Author Topic: 1841 CURRIE, a lost family!  (Read 22097 times)

Offline JKCIII

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Re: 1841 CURRIE, a lost family!
« Reply #9 on: Thursday 13 September 07 06:50 BST (UK) »
Hi SED:

I got the notes that have been passed down and not too surprisingly my memory is not nearly what it used to be, (as expected, I managed to get a few details wrong).  It has been a few years since I've picked through this material...  That is my excuse and I am sticking to it.   ;-J

============================

John Currie lived in Kirkcudbrightshire Scotland in (b.1790) "but was believed to be part English".

Margaret McCartney was born in Scotland in 1790 and died Feb. 19, 1871 at 81 years of age. She was from somewhere in the highlands and came from a well to-do family with one sister and one brother.

Six of their children were born in Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.  After John's death she moved with her family of 7 sons and 2 daughters to to Carluke, Lancashire.

George - Stayed in Scotland and had a family. One daughter Joann may have gone to Australia.

Thomas - Died in Scotalnd a young man, unmarried.

William - Died in Scotland a young man, unmarried.

Jessie - Married John Bosomworth

John - Born 1819 - Died Feb. 20th 1856.  Married Margaret LinkLater (from Parish of Bersay on the Isle of Pamona in the Orkneys).  John died 3 weeks after their wedding from influenza.  Maggie and her son John Jr. went to live with her father John LinkLater, a tailor, (b.1797 - d.1878), who was also buried in the Bluevale cemetary. 

James - d. 1854  Died in Guelph Township unmarried.

David - 1831/32 - 1866.  Married Ann Cornyn.

Robert - Nov. 15, 1829, (Parish of Balmaclellan) - May 14 1910 (Bluevale cemetary). Married Ann LinkLater (May 3, 1834 - Oct. 10, 1905).  He was 20 when the family moved to Canada.  It was apparently he that located and purchased the 200 acres of land in East Wawanosh in 1853 on behalf of the 4 brothers.  Unfortunately James died that winter (probably as you said, while working the roads?).  In the spring of 1854 the three surviving brothers settled permanently on their new land. Robert was the first elected councillor in 1857 and later went on to become Reeve.  He returned to Scotland twice in 1876 and 1886.

Mingus/Menzies - Taught grammar school in Alma. Buried in Elora cemetary.

In 1849 they settled in Guelph Township, near Elora, Ont. and in 1853 the brothers bought land in East Wawanosh at $2.00/acre, settling permanently there in 1854.  There were no other settlers there, the country was little but a dense forest, but in the fall of 1854, a Mr. Thompson arrived in the area.  Three years after the Currie brothers arrived, the site for the Town of Wingham was surveyed.  The first settlers of Wingham proper being the Cornyn families.  David Currie married Ann Cornyn an native of Ireland, considered to be the first white woman in Wingham.

=======================

I've got some other snippets lurking around, but that's all I have in "the book" regarding the first two generations.  Actually there is much more, in fact I now see that you and your family are listed in there too.  Btw: A belated, happy 35th anniversary.  ;-J  My folks, whom you likely know (JAC and AC) also have a book on the history of E. Wawanosh that has some additional tidbits.  "The Book" also mentions where the original family Bible and letters were handed down to, but this is not a good place to get into that.

As for pushing back that brick wall a few more generations?  I've been trying for years without much luck.  I found some of the birth/baptism records from Scotland, but that is about all.  So I've been trying to attack it from the other end of history. Part of the key and facination is to understand the life, times and events of each generation.  Speaking of which I also have a copy of young John Jr's diary, which is an interesting read about pioneering in Huron County.  Maybe we could tag team?  You go high, I'll go low.  ;-J  Maybe if we could track down some of George's decendants we might catch that big break we are looking for, (which I thought for a while there I had finally stumbled upon) <:-[

As for the reunion.  If I was there, I don't remember it.  I would have been pretty young then.

Cheers, and good luck with the new knee.
JKC


Offline JKCIII

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Re: 1841 CURRIE, a lost family!
« Reply #10 on: Thursday 13 September 07 07:23 BST (UK) »
Btw:

If you subtract census year 1841 from Margaret's recorded year of birth (1790) the result is 51.  Given that it is also recorded that they temporarily moved to Carluke prior to coming to Canada, I'm 99.9% positive that is them!   Excellent Hunting!  - JKC

===========================

could this be them?

1841 census- crawford street, carluke

margaret...age 51
john...age 26...ag lab
william...age 15
james...age 14
david...age 8

Joe

Offline JKCIII

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Re: 1841 CURRIE, a lost family!
« Reply #11 on: Thursday 13 September 07 07:48 BST (UK) »
FYI:

I've also found that the only Crawford St. in Lanarkshire is in Motherwell, which is located a bit to the N.E. of Carluke.

JKC

Offline johking

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Re: 1841 CURRIE, a lost family!
« Reply #12 on: Thursday 13 September 07 10:29 BST (UK) »
Following this with great interest - I'm so glad you have found each other!

JKC - if the record is from the 1841 Carluke census, then Crawford Street will definitely be in Carluke not Motherwell. The parish of Carluke in 1841:
"Town of Carluke divided as follows viz. on the East by Carluke Burn, on the South by an ideal line drawn about 200 yards South of and running parallel to Caluke Burn on the West by the parks of Kirkton and on the North partly by a road leading from the parish church of Carluke to the Windmill Quarry and partly by an ideal line drawn East from the Windmill Quarry to Carluke Burn."

If you go to Old Maps, you can find Crawforddyke street on the 1864 map, which may well be it. Go to:
http://www.old-maps.co.uk/indexmappage2.aspx
and put Carluke in the search box at the top, then choose it from the drop-down address matches.
You will see a map appear and should see a "main" road sticking out to the East of the town. Pan and zoom in to that and you will see its name.

By the way, for an in-depth study of Carluke around the time your ancestors were there, go to the Statistical Accounts. These were written by the ministers of the time about their parishes and vary considerably in their coverage. The Carluke one is rather besotted with geology and alluvial deposits (!), but persevere and you get some very interesting facts, like marriage and burial customs for example. It was written in 1839 so would be accurate for your timescale.
Go here:
http://edina.ac.uk//stat-acc-scot/
Forget the logins and look for the non-subscribers link at the bottom "Browse scanned pages".
Then enter Carluke in the top search box.
There were 2 statistical accounts performed, one in the 1790s and one in the 1830s-40s, which is the one you would want. Click the link and start reading!

I have found the statistical accounts invaluable for giving a snapshot of what life was like in Scottish parishes of the time.

Jo


Offline JKCIII

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Re: 1841 CURRIE, a lost family!
« Reply #13 on: Thursday 13 September 07 16:15 BST (UK) »
Wow!

Thanks for those valuable tips and links Jo.  Obviously you're a pro at this.

JKC

Offline johking

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Re: 1841 CURRIE, a lost family!
« Reply #14 on: Thursday 13 September 07 20:00 BST (UK) »
If only I was!

Offline Sharron Elizabeth

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Re: 1841 CURRIE, a lost family!
« Reply #15 on: Friday 14 September 07 13:13 BST (UK) »
Thanks Jo,

I have read these parish records and find them fascinating ... took me a little while to get used to the 's' they write ... but I persevered.

I checked with my live source's family records and Janet Currie was definately the name of their ancestor. She married John Bosomworth in 1845 and they had 3 children; Robert
John
Elizabeth ('Jessie' must have been a pet name for her)
... 'Currie' became the first name of some of her progeny... and  I have directions to the farm that she lived on ... a stone home ... and I will try to get a photo of that one, too.
Menzie/Mingus is my next search to do ... the village of Alma was right on the border of 3 townships so that may prove to be fun ... hope all the townships have a little written history somewhere.
SO ... it appears that of Margaret's 9 children, George, Janet, John and Robert are the only ones with offspring.
Robert, himself, had 8 children;
John Thomas (but was actually his brother John's son)
William Johnstone (my gr. grandfather)
Robert
Andrew
David
James Hastie (died 2yrs)
Annie
Florence (adopted)
... because I have spent much of my energy reading about the pioneer life these ancestors lived, (because I want my own family to have a good account when they read my notes 100 yrs from now), I have not looked up all birth dates yet, but hopefully JKCIII can fill me in from there ... JKC, whose family bible ? was it brought here from Scotland ? so many questions ... lol.

Still hoping to make contact with someone in Scotland ... Currie or McCartney ... or to find William's daughter/family.
Sharron


Deacon, Currie, Chamney, McCartney, Wellwood, Davison, Greer

Offline JKCIII

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Re: 1841 CURRIE, a lost family!
« Reply #16 on: Monday 17 September 07 18:20 BST (UK) »
Hi SED:

I've wanted to delve more into the details of pioneer life in the Scottish settlements of Elora and Fergus, to better frame the life and times of Margaret and her family.  But have had trouble finding the time.  Would be interested to hear any snippets you may have gleaned.

It does not specify in the notes exactly who's family bible it is or from what period it originated.  However, I assumed from the fact that this is a fairly old and forgotten family ritual, it is likely Margret & John's or possibly Robert's  Unable to verify unfortunately.

Also note , that I was incorrect in my initial recall of the brother's who remained in Scotland.  It was George who survived and Thomas and William who died relatively young and unmarried.  So we should focus our searches for possible decendants in Scotland to George Currie.

Funny there is no Andrew mentioned, and yet his name has been passed down through the generations, as is the family custom, so I don't doubt he was in there somewhere?  I was also fairly sure there was an Elizabeth too, who's name has also been handed down, as you are obviously well aware ;-J

It is certainly nice to connect with a fellow explorer (and cousin) on this journey through history. Hopefully we can find the answers we seek.

Many thanks,
JKC

Note:  My initials had already been used by someone else to register, so I added "III", as it  is part of my nick name.

Offline Sharron Elizabeth

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Re: 1841 CURRIE, a lost family!
« Reply #17 on: Wednesday 19 September 07 04:03 BST (UK) »
Thanks for the reply JKC ... now I am going to assume that your name is James as my aunt told me today who she thought your parents are ... Jim and Audrey ? If so, I talked on the phone briefly with them this summer as my aunt felt that they might be able to supply me with some answers. Didn't get anything that I hadn't already known. Got much more from Verna Currie.
Anyway, do you live in the Wingham area ? I was there today ... found Margaret McCartney's headstone on the bank of the river !! Have a photo that I will post on rootschat ...
.... have an email addy for a genealogist who will gladly look up anyone in the cemeteries in Huron County
.... and checked on the staus of the museum in Wingham (they don't have a curator at the moment but are searching for one and if you want to go in the museum, you have to go across the street and see a woman named Kathy Adams who will let you in) as there was some fear in early Aug. that the museum would be closed and the artifacts given over to another museum or dispersed.
It was a great day to take a road trip and hubby and I had a very nice time ... we also went and checked on my Aunt Donna in Teeswater and shared any updates I had with her. My sister, Georgia is taking her to Owen Sound on the 26th, to see and orthopedic surgeon about her bad knees ... and when we have our new knees and I've won the lottery, we're all going to Scotland !!
In this bible that you have, is there any mention of James Currie ? Where he died ? and when ? If memory serves me correctly, in Robert's obituary it is mentioned that James died before he ever got E. Wawanosh ... I'd love to find out more there.
Yes, the Wellington Cty. Museum might have some answers and I am going to be there this Sun. and Mon. at a workshop ... will do a little sleuthing there if I can.
Would love to know a bit about you.
Happy hunting.
Sharron
Deacon, Currie, Chamney, McCartney, Wellwood, Davison, Greer