DUNCAN David - Sillytown, Fife

[Gadget]

Yes, there is a Cupar in Fife - it's to the North of the Kingdom  - I spent a couple of days there a while ago 

I think that the RN records should come up with something.  Maybe list all the David Duncan's  b. in Fife 1796 +/- say 2 years so that you can discount them one by one.

If he was illegitimate then he might well not be down as Duncan.  However, if he rose to be an officer in the RN, I'd be looking for a reasonably well to do family.


Gadget

[Wiggy]

Thanks Gadget - sounds like a goodish idea!

 - I had thought I was halfway through doing that, i.e. weeding the Fife births through the relevant years,  when I came upon these names - it will take some weeding I think- 

First thing is to get onto the navy info - have written away about that - still awaiting replies!

Wiggy

[Henry7]

This may be quite irrelevant, but the only place I've heard of in Fife called Sillytown was a hamlet about 11 miles south-west of Auchterderran, and less than a mile north-west of the village of Limekilns.

In 1772 six families lived there - surnames Miller (2 of them), Robertson, Baird, Wright, and Crawfurd.  Two others rented fields there: Robert Craig and William McEwing. 

These are listed in a rental of the Earl of Elgin's estate, which covered the whole area.  Sillytown no longer exists as a hamlet, but a group of trees, shown as "Sillieton Plantation" on more recent maps, marks the site.

The only Duncan in the (long) list of tenants on the estate is Lawrence Duncan who had a house in Limekilns.

[Wiggy]

Hi Henry,

 thanks for that thought, and the interest!

I put up a birth record on the deciphering board and here is the link I was given.  Sillytown can be seen just above the 'T' in Auchterderran - County/Shire name.   I found it hard to believe there was a place so named - and there it is - but in this case north of Auchterderran?   An 1832 map -

http://maps.nls.uk/atlas/thomson/view/?rsid=74400166&sid=74400167&mid=544&pdesc=Left%20side

I gather you are interested in the same area!  I wonder which reference is correct.   

Wiggy   

[Henry7]

Thanks, Wiggy.

I'd never heard of the Auchterderran Sillytown, but there it is!  It's also on Blaeu's maps of Fife (published in 1654) as "Sillytoun".

Some of Thomson's map of 1832 was copied from Ainslie's map of 1775.  Ainslie shows it as "Sillytown" while the other one that I mentioned near Limekilns is called "Silvertown".  There's a similar case on the Thomson map - "Silly Barton" just north of Burntisland, which is now known as Silverbarton.

So "Silly" is probably from "Silver" - as in the old Scottish pronunciation of "silver" as "siller". 

There's no trace of your Sillytown on modern maps, but it seems to have been just south of the River Ore and about a mile and a half west of Auchterderran, not far to the north of Easter Colquhally Farm.

I've no doubt that this Sillytown is the place referred to in your record - it was in Auchterderran parish.  You can forget my ref to the other one.  Curious, though! 

Harry.

[Wiggy]

Have just made contact again with the person who gave me much of my original information

He is saying 1793 - but now that he has also given me another child (George, 1st born son) for Grace and David in Plymouth, I am beginning to think my 1791 birth find is correct.

At death, in 1877 his daughter Caroline said he was 86 - and I have found two other likely births in 1791, also in Fife - one to George and Janet - which sounds quite likely to me as those names reappear down the line, (though not in the next couple of generations)

Will have to argue/discuss this one with my informant!!   

Wiggy

PS See post #4 & #7 - Grace was also shading her age - born 1794!!  You just can't trust some people          

[Wiggy]

So I have a record for one David Duncan baptised 14th Sept Cupar, Fifeshire - son of George Duncan and Janet Scott - sounds good to me.    Will wait and see  . . . . .

What do you think Paul??   

Wiggy   

[wycheproof]

I want to believe! But he may as well be called John Smith. Unfortunately the naming system also seems to reduce the number of names used and you end up with lots of cousins with the same name! I'd be trying to find merchant navy records before he joined the RN at age 24 in 1817. On his 1814 marriage entry he is a mariner. Why was he in Plymouth? Maybe he preferred the weather there. Maybe he had family there.
We think he was from Dysart, Fife bc 1791. I have searched for births in the area without success, even researched Admiral Duncan but nothing conclusive. I encourage you to explore every avenue available and keep it on the back burner after that. I have been looking for a convict woman's death for over 20 years and still going. Every now and then new records become available and add another clue. I will never give up.
Paul

[Wiggy]

Resurrecting this thread with some more thoughts . . .

I think I can disregard what has previously been found (by me) on this thread.  Gadget proved that George and Janet's son David can be ruled out.

David Duncan RN seems to have shaded his age most of his life -  - if what his daughter says is true at his death - i.e. 86. (If he really was 75 in 1871 as he says, that makes him just over 80 in '77 when he died.) 

However, working on the assumption that daughter knew what she was talking about, I've been looking again and found another birth which I'd not seen before  this time, in July 1790 in Kennoway to Robert and Isabel Duncan.  (or maybe I'd seen it and dismissed it as not having likely/continued names.)

I still don't have knowledge of how and when David RN left Fife to join the RN and in what year, though he was already a mariner when he married in 1814. 
As he married in 1814, that makes the 1796 birth seem less likely  - or does it?

I don't know how to go about proving or disproving that this David is the correct one. 

If anyone can assist I would be very very grateful.   

Though I've written to the RN, I haven't managed to find out when he joined,  though I do underestand he could have been just a boy at the time. 
 I have found that he was aboard Dwarf in 1817 as Able Seaman.

Ever hopeful . . . .ever searching.

Wiggy