unable to verify any details just now. I would be pleased to read any relevant details about the Wanless+Mercer [or Messer] family that we have in common. (My email address is in message #2)
#11
Gary (Monday, 20 November 2023 23:59)

Hi Peter,

I discovered your website whilst researching my family tree, specifically Grace Wanless and her husband Thomas Smith, who are my 3rd great grandparents.

Apologies if you have previously considered this but I believe both Grace and Thomas most likely lived at Craigowmill and Craigow respectively. Both places still exist today and are approximately 2 miles north east from where they were married in Milnathort.

The wanlessweb.org site suggests that the unknown witness to their marriage ‘John ?’ was John Young but I still struggle to verify that from what is written on the marriage certificate.

I note you also have lots of good information on James Wanless and Isabella Messer who I'll be focusing on next.

Thanks
Gary
#10
Peter (Monday, 09 August 2021 09:24)

Hello Hugo,

Many thanks for your interesting comment. Yes of course I would be pleased to exchange emails. You can find my email address below, in my response to the first comment listed.

I think I don't have much more than is on this website for that particular outpost of my known ancestry so am particularly interested in finding out what you may have either going further back or on that family group or the descendants.

I may be a little slow to reply as, although it is in the middle of the summer holiday period here (in France: I will amend my home address) I am still working.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Peter
#9
Hugo (Saturday, 07 August 2021 13:16)

Hi there Peter,

I am so glad to have come across your site. I am also researching John MacKenzie and Catherine MacKenzie (M.S. Fraser) who were my 4th great grandparents. I am a descendant of John and Rebecca (M.S. Fraser) MacKenzie. I would be happy to discuss what I have as well via e-mail, would you be happy to talk there?

Thank you
Hugo
#8
Peter Symon (Thursday, 11 March 2021 18:03)

Hi Gordon (?)
Thanks for your comments on Scot Symon's cricket career. You're probably right. I've sent you an email as requested.
Best wishes,
Peter
#7
gordonds60ayr@aol.com (Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:18)

Hi Peter.

I recently came across your excellent website.

As a cricket and football historian, with a particular interest in the career of Scot Symon, I found the references to his family background fascinating.

I particularly enjoyed the story concerning his father's when watching Scot play cricket. Unfortunately, I do not think this could have been to see him play for Scotland. He first represented Scotland at cricket in 1935, when his brother David was in Africa. I think the more likely occasion was his first appearance for Perthshire against Forfarshire at Forthill in 1932. This Tayside derby was a hugely significant sporting event at that time (7,000 watched this match at the beginning of July 1932.)

If you send me your email address I would be happy to forward you the article and associated photos)
#6
Peter Symon (Thursday, 16 April 2020 18:43)

Hi Patricia,
Thanks for your comments. It is interesting that you are researching your descent from John Lamb Symon (1830-1877) and his wife Helen McFarlane (1831-1898), founders of the Southampton-Portsmouth branch of the Symon family as I do have quite a bit more information that is not on the website and I'd be interested to know what is your particular line of descent. Best thing would be to email me at the address I gave towards the bottom of comment #2 below. Would be pleased to hear from you!
I can answer a couple of questions straight away. The eldest child of aforementioned John and Helen, Elizabeth Kelt Symon, was born in Southhampton in 1857 so they had moved there by then. (The second child, also named John Lamb Symon, was also born in Southampton, in 1860). I doubt very much if John Lamb Symon (born 1830) would have understood much Gaelic let alone spoke it. The Errol area of Perthshire, where he grew up, was English speaking for centuries, with Gaelic speaking in Scotland virtually confined by then to inaccessible parts of the Highlands, and the Western Islands. He would have been educated in English at the village school and then in Glasgow and would have spoken English. Also, as far as I can recall, neither of his parents are recorded in Censuses as being able to speak Gaelic, although I'd need to check.
As for clans ... well, there is no real obvious one, at least for the Symon family; however, some people have argued that, since the name is concentrated historically in the north east of Scotland where the Fraser clan was strong, and because , in Gaelic, clan Fraser is called after its ancient clan chief, Simon Fraser, the Symons are part of the Fraser "clan".
Hope this is of interest.
Best wishes
Peter
#5
Patricia (Thursday, 16 April 2020 17:27)

Hi Peter
I have come across your site by accident and found it very interesting and confirmed some of the details I had discovered
I have been trying to research my ancestors and John Lamb Symon is my great grandfather. The story goes that he ( or the previous generation)only spoke Gaelic. I have been trying to find when the family moved to Southampton and to what clan we belong. Any information you could give me would be gratefully received.
#4
Peter Symon (Thursday, 16 April 2020 16:41)

Hi Scot,
Thanks for your comments and for getting in touch. I remember your great-grandmother Elsie, your grandparents Gertie and John and also your father, all of whom I knew from my schooldays. Four years ago, while archiving documents of James S. Symon & Son, I sent some old invoices of D. McIntosh & Sons, of Errol, to John's sister in America along with some other information, which I hope they received. I don't know if there are any more of the invoices but I could email you the covering letter I sent her, and exchange further information with you if you want to email me at the address I mentioned in comment #2 below. All best, Peter.
#3
Scot McIntosh (Tuesday, 14 April 2020 23:46)

Hi Peter,
Really interesting reading. My great grandmother was Elizabeth Taylor Symon b1902 - your grandfather’s sister.
Regards,
Scot
#2
Peter Symon (Tuesday, 07 April 2020 12:32)

Hi Peter
Thank you for your interesting comment.
I only recently found out about the parents of Marjory Mcintosh (my ancester number 57) through another researcher, who also confirmed the Tynrich connection. The register of Marjory's marriage to William Smith (my ancestor no. 56) on 20 July 1828 gives her as "daughter to James MacIntosh tenant in Tighanfhraoich" (Tynrich). I will update the website details and would be interested to learn about the Clan Chattan journal reference you mention and to exchange information. I have yet to establish family details for James and Elizabeth (my ancestors no. 114 and 115 respectively), and I take it you must be descended from one of Marjory's siblings, and would be interested to know what details there are available of that family group.
As this is the first time I have had the opportunity to respond to an entry in the guestbook (thanks!) I am learning as I go along how to manage guestbook comments, but if you would like to carry on this exchange by email the address is as follows (modified n the usual way to avoid robot detection): peter DOT symon AT yahoo DOT com . By the way I am not on ancestry.com but should be able to access it with permission of those who are. Thanks! Peter
#1
Peter Yardley (Friday, 03 April 2020 02:35)

I descend from James Macintosh (c1765-sometime between1841 &1851) and Elizabeth Smith of Tynrich. I was aware of their daughter 'Margery' but only through a reference to her in a Clan Chattan journal of 1952.

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