Fanny McAlpine and Robert Stevenson Bannockburn

[DDJJake]

You may have these hypotheses ....
Starting with: Robert Stevenson and Catherine Mackieson
with Son Robert 67 in 1851 Census

From OPRs .... [Not LDS entries]   
ROBERT STEVENSON  Christened 26 APR 1783   Saint Ninians
with parents ROBERT STEVENSON and  KATHARINE MACKIESON     
Children of Robert and Catherine/Katherine:
MARGARET STEVENSON Christened on 29 DEC 1776 Saint Ninians
JOHN STEVENSON Christened on 19 DEC 1778 Saint Ninians
CATHARINE STEVENSON Christening on 19 DEC 1780 Saint Ninians
ROBERT STEVENSON Christened on 26 APR 1783 Saint Ninians
FRANCIS STEVENSON Christened on 07 JUN 1788 Saint Ninians
JAMES STEVENSON Christened on 03 OCT 1790 Saint Ninians
WILLIAM STEVENSON Christened on 02 SEP 1795 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland

From traditional Scottish naming patterns ....
Robert Snr's father may have been John
C/Katharine's father may have been John or Robert
C/Katharine's mother may have been Margaret
Robert Snr's mother may have been Margaret or Catharine

Also, there may have been a Francis, a James, a William as siblings of Robert Snr and/or C/Katharine

Mackieson = McKesson ?

OPRs ...
FRANCIS MCKESSON  Christened on  19 JAN 1746   Lecropt, Perth, Scotland
Parents: ROBT. MCKESSON  and  MARGT. MILLER     
LILIAS MCKESSON Christened  04 MAR 1749   Lecropt, Perth, Scotland
Parents: ROBT. MCKESSON  and  MARGT. MILLER   

LDS entries
James McKesson Christened on 16 MAY 1736 Lecropt, Perth, Scotland
Katharine McKesson Christened on 20 JUL 1752 Lecropt, Perth, Scotland *****
Parents: ROBT. MCKESSON  and  MARGT. MILLER   
 

Possibilities:
OPRs
ROBERT STEVENSON Christened on 12 OCT 1755   Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
Parents  JOHN STEVENSON  and MARGARET WALKER   
All listed children .....
JAMES STEVENSON Christening: 13 JUN 1748 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
 JOHN STEVENSON  Christening: 28 DEC 1749 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
MARGARET STEVENSON Christening: 23 SEP 1751 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
 ROBERT STEVENSON  Christening: 12 OCT 1755 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland 
JEAN STEVENSON Christening: 31 JUL 1757 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
ABRAHAM STEVENSON Christening: 14 JUL 1759 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
JOHN STEVENSON  Christening: 24 FEB 1761 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
ALEXANDER STEVENSON  Christening: 19 JUN 1763 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
JEAN STEVENSON Christening: 19 JUL 1765 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
WILLIAM STEVENSON Christening: 17 APR 1768 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
 
OR ...
OPRs
ROBERT STIVENSON Christened on  05 MAY 1752   Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland ***********
Parents  JOHN STIVENSON  and MARGARET GLEN     
All listed children .....
JENNET STEVENSON Christened on 07 AUG 1745 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
WILLIAM STEVENSON Christened on 26 OCT 1747 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
ALEXANDER STEVENSON  Christened on 19 SEP 1749 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
ROBERT STIVENSON  Christened on 05 MAY 1752 Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland **********

Cheers
DDJJAKE

[ahtraM]

DDJJake

What can I say!   Thank you very much for all that information.   I had started down the road sorting out Robert and his parents Robert and Katharine, but this will help me confirm what I have found or will find.  A lot of the names which appear in the first grouping of Robert Stevenson and Katharine Mackieson children, are almost exactly the same names as the children of Robert Stevenson and Fanny Birkhill McAlpine.   The final grouping you gave me is also names which have appeared in recent generations of my family, (over and over) if you change Jennet to Janet.

I've been following the Scottish naming patterns etc and it is such a help when you hit a brick wall, to actually be able to pull that one out of the hat to see if it gets you through the brick wall.

I had moved onto another branch of the family, as I was all "Stevenson-ed out" after the Fanny McAlpine/Fanny Birkhill/Janet Stevenson false leads, but now that you have given me all this information it has put a new sprint in my step.

Cheers and thank you very much for this help

[DDJJake]

Hi ahtraM from DDJJAKE
I replied to you because I am an auld Bannockburn laddie who noticed this in your first post...
William Stevenson and Janet Henderson married on 28th March 1856 at Newmarket, Bannockburn  ... I lived in Newmarket, Bannockburn for 7 years in the 1950s and 1960s and my surname is Henderson, and later taught a Jim Stevenson at High School. However, my Henderson tribe are not related to your Janet (as far as my detailed ancestry shows) Och!
Are you a Bannockburn native?
I also lived in Birkhill Road, Cambusbarron before moving to Bannockburn!
Aye,
DDJJAKE

[ahtraM]

Hi DDJJake

No, I'm not sure I've even been to that part of Stirling.  There doesn't seem to be any connection to Bannockburn after my GGrandad Robert (William and Janet Henderson's son) left Bannockburn, although all roads seem to lead back to St Ninians for so many of the various strands of my Family Tree.

I only discovered the "Birkhill Estate" connection after Jean confirmed Fanny had Birkhill as a second name on so many documents, and then decided to ferret about to see if I could find out if the name Birkhill was possibly connected to a placename as well as a Surname - having a village called Birkhill nearby lit that lightbulb.  That's when I discovered all the street names called Birkhill in the vicinity.

Sad, I haven't found a long lost relative this time, but thanks for all the info you have given me.   Much appreciated.

Cheers
ahtraM

[SandyMcJ]

This caught my eye whilst searching old posts as my Dad's aunt Fanny's maiden name was Fanny Birkhill Jenkins. She was born in about 1897 to William Jenkins and Catherine Stevenson. Catherine was the daughter of Francis Stevenson (mentioned above as dyer's labourer), so the name was certainly passed down through the generations! At the time of her marriage (to my Granny's brother, William Munro) she was living in Muiralehouse, Bannockburn and her occupation, if I'm reading it correctly, was a 'briquette worker'.

Sandy

PS I wondered if Birkhill name may be Scottish pronunciation of Birchall. IGI shows number of Fanny Birchall's in England in early 1800's.

[ahtraM]

Sandy

I've spotted the Jenkins connection in the past, and have been trying to work around various Jenkins Trees I have seen.   Yes, there must be a connection as my relatives lived in Muiralehouse, Bannockburn, and when you check "Tom Paterson Genealogy" you often find several houses in one street occupied by siblings after their marriages.

I have found that Fanny Birkhill/McAlpine Stevenson seemed to be very averse to documentation.   I can find no birth certificate for her, or her children, although her husband's parents seem to have recorded births.

I really do wonder if her family just took the name Birkhill from the Birkhill House Estate which is so close to where she lived (and where they may even have worked).   It does seem a strange coincidence to have the name Birkhill with an estate of that name so close by, given that Birkhill seems to be a very unusual Scottish name, together with Fanny's apparant dislike of having her name documented (until forced to by official Registers came into effect).

[SandyMcJ]

Hi Ahtram

I'm inclined to believe your relative was a McAlpine and that Birkhill was her middle name and that the middle name and maiden name have got mixed up in some of the records. I have McAlpines from the Bannockburn / St Ninians area in my ancestry and, like you, can find very few records for them. One of them (a Robert McAlpine) was a coalminer in the area and was born around 1800, like your relative, and I can find no definite record of his parents, birth or even marriage. I just have his name and occupation from his daughter's death record. At that time the main records were the church records and I think people may have been obliged to pay to have their children baptised. So if your family wasn't church-going, or couldn't afford it, or if the records haven't survived there might be no record to access today.
If your relative's maiden name was Fanny Birkhill McAlpine, there's a chance an even earlier ancestor was named just Fanny Birkhill. I have several instances in my family tree where girls named after a grandmother were given their grandmother's maiden name as a middle name. As you don't have details of Fanny's parents it's impossible to know if this is the case.
IF this is the case, the 'original' Fanny Birkhill could either have married a McAlpine or your relative's maternal grandfather, but as you don't have her parent's name it makes it very difficult to search for anything, especially as you are now going back to the middle of the 18th century! It gets even more difficult to find anything given that this 'theoretical' original Fanny Birkhill could have been born outside the area and the spelling of her name could have been quite different. Even if the Birkhill estate wasn't the original root of the Birkhill name, it could easily have influenced the spelling of a similar sounding name.

Wish I could be more help. Good luck with solving this problem!

Sandy

[ahtraM]

Hi Sandy

I have just seen your post.   I think we have hit the 1745 Rebellion influence with the McAlpines.   My feeling is that they were averse to being recorded anywhere, and it would appear that even Fanny's own children were not totally sure of her maiden name, as she appears as "Birkhill" or "McAlpine" in various certificates.   The one which ties it all together is her son Robert's marriage certificate where she is listed as "Fanny Birkhill Stevenson" maiden surname "McAlpine".   There is also the possibility that she may have married someone called Birkhill before she married my relative....and round we go again.....

Of course, what didn't help was the amount of time I spent looking for combinations of "Fanny", "Birkhill", "Mcalpine" and "Stevenson" only to be told that Scotland's People had wrongly filed her under "Janet Stevenson"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Of course her death certificate not having parents names, and no sign of a marriage certificate seems to have brought definitive proof to an end.  I'll keep dipping back into her background in the hope a Eureka moment will start things moving again.   Thanks for your thoughts....I'll try to follow more of the McAlpine families in Bannockburn to see if I can make any tenuous links which may lead to a real find.

[ahtraM]

Just an update on the confusion surrounding Fanny Birkhill McAlpine Stevenson.   I have recently found a newspaper Obituary for her, and it would appear that she was a foundling in the vicinity of Birkhill....so the probable reason for that name.   The newspaper article (dated 24th January 1861) says

 

"STEVENSON - At Bannockburn Muir, on the 17th inst., Fanny Birkhill, wife of Mr Robert Stevenson, in the 63rd year of her age.   Deceased was found 63 years ago at Birkhill, Parish of St Ninians, and strange to say no trace could ever be got of her father or mother

Obviously there is no way to trace "Fanny's" parents........unless it was the Laird and the scullery maid  , so that just leaves the question of where the "McAlpine" in her name came from, (as it appears on so many certificates).  Possibly she was adopted by a family called McAlpine.    Her name throughout my search has been as fluid as it could possibly be, but I wonder, if in such a close knit area such as Bannockburn, that perhaps they did know who the mother was, and that "Fanny" might be the only of her names which doffs a hat at her true parentage.