Daoine Pharaig
Peter's People
Family Group Sheet
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Husband John WARDS [AN050] |
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Born |
About 1801, Sanday, Orkney |
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Chr. |
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Married |
Not known, presumed by 1826 |
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Died |
5 February 1883, Castles Peday, Eday, Orkney. | |
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Buried |
Not known |
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Husband’s Father James WARDS [AN100] |
Husband’s Mother Betsy CURSITOR [AN101] |
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Other wives |
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Notes: No birth, baptism or marriage found for this
John Wards and Margaret Cursitor [all name variants] in Orkney, Shetland or Edinburgh (Midlothian). John Wards farmer of 6 acres (1851), widower, age 50 years, in Castles, Eday. "Castles" NGR: HY
58046 37669. One of a string of crofts running from north west to south east, called Calfsound, view over Calf Sound towards island called Calf of Eday. John and all his children were recorded as having been born on Sanday. Not known why they moved to Eday.
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Wife Margaret CURSITER [AN051] |
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Born |
Not known |
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Chr. |
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Died |
Not known, between 1841 and 1851. |
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Buried |
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Wife’s Father [AN102] |
Wife’s Mother [AN103]
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Other husbands |
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Notes: Name spelled five different ways on birth records of her seven children baptised in Sanday: Cursetter, Cussiter [3], Coseter, Cusatter, Cursatter
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Children |
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Sex Name |
Born |
Married |
Died |
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1 M Robert WARDS
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bap. 2 Jan 1826 Sanday, Orkney |
Ann [WARDS], maiden name not known, born Stronsay, by 1851 (fisherman, married, age 25 yrs, living in same HH as father, Castles, Eday; wife Ann fisherman's wife age 22 yrs) |
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2 F Margret WARDS
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bap. 25 Apr 1830 Sanday, Orkney |
Died in infancy? |
Presumed died in infancy, before 12 July 1832 |
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3 F Margaret WARDS
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bap. 12 July 1832 Sanday, Orkney |
Not living in father's HH in 1851 |
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4 M John WARDS
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bap. 30 Mar 1834 Sanday, Orkney |
(fisherman, aged 17, 1851) |
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5 F Janet WARDS |
bap. 4 Dec 1836 Sanday, Orkney |
(farmer's daur, aged 14, 1851) |
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6 M James WARDS |
bap. 24 Mar 1839 Sanday, Orkney |
(scholar, aged 12, 1851) |
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7 F Betsy WARDS [AN25] |
b. 13 June 1841, Sanday (in Cross parish); bap. 27 Jun 1841 Sanday, (by Rev Mr Smillie Min. of Lady parish), Orkney |
In 1851, a scholar, aged 9 yrs, living in Castles croft, Eday, with
father and family. Married William Linklater SWANNEY, 16 May 1867, Leith. |
24 April 1874, 32 yrs, Leith (TB). Left one son, William Swanney, and
widower husband, William Linklater Swanney (merchant seaman). |
References:
I don't know (yet) what the Wards did on Sanday or why they moved across the sound to the island to the west, Eday, one of the northern group of islands of Orkney. Possibly the family had the opportunity to take on the croft of Castles on Eday. Possibly it was the attraction of the money to be made from fishing there. Possibly it was because of family connections between John Wards and family on Eday. I don't know if Margaret Cursitor or Wards had died before the move or after it.
On Eday, John Wards and his sons were fishermen who also farmed six acres of Castles croft at the north end of the island, overlooking Calf Sound. Calf Sound has an important sheltered,
natural harbour a mile or two to the west of Castles, which is at the eastern end of the sound and looks towards Sanday as well as the Calf. The Sound was also where the pirate Gow was
captured, later fictionalised by Walter Scott in "Pirate". Unusually for Orkney, the greater part of Eday is covered with peat moorland. Peats were used as fuel.
Quarrying of sandstone was important in the north of Eday, much used for building in Kirkwall in the early C.19th, but neither John Wards nor his sons are recorded as working as quarrymen in 1851. Neither did any of the immediate crofting neighbours do so, farmers of some 3 or 4 acres each, farming sometimes combined with fishing, carpentry.
As well as being the main souce of livelihood, fish was the principal meat (cod, and herring in season, and other fish). Meal and potatoes formed the staple. Cod fishing for export had started in 1828 and herring fishing in 1814. Lobster fishing started in the late 18th century, being caught from April to June and sent to London. Some whaling was also carried on as and when the animals were in the area.
Kelp harvesting had been a boom industry but the author of the New Statistical Account for the united parishes of Stronsay and Eday (1834-1845, Vol. 15, pp. 156-168), "Drawn up by the Rev. David Rintoul, Missionary Minister in Eday", in July 1841, remarked that the price had fallen, by 1841, from highs of £15 or £20 per ton to £5 per ton. Probably it was little worked by the time the Wards family moved to Castles.
Eday had a United Secession church, built in 1829, as well as an Established Church of Scotland. It is not known whether the Wards were Seceders or Auld Kirk.
Useful links about Eday
Eday on orkney.com
http://www.orkney.com/about/explore-orkney/eday
Eday Heritage Centre
http://www.visiteday.com/heritage/eday-heritage-visitor-centre