April 20th

Your 4th great grandfather, Alexander West, was born on this day in 1799 in Ferryden.  He was the third child of the eleven born to fisherman John West and Janet Simpson.

Robert Christie Paterson, who you "met" on March 5th (date of his birth) got married on this day in 1938.  Robert was a 25 year old  farm servant in Aberdeenshire when he married Christina Clark Crighton Cheyne.  Christina was 20 years old and a domestic servant.  They were married in the Club House at Fyvie.  Robert is your 1st cousin twice removed.  Robert and Christina had six children and lived in Turriff, Aberdeenshire.

Of some interest is that Robert, a few months before his wedding, was hauled up before the sheriff.  He and a friend were accused of stealing 32lbs of apples from an orchard.

April 17th

And I wonder who on our family tree has a birthday today????


Ainsley is not alone.


Your first cousin 4x removed, Margaret Coull, was also born on this day - 145 years ago.  Coull is one of the Ferryden names.  Margaret - or Maggie as she was known - was the fourth child of the five born to the fisher family of David Coull and Elspet West.  Elspet is your 4th great aunt being the daughter of your 3xgreat grandparents, John West and Helen Pert.  She was born at 2:30 a.m.




Also on this day, in 1964, Adam Christie Riddel died.  He is your first cousin 2X removed.  When his mother, Jean Christie (your second great aunt) left Aberdeenshire with her husband and a baby in 1890 they settled in Barre, Vermont - the area of the granite industry.  Within a couple of years of being in the states, Jean and husband George Riddel had Adam Christie Riddel.  He was followed by four more children.

Adam Christie Riddel - World War One

Adam Christie Riddell lived in Vermont all his life.  He began working in the granite industry.  He was drafted to fight in World War I.  His attestation papes describe him as slender, grey eyes,light hair.  After the war he married Mary Ethel Morris and they had three sons.  A neice of one of these three sons was in contact with me some years ago.  I got the hint that all was not happy in her world.  Some bitterness as to how her uncle had been treated by someone or ones or other.

Adam continued working in the granite industry and he and Mary were able to buy their own home - the address was happily 43 Home Street in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Adam was one of those guys who ended up fighting in two world wars.  He signed up in 1942.  Here he is described at 5'7", 140 lns, blue eyes, brown hair, light complexion.

Adam died on this day in 1964 in Brattleboro of subacute monocytic Leukemia.  He died in hospital after 10 days.  He was buried a few days later in Morningside Cemetary in Brattleboro.  He was 71 years old.

🎈🎈🎈And to complete what was started above ;  it was on this day in 1987 - the fifth annivesary of the charter a/c to Grant - Ainsley Catherine Mitchell was born.  She was the youngest of three daughters born to Grant Mitchell and Catherine Lambeth.  She started out very very tiny but quickly became  strong of body and mind and often leaves the rest of us in her wake!  Today she is 32 years old - married to you and the two of you are wonderful parents to our lovely Isla.  Happy Birthday Ainsley! 

April 16th

A few days ago we noted the death of David Fisken and I mentioned that he shares a grave in Stamfordham, Northumberland with his brother William "plough" Fisken and his sister Margaret.  Today marks the 137th anniversary of the death of Margaret Fisken.  Margaret is your 4th great aunt.  She was born in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland and grew up on Gellyburn Farm just outside of the village.  In fact she lived there until at least her mid forties.  Being the only female on the farm, she would have been the housekeeper.  Her brother James was the Fisken who took over the farm from his parents.  James remained a bachelor until 1856 when, at age 45, he married.  I imagine there wasn't room for two leading ladies so Margaret left Scotland when she about 50 years old and went and lived with brother William in Stamfordham, Northumberland.  She became the housekeeper of the manse (William was the minister of the presbyterian church in the village).

It was at this manse that Margaret died of heart disease.  She was 79 years old.

Another great aunt died on this day.  Hellen Christie.  She is your 3rd great aunt being a sister of your great great grandparents Adam Christie and Isabella Donald.  Hellen was the 2nd child of the ten born to crofter John Christie and Helen Gordon.  She was born in Banff, Scotland.  She went onto be a farmer's wife when she married James Barclay at age 23.  They had seven children and the family continued to live on various farms in Banffshire.  She died in Alvah, Banffshire of heart disease.  She was 70 years old.

Now we go to a birth and to the U.S.A.  It was on this day in 1926 that Preston Daniel Riddel was born.  He is your 2nd cousin once removed.  He is a second generation American being a descendent of the family which came from Aberdeenshire to the granite industry of Barre, Vermont.  Preston was born in Barre and was the only son of Charles Perry Riddell and Florence Marlowe McGovern.  His father was an auto mechanic.

I'm going to report on the death of Joseph Paterson on this day in 1953.  Joseph would not normally have been included in this blog as I am doing just the ancestors we are related to by blood.  But Joseph has the distinction of bringing the Paterson name onto the family tree.  And we've now got tons of Patersons!!  Joseph married Elspet Christie - your 2nd great aunt - a sister to your grandma's dad.  They had eleven children..  Joseph was a farmer/ploughman.  He died in Chalmers Hospital in Banff (although he lived in Turriff, Aberdeenshire) of acute myocarditis and prostatic obstruction.  He outlived his wife by 15 years.  They are buried together in Cuminestown Cemetery along with three of their children who died young (6 months, 3 years and 9 years).  Joseph was 80 years old - despite what the gravestone says; he was in his 81st year but hadn't had his birthday yet.

And the last person for today's blog is someone you knew.  On this day in 2004 Catherine Christie - Auntie Cathie (as you called her) - died.  She was 73 years old and despite the fact that I was there, I don't really know what she died from specifically.  She had heart disease and cancer.  Cathie was born in 1931 in Newcastle - the first of three children for Uncle Jack (grandma's brother) and Auntie Annie.  She became a nurse and, over the years, she plied her trade in various parts of England and Scotland.  She was very much the person who held the family together when her dad was ill and unable to work and then after he died.  I'm really not too sure of what the main impetus was for her to emigrate to Canada at age 44.  But she did so in 1975.  Her sister Anne was living in Winnipeg at the time so I assume that's why she came to Winnipeg.  After Anne left the city (which was just a matter of months after Cathie's arrival I believe) she remained in Winnipeg and had a good career in two of the city's hospitals for over 20 years before retiring.

April 14th

On this day in 1868 your first cousin 3X removed, Elizabeth Fisken, was born.  And beyond the fact that she was born, I have been unable to find anything else about her.

She was born in Luss on Loch Lomond, the fifth of the seven children of Alexander Fisken and Mary Ann Watt.  Dad Alexander was a sawyer.  Her mum died when Elizabeth was 6 and dad remarried - his second wife was Granny Fisken - and so Elizabeth and her siblings were joined by a bunch of half-siblings.

Next we have a marriage.  On this day in 1908 Jennie Riddel married John Milne.  This is where our connection with the Milne name begins.  Milnes who live in the U.S.A.  though they were originally from the same part of Scotland (Aberdeenshire) as Jennie and her family.

Jennie came from Aberdeenshire to Barre, Vermont as a baby with her parents.  John came from Aberdeenshire to Barre, Vermont as an adult to work in the granite industry (as did many Aberdeenshire folk - they being familiar with the hard rock - Aberdeen is known as The Granite City.  I imagine that there was some connection with the Milne/Riddel/Christie families in Aberdeenshire and Jennie's parents would likely have been a bit of a welcoming party for John Milne.  Jennie was 18 when she married 25 year old John.  They had six children and the family continued living in Barre - first at 65 Pleasant Street and then at 11 Madison St.


And lastly on this day, your great grandmother died.  Betsy West.  She died on this day in 1952 when I was four months old.  After me being born, my mum dealt with the death of her father the following month and then grandma 3 months later.  But although I never knew my grandma, she loomed large in my childhood and beyond.  All of the superstitions we followed slavishly came from her.  And it wasn't until I began researching that I discovered that such superstitions are very common in those communities where life is never assured because of the work they do.  I'm talking about Ferryden and dangers of commercial fishing.

Great Grandma died in our home at 56 Bell Terrace in the West End of Newcastle.  She had been living with Uncle Eric and Auntie Cathie but had moved in with us so that mum could nurse her.  She died of mysocardial failure and arterio sclerosis.  She was 75 years old.  Alison tells me that her ashes (and those of grandda) are buried at the West Road Cemetery and their gravestone is made of Aberdeenshire granite.  I'm going to go there this June.

April 13th

On this day in 1858 your 4X great grandather, George Pert, died.  Not sure whether we've had a Pert yet in this blog.  It's one of the Ferryden names.  George was a whitefisherman - a bit more specific that just fisherman!  I believe the white fish is herring.

George was born and lived his whole life in Ferryden.  He married Mary McLeod and they had five children including Elizabeth (Betsy) - your 3X great grandmother.

At the time of George's death, Mary and one of their children had pre-deceased him.  He died in the Infirmary on Bridge Street in Montrose (the town across the water from Ferryden).  Cause of death was retention of urine which lasted seven days.  He was 77 years old.  He is buried in the graveyard of Rossie Island.

And also on this day - in 1941 - James Christie died.  James is your first cousin twice removed.  And in James we have someone in Aberdeenshire who isn't a farmer!  James was a shoemaker.  When he died the Aberdeen Weekly Journal wrote a nice little article about him which I may as well just quote as it tells everything that I know of him:

There was a large company at the funeral of Mr James Christie, shoemaker, Cuminestown.  Mr. Christie was born in the village forty-seven years ago, third son of the late Mr and Mrs George Christie, Little Northburn.  He served his apprenticeship at Cairncake and after being in the last war with the 5th Gordons and severely wounded, set up business for himself over twenty years ago. 

Mr Christie was a popular member of the Quoiting Club, and a successful exhibitor of vegetables and flowers at the local shows.  He was an A.R.P. warden. 

The pall-bearers were: - Messrs Adam, Alexander, and Douglas Christie (brothers), and James Alexander, Ellon (uncle).  He is survived by his widow (a daughter of Mr and Mrs James Willson, Greens), and a son and daughter.

I haven't heard quoits mentioned for a very long time.  Do you know the game?  A bit like horseshoes I guess except with rubber or rope rings.  And how about an A.R.P. warden?  They were volunteers during WWII who ensured that blackouts were observed, sounded air raid sirens and generally helped folks get into air raid shelters.

Cuminestown High Street (pretty quiet place!)

April 11th

Just one name for  the blog today.  It was on April 11th in 1880 that David Fisken died.

David is your 4th great uncle as he is the brother of Peter Fisken - your 3x great grandfather.  David and his six siblings were born on Gellyburn Farm near the village of Muthill in Perthshire Scotland.  The parents were James Fisken and Flora Tainsh.  David is best known as being one of the Fisken brothers who invented the steam plough.  But apart from being a mechanical engineer, David was also a teacher.  He taught at the Innerpeffray School which is attached to the Innerpeffray Library which I visited in 2016.  It's the oldest lending library in Scotland and has kept a handwritten record of which books were borrowed and by whom.  In this Borrowers' Register I saw David's name many times.

The engineering brother we're most familiar with is William Fisken.  He became the presbyterian minister in the village of Stamfordham in Northumberland England in 1847 and the manse became home for various family members of the Fisken family over the years.  It was home to David for more than 20 years.  From there he seems to have been the front man for the steam plough and ploughing tackle.

David never married.  He died at the manse in Stamfordham at age 61.  Cause of death was disease of liver and stomach.  He is buried in the churchyard of St. Mary's Stamfordham.  His brother William and sister Margaret joined him in this grave 2 and 3 years later.

April 10th

It's April 10th and on this day - a very long time ago - in 1794 - your 5x great grandparents, John West and Janet Simpson, were married.  They were fisher people who lived in the village of Ferryden and they had eleven children.  One of those children, the 3rd born, was Alexander who is your 4x great grandfather.

The FERRY of Ferryden

And now we head for Canada for the birth on this day in 1892 of your 2nd cousin 2x removed, Gordon Robert Ironside.  Gordon was born in Hamilton, Ontario.  He was the first of three children for Joseph Ironside and Jane Craib, both of whom came from Aberdeenshire, Scotland (but came separately - they married in Hamilton).  And because I missed his death I will use this moment to say that Gordon signed up for World War 1 (and was a plumber at that time).  He married Luella Garrison in 1923 but that ended in divorce 1933.  He was a steam fitter with the Hamilton Cotton Works and lived in Hamilton his whole life.  He died on March 27th 1947 at age 54 of coronary thrombosis.

We have a bunch of branches of the family which come to Canada and the U.S.A.  They are all on grandma's side of the family - specifically her father's side.  I think without exception emigration has been on the part of our female ancestors.  So the names on this side of the atlantic aren't the Christies and Donalds - but Finnie, Ironside, Milne, Riddel.