Family Group Sheet

Husband    John Smith [AN028]

Born

Abt 1829 Croftcroy, Farr, Dunlichity, Inverness-shire (inferred)

Chr.

 

Married

(1) Ann McBean, 10 Feb 1853, The Inn, Errogie, Inverness-shire (birth certificates of their children; see below)

Died

4 Sep 1923, 94 yrs, Lake View, Errogie, Inverness-shire (Old age; No recent medical attendant) (D/1923/096-A/10 Dores, Inverness-shire)

Buried

 

Husband’s Father   William Smith [AN056], farmer (‘blacksmith’ : John death cert)

Husband’s Mother     Marjory McIntosh  [AN057]

Other wives: (2) Betsy Fraser, m. 28 Apr 1887, 1 Rose Street, Inverness (Domestic servant, 47 yrs, spinster, usual residence Dunmaglass, Inverness-shire; dau of Alexander Fraser, soldier, deceased and Elizabeth Shaw, deceased) (M/1887/098/41 Inverness) ; d. 20 Apr 1902, 68 yrs, 5 Davis Square, Inverness (D/1902/098/202 Inverness; Register of Corrected Entries 1903, Vol.V, p.48 Inverness)

     

Notes:  Shepherd; 1881 head of household at Balnagaig, Achnalodden, Dunmaglass, daur Kate was housekeeper; also living there were (his eldest child)  Marjory McGillivray, “visitor”, 28 yrs, married, shepherd’s wife; and “grand-daughter”, Ann McGillivray, aged 1 yr; Census 1891, John Smith, married, not accompanied by wife Betsy, visitor in gamekeeper’s house, household headed by son-in-law Duncan Cameron, married to daur Catherine.  Lake View, Errogie was home of Catherine & Duncan Cameron (see below).

 

Wife         Ann McBean (Annie) [AN029]

Born

? May 1823, Dunmaglass, Daviot & Dunlichity, Inverness-shire

Chr.

25 May 1823, Dunlichity, Inverness-shire (Daviot & Dunlichity OPRs, 095/1823)

Died

25 July 1872, 47 yrs, Lynrich, Dunlichity, Inverness-shire (Phthisis, Long standing) (D/1872/095/12 Daviot & Dunlichity, Inverness-shire)

Buried

 

Wife’s Father      Francis McBean [AN058], farmer, Dunmaglass

Wife’s Mother       Ann McIntosh [AN059]

Other husbands:   none

     

Notes: 1. Phthisis is archaic name for pulmonary tuberculosis (TB); also used for general wasting away of the body.

2. John Smith’s death certificate, 1923, records name of spouses as Elizabeth Smith and, previously, Annie McBean, from information provided by Errogie United Free Church minister, Rev. A.D. Campbell. 

 

Children

Sex     Name

Born

Married

Died

1 F   Marjory SMITH

(father’s mother’s name)

1853, bef. 13 June

 

(1861 Census: age 8, living with grandmother Ann McBean, at Feabuie, Croy)

Andrew McGILLIVRAY, shepherd (bachelor, 38 yrs, Dunmaglass), son of John McGillivray, Road contractor, (deceased) and Isabella McGillivray, M.S. Fraser (deceased), and Marjory SMITH, domestic servant (spinster, 26 yrs, Dunmaglass), son of John Smith and Ann Smith, M.S. McBean (deceased), married 13 June 1879 at Aberarder (Free Church Banns). M/1879/095-00/2 Daviot & Dunlichity) (Note 3). Issue: 7 children - 2 daurs and 5 sons; eldest child Ann b. 22 March 1880, Dunlichity (B/1880/095-00/5 Daviot & Dunlichity). Ann died aged 21 in 1901.  Youngest son, Archie, killed in battle of Loos, 25 Sept 1915, France, Lance Corporal, Cameron Highlanders.

17 Jan 1936, 7.30 pm (82 years), 8 Crown Street, Inverness, c.o.d. senility (D/1936/098-A0/42 Inverness).

2 M  William SMITH

(father’s father’s name)

21 Jan 1855 at Croftcroy, Dunlichity, Inverness-shire. (B/1855/095-00/3 Daviot & Dunlichity)

Single. Presumed no issue.  In Census 1861, “scholar”, aged 6 yrs, living in household (six people) of grandfather William Smith, farmer of 14 acres, in 2-roomed house at Croftcroy.  In Census of 1871, year of death, servant, aged 16 yrs, in grandfather’s household, William Smith, farmer of 14 acres, house at Croftcroy now 3-roomed.

13 August 1871, 16 yrs, Croftcroy, Dunlichity, Inverness-shire. (Erysipalis* abt 2 years.  “No Regular Medical Attendant.”) (D/1871/095-00/13 Daviot & Dunlichity)

3 M  Hugh SMITH [AN014]

16 Apr 1857 at Lynrich, Dunlichity (B/095/1857/6  Daviot & Dunlichity)

Margaret REID [AN015], domestic servant, aged 18 yrs, living at Linnmore, Moy, on 27 Jul 1883 at Moy, Inverness-shire. Established Church of Scotland Banns. (M/1883/105-00/2 Moy & Dalarossie, Inverness-shire.) Hugh was a shepherd, aged 26 yrs, living at Garbole, Dalarossie.  5 sons and 3 daughters; of whom 3 or 4 had issue.

17 Oct 1907, 50 yrs, Battan Cottage, Kincraig, Inverness-shire (D/090-B/1907/4 Alvie, Inverness-shire). COD: “Apoplexy, 2 months”. Buried in Alvie Churchyard, Inverness-shire.

4 M  John SMITH

(father’s grandfather’s)

15 Jun 1859 at Lynrich, Dunlichity (B/095/1859/16 Daviot & Dunlichity)

 

 

5 F  Ann SMITH

(mother’s mother’s)

2 Aug 1861 at Lynrich, Dunlichity (B/095/1861/18 Daviot & Dunlichity)

Died in infancy.

22 Aug 1861, 20 days, Lynrich, Dunlichity, Inverness-shire (COD: “Cannot say”; No medical attendant) (D/1861//095-xx Daviot & Dunlichity)

6 F  Catharine SMITH

27 Jun 1862 at Lynrich, Dunlichity (B/095/1862/24 Daviot & Dunlichity, Inverness-shire)

Duncan CAMERON, Gamekeeper (bachelor, 27 yrs, Dunmaglass), on 9 Dec 1886 at Dunmaglass, Daviot & Dunlichity, Inverness-shire (Free Church of Scotland Banns). (M/1886/095-00/1 Daviot & Dunlichity, Inverness-shire.) Catharine, spinster, housekeeper, 24 yrs, Balnagaig, Dunmaglass, Dunlichity (18 yrs, at Achnalodden, Balnagaig, with father, John Smith, 1881 Census). ISSUE: 6 children; 4 sons (Duncan, John, Tavish & William); 2 daurs (Anne, m. Brown; & Catherine, m. Mackintosh). 

7 April 1944, 81 yrs, Lake View, Errogie, Dores, Inverness-shire (D/1944/096-A/4 Dores, Inverness-shire). (Medically certified cause of death: Carcinoma of Hepatic Flexure with secondaries in Liver.)

 

References: IGI; Daviot & Dunlichity OPRs; GROS BMD records: Census 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891

Notes: 1. Possible death certificate for John Smith, born 15 June 1859: Labourer, single, aged 30 yrs, died on 21 February 1890, in Inverness District Asylum, of epilepsy (sudden), suffered for 14 years (no details of parents). (Register of Corrected Entries: D/1890/098-00/331 Inverness.)

2. Erysipelas (“St. Anthony’s fire”): acute, hot, red cellulitis, usually caused by infection with group A streptococci, spreading over skin. Dorland’s Illus. Med. Dict. St Anthony's Fire, or ergotism, is caused by ingestion of cereal grains, notably rye and oats, or their products for example bread or beer, infected by the highly toxic ergot fungus (Claviceps purpurea), which attacks the cereal grain with a dark fungal body called "sclerotium". Brought under control in modern times by strict selection of healthy seed grain, historically ergot poisoning ravaged socieities across the world and has even been proposed as an explanation of betwitchment in pre-industrial societies (United States Dept of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, article on "Ergot: The Psychoactive Fungus that Changed History", https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/Mind_and_Spirit/ergot.shtml, consulted 26 May 2024). It may be speculated that William Smith may have been a victim of an outbreak of ergot poisoning perhaps locally confined, for example if ingested bread made from locally infected grains, or perhaps more widespread.

3. Marjory McGILLIVRAY, M.S. SMITH: in Census 1881, age 28, shepherd’s wife; married; born in parish of Daviot & Dunlichity; “visitor” in John Smith’s household; also Ann McGILLIVRAY, age 1 yr, born Daviot & Dunlichity, recorded as “grand-daughter” of John Smith.  Not known in whose household Marjory was brought up: she was not living in either her parents’ or her grandparents’ Smith household in 1861; possibly with grandparents McBean? CHECK

Updated 4 Nov 2010 & 18 Dec 2016 & 27 May 2024 by Peter Symon

Above are thought to be two likenesses of John Smith: left, with daughter Catherine Smith or Cameron; right, with daughter Marjory (May), and others, possibly one of her sons and a granddaughter (from personal archives of Mrs Kath Watson, Inverness)

Croftcroy, Lynrich and Lake View, Errogie

Google Maps content is not displayed due to your current cookie settings. Click on the cookie policy (functional) to agree to the Google Maps cookie policy and view the content. You can find out more about this in the Google Maps privacy policy.
Croftcroy, Farr, Strathnairn, Inverness-shire: birthplace of John Smith, around 1829. Peter Symon, 2008.
Croftcroy, Farr, Strathnairn, Inverness-shire: birthplace of John Smith, around 1829. Peter Symon, 2008.


View looking north over ruined farm of Balnagaig on the estate of Dunmaglass, 2011. John Smith, shepherd, lived here in 1881, after death of wife Annie McBean. Green grass around ruins is characteristic of once cultivated, fertile "plaggen" soils.
View looking north over ruined farm of Balnagaig on the estate of Dunmaglass, 2011. John Smith, shepherd, lived here in 1881, after death of wife Annie McBean. Green grass around ruins is characteristic of once cultivated, fertile "plaggen" soils.

Last residence of John Smith (d 1923), Lake View, Errogie, 7 Nov 2010, with Eleanor Swanney or Symon, great granddaughter of John Smith.

Curious facts about the Smith and Symon surnames

 

The family name Smith is very common throughout Britain and also in the north east of Scotland.  The Glenlivet single malt whisky distillery was established in 1824 by George & J.G. Smith and it continues to be branded with George Smith's name today.  

 

Dufftown Distillery was also set up by, inter alia, a certain John Symon.   Mary Symon, of Speyside, was a popular poet.  One James Symon was in dispute with another person over possession of slaves in the West Indies, as recorded in the "Hampshire Compensation Cases" around the time of abolition.  Symon is thought to be a surname linked to the Fraser clan, descendants Fraser of Lovat being MacSimi, son of Simon, in Gaelic, so surnames Syme, Sim, Simpson, Symon etc are all thought to be related.  It should be remembered that tenants taking the surname of their landlord was a common practice, although by no means universal, tenants retaining their own surnames in some cases (Isobel Grant, Highland Folk Ways).