William Wilson

[Alcluith]

McCubbin

My Great Grantparents James Davidson and Isabella Gibb lived in Bulwark, Old Deer, mid 1800 to 1900.
He also worked at Backhill of Clackriach, and may be an illegitmate relation of the Davidson that owned the farm but we have not been unable to trace his parents.

regards

Drew

[flst]

Hi,I may be able to help as I've got loads of information on Bulwark.If you care to give me the details you have on your ancestors I will  check through my files & see what I can unearth!
Regards,
flst

[Alcluith]

Information I have is as follows:

My porblem is that James is listed on his death certificate as illegitimate but no parents listed and in the censes he states birth as Strichen and Old Deer but cannot find anything

JAMES DAVIDSON married ISABELLA GIBB on 11th July 1852.
ISABELLA GIBB was born 13 Aug 1823 the oldest of WILLIAM GIBB and ANNE ADIE who were married on the 2nd June 1823. Not much more is known of William but Anne’s parents were GEORGE ADIE and ELSPET SANGSTER.  Isabella had two sisters and a brother Margaret born 1827, James 1833 and Mary 1835.

JAMES and ISABELLA DAVIDSON had nine children 
 
WILLIAM DAVIDSON       13th Dec 1852    Auchnavaird
ANDREW & PETER DAVIDSON    30th June 1854    Auchnavaird
GIBB DAVIDSON          30th May 1856           Auchnavaird
MARGARET JEMIMA DAVIDSON   25th Dec 1857    Auchnavaird
GEORGE DAVIDSON          24th Aug 1859           West Crichie
MARY ANN DAVIDSON      1st June 1861           West Crichie
CHRISTINA BEEDIE DAVIDSON   13th April 1865   Bulwark
ANN CLUBB DAVIDSON       18th Aug 1867           Bulwark

Isabella Gibb pervious to her marriage had an illegitimate son born 15th January 1850 baptised 25th March before the Kirk session of Old Deer and named James. The person reported by Gibb as the father of the child being William Robb a native of St Fergus.

9th May 1873 GIBB DAVIDSON dies in Grimond Cottage Hospital, from scarlet fever.

JAMES DAVIDSON died 27 June 1874 aged 48 years, at Bulwark.

ISABELLA DAVIDSON can be found in the 1881 Census at Bulwark with her daughters MARGARET and ANNE and grandson JAMES DAVIDSON aged 2 months, the son of MARGARET DAVIDSON.

In the 1891 Census ISABELLA DAVIDSON is living in Bulwark with her grandson JAMES DAVIDSON now aged 9 years.

In the 1901 Census ISABELLA DAVIDSON is a pauper living alone in Bulwark.

ISABELLA DAVIDSON died 3rd Nov 1916 at the house of her grandson JAMES REID in Strichen aged 91.

I have all the family from here own down to present day

regards

Drew

[flst]

I saw your postings in rootsweb regarding this couple so I was able to go ahead with my searching.Well,I have found something interesting from my handwritten notes. One of my husband's ancestors had an illegitimate daughter to Isabella's sister,Margaret.She was residing in Bulwark & her daughter Ann (born 4 Feb 1849) was baptised before witnesses (Wm.Gibb in Bulwark & Wm Dickie,church officer)The father was William Clubb,farm servant.The baptism is under Gibb or Clubb. Margaret died in 1902 & I have her death certificate.She was still living in Bulwark in 1901 & was a pauper.You may be able to find out if she received poor relief.If she did you will find a wealth of information on the application form!She was living with her daughter & son in law.Ann married John Burnett,a crofter.Margaret's occupation on the marriage certificate was a seamstress.His descendants still live in the area.It would be great if you could come across a baptism record like this for James Davidson!Were any of the witnesses to his many children's baptisms relatives? flst

[flst]

Our posts crossed! My first thought is- have you checked the poor relief records for Isabella Davidson?
I did spot James Robb's baptism.
I see that Isabella names her last child after her niece!
I too have Adie connections,from the Strichen area.Have you researched the Adie branch? I'll continue to delve in my files,
flst

[flst]

Another thought,have you checked the wills of the Davidson family of Mains of Clackriach? He may have been mentioned in them,either as a faithful servant or even a relative! (Maybe not, as his widow died a pauper.)
flst

[Alcluith]

I have been in contact with decendants of the Davidsons of Clackriach but found nothing to tie in my own James Davidson.
I could not find anything  on the OPRs or sessions to givee me clue on James Davidson's parents, but that was a few years back now.

I am assuming the Poor Relief Records are in Aberdeen?  will need to go there again at some point.

James is my big brick wall and never got much further back with the Adie's than those I have listed.

regards

Drew

[flst]

Yes,the poor relief records can be seen at Dunbar House,Old Aberdeen.They are indexed, & there are also copies of the indexes held by the Aberdeen & North East Scotland Family History Society in King Street. I found William & Ann Gibb & family in the 1841 census at Greenbrae,Old Deer.Did you follow the Gibbs forward? I see that the fhs. has a transcription of William,Ann & James Gibb's headstone (no.34,Old Deer).As the M.I.'s are unpublished they can only be viewed at their premises. The online information does give their dates of death.If you want to trace back the Gibb family you'll be able to find their certificates on scotlandspeople. I may be able to take a photograph of the headstone if you wish.
flst

[Alcluith]

To be honest I have done very little over the last couple of years on the Davidson's , with the one exception, my second cousin,  who was a BOB fighter pilot and you will see his story on www.fighterboy.org.uk.

I was a member of the A&NEFHS for a few years and done a lot of the early research there, but most has been on-line.
I had only taken the Davidson's forward obviously the daughters all had name changes and I have most of their marriages and children but not any further forward that that.
When I hit the wall with James I really never took them back any further, I am sure I have a photo of the Gibbs gravestone in my records as I spent a lot of time trying to find the Davidson Graves without much success.

Drew