In this generation, generally entering adulthood in the 1820s or 1830s, all 16 of the men were either small tenant farmers (12), sometimes combined with a craft such as smith or fisherman or hand loom weaver, or were mainly or solely weavers (4), or ploughmen.  They had to find other employment, such as farm servant, carter, dyke builder, mason or brick maker, or migrate to another area for work (3 known cases), when the weaver's wage fell too far, or where the income from farming was too low to pay the rent of the land.  In many ways it is a classic microcosm of the typical social and economic experience, whether lowland, highland or island, of people in rural Scotland in the first half of the 19th century, where livelihoods depended either on eking out a living from a small piece of land and/or employment as a servant or craftsman or, if one existed, an industry established on the local estate.  The locations represented by this generation of men and women are Perthshire (14), southern Inverness-shire or Nairn (8), Orkney (4), Tiree (4) and Lismore (2).

Daughter of James Kelt and Barbara Wylie.  b. 2 Dec 1805, Pitkindy, Kinnaird, Perthshire; bap. 27 Dec 1805; m. David Symon 27 Jun 1829 Errol, died 11 May 1889 Errol aged 83 years.  Buried Errol. No memorial stone.

Pictured below is John Symon, eldest son of David and Elizabeth Symon, and his grandson, the late David Symon, of Waterlooville, Hampshire.

No birth or death record yet definitively established.  There were at least two men named Robert Bruce living in Errol who could have been the husband of Janet Allan.  Probably the most likely one is Robert Bruce, born 11 Jan 1810 in Errol, son of James Bruce, tailor in Errol and Euphemia Bell, his spouse (Errol Register of Births & Baptisms, p. 46; back entry written in 1826].  He was the youngest of their five children, the four elder being David b. 27 Mar 1799, Mary b. 14 Oct 1801, Euphemia b. 6 Jan 1806, and James b. 10 Mar 1808.  The eldest son, David, may have died in 1809, there being recorded in the Errol kirk session minutes a payment of 3s on 26 Apr 1809 for a 'Mortcloth for David Bruce', this being the intermediate charge compared with 1s. 'for a child' and 6s for (presumably adult) Wm Dempster. Possibly Effy died and James Bruce remarried, as there is a record of the birth of John, son of James Bruce weaver Errol and Cecilia Strachan his wife born on 30 May 1824 and bap 7 Jun 1824, unless this was a different James Bruce.

No marriage record of Robert Bruce has been found in all of the old parochial registers of the Carse of Gowrie from 1839 until 1854 inclusive, probably indicating that the marriage (if there was one) was unrecorded, most likely having been solemnised by Rev. John Lamb, minister of the United Secession church, later the United Presbyterian church in Errol.  Likewise no death record has yet been found. 

b. abt. 1810-11, Perthshire; may have m., or had at least one child by, Robert Bruce, weaver, Errol. No record of death found. The 1841 Census recorded a Jannet Allen, 30, linen hand loom weaver, born in Perthshire, living with a 2 year old child named Margret Bruce, also born in Perthshire, in Errol.  There was no other person present in the household.  Her daughter, Margaret Bruce, married Peter Symon and their third and youngest daughter was named Jessie Allen Symon. 

The heritors of Errol parish granted poor relief of 5 shillings a month to a Janet Allen [sic] in 1845:

"Janet Allen + child", Errol village, allowance £0.5.0 per Kalendar [sic] month, agreed at meeting of the Heritors, Minister & Kirk Session of Parish of Errol called & held at Errol 23 September 1845, in terms of Act 8th & 9th Vict. Cap. 83 Section 32, & conform to letter from Board of Supervisors [fixing?] this day. Review of the Poor Persons who have claimed & are by law entitled to relief from the parish of Errol. Roll adjusted. [National Records of Scotland, Historical Search Room, HR 124/7/4 "Bundle 4".]

Smallholder, then carter, son of David Bruce and Isabel or Isabella Ferguson, b. 21 Feb 1805, Stronamuck Kirkmichael, Perthshire, m. Elizabeth Robertson, 15 Nov 1841, Caputh, Perthshire.  Died 26 Dec 1874, aged 64 years, Over Cardney farm, Butterston estate, Perthshire.

Fisherman, ploughman and farm servant, parents not known, b. possibly in the 1780s or early 1790s, m. 19 Jan 1816, Ann Hall [AN039], Craigend Associate congregation, Perth.  Died by 1871 but no record of death or burial yet found.  Worked as a ploughman in Leitchhill at time of marriage in 1816.  Births and/or baptisms recorded of 3 daurs and 2 sons between November 1816 and about 1834 or 1835, the youngest child, Elizabeth Taylor [AN019]. Family group sheet and details of their children including Elisabeth are here.

On his eldest child's baptism record, of the East Church Parish of the Associate Congregation of Perth (at Craigend, later the U.P. Church), Helen Taylor, William was recorded as a "fisher" at Tarsappie, probably, of salmon (a boom industry thanks to the exploitation of the Tay fishings by Perth merchant John Richardson, later of Pitfour estate at St Madoes).  He could possibly alternatively have been fishing for sparling).  There were several salmon fishing lodges along the south bank of the Tay at the Rhynd, a few miles down the right bank of the Tay from Perth towards Elcho, where his eldest son, David, was born about 1820 or 1821.  David apprenticed as a carpenter and became a journeyman ship carpenter (1851) and was later the habourmaster at Perth Harbour. 

William Taylor seems to have stopped working as a salmon fisher and became a farm servant, because in both 1841 and 1851 census he was recorded as working as an agricultural labourer and living in a cottage at Plashburn, on the road leading to Kirkton of Mailer from the junction at Craigend with the coach road from Perth to Kinross, situated directly above the entrance of the Moncrieffe railway tunnel through Friarton Hill to Perth, just north of Hilton junction where the tracks for Glasgow and Edinburgh diverge, next to the Grade A listed Hilton House of 1732.  On Roy's map of the late 1740s Plashburn (not named) appears to be marked as a building facing south from the eastern extension of the Gask ridge and overlooking the Earn valley. 

William and Ann would have seen the view south from Plashburn completely transformed by the digging of the cutting leading to the southern portal of the Moncrieffe tunnel (also known as the Friarton tunnel) just a hundred yards or so to the south of the cottage.  The tunnel was opened on 22 May 1848 by the Scottish Central Railway Company and, at 1220 yards (1.115 km), it is, according to the Gazetteer for Scotland, the longest rail tunnel in the northern part of Scotland.  It was a mammoth construction project.  The Scottish Central Railways Bill received Royal Assent on 1 July 1845 and the company constituted.  By early 1846 most of the land had been acquired and excavations started.  Peter Marshall's 1998 book The Scottish Central Railway reports that by early 1847 some 3,886 men and 378 horses were employed on the excavations along the line from Falkirk to Perth.  Craigend Quarry, with its quarrymen's houses built along the main road, was also opened just a few hundred yards to the east of Plashburn. 

Farm servant's wife, daur of David Hall [AN078], fisherman, and Helen Watson [AN079], b. 24 Jun 1789 Tarsappie, near Perth, bap. 26 Jun 1789 in Perth Associate congregation.  m. 19 Jan 1816, William Taylor, ploughman in Leitchhill in the East Church Parish of Perth, marriage solemnised by Mr Robert Forsyth Minister of the Associate Congregation, Craigend, Perth.  Tarsappie farm is between Friarton and Rhynd.  3 daurs and 2 sons recorded.  Died 5 Jan 1871 at Scoonieburn, near Friarton and Craigend, Perth.  The age recorded at death was 76 years but presumably this was an error as she would have been 81 years old.

Born c. 1811, married Catharine Melville [41], daur of Thomas Melville [82] and Ann Shaw [83].  At least three children for whom records found: Ann; John; and Andrew [20], b. circa 1843 d. 1913.  Died 21 Sept 1844, buried 24 Sept 1844, Errol burial ground, division number 189 belonging to John Melville, baker, Errol (probably the uncle of Andrew Smart).  Described as "Foreman, Ross [farm in west of Errol parish]" in burial register. 

Born circa 1810, daur of of Thomas Melville [82], farmer and farm labourer, Errol parish, and his wife Ann Shaw [83]. Married (1) Andrew Smart [40], farm foreman, with whom at least three children.  Married (2) George Robertson.  Died 1872. 

Son of John Campbell and Catherine McColl; crofter, mason & general servant, b. about 1801, Lismore, Argyll; m. Mary Kennedy; possibly 3 daurs & 1 son; died 9 Oct 1881, Laggan, Lismore, Argyll.

Daur of Neil Kennedy, dyke-builder, and Flora McKay; b. about 1803/04, (Mull or Morvern), Argyll; m. Archibald Campbell; possibly 3 daurs & 1 son; died 14 May 1877, Laggan, Lismore, Argyll (consumption, 2 years).

Weaver, born about 1799-1809, Abernethy, Perthshire. m. Isabel Mecer, of Auchtermuchty parish, on 29 October 1835, Auchtermuchty, Fife.  With Isabel or Isabella Mecer or Mercer, 3 sons & 2 daurs.  Lived 'south side west of Steeple Wynd' in Abernethy (1851).  Unverified descendancy chart is available on www.wanlessweb.org.

b. abt. 1807, Auchtermuchty, Fife.  m., name recorded as Isabel Mecer, 29 October 1835, James Wanlass, of Abernethy weaver, Abernethy, with whom 3 sons & 2 daurs.

Ploughman, son of ? and ?. m. Emilia Ferguson, 28 Jun 1838, Muthill, Perthshire.  Both were living in Muthill parish at the time.  Alexander appears to have been alive at the time of his daughter Mary Ann Campbell's marriage in 1864.

m. Alexander Campbell. 28 Jun 1838, Muthill, Perthshire.  Both were living in the parish of Muthill.  This seems to have been the date of contract, there being two dates of proclamations on 28 Jany and 4 Feby 1838.  Apart from this nothing more is known about Emilia's birth, parents, death or her own children apart from Mary Ann Campbell her daughter and successor ancestor [Entry No. 23].  Mary Ann's first child, a daughter born in her marriage to James Wanless, was named Amelia Wanliss, after Mary Ann's mother.  Her second son, actually the ninth child, was named Alexander, after Mary Ann's father (the first being named James, after her husband's father).  It may be possible to find a death certificate for Emelia, since the marriage was only 17.5 years before the introduction of statutory registration and Amelia was still alive at the time of Mary Ann's marriage in 1864.  Although quite an unusual given name, Emily and Amelia Ferguson are names found in Perthshire in the first half of the C.19th. Muthill parish is interesting because of its Episcopal connections, being the fief of the Jacobite Drummond family sporting the noble title Earl or Duke of Perth.  St James's Scottish Episcopal church at Muthill was built in 1836 but episcopacy was strong in the district throughout the period of penal laws against episcopacy in Scotland.  Ferguson seems to have been a name particularly strong in Breadalbane, the region to the north and west of Muthill. 

Crofter and fisherman, Orkney, son of Magnus Swanie and Mary Tulloch, b. 23 Mar 1806 North Ronaldsay, m. Margarat Swanay about 1834, date & location unknown, 7 children (2 daurs & 5 sons) born 1835-1854 Eday. d. 6 May 1867 Sandhead, Eday, 61 years old. 

Born on North Ronaldsay, by age of 29 had married and settled on Eday, where all his children were born.  See here for family group sheet.  In 1841 he was living at Goakha, described as an agricultural labourer and fisherman in the Census return.  He was also described as a crofter.   He settled at Sandsend on Eday.   Eldest daughter Mary b. 23 Jul 1835, m. John Tait, agricultural labourer then grocer, moved to Leith where brought up nephew William Swanney, son of her younger brother William Linklater Swanney, b. 28 Nov 1841 Eday, after death of his first wife, Betsy Wards at Leith. Mary Tait died 22 Jan 1909, 73 yrs, Edinburgh. Second son, Peter Thomson Swanney b 22 Jan 1839, Eday. 4th son, Thomas Swanney, b 7 Oct 1843 Eday, seaman in merchant service, never married, d 8 Oct 1867, died of typhus aged 24 yrs, Leith Hospital, usually residing 29 Coburg Street, Leith.  5th child Andrew Swanney b. 23 Jul 1846 died of consumption aged 9 yrs, 16 Apr 1856, Gock-hall, Eday. 6th child John Eunson Swanney, b 23 Sep 1849 Eday, m. Barbara Benston, 24 Nov 1870, several children, died of cancer of stomach & liver, aged 68 years, 23 Jun 1918, Carpoquoy, Eday. 7th and last child, Maggie Swanney, b. 8 Jun 1854 Eday, never married, d of broncho-pneumonia & cardiac failure 12 Mar 1909, 54 years, at 15 Leopold Place, Edinburgh (informant was her nephew William Swanney, Croy, Gollanfield, Inverness).

Further information about North Ronaldsay is available from the North Ronaldsay Trust website. 

Daur of Edward Swanney and Mary Swanney.  b. approx. 1805, North Ronaldsay, Orkney (no birth or baptism registered).  Married Peter Swanney, 2 daurs, 4 sons.  Died 18 Jul 1890 Kirkwall, Orkney.

Smallholder, b. about 1801 Sanday, Orkney, to father James Wards and mother Betsy Cursitor; m. Margaret Cursitor or Cussiter, 3 or more sons and 2 or more daurs, all born on Sanday.  Family group sheet here.  By 1851, a widower, had moved to Eday, where farmed 6 acres at Castles, while his two eldest sons were working as fishermen; the croft was located at the north end of the eight-mile long island and looked over Calf Sound towards Calf of Eday.  Died 5 Feb 1883 Castles Peday, Eday, Orkney.

Married John Wards, ?1 daur. d. ? between 1841-1851.  Death, burial date and place all not ascertained.  No marriage has been found for Margaret and John.  As yet no birth or death record found for Margaret.   She had died by 1851, in which Census John is described as widower, but has not yet been found in 1841 Census.  Her record so far is as mother of seven children, all born on Sanday, between 1826 and 1841, with John Wards the father.  Only a primitive and incomplete Family Group Sheet for John and Margaret is available at present here. 

Crofter, Tiree, son of Macolm McDougall and Isabella ?, m. Isabel or Isabell McKinnon, 11 May 1831, Tiree, 4 daurs & 3 sons.  Farmed 21 acres.  Died 21 Apr 1874, Heanish, Tiree, Argyll.  Buried Tiree.

John McDougall (in Gaelic, Iain) was a crofter in Heanish who died there aged 81 years on 21 April 1874.  The son of Malcolm (Callum) McDougall, a crofter in Vaul, and Catherine McPhaiden, on 11 May 1831 John married Isabella (Ishbel) McKinnon, born in Scarinish, the daughter of Roderick McKinnon, a boatman (i.e. a sailor or seaman) and Christina (Christy) McArthur.

Although his date of birth is not recorded, John McDougall was baptised on 6 December 1793, identified only as the “son of Malcolm McDougall in Vaull”. The year after, in 1794, the register began recording the mother’s name as well as the father’s, but it is reasonable to assume that John was the son of Catherine McPhaiden, being born only five years after the marriage of the latter with Malcolm McDougall. 

John McDougall was probably baptised by the Reverend Archibald McColl, minister of the Established Church.  We know, thanks to Rev. McColl, that John was born in hard times, and also a time of radical change, for the islanders, recently converted from Catholicism to Protestantism in the wake of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745-46, since McColl was the author of the parish report, probably written around the time of John’s birth, for “Tiry” in the Statistical Accounts (who noted ‘Inclosures are lately begun’ (p.412); and ‘The common people … are now reforming … They still retain some Roman Catholic sayings, prayers, and oaths, as expletives; such as ‘Dias Muire let,’ i.e. God and Mary be with you. ‘Air Muire,’ swearing by Mary, &c. … There is no schism from the established church, and none of any other persuasion, except now and then a few Roman Catholic servants from Barra’ (p.413); on p. 416 he notes that the crops failed in 1790 and 1791 and although there had been no emigration from Tiree like the 36 people who had left Coll for America in 1792 these failures and the reduced price of kelp and cattle had led to talk of it.

John McDougall was living in Heanish at the time of his marriage to Isabella McKinnon in May 1831 and he died there in April 1874.  He seems to have been a crofter for most of his adult life, being recorded as such at the time of his marriage and of the birth of his first child, Catharine, in February 1832, but he also spent the best part of a decade, and certainly at least nine years, as a cottar at Heanish, from around 1835-36 to around 1845-48 (according to the entries in the register of births and baptisms for four of his children).  After the great potato famine, in February 1849, when daughter Margaret was born, John’s occupation was recorded as crofter and he remained so for the rest of his life.  In the 1861 Census, aged 70 years, he farmed only five acres (employing one man) but in the 1871 Census John, now aged 80 years, was farming 21 acres, of which 12 arable. 

On John’s death in April 1874 (of “natural decay”), Malcolm, as his oldest son, took over the running of the croft.  By then aged 40 years, married, with three children under seven years of age, and having had two children die in infancy, Malcolm had previously worked as a fisherman (at the time of the 1861 Census) but by 1871, still living in his father’s house, was  simply classed as a “farmer’s son”.

Crofter's wife, Tiree, daur of Roderick McKinnon and Christy McArthur, bap. 2 Nov 1804 Tiree, m. John McDougall, 11 May 1831 Tiree.  Died 4 Sep 1878, aged 73 years, Tiree. Buried Tiree.

Isabella remained the tenant of the croft at Heanish aftere her husband John died. In the last year of her life, 1878/79, we find “Widow John McDougall” listed as tenant, paying a rent of £15.14s.3d. (CA/4/2/37 Valuation Roll of the Co. of Argyll, 1878-79).

Isabella McKinnon, died on 4^th September, 1878, after a “decay of nature” that had lasted a year, aged 73 years.  (In neither her case nor that of her husband John was any medical attendant used to declare the cause of death, despite the intervention of a certified medical practitioner being a statutory requirement of death registration; no doubt due to the  high cost of seeing the doctor.) 

Cottar, boatman, fisherman, Tiree, m. Marion McLean, 19 Feb 1840, Tiree.

I have not been able to find details of John's birth, or of his parents.

daur of Archibald McLean and Catherine McLean, Tiree, b. 5 May 1812, Balephuill, Tiree, Argyll, m. John McLean, 19 Feb 1840, Tiree.  Died 13 Jan 1890, aged 77 years, Cornaigbeg, Tiree.

Smallholder and blacksmith, son of John Smith, farmer, and Catherine McGillivray, his wife, b. about 1795-1797, Daviot & Dunlichity parish, Inverness-shire, m. Marjory M[a]cIntosh, 20 June 1828, St Paul's [Scottish Episcopal] Chapel, Strathnairn, Inverness-shire; 5 sons & 3 daurs. Died 6 Apr 1872, aged 75 years, Croftcroy, Farr, Daviot & Dunlichity parish, Inverness-shire (longstanding heart disease). Buried Dunlichity Church burying ground, Inveness-shire.  Croftcroy holding 14 acres arable in 1871.  Widow Marjorie Smith was 'farmer of 30 acres (of which 18 are arable)' in 1881 and after her death the croft passed to her son-in-law William Primrose, who had married Jessie Smith.  Widow Primrose was recorded in the Valuation Office "Inland Revenue Survey" of 1910-1920 as holding 32 and a bit acres at Croftcroy "house and farm", with annual rent £14.5s paid to owner William D. Mackenzie of Farr.  Feudal duty and stipend were also payable annually.  The land that went with Croftcroy was in two parcels.  One, the smaller parcel, was around the house, about 8 acres, bounded by the School Wood to the north, the road to Daviot on the east, Farr post office, its yard including the stone circle, and the road to Tordarroch to the south, and a house to the west parallel with the western boundary of School Wood.  The other, larger, parcel of land, about 26 acres, excluding the River Farnack, was on the east side of the road to Daviot and extended from a few yards south of the junction with the road to Tordarroch on the south to opposite Farr School to the north.  Its eastern boundary was the east bank of the River Farnack, for most of the length, but, from just north of a footbridge over the river, extending a little further east to include a field of about 5.5 acres on the east side of the Farnack, as far as a line extending south-south-eastward from the junction of the Tordarroch and Daviot roads, taking in the confluence of the Farnack and the Allt Duchach burn.  The buildings were described as follows in the IR survey fieldbook:

"Stone & lime & corr iron roof house of 2 rooms & closet & 2 attics (40 x 18 x 12).

Stone & lime & corr iron byre (6) (21 x 15 x 9) stable (3) & loosebox, & barn, no floor. & cartshed (9 x 50 x 16)."  The OS map of the period shows the L-shaped plan with the house parallel to the Daviot road, aligned SW to NE, and the outhouses and byre aligned SE to NW on the north side.  Aerial photography recorded the corrugated iron roof of the latter until recently, in the early 2010s the outhouses were demolished when the house was renovated for reletting.  On the former arable land around the crofthouse some dozen new houses have recently been built.

b. about 1805-1806, Daviot & Dunlichity parish, m. William Smith, 20 June 1828, 5 sons & 3 daurs. Died 21 Apr 1897, 91 years, Croftcroy, Farr, Daviot & Dunlichity parish, Inverness-shire.  Buried Dunlichity Church burying ground.

b. parish of Dunlichity, Nairnshire, birth date not known, son of John Macbean, farmer, and Anne Macintyre.  m. Ann McInosh, 4 Jun 1818, parish of Daviot & Dunlichity, Inverness-shire; known issue: 4 sons, 2 daurs.  Farmer/smallholder at Slugandow (Cantraydoun), Croy parish, 1841, 1851 (6 acres).  Died 5 Feb 1860, Cantray(doun), Croy, "old age".  Buried Croy graveyard.

b. about 1795, parish of Croy, Inverness-shire.  m. Francis McBean, 4 Jun 1818, Daviot & Dunlichity parish, 4 sons & 2 daurs b. btwn 1819-1835.  Crofter's wife.  After death of husband, lived as widow with unmarried daur May (Marjorie) & her daur at Fibuie cottar house, near Culloden Moor (1861).  Death date not yet found.

Weaver, son of David Reid. Had died by 1862 (marriage certificate of daughter Margaret, see below).

Baptised 21 November 1789, Moy parish, Inverness-shire. Daughter of James Catanach and Christian Macdonald, christened 21 November 1789, Moy & Dalarossie parish, Inverness-shire : "Catanach.  Margaret Lawful Daughter to James Catanach & Christian Macdonald at Moy ... was Baptized 21st November [1789 Baptisms, register of Moy and Dalarossie parish church, ref. no. 105/00]. Marriage contract with William Reid recorded on 16 March 1810, Petty parish church register of mariages (ref. no. 106/00):"William Reid of this Parish & Margaret Catanach of the Parish of Croy were contracted in order to marriage"; and on the same day was recorded in the register of marriages of the Parish of Croy: "William Reid Son to David Reid Wr Muir & Margaret Catanach Daughter to Jas. Cat. Smith, Dalcross were Contracted in order to M." Alive in 1862 on marriage of her son David Reid with Catherine McKenzie.

b. about 1789; m. Catherine Fraser 1 Feb 1821 in Boleskine or Dores parish; 4 daurs & 4 sons.  Crofter and/or agricultural labourer at Balcherenach [Balchuirn], then Derchaorchan or Derchearachan [Dirichurachan], Dores parish.  Died possibly after Dec 1863 and by Apr 1871.  Dirichurachan lies off the Corkscrew Road between Torness and Inverfarigaig.  Michael Lee, ex-drummer with Echo and the Bunnymen, started to build a multi-turreted house, named Zenossian, but ran out of money a third of the way through work, forcing sale of the house, which had no building certificates, in 2003.  Lee was introduced to the area by Jimmy Page, former Led Zeppelin star, who had bought Boleskine House, formerly owned by Aleister Crowley (Alistair Munro, Drummer's dream home goes on sale', The Scotsman, 14 May 2003).  The farm appears to have been one of the Fraser Tytler estates, [entailed?], who also owned the village of Dores.  It is very exposed, boggy and marginal upland, probably suitable only for rough grazing.

Essential reading on the local history of this area is the book by Alan B. Lawson, A Country Called Stratherrick: A Historical Portrait of a Highland District. (self-published, 1987).   I was kindly lent a copy of Lawson's book, by Kath and Bob Watson. 

b about 1800, parents not known; m. John McKenzie 1 Feb 1821 in either Boleskine or Dores parish, Inverness-shire. 4 daurs, 4 sons.  Died 21 Feb 1870, aged 70 years, at Linnmore, Moy, in home of daughter Cathrine and son-in-law gamekeeper David Reid, cause of death "Severe Cold a week" (D/105-/1870 1 Moy and Dalarossie).  Father and mother both left blank in the death certificate.  Lived in farmtoun of Dirichurachan, Dores parish, as crofter's or agricultural labourer's wife.  Peter Symon [1], Eleanor Swanney [3], Margaret Smith [7], Margaret Reid [15], Catherine McKenzie [31], and their full siblings, inherit their mitochondrial DNA from her.