A Scotsman born in Russia?! Coutts/Petrie/Carrie(Completed with thanks)

[osprey]

haven't found a death cert for Alexander as yet, but I think this is him with his family on the 1841 census

Rubislaw Village, Old Machar, Aberdeenshire
Francis Coutts 30 carter
Mary 30
Alexr 10 bleacher yarn 
Ann 8
William 6
Francis 4
John 2
Robt 3 months
all born Aberdeenshire

Francis senior died in 1887, his wife is given as Mary Still and parents as Alexander Coutts and Ann Summers.
Francis Coutts and Mary Still married in 1830 in Old Machar - I can see the marriage on SP, but not on FamilySearch.

It looks like Alexander was married before to Elizabeth Trail. They are on the 1861 census in Monifieth and have Alexander's brothers William & John, and Elizabeth's brother David living with them.

The only likely one of Alexander junior's siblings that I can see on the census in later years is William. He's in Old Machar in 1881, place of birth Carnoustie, & 1891, place of birth Panbride, married to a Catherine. 

 

[Fide et Fortitudine]

Thank you very much, Osprey.  That's extremely interesting.  Also this:

1861 Census, at 43 Shuttle Street, Glasgow:

- Alexander Coutts, head, married, 29, police constable, b. Aberdeenshire, Aberdour or Aberdeen? (hard to read)
- Elizabeth Coutts, wife, married, 26, b. Forfarshire, Panbridge
- William Coutts, son, 7, b. scholar, b. Forfarshire, Panbridge
- Mary Still Coutts, dau, 5, scholar, b. Forfarshire, Panbridge
- Ann Coutts, dau, 3, b. Forfarshire, Panbridge
- Jean Coutts, dau, 1, b. Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen

This has to be the Alexander Coutts-Elizabeth Anderson family, married in Panbridge 1852 (parents of the Russian-born Alexander the pattern maker?). 
Eldest son, William b. 1853 https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XYVM-LJ5
Eldest daughter, Mary Still b. 1855 https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XYPR-GNY
Dau. Ann b. 1857 https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XYPR-PLM
Dau. Joan/Jean, b. 1859, Old Machar, Aberdeen https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XYT3-4YH
And another child born after the census, Christina, in Central District, Glasgow 1862.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FQHZ-JGS

So the question is:  how (and why) does a policeman become a cotton factory manager in Russia?     Unless it's a different Alexander Coutts & Elizabeth Anderson... but the name Mary Still Coutts sticks out - the 5-year-old child in 1861 is probably the granddaughter of Mary Still & Francis Coutts of Rubislaw, Old Machar, Aberdeenshire.  The police connection might also explain why Alexander, Jr. the pattern maker was a Freemason! (He married in the Masonic Hall of Arbroath.)

Curiouser and curiouser. 

Also found a William Coutts, bleachfield manager in Rubislaw, m. to Elizabeth Erskine.  They had a daughter, Elizabeth Steel Coutts (b. 1833), son Robert Coutts (b. 1834), daughter Ann Simmers Coutts (b. 1836) [named after Ann Summers, Francis's mother?], a son Alexander Coutts b. 1838, d. 1890 in Dysart, Fife (a chemist/druggist married to Agnes Oswald Welsh) and another son, William Coutts, b. 1840.  All the children born in Old Machar. 

I'm thinking William Coutts, the bleachfield manager, and Alexander Coutts, Snr., the bobby-turned-bleachfield manager might have been related? 

I do have remote Aberdeenshire links, going much further back.  My g-g-g-g grandfather, Alexander Coutts, was born in Birse, Aberdeenshire, 1762.  He was a corn miller.  By 1793 he'd moved to the Lowlands and married Isabel Leith in Arbroath - where the pattern maker is living with the Petries in 1891.  All 10 of the Coutts-Leith children were born in Angus and around Dundee between 1794 and 1813. I can't see any direct links with Francis Coutts, the carter, b. circa 1811 ... yet!   

Thanks for all suggestions to all. 

[Fide et Fortitudine]

PS:  Have seen the 1851 census at 70 King St, Monifieth, Angus:

- Alexander Coutts, head, married, 19, bleacher labourer, b. Aberdeenshire, Old Machar
- Elizabeth Coutts, wife, married, 19, b. Forfarshire, Monifieth 
- William Coutts, brother, 16, unmarried, bleacher labourer, b. Aberdeenshire, Old Machar
- John Coutts, brother, 11, bleacher labourer, b. Aberdeenshire, Old Machar
- David Trail, wife's brother, 16, gardener, b. Forfarshire, Monifieth

This does sound like the future bleachfield manager. 

Alexander Coutts married Elizabeth Trail on 7/7/1850 in Monifieth, Angus. 
GROS 310/00 0060 0316

So he can't be the same Alexander (policeman) who married Elizabeth Anderson in Panbridge in 1852.  Unless Elizabeth Trail died?  No OPR death regs for an Elizabeth Coutts or Trail anywhere in Scotland between 1850-52, with spelling variations. 

The Russian-born Alexander's mother is Elizabeth Anderson, according to his marriage cert.

Confused!   


 

[osprey]

I think the Alexander from 1851 is likely to be the son of Francis and Mary, given the brothers William & John. The informant on the death cert for Francis was his son William.
Monifieth burials do survive from 1851-4, but the ones from Panbride do not.

http://www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk/pdf/list-of-oprs-250to322.pdf

This shows how close the parishes of Monifieth, Barry and Panbride are

http://www.ancestor.abel.co.uk/Angus/Monifieth.html

[Fide et Fortitudine]

Thanks, Osprey.  Indeed, the parishes were very close and sometimes overlapped.
I believe the 1851 Alexander (husband of Elizabeth Trail) is the son of Francis Coutts & Mary Still.
But the Russian-born Alexander's mother is Elizabeth Anderson, according to his marriage cert.  So I am still looking for the answer to this query. 

[osprey]

I would imagine the first Elizabeth died, was buried in one of the parishes whose burial records don't survive, and then Alexander remarried to Elizabeth Anderson.
I checked the birth registration of Mary Still Coutts as she was born in 1855 and the early certs sometimes have more info. The marriage is noted as being in Panbride in 1852, there is one boy living, Alexander is noted as 24, bleacher's labourer and born in Aberdeen, their abode Westhaven.

[Fide et Fortitudine]

Thanks, Osprey, but is the policeman the same man as the bleachfield manager in Russia? 

[osprey]

well, the policeman was a bleacher's labourer & married to Elizabeth Anderson when daughter Mary Still Coutts was born. So unless there were 2 Alexander Coutts who worked in bleachfields and they both married Elizabeth Andersons and had daughters called Mary Still Coutts, I suspect they are the same man. 

 

[JMStrachan]

Does it say Russia on the original image or have you got this from a transcription? Transcribers can and do misread things, and I'm wondering if the original actually says Russia clearly. Could it be a misread of Rossie?