April 1st

A daughter of your 4Xgreat grandparents, Alexander West and Margaret Anderson - your 4th great aunt, Catherine West was born on this day in 1831.

West, as you likely know by heart by now, means we're in Ferryden with our fishing families which is where Catherine was born -  the 5th child of Alexander and Margaret's nine children.  

Another April 1st birth occured in 1847 when James Morice was born in Monquhitter, Aberdeenshire.  James is your first cousin 4x removed.  Your 4xgreat grandparents Alexander Matthew and Mary Byres are James' grandparents.

James was the son of John Morice and Margaret Matthew.  He was the 9th and last child for them.  The family lived on Greystone Farm.

Next we have a marriage.  Robert Christie, your 3xgreat uncle married Helen Angus.  Robert is the son of your 3xgreat grandparents John Christie and Helen Gordon.  

Robert was a crofter in Banffshire, Scotland.  He was a 50 year old bachelor when he married Helen in 1869.  Helen was 30 and a domestic servant.  Despite Robert's advanced years the couple had seven children!  

Somewhere in Banffshire

And lastly this day Robert Stewart West was born.  Robert is your 2xgreat uncle and he was the son of your 2xgreat grandparents, Alexander West and Jemima Coull.  He was born on April 1st 1881 in Ferryden.  He was the third of the five children.  Their mother, Jemima, died young when Robert was five years old.  

March 31st

On this day in 1985 YOU were born!  It was a Sunday.  5:48 a.m. in the morning and you weighed in at 8lb 7oz.  A most welcome addition to our family!

So, I bet you're keen to know what else happened on this day in the family history.  I have four events for  you:  two births, one marriage and one death.  

First up is the marriage of your 4xgreat grandparents, Alexander Matthew and Mary Byres.  These folks are on grandma's side of the family - part of the Aberdeen clan.  They were married on March 31st 1801 - that's 218 years ago - in Old Deer, Aberdeenshire in Scotland.  Alexander was 22 years old and Mary was 23.  They were farmers and they lived their whole lives in rural Aberdeenshire.  They had five children.  The child from whom we are directly descended is Ann.  She was their second born.


We stay with Grandma's side - but with the Ferryden fishers - for the birth of Mary Ann West.   She is your first cousin 3x removed.  But oh so sadly, Mary Ann did not grow up.  She drowned in the river at Ferryden when she was three years old.  Mary Ann's parents were your 3x great uncle Peter West and Margaret Pert.


The second birthday is of Isabella Cruddas Hope who was born on this day in 1916.  She is your 2nd cousin twice removed.  We are on my dad's side now.  And we're in Newcastle.  Isabella is the third child of Elizabeth Ann Glover and John William Hope who was a railway signalman.

And lastly we have Robert John Glover.  Robert is your 2nd cousin 2X removed and he died on this day in 1959.  He was the son of William Joseph Cruddas Glover and Margaret Key Taylor.  He was a butcher by trade and he married Ann Selina Salvidge in 1928.  I have found no children for them.  Robert died at age 63 and he left £1513 18s. 7d.

March 29th

On this day in 1946 Archibald Ritchie Lawrence Glover died.  You may remember that just a little while ago, on March 17,  I reported his birth.  He is your 2nd great-uncle being the younger brother of William Fisken Glover who is your great grandfather - my dad's dad.

Archibald was raised in the manse of the congregational church in Horsley, a small village in Northumberland.  His father was the minister.  When he was in his early teens he was sent to Caterham which is in the south of England in the county of Surrey.  There was a school there Caterham School  which was founded in 1811 to provide a boarding education for the sons of congregational ministers. Archibald and his brother William both attended.  Archibald was fairly academic and gained the Cambridge Certificate

Once back up north in his late teens, he was a bank clerk - and occupation which he seems to have kept throughout his working life.  After the death of his father in 1902 he moved to Newcastle with his mother where they lived at 88 Ethel Street.  He was active in his church.  He was a deacon of St. James Congregational Church in central Newcastle.

Nearly two years after the death of his mother, Archibald married Caroline Anne Page in 1915 at age 34 and they lived at 6 Bentinck Crescent until moving to 29 Sanderson Road in Newcastle.  Archibald and Caroline had two children:  a son Archibald and a daughter Flora who died at age 25 as the result of falling off a horse.

I don't know the cause of Archibald's death but he died on this day in 1946 at age 65.  Probate records show that he left a nice tidy sum to Caroline.

March 28th

On this day - 220 years ago - in 1799 - your 3xgreat grandmother was born.  Her name was Elizabeth Crerar and she was the the first born for James Crerar and Ann Ferguson.  She was born in Muthill in Perthshire, Scotland.  She would grow up to marry into the Fisken family and to be the mother of both your 2xgreat grandfather, William Fisken, AND your 2x great grandmother, Flora Fisken.  William and Flora had children who married (first cousins).  So Elizabeth Crerar does double duty as a 3xgreat grandmother (you're supposed to have 16 - you've only got 14)!

Muthill 2016

And also on this day - in 1893 - Thomas Robert Hay Fisken died.  Thomas is your 4th great uncle.  He is the brother of your 3x great grandfather, Peter (and hence the brother-in-law of the above Elizabeth Crerar) - and also brother of William Fisken of steam plough fame.  Actually Thomas - along with another brother, David - worked with William on the development of the steam plough.  

Thomas was born in Monzie, Perthshire (near the village of Muthill) - a son of a farming family.  He lived in Scotland into adulthood working on various engineering experiments with his brother David and he also became a school teacher.  He married Frances Barker in County Durham, England when he was 32.  They had four children about whom you will hear in future posts.  He was a school master in Stockton at the time of his marriage but it was his work as an engineer which continued through the years and admitted him as a member of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society - and also took him to Yorkshire.  Unfortunately his business as an agricultural dealer in Yorkshire went bankrupt in 1883.  He and his family moved into the London area after that.  

Life became financially very difficult for Thomas and an acticle in The Yorkshire Post was published in January 1893 about the dire straits he was in.  The article begins:

 "The inventor of steam-ploughing is in want.  Thomas Robert Hay Fisken, the Perthshire schoolmaster who first ploughed land, as Tennyson's "North Farmer" has it "huzzin' and buzzin' awaay wi' the devil's own team" is in his seventy-third year and has lost not only his means but the sons who supported him....."

An appeal went out to the members of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society but Thomas died shortly afterwards.  He died in St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London.  Cause of death was strangulated hernia syncope.  He was 74.

May 27th

Over 200 years ago, in 1814, your 4xgreat uncle Joseph Donald was born in Garmond, Monquhitter. Aberdeenshire.  He was the 7th of 8 children for Alexander Donald and Jean Macintire.

And also on this day - in 1841 - David Paton Coull was born in Ferryden.  David is your 1st cousin 4X removed.  His grandfather, Joseph Coull is your 4x great grandfather.  David was the fourth child for Archibald Coull and Mary Noble.  Eight more children came after him.  I cannot find him in any records beyond the census which was taken shortly after his birth.  And while I can't find an actual death record, I fear that David may have died as an infant.

These two ancestors are both on grandma's side of the family.  Aberdeenshire is her dad's family.  Ferryden her mother's.  While researching my dad's side, I'm all over the place in England and Scotland.  For my mother's side - it's all Aberdeenshire (with a bit of Banffshire thrown in - which is "just up the road") and Ferryden except for some folks who headed for the new worlds of America and Canada.

March 26th

We have one event for March 26th - the birth of William Fisken in 1870.  I've already written about William - his death was reported back on January 28.  He is the fellow who died in the Gartloch Asylum in Glasgow.  He is your 1st cousin 3x removed.  Your closest common ancestor is your 3x great grandfather, Peter Fisken.

But today we celebrate his birth!  He was born in the village of Luss - the 6th of 7 children of sawyer Alexander Fisken who was originally from Muthill in Perthshire and Mary Ann Watt.  His mum died when Alexander was only two.  His father remarried the following year and over the next few years William gained another five siblings!

Another photo of Luss from 2016 visit

March 25th

On this day in 1779 - that's 240 years ago!! - your 4xgreat grandfather, Alexander Matthew, was born.      It's unlikely that he was an only child but I cannot find his siblings - but his parent's names were Peter Matthew and Barbara Bruce - these would be your 5x great grandparents!   Alexander was born in Old Deer in Aberdeenshire and his family would be crofters or agricultural workers.

The photo is of the ruins of Deer Abbey which would have been near to where the Matthews lived.  The abbey was built in 1219 and remained structurally complete until 1809 when, like many other stone structures, it was dismantled to build other projects.  So it was in fact a  ruin even 240 years ago.

And also on this day - in 1867 - James Gordon Christie was born.  He is your first cousin 3x removed.    His grandfather, John Christie is your 3x great grandfather.  James was the 10th child of 11 born to Andrew Christie and Hannah Hendry.  James was born in Wellfield, Banffshire into a farming family.  There seems to be some indication that James emigrated to the United States - to Maine - but I still have to confirm this.