Wiliam Main Mathieson

[morageckford]

I'm curious to know why you have five generations of my family! We must be related somwhow!

[Forfarian]

I'm curious to know why you have five generations of my family! We must be related somwhow!

The short answer is that they are my family too.

Margaret Mary Gordon Mathieson was the daughter of William Duncan Mathieson
William Duncan Mathieson was the son of Jane Duncan
Jane Duncan was the daughter of Joseph Duncan
Joseph Duncan was the son of Grizel Leslie
Grizel Leslie was the daughter of Joseph Leslie and Isobel Dean.

Joseph Leslie and Isobel Dean also had a son John.
John Leslie had a daughter Anne Leslie
Anne Leslie's son Robert Cruickshank had a daughter Joanna
Joanna Cruickshank's son George Burgess was my grandfather.

Where do you fit in?

[morageckford]

Margaret Mathieson was my grandmother - she married my grandfather James Kerr. Her mother was called Penuel Alexander. I think Penuel's mother was Mary Eleanora Murray Grant. This is straining my memory!
Somewhere I have the family tree going back to Samuel Grant who was a tenant farmer of the Earl of Seafield in the early 1800s. One, maybe two, of Samuel's sons went to the West Indies as plantation managers and died there of disease. Another son was a church minister who had to go to India to find work and died on the ship on the way. I'm descended from one of Samuel's daughters. Samuel's brother Ludovic? Grant was an officer in the Warwickshire Regiment and fought in the Peninsular War. He was wounded in the Battle of Telavera with a musket ball in his ankle and was taken prisoner. I think he was there for four years and as the wound never healed he was freed and sent home. I'll have to have a look for the tree which I haven't seen for years!

[morageckford]

My mum always said we had Leslie ancestors who take us back to the Dukes of Sutherland through the Earls of Rothes who are Leslies. Margaret Leslie was Countess of Rothes - she was a countess in her own right - only child - and in 1674 she married the 5th Earl of Haddington of Mellerstain House in the Scottish Borders. Her portrait hangs there. By the way, the Queen has the Sutherlands in her family tree so you have some grand relatives!

[Forfarian]

I think I'd better PM you as we are getting close to referring to living people.

I've been working on my Leslie tree for years and have found no definite evidence to link our Leslie line back to anyone like that, though it's true they were from Rothes.

Penuel Alexander was the daughter of Samuel Alexander and Helen Murray. She was born in Fochabers in 1852 and died in Lossiemouth in 1941 after a long life of ups and downs.

[NzerJulie]

William Main Mathieson born in 1909 is my grandfather.  He died when I was a small child but I have a lovely rocking horse in my garage that he built in the 1960's for other grandchildren.   I live in NZ.  I know little about his ancestry, really only what I have just read here.  I see his father may remain a mystery unfortunately but I would be interested to know more about his mother and her ancestors or to see any photos if anyone has any.  Thanks very much and hope to see more posts.