VANNET in Arbroath

[hdw]

I wonder if anyone out there shares my descent from the Vannet family of Arbroath?

My 5 x great-grandfather James Burns, sievewright or "riddle-maker" in St. Andrews, married Margaret Vannet in Arbroath in 1765. Then in 1769 another James Burns married Jean Vannet there, and they proceeded to have 13 children in quick succession. That couple are a real puzzle to me.

My James Burns and Margaret Vannet had a son called James Burns who married Elizabeth Vannet in 1803. I believe those two were cousins. They had a son called Patrick and a daughter called Matilda, so I believe that Elizabeth was the daughter of Patrick Vannet, shoemaker, and Matilda Milne, who have a headstone in Arbroath Abbey graveyard. Next to it is a headstone put up by Patrick himself in 1778 in memory of his parents James Vannet, ground labourer in Millgate, who died in 1736 aged 36, and Jean Smith, who died in 1775 aged 83.

I believe that Patrick Vannet the shoemaker was a brother of my Margaret Vannet who married James Burns, in which case James Vannet and Jean Smith were my 6 x great-grandparents. She may be the Jean born in Arbroath in 1693 to James Smith and Isobel Crichton.

There are other Vannets in the Abbey graveyard, including James Burns and Jean Vannet mentioned above. There are also quite a few in the States to judge from posts on Rootsweb. The surname may be a variant of Vannand - a Thomas Vannand had land in Arbroath in 1505.

Harry

[greenrig]

Harry; although not in my direct lines, I have a James Edwards VANNET (b. 1912 in Arbroath, d. 1977), marrying into one of my lines. Two children from that marriage. 

[hdw]

Harry; although not in my direct lines, I have a James Edwards VANNET (b. 1912 in Arbroath, d. 1977), marrying into one of my lines. Two children from that marriage.

Thanks, it seems to be a very local name, not well known outside of Arbroath. Makes a change from all the Spinks, Swankies and Cargills (also in my family-tree!).

Harry

[emjodi]

Hello Harry,

I have the James Burns who married Elizabeth Vannet in 1803 in my direct ancestry and was very interested to read your post about James's parents as i have never been able to get any further up that line! How did you link him up to James Burns Snr the sieve-wright and Margaret Vannet; is there a link or anything you can send me to look at? 

Interestingly I had also come across the Patrick Vannet and Margaret Milne you mention, and marked them as possible parents of Elizabeth Vannet as the names tie up with two of her children.  But like you I am not certain.

So I believe James Burns and Elizabeth Vannet to have had 5 children:
* James Burns b1805 who emigrated to Australia with his wife.
* Matilda Burns 1807-1875 who has a headstone in the cemetery at St Andrews, Fife. erected by her brother Patrick
* Thomas Burns b1811.
* Patrick Burns 1813-1887 who emigrated to the West Indies and married Margaret Millicent Hunt
* John Burns 1815-1863. Reverend of Dunino, Fife.

I am descended from Patrick b1813, which branch of the family is your line?
Kind regards, Emily

[hdw]

Hello. I'm just back from a holiday in the south of France and am beginning to deal with 16 emails that have collected.

I actually wrote an article about the Burns/Vannet family of St. Andrews which was published in the Scottish Local History Forum journal, Issue 84, Autumn 2012. You would probably find it useful if you can get your hands on it. James Burns, husband of Margaret Vannet, inherited a shop from his late brother Thomas but was no businessman, and ran it into the ground, going bankrupt in 1794. They had two sons, John in 1768, and James in 1773. All three men were trained sievewrights or "riddle-makers", a kind of joinery, and the umbrella term for joiners was "wright". They lived in "the Argyle", the modern Argyle Street, and as the James Burns who married Elizabeth Vannet in 1803 was a wright, I'm pretty sure he was the James born to James Burns and Margaret Vannet in 1773. This James Burns died in 1815.

His brother John fathered two illegitimate children on his servant, Christian Brown, one being a girl called Elizabeth or Betsy Burns in 1799. She married a miner in Crail called James Myles, and they were my 3 x great-grandparents.

Harry

[eilthireach]

I don't have any direct connections to any Vannet families, but did come across the name in my researches - not, however, as a surname, but as a first name! Vannet Crichton Millar b. 26 July 1872, Dundee, who married Isabella Anderson from Broughty Ferry and had Vannet Crichton Millar (b. 1898), Mary Ann Millar (b. 1901) and Annabella Elder Millar (b. 24 July 1902 d. 1989, Wellington, N.Z.). Annabella married (1921, Broughty Ferry) and had two children. She emigrated with her husband and their children to Sydney in 1927 (giving an address in Broughty Ferry as their last address in the UK) but ended up in NZ. At some stage she divorced and around 1948 or 1949 married a distant cousin of mine in NZ who had emigrated in 1923.

[emjodi]

Thanks Harry, I will see what I can do getting hold of your article Emily

[CAH8]

Hi Harry,

This is my second post to you.  The first did not seem to make it.  I have no idea why but then I am new to this.
In the meantime I have bought and read your article you mention.  Thank you it was very informative.
I was at St Andrews Cathedral briefly 17th August 2022.  Too briefly as I did not take good enough photos, just individual gravestones.  One of those, next to Patrick, the Leeward Isles fellow, was a small headstone, barely higher than the grass. and that short headstone mentioned erected by Thomas Burns; just in the grouping of other Burns' graves.  It is probably not mentioned in the Cathedral list as it is pretty unreadable.  I expect that being close to the "erected by Patrick Burns" stone, it might have been from the same period. 

[hdw]

Thanks, that might be the Thomas Burns born in 1811 mentioned in emjodi's post above.

Harry