Ann married James Alexander 30 Apr 1849 and she died at the North Craigo house in 1904...she was living in this North Craigo house since at least 1861. Her daughter Elizabeth, with husband James Beattie (m. 1882), as well as her grandchildren (including my grandfather John Beattie) lived with her at the North Craigo house. James was a Ganger = leader of a gang of railway platelayers...he broke the Beattie tradition of farm labourers/bleachers in the mills.
I took a video of the Elizabeth/James Beattie gravestone in 1987...nice to see it's still standing and legible. I was ready to give up finding it at the time, then there it was... the very last one in the SE corner that I looked at. Phew!
My grandfather John Beattie went to the Montrose Academy and studied carpentry in the early 1900s then he took more advanced carpentry courses at Gordon College in Aberdeen before he left for Canada. I have a carpentry text book of his from the Academy and also a text for a similarly titled but advanced course at Gordon College. I also have other books and many wooden tools he used in his trade. He built about 100 houses in the Guelph area and my dad was a carpenter too.
My grandmother Maggie (Barron) Beattie was born on the Upper Ironside farm just north of New Deer. Her father James Barron was born and raised/worked at the Slacks of Cairnbanno...not sure which farm though. Her family moved in the late 1880s to Aberdeen for a few years where her dad was a police constable, then moved to Marykirk where her dad owned the Marykirk Hotel ~1898 to 1911. I'm hoping to get more details from my 2nd cousin once removed, Jack Webster, who is a famous UK journalist/ writer from Maud. Jack just finished publishing his 18th book, A Final Grain of Truth. He lives in Glasgow now, but he's going to meet up with us at some point. When we're in Aberdeen on Sun, Aug 3 I'm really hoping we get lucky and there's an Aberdeen FC home game we can attend in the new season.
Cheers,
Brian