James, Elizabeth & Alex Alexander at Craigo, Logie Pert 1840 -1880

[nw_whiskers]

Dear Brian,  The 4th one in the line of headstones.  On the sunrise side it reads:-  Here lies John Milne who lived sometime at Craigie husband to Margaret Nuckle who departed this life April 14th 1730 age 72. (b ~ 1658).  The 1st and the 4th are to the same design and may even be by the same craftsman so we can reasonably claim that the 1st initial on the 1st stone is a J and not an I.  Yes, I am nit picking on a very a small point but the challenge is more than big enough already without chasing the wrong initials.  Craigie could be the name of a farm in the area where they were living latterly.  The "lived sometime" is in effect saying to us that they were somewhere else at an earlier time.  It is a "U" on the stone in Nuckle but it could be Nickle.  I am not sure if I actually looked for this one on the Logie Pert IGI but my many notes may say differently.
Best wishes,  nw_whiskers

[nw_whiskers]

Dear Brian,  In the Brechin Advertiser for 6th December 1904 Death Notices:-

"At North Craigo, Logie Pert, on the 1st inst., Ann Taylor Widow of James Alexander, aged 80 years."

All of the notices are brief and follow the same format.

Best wishes, nw_whiskers.

[nw_whiskers]

Dear Brian,  Having gone back through my notes from Feb 2012 the JR & JC headstone at Logie, Montrose looks to come from John Read/Reid & JC.  We have three children for John Reid:- Margaret b. 23 April 1721, William b. 20 May 1725, Elizabeth b. 9 March 1736 but no R Reid as yet.  Margaret Reid married Wm Niddrie I.  We have two children for them:-  Robert (no details) and Jean b 24 Jun 1750.   Robert Niddrie married Jean Milne.  We have three children for them:-  William Niddrie II b 1759,  Elizabeth b. 1763, Clementine b 1766 but we reckon on at least one more for them.  William Niddrie II married Jean Lakie.  They had two daughters:- May b 3 Feb 1803, Jean b 7 Feb 1805.  May Niddrie married Alex Alexander 23 May 1835.   I need to stress test this line and get more out of the OPR to give it a bit more body but it looks about right as it stands.  Elizabeth Niddrie (1763 - 1838) is on the 2nd headstone in the line.  It looks as if she married John Forbes (1766-1839).  Issac MacKenzie (1849) at Logie Works and Elizabeth Forbes d 2 Feb 1849 aged 46 (his wife) is also on the 2nd stone.  Clementine Niddery may have been on this stone if the notes made by "George Alexander around 1935" or so are correct but time and weather have damaged that part.  I will ask his grand-daughter if she has anything more on that bit of the story.  As you can see the Alex Alexander family history story has been going on for a long, long time but we may have at long last the makings of a decode of the 1st headstone in 2014. 

A John Read/Reid born around 1690 - 1700 looks very possible but it all needs a bit more work which I MUST DO on the IGI and OPR.  It looks more like a Niddrie/Niddery connection and not a Alex Alexander or a Mary Carnegie one --- sorry about that!

Best wishes, nw_whiskers.
 

[nw_whiskers]

Dear Brian,  The best chart we have at this point in time but it has to be STRESS tested against the records.  Best wishes,  nw_whiskers

[bbeattie]

Can't wait to see the old gravestones in the Old Logie Churchyard Aug 2...thanks NW for all the info & pics!
Do you have marriage & death certificates for Alex Alexander and a death cert for his sister Elizabeth?  I have both for their brother James (my 2nd great grandfather).
We're meeting up with Jack Webster our first day in Paisley...he's also going to meet us in the New Deer area to show us the farms our Barron family worked/lived at...he knows the current owners and will probably have lots of stories.  So excited to meet him!

[bbeattie]

NW, do you know anything about the Laws of Craigo?  These are 3 tumuli, 2 of which were dug up, and giant-sized human remains were found in at least one of them.  My 1987 film shows a sign for the "Laws of Craigo" (with a tractor drawing on it) in a field right across from the former Beattie home in North Craigo.

[nw_whiskers]

Dear Brian,  The only thing I know about the Law of Craigo is the farm steading has been converted into a fancy 4 bedroom house and is on the market for more than £410,00.  Google for the property info and a view of the area.  It looks the part for sure!

The Alexander history is lying low for now due to lots of gardening jobs and a few assembly language dialog boxes for the today world.  I will go back and stress test the Niddery grave stone or stones when I get a chance to visit the Aberdeen Family History Society.  It is good to go back after the initial excitement of the findings and check them out for possible errors and even a few new ones if we are lucky.  It is on my MUST do list before the end of 2014 but I will need to fix my winter fuel needs first.

Unfortunately, the Niddery Headstone did NOT help either of us with the John Alexander & Mary Carnegie line which we are very interested in but that is what makes it an even bigger & desirable puzzle.  If I remember correctly there are one or two Alexander gravestones in the Marykirk Churchyard but I have not been in there for several years so I am a bit vague on the exact details of what is there.  Your Alexander line may be in there as I have not seen them anywhere else as yet!   Marykirk is across the local boundary into Aberdeenshire as it is these days which may be a factor in your search for them.

My wife did find one of your friends books in the library but it was more like a narrative of events that he was attended in the past so it not overly interesting for us.  Perhaps some of his more recent work would make more appropriate & amusing reading.   HTML5 and CSS3 are currently on my shopping list so that narrows my field of reading interest in the short term.

I hope that you have a good time visiting Scotland as it will all flash past at a fast rate and you will be flying home with only half of what you wanted to see and experience.

Best wishes,  Nw_Whiskers. 



 

[bbeattie]

Ya I know...wish i had 10 weeks instead of 10 days in Scotland!

I have relatives born and married at the Aberlemno church, so we're going to check out the church and the Pict stones.  Fascinating history!  In Canada, anything over 100 yrs old seems ancient, but ancient has a totally different meaning in Scotland and all of Europe actually.

I thought Marykirk is in Kincardinshire, not Aberdeenshire.

[bbeattie]

When did Kincardineshire join into Aberdeenshire?