Author Topic: Andrew Black, Comptroller of Customs, Anstruther Easter, died 1807  (Read 3381 times)

Offline hurworth

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Offline hdw

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Re: Andrew Black, Comptroller of Customs, Anstruther Easter, died 1807
« Reply #10 on: Wednesday 28 December 16 12:06 GMT (UK) »
Thanks. It's good that so much archive material in St. Andrews University library is now available online.

All the towns in the East Neuk had families called Black and it's easy to get them confused. I had an ancestor called Janet Black who was born in Carnbee parish according to the censuses, but her forebears there would have been labourers or miners.

Harry

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Re: Andrew Black, Comptroller of Customs, Anstruther Easter, died 1807
« Reply #11 on: Monday 06 March 17 20:28 GMT (UK) »

Stephanie Stevenson's "Anstruther. A History" (John Donald, 1989) was specifically written as an updating of Gourlay's book and she also mentions the Black family. On pages 130-131 she tells us about the records of the Sound Tolls paid at Elsinore in Denmark by vessels sailing to Danzig and Königsberg in the eastern Baltic and "Among the shipmasters were Alexander Black and William Black [of Anstruther] (he was a commissioner to the Convention (of Royal Burghs) in 1597, 1601 and 1603 and just over sixty years later other Alexander and William Blacks were commissioners for the burgh)."

Stephanie also mentions the Johnstons, builders of Johnston Lodge in Anstruther, a historic house near the harbour in part of which she lived when writing the book. I'm not actually sure whether the Johnstons of Pittowie were identical with the Johnstons of Rennyhill in Kilrenny. Further research required.

Harry

Hi Harry,

Do you have a copy Stephanie Stevenson's book?  If so I would be grateful if you could find a sentence or two which are on Google snippet view please.  It says it is page 196 of the paperback.

I can read
taken into the airfield in 1940], son of Andrew Johnston of Pittowie, merchant and bailie in Anstruther Easter, and nephew of James Johnston, vintner.  The family probably came to the town early in the eighteenth century from Leuchars.

I am interested in the rest of the paragraph.

Andrew Johnston and Isobel Taylor have a headstone at Kilrenny graveyard.  Their son James (perhaps he was the vintner) was baptised at Carnbee on 23 July 1727 and Andrew (of Rennyhill) was baptised on 28 Nov 1728.

Offline hdw

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Re: Andrew Black, Comptroller of Customs, Anstruther Easter, died 1807
« Reply #12 on: Monday 06 March 17 20:55 GMT (UK) »
Sure thing. Stephanie's main interest, she told me on the one occasion we met, was the history of the old houses in Anstruther and the  families who had lived in them. On pps. 195-6 of her book she is talking about Johnston Lodge, in the wynd leading down to Shore Street, Anstruther Easter, the house she herself lived in, because by then it had been split into flats.

A woman called Mary Clarkson was married on May 31st 1820 to "Archibald Johnston, younger of Pittowie [a small estate near Crail taken into the airfield in 1940], son of Andrew Johnston of Pittowie, merchant and baillie in Anstruther Easter, and nephew of James Johnston, vintner. The family probably came to the town early in the eighteenth century from Leuchars. Archibald Johnston was Agent for the Bank of Scotland in St Andrews, a wealthy man owning land in the parish of Anstruther Wester, who bought and sold property in the burgh and lent money to house buyers."
 
Archibald Johnston's sister Rachel Johnston was married in 1821 to the Rev. Robert Wilson from Dunino, who was to be minister of Anstruther Easter for forty-three years.

"Archibald Johnston did not live long to enjoy his new property as he died in 1829 at the age of forty-four. His wife continued to live in St Andrews where she died in 1870 and was buried with her husband and four of their children in the Cathedral burial ground. Their two sons, Andrew and Archibald, died in the same month at the ages of four and one, and two girls died at the ages of 18 and 19. Two other daughters lived to maturity."

Stephanie also tells us that Archibald Johnston's widow sold the Pittowie estate "to her late husband's cousin Captain Alexander Corstorphine in Kingsbarns, late of the East India Company, and in 1852 she sold the villa to George Darsie, tanner, and his wife, Margaret Johnston Walker, probably another cousin. (She was a cousin of Rear Admiral William Black from whom she received a legacy in 1853)."

I hope some of this is of interest.

Harry


Offline hurworth

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Re: Andrew Black, Comptroller of Customs, Anstruther Easter, died 1807
« Reply #13 on: Monday 06 March 17 21:41 GMT (UK) »
Thank you Harry.  More to think about,

One other thing.  The female servant tax in 1787 for Anstruther Easter (E326/6/11/17) were assessed by Charles Robb and the assessment given to James Johnston, Collector for the Borough.  I hadn't noticed this James Johnston before.   

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Re: Andrew Black, Comptroller of Customs, Anstruther Easter, died 1807
« Reply #14 on: Tuesday 07 March 17 10:44 GMT (UK) »
See my last post, where I quoted Stephanie Stevenson on Archibald Johnston the younger of Pittowie, son of Andrew Johnston of Pittowie and nephew of James Johnston, vintner. On page 173 of her book Stephanie mentions James Johnston, "vintner and town treasurer and founder member of a local whaling company".

You ought to be able to buy a copy of the book from Birlinn, who took over John Donald, or get it from Amazon.

Harry


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Re: Andrew Black, Comptroller of Customs, Anstruther Easter, died 1807
« Reply #15 on: Tuesday 07 March 17 19:08 GMT (UK) »
Thanks Harry.  If you think it is worth having a copy then it must be.

http://archives.law.virginia.edu/scos/node/22316

This record (1767) mentions FOUR Andrew Johnstons who were alive at the same time!
Andrew of Pitkerie, married Isobel Taylor
Andrew of Rennyhill, his son, married Euphame Clephane
Andrew a merchant (the Pittowie line?)
Andrew a sailor.

This states that in 1789 James Johnston had been treasurer for almost 50 years.  Maybe it's been rounded up a bit to 50 years.
https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=BRpDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA955&lpg=PA955&dq=james+johnston+treasurer+anstruther&source=bl&ots=N25u8OShzG&sig=GN6t-lSWsOc8gc5Xp6lp0Tzve6c&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3k_SuiMXSAhWJTrwKHXWRDEUQ6AEILTAI#v=onepage&q=james%20johnston%20treasurer%20anstruther&f=false



The record also mentions James the vintner, and a David, and it mentions Andrew Black.