Missing George Mitchell - Rosehearty, Fraserburgh 1882

[1elizabeth1]

Please will anyone with information on the Mitchell family from Rosehearty, Fraserburgh help me to piece together what happened to the family after the death of John Mitchell Snr. on the 10th of January 1892. His children from his second marriage to Jessie McWilliam in 1873 who bore him Jessie, Mary, Margaret Jane, William, James & Ann. Jessie (nee) McWilliam died on the 21st April 1889, twenty days after giving birth to Ann. I have completed the search on Jessie who was the eldest and working, William and James were also working or so I am told. I know that Ann aged 14 died at the Quarriers home in Renfrewshire. Mary and Margaret Jane were also admitted and George was supposed to be admitted at the same time but was not brought by John Mitchell, John was a son from the first marriage to Margaret, They were Tailors.This has been such a sad journey, I would really like to know what happened. Thank you all in advance.

[chempat]

Have you found the 'children' in the 1901 or1911 census?

Have you looked on people's trees in such sites as Ancestry to see if any of the children are in other trees?

[1elizabeth1]

Thank you so much for taking the time to advise me, but alas, I have checked all the information you suggested I try.

[ev]

Hi ,

Can you give us birth years and birthplaces for the children you are looking for ?
When were the children admitted to the Quarriers home ?

Is it just George you are looking for ?

Sorry for all the Questions.



ev

[1elizabeth1]

Hi Ev,

Thank you for replying to my posting, please do not apologise for the questions, if we don't ask, how are we going to get the answers.
I will try and explain to you what has happened so far in my search.

Mary Isabella Mitchell DOB 13.09.1980 DOD 01.09.1956 (Complete)
Margaret Jane Mitchell DOB 30.09.1884 Married 02.06.1906 in Banff to George Watt, Cooper
Ann Mitchell DOB 01.04.1889 DOD 25th April 1903 (14 years) at Bethesda, Quarriers. (Complete)
George Mitchell DOB 2.08.1882
James Mitchell DOB 12.10.1877
William Mitchell DOB 25.08.1875.
Jessie Mitchell DOB 25.02.1874 DOD 11.10.1913. (Complete)

The Quarriers report has stated that Mary, Margaret and Ann Mitchell were received into care on the 20th September 1892. They would of been admitted at the City Orphan Home in James Morrison Street, Glasgow where they would have been medically examined, they arrived at the Bridge of Weir on the 3rd October 1892. They are unable to trace the actual cottage they were placed in.
All the children were born in Rosehearty, Quarriers have also stated that had measles and hooping cough. The eldest, Jessie was working and no information given on her, although the eldest at 18 and a women I don't think she would of been given a choice in the matter. She remained in Fraserburgh. William (16) and James (14) were working and no information other than they also stayed behind.
George aged 10 has the following " who was to come with the girls but the men who had him did not turn up in time and may be hesitating about bringing him" George never joined the girls at Quarriers.
Half brother John Mitchell DOB 02.03.1857 brought the children it he state he was from Port Errol, Cruden, almost the only interested relative, he was accompanied by a cousin who was a clothier from Kirkmitillock, who may visit the children.
The children have been kept by a stranger and parochial board paying.
The father's business has not yet been wound up and his will provides that any surplus after paying duties is to be spent on the children.
Mary Isabella was at Quarriers until the 28th April 1896 where she went into service.
Margaret Jane or Maggie left on the 1st October 1901 to work in the Quarriers Consumptive Sanatoria.
Ann is buried in the cemetery behind the church.
There is no records of their daily lives or if anyone ever visited them.
I have checked the Port Errol link concerning John Mitchell the half brother but the person listed was not born in Rosehearty, even though,  it is listed again on his fathers Extract Inventory 25.05.1892 Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
John Mitchell Snr was a Master Tailor & John Mitchell worked in the business, witnessed his fathers death certificate.
So, Ev I suppose that George, James & William are the 3 missing boys that still need to be found.
I hope all this information makes sense.
Thank you

[ruthhelen]

Can't help with the missing children as yet, but I can add a bit more to the story.

John Mitchell senior was born on 22 Sep 1818 in New Deer, to John Mitchell and Elspet Keith.

He was married three times. His first wife was Elizabeth Fyvie, who he married on 29 Nov 1846 in Aberdour. They had one son, William, who was born in 1847 in Aberdour. Elizabeth must have died soon after that, as John Mitchell is a widower in the 1851 census in Tyrie. William is with his maternal grandparents in Aberdour.

He married his second wife, Margaret Watt, on 21 Jan 1853 in Tyrie. They also had one son, John, born 2 Mar 1857, Pitsligo (Rosehearty). John senior, Margaret and John, along with elder son, William, are together in Rosehearty in the 1861 census. By 1871, William has gone, and only John senior, Margaret and John junior are in the house - along with Jessie McWilliam, domestic servant, who John senior goes on to marry in 1873, after Margaret's death.

John Mitchell junior, who was also a tailor - the half brother you mention, who brought his remaining siblings to Quarriers - married his cousin, Margaret Mitchell on 11 Oct 1878 in Monquhitter. Margaret was the daughter of William Mitchell (also a tailor) and Jane Watson - William was John Mitchell senior's younger brother. John and Margaret did, indeed, live in Cruden - they're in the 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses in Cruden, along with their children.

Ruth

[ruthhelen]

Think I may have found William...

He marries Isabella Simpson, from Rothes, Moray, on 8 Jun 1900 in Edinburgh. William and Isabella appear in the 1901 census at Heriot Hill Terrace, Edinburgh - William is a grocer's assistant. I think I may also have William, aged 15, in 1891 as an apprentice shopkeeper in Longside, Aberdeenshire.

Interestingly, one James Mitchell is a witness at William's marriage - which could be his brother James, but haven't found anything else on him yet...

Ruth

[1elizabeth1]

Dear Ruth,

Thank you for all your help and information you have given me, I found the birth date in Deer in 1818 but have been so consumed, to put it lightly with Ann and George and Quarriers that I haven't got my head around confirming the Deer connection, let alone that he was married 3 times, I found 2, so there is hope for me yet.
I will take a look at the census records as you have stated in Cruden.

I still have so many questions as to the children and why they were being cared for by a stranger?
Quarriers have also stated that the inspectors of poor, Pitsligo wrote about the case as well as the reverend McGregor and Mr Stephen Fraserew ( the surname is a guess as I am finding it difficult to read). Will there be poor records available for this time? Ruth could I also find out what happened to the monies for the children, it just does not add up to me that these were tailors, John Senior left a will with three executors, one being the reverend McGregor, John Mitchell junior told Quarriers that the estate of his father had not been wound up in September 1892 when admitting the children.

Extract inventories date at the Aberdeen Sheriff Court was May 1892. Were the family that destitute that the inspector for the poor was involved between John Seniors death on the 10th of January 1892 and their admittance to Quarriers in September?
These tiny children travelled to Glasgow from Fraserburgh with Hooping cough & measles.
Thank you again Ruth.

[ruthhelen]

I suspect it was simply a consequence of having such a young family so late in life. John senior was already 55 by the time he married Jessie McWilliam - and 71 by the time of the birth of his youngest daughter, Ann. His parents and siblings were already dead - so no grandparents or aunts and uncles around to take over.

John, his elder son by his second wife, was married with five children of his own under 12 by the time his father died, so I doubt he had the capacity to take on the care of his younger siblings as well.

Ruth