Author Topic: RITCHIE Family from Banff  (Read 1730 times)

Offline ScottishDescendant

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RITCHIE Family from Banff
« on: Saturday 03 December 16 23:08 GMT (UK) »
Hello,

I am looking for a birth record of John Ritchie born about 1806 in Banff. Married Jane FLATT on 5th November 1831 in Aberdeen.

John and Jane had 4 children, John, George, James and Janet.

I have a census record from 1841 of them living with Elizabeth McQueen, James Smith, Isabella Smith and Jean Smith in St Katherines Street, Banffshire, Scotland.

I am hoping to get some information to continue my search further back. Thank you,

Online Forfarian

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Re: RITCHIE Family from Banff
« Reply #1 on: Sunday 04 December 16 00:09 GMT (UK) »
Hmmm.

I don't know which census transcription you are using, but I think it is at risk of misleading you. I went to http://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl to look for it.

This is the transcription on FreeCEN:
St Katherine Street, Banff, Banffshire
John Ritchie, 30, Shipbuilder journeyman, born Banffshire
Jane, 32, born Banffshire
John, 4, not born in Banffshire
George, 2,  not born in Banffshire
James, 2,  not born in Banffshire
Janet, 8,  not born in Banffshire

Several points to mention.

First, the address 'St Katherine(s) Street, Banffshire' is not much use because it doesn't include the most important piece of information, that is, the parish, which in this case is Banff. This address is in the burgh of Banff, which is in the parish of Banff, which is in the County of Banff a.k.a. Banffshire. See http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=57.6685&lon=-2.5241&layers=5&b=1 where it appears as St Catherine Street.

Second, Elizabeth McQueen and the three Smiths are in a different household in the same street, and probably have nothing to do with the Ritchie family next door.

Third, adults' ages in the 1841 were supposed to be rounded down to the nearest 5 years, so if John was 30, and assuming his age is accurate, he was born between 7 June 1806 and 6 June 1811.

FamilySearch www.familysearch.org lists 5 children of John Ritchie and Jane/Jean Flatt/Flett/Flight
Janet, baptised 23 August 1832, Aberdeen St Nicholas
Alexander Hall, baptised 15 October 1834, Aberdeen St Nicholas
John, baptised 3 November 1836, Aberdeen St Nicholas
James, baptised 29 June 1839, Aberdeen St Nicholas
George, baptised 29 June 1839, Aberdeen St Nicholas
Henry, born 28 February and baptised 22 March 1842, Banff

In 1851 the rump of the family is back in Aberdeen, living at Pocra Quay
Jean Ritchie, head, widow, 42, born Banffshire, Rathven
John Ritchie, son, 14, ship carpenter, born Aberdeen
James Ritchie, son, 11, scholar, born Aberdeen
George Ritchie, son 11, scholar, born Aberdeen
Joseph Wilson, lodger, unmarried, 17, ship carpenter, born Caithness, Wick

Janet is probably Jessie Ritchie, 18, general servant, born Aberdeen and living in the household of Margaret Knox, lodging house keeper, at 124 Union Street, Aberdeen. The names Janet and Jessie are interchangeable in Scotland; if you mislay a Janet, always look for her as Jessie, and vice versa.

So it looks likely that Alexander and Henry both died in infancy, and John Sr died between 1841 and 1851 either in Banff or in Aberdeen. Unfortunately that precludes any possibility of there being a death certificate for John Ritchie which would tell you the names of his parents.

I did not find Jane/Jean in the 1861 census, nor did I find either John or George.

However James Ritchie, unmarried, 21, ship carpenter, born Aberdeen, is a lodger at 52 St Clements Street, Aberdeen.

There is a death of a Jane Ritchie in Aberdeen Old Machar in 1858, aged 53. This could be your Jane/Jean, even though there doesn't seem to be a matching index entry for Jane/Jean Fl*t. If this isn't the right Jean/Jane Ritchie, this suggests that Jane/Jean died between the 1851 census and the start of civil registration on 1 January 1855.

There are two John Ritchies baptised in Banffshire who would have been of an age to be listed as 30 in the 1841 census
- son of James Ritchie and Jannet Murray, born 14 and baptised 21 May 1809 in Cullen
- son of John Ritchie and Jean Lovie, baptised 18 November 1810 in Boyndie
However there could be others whose baptism records have not survived, so you must not assume that one of them is the one married to Jean/Jane Flett/Flatt/Flight.

FamilySearch lists no record of the baptism of a Jane/Jean Flett/Flatt/Flight in Banffshire between 1807 and 1810.

There may be records at Scotland's People that are not on FamilySearch.

If I were you I would go to www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, invest in some credits, and look at the originals of the marriage record and the baptisms of the children, in the hope that they list some clues about the couple, for example by naming witnesses to the baptisms.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline McGroger

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Re: RITCHIE Family from Banff
« Reply #2 on: Sunday 04 December 16 03:07 GMT (UK) »
Hi, ScottishDescendant,

Welcome to Rootschat.

Just a couple of things to add to Forfarian’s excellent post.

There is a John Ritchie at Boyndie in a number of censuses, so ‘your’ John is probably not the one baptised at Boyndie to John Ritchie and Jean Lovie. But be wary: there look to be several John Ritchies of a similar age in the area at the same time, at least two being fisherman and one a boat builder.

There is a Jane Flett baptised 24 June 1809 at Rathven, Banff to Alexander Flett and Helen Thain who might be one Jane to look at more closely.

Cheers,
Peter
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Re: RITCHIE Family from Banff
« Reply #3 on: Sunday 04 December 16 09:52 GMT (UK) »
Yes, I found that Jane Flett today. No idea why she didn't come up yesterday. The wonders of modern technology!

Yes, there's a John Ritchie, fisherman, in 1851 aged 38 and 1861 aged 48, born Boyndie.  FreeCEN doesn't have 1871 for Boyndie yet, and he apparently isn't listed in 1881. It looks as if he was married to Jane Lovie, and they had at least three children: Ann, 1834; John, 1837; Jane, 1839. If they followed the naming tradition, that would point to him being the son of John Ritchie and Jean Lovie.

If his age is accurate, he would have been born in 1812/1813, rather than in 1810. His death certificate, assuming that he died in Scotland, should tell you the names of his parents and enable you to eliminate him. There isn't a matching death between 1861 and 1881, but there is an 81-year-old John Ritchie who died in Boyndie in 1892.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.