Walter NICOL (1659-1744) & Grizel BEATTIE (1669-1750)

[houseofbrown]

My 6xggparents married in 1698 and, as far as I know, lived most of their lives in the Langholm area. They are both buried at Staplegordon.
Several family trees on line suggest that Grizel Beattie was born 18 Jun 1669 to parents William Beattie (1613-1693) & Grizel Porteous (1627-1707) but I have been unable to confirm this.
The Porteous family history appears to be a very interesting one but before going further I am looking to confirm that I have the correct connection.
I would appreciate any assistance in establishing who the parents of Grizel Beattie are.
Thank you,    Bill.

[Reiver]

As a starting point you may wish to obtain a copy of an article in the Eskdale & Liddesdale Advertiser of 4th August 1880.
It is the 4th in a series (weekly) called The Unknown Porteous. This records that Grizzel Beattie was daughter of Grizzel Porteous and William Beattie.  Grizzel Porteous and Walter Nicoll are buried in the churchyard at Stapelgordon.

I do have quite a lot of information about the family (Nicol and Beattie) and also the other children of William Beattie and Grizzel Porteous.  If I can help further let me know.

Reiver

[houseofbrown]

Hello Reiver
I'm very pleased to hear from you and I'm also pleased to be able to confirm (at long last!) the connection between Grizzel Beattie and parents William & Grizzel.  I have emailed the newspaper to enquire how I get a copy of the article you refer to.  Do all the articles in the series refer to The Unknown Porteous, or only the 4th one?  I have been able to establish (including headstone inscription) that Walter Nicoll is buried at Staplegordon but cannot find any record of Grizzel Porteous's burial at that cemetery.  Do you happen to have her headstone inscription?
Your kind offer to assist me with further information is greatly appreciated and I will contact you shortly. 
Thank you,   Bill.

[Reiver]

Hello Bill.
There were 4 articles in the E&L Advertiser in a series entitled, in each edition, The Unknown Porteous.  These were in 4 successive weekly editions of the paper - the 4th being on the date I quoted before.  Though I have read them all I must say it left me a little cold.   However the 4th includes fairly detailed information about a descendant of The Unknown Porteous called Grizzel who married William Beattie (Beattie of Burn).  Few dates but information about their children and so on. William Beattie and Grizzel Porteous are buried in Watcarrick Burial Ground in the parish of Eskdalemuir.
The stone read - from a 1960s survey - "Here lies William Beattie in Holm who died in February 1693 of age 80.  Grizel Porteous his spouse she died October of ........ age 90."  The survey number was 55.  I believe it is possible to obtain a copy of the survey possibly on-line. I'm sure someone else may be able to advise.

Their only daughter - who married Walter Nicol - had two children - William and Isabella.  William married three times.
Where do you enter the tree    ??

Reiver

[houseofbrown]

Hello Reiver
Thank you for the additional information.  (Next step is to get photos of the MIs).
Where do I enter the tree?, I hope this makes sense:
Grizel Beattie (1669-1750)                 My 6th great grandmother
William Nicol (1705-1798)                  Son of Grizel
Walter Nicol (1747-1846)                   Son of William
Sarah Nicol (1777-1843)                    Daughter of Walter
Jane Nicol Anderson (1819-1901)        Daughter of Sarah. Migrated to Australia 1839
Charles William Goode (1854-1888)     Son of Jane Nicol
Charles Laidler Goode (1886-1976)      Son of Charles William
Gladys Mary Goode                             Daughter of Charles Laidler.  My Mother.
I'd be interested to know where you fit in as well
Cheers,  Bill

[Reiver]

Hi Bill,
Thanks for the info.

William (b c17000), son of Walter Nicol and Grizel Beattie, married three times - to Sarah,
Elizabeth and Margaret.  If my chart is right your Walter was the son of William and Margaret Beattie.  It is a while since I've looked at some of my material so please correct me if you feel I'm wrong.

Where do I fit in?  To be honest after many many years of searching I don't know 

I know up to my 4 great grandfather Robert Beattie (Born c 1780). In the early 1900s my father and his uncle did some research and linked the family to the Beatties at Walcarrick in Eskdale.  Whereas i have much information about the Beatties and other families from then on I still havn't got a positive link to Robert Beattie's parents.

My best wishes
Reiver

[houseofbrown]

Hello Reiver
My Walter Nicol (1747-1846) was the son of William Nicol's first wife, Sarah Reid (1709-1775).
I haven't been able to ascertain who Margaret Beattie (the 3rd wife) parents are as yet but it's starting to look a bit incestuous (Old William Nicol must have been bit of a lad!)
I'm now waiting to hear back re MI photos and newspaper articles.
Thank you
Cheers,  Bill

[dharma_duck]

Hi. I was glad to find your posts!
Grizel Jean Beattie was my 4x great grandmother.  Her son William, as you have mentioned, had several wives, and is my 3x great grandfather through his marriage to Elizabeth Graham. Their only child (so far as I know) was Francis Nichol, who emigrated to Ontario, Canada in 1833.

Francis's wife was Janet Nichol (this is her maiden name), daughter of Thomas Nichol and Janet Murray. I have not verified her parents.

Several of Francis and Janet's brothers emigrated with them--I'm in the process of straightening out just who.

I have lots of information about the Nichols from William and Francis on down. What I have for William's ancestry is not as solid, and I'm hoping to find out more. The family lore gives information that I haven't been able to verify, going back to a Sutherland Nichol born 1585.

I love to share information with both of you, and would be happy to send what I have as well!

Carrie Wingate
Maine, USA (via Canada)

[houseofbrown]

Hello Carrie
And I'm glad that you found our posts!
Francis Nicol is my 4th ggrand uncle and therefore you and I would be cousins of some sort, which I will attempt to work out later.  I was unaware (but not surprised) that he migrated to Canada but I have done very little research on this branch of the family.  As you can see by the previous posts I have been trying to establish my ancestry relative to the Nicols. Reiver has been of considerable help and little by little I am confirming 'ggggparents'.  As you would be aware, it is quite time consuming and my biggest issue is that I tend to go off on tangents and every so often I need to refocus!
I would be pleased to share any information that I may have and wonder what is the best way to do that.  Do you happen to have a family tree on line? (with perhaps, Ancestry.com)
Cheers,  Bill