Whittet

[birdboot]

I have just come across this thread as I have been researching Whittets in Abernyte and Kinnaird. I have found three Whittet families in Abernyte between 1750 and 1790 - Thomas, Patrick and Francis.  I have struggled to find their father and have come to the conclusion that he is probably the one recorded as "Thomas Whitehead" who had several children baptised in Abernyte during the 1750s.  However, looking for "Thomas Whitehead's" marriage, I can only find Thomas Whittet/Margaret Wrighton in Kinnaird in 1747.

I then looked at the Whittets in Kinnaird and found that most of the parents and children baptised echoed the same names as later generations - Thomas, William, Alexander, Agnes, Robert, Patrick, Margaret.  I am beginning to suspect that the earlier generation (about 1700-1750) came from Kinnaird, were probably called Whittet, and the 6 or 7 baptisms in Abernyte under the name "Whitehead" were aberrations - the names Whittet and Whitehead would sound very similar and perhaps a cleric just wrote them down wrongly.

For info, my ancestor is Robert Whittet, baptised Abernyte 1782, son of Peter/Patrick Whittet and Elizabeth Gray.  I suspect that "Thomas Whitehead" was Patrick's father.

[gelin5]

Maybe someone reading this page has information about the Elizabeth Wittit, below. If you can add to this information, please post it here or send a message to me.

Elizabeth Wittit, married a James Pye in 1753 in Dysart, Fife, Scotland. They had a son named George Pye, born around 1757. James Pye was probably a brother of Thomas Pye who married Agnes Wittit in Dysart in 1750, and Agnes Wittit was a sister of Elizabeth Wittet. So it looks like two brothers marrying two sisters.

Agnes & Elizabeth were daughters of William Wittit, a weaver, who died in Dysart in 1772. His wife, Mary (or Helen) Wilson died in 1766 in Dysart. I don't know where William & his wife were born or where they married. He might be descended from the Whittits of Perth.

[Whittet]

I have just come across this thread as I have been researching Whittets in Abernyte and Kinnaird. I have found three Whittet families in Abernyte between 1750 and 1790 - Thomas, Patrick and Francis.  I have struggled to find their father and have come to the conclusion that he is probably the one recorded as "Thomas Whitehead" who had several children baptised in Abernyte during the 1750s.  However, looking for "Thomas Whitehead's" marriage, I can only find Thomas Whittet/Margaret Wrighton in Kinnaird in 1747.

I then looked at the Whittets in Kinnaird and found that most of the parents and children baptised echoed the same names as later generations - Thomas, William, Alexander, Agnes, Robert, Patrick, Margaret.  I am beginning to suspect that the earlier generation (about 1700-1750) came from Kinnaird, were probably called Whittet, and the 6 or 7 baptisms in Abernyte under the name "Whitehead" were aberrations - the names Whittet and Whitehead would sound very similar and perhaps a cleric just wrote them down wrongly.

For info, my ancestor is Robert Whittet, baptised Abernyte 1782, son of Peter/Patrick Whittet and Elizabeth Gray.  I suspect that "Thomas Whitehead" was Patrick's father.

I have found Whittet and variant spellings of Whittet (as listed in the Whittet Book) in a triangle of villages bounded by Dundee, Perth and Blairgowrie/Coupar Angus going back a bit before those listed in the Whittet Book. Kinnaird is just to the northwest of Blairgowrie, Abernyte is in the middle of the triangle. Kettins is just east of Coupar Angus. The earliest dates for Whittet spelled as Whittet (or Quhittet) are in the 1500's and refer to property owning millers just north of Dundee and merchants, clerks and Bailiffs in Dundee.

My interest is in William Whittet who married Margaret Helen Scott in Kettins in 1804 in Kettins. If he were the son of Francis Whittet that would make him 11 at the time, but there are other William Whittet's. I'm looking for him to be between twenty and thirty for a first marriage, probably closer to twenty. William, son of William or William II married Margaret Cross Whittet and took ship to Detroit in 1834. Moving across the St. Croix river they were among the founders of Sarnia, Lambton County Ontario and and my branch moved to the US in the 1890's.

On the Whittet Webb site there is the chart Neil refers to.
A Neil Whittet in New Zealand  http://whittet.co.nz/ says

"Our 3-times-great grandmother, Betsy Whittet (nee Kemp), recently widowed, moved from Abernyte to Dundee and found work as a lodging home helper. In 1861 Betsy, now aged 34 and with 2 sons, married Alexander Gibb a 26 year old joiner.

Her eldest son William Whittet, whom we are decended from, found work as a gas works stoker and married Agnes Wilkie, a domestic servant from Arbirlot (near Arbroath), on 2nd July 1869. William was 26 and Agnes 32 at the time of their wedding. The records suggest that Agnes may have lied about her age and she was actually 34. William and Agnes are our great, great grandparents.

William and Agnes had 3 children, William, Matthew and Jessie. We are decended from the eldest son William, an iron moulder, who married Jessie Sivewright, a domestic servant, in 1896. Their children were Jane, Jessie, William, George, Helen, Elizabeth and Matthew. We are decended from George who married Georgina Gavine in 1926 and had an only son, William, born in 1927. George died in 1930 and Georgina had another son Frederick.

Neil adds a map locating the name variants.


The family appears to have been employed in such trades as agricultural worker, glover, shoemaker, jointer, printer, clerk, baliff, miller, weaver, and lord. The trades seem to be practiced in Dundee, the agricultural work closer to Couper Angus and Blaigorie

Spencer refers to an Establishment named Whittet's in a poem about Errol on Lord Greys estate. "After Errol Winter Market." which appears to refer to Whittets as the haunt of weavers. (wags and wabster chiels) Errol is just south of the A90 which is the lower leg of the triangle.