MOFFATS OF NEWBATTLE

[megandjacksnan]

Hi I wonder if anyone can help me in tracing a couple of ancestors.  My ancestor, William Jackson Fraser was born in Gateshead in 1857.  His father was John Fraser born 1833 in Bethnel Green.  His father, also believed to be John we think is from Scotland.  He was an engine driver, his son an engine fitter.

William Jackson Fraser married a lady called Mary Ann Moffatt born about 1873 and her father was James Hood Moffatt.  They lived in Newbattle in Peebleshire.

The family story goes that Mary Ann and William Jackson Fraser were in some way related.  By the time they married in 1908, William was living in Denton in Manchester, and the story goes that William sent to Newbattle for Mary Ann to marry him and to look after him in his old age.  He died in 1936 and she returned to Scotland. 

I would appreciate any help.

Does anyone have any information about a connection between the Moffatt and Fraser families, no matter how tenuous. 

Many thanks