John 'Craggan' Fergusson aboard the Romulus, 1807

[Throth]

We are interested in contacting anyone researching John 'Craggan' Fergusson who emigrated from Blair Atholl to Canada aboard the Romulus (1807) and settled at Marshfield, PEI.

Recently we were doing fieldwork at Cnappaig, where the family originated from, before Craggan, and can send photographs of the ruins if anyone is interested.

Throth (www.borenich.co.uk)

[*Sandra*]

At the bottom of every RootsChat page in the brown section under "Your Tools" is a section "Surname Interests"  - you can search for anyone researching the same surname or add your own.

http://surname.rootschat.com/

John Craggan Fergusson ...............

http://www.islandregister.com/ferguson1.html

Sandra

[Throth]

The up-date is nearly 20 years old and we have had no reply from attempts to contact the 'Craggan' Fergussons.

We have also read the 'Marshfield and Area - A Grand Legacy' published by The Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery Trust Fund Committee.

As the editor noted, some of the memories are accurate but some cannot be relied upon.  For example, one version claimed that John 'Craggan' Fergusson was a widower when he emigrated with the two sons from his first marriage, and re-married in Canada.  Another version says that he had a second wife and young family when he emigrated.  The latter is correct as we list his second marriage and family in Blair Atholl.

However, there are side comments such as his wife Jessie being the sister of James (Goose Pond) Robertson.  If correct this would link the shoemaker in Perth with the serving girl in Renestrone.

So, if someone pops up we can work from both sides of the pond.
Throth

[Throth]

We have a serious problem here .................

All the family histories list two of John 'Craggan' Fergusson's children by his first marriage to Elspeth (Elizabeth) McLaughlin as James (b 25 Feb 1788) and Katharine (b 17 Apr 1792).  The Blair Atholl OPR shows that both children were born at Cnappaig.

The problem is that the OPR also records their brother Alexander, born at Cnappaig, 7 April 1790 and baptised 4 days later. 

After the death of his first wife, John remarried and moved to Craggan, where .....

The Blair Atholl OPR shows that Alexander Fergusson (presumably John's son) in Craggan married Jean McLaughlin, 4 Dec 1803, which accords with the family histories - but he is only 13 years old!

Possibilities -

We don't think that John had two sons named 'Alexander'.  This would only occur if the older one had died, and this would be of no help here.

Maybe the OPR registrar wrote down the wrong first name.  Should it really be Peter / Patrick who we cannot trace?

Another oddity is that John Fergusson married Elspeth McLaughlin in 1776, but we have no record of any births for over 7 years.  Perhaps he enlisted, or perhaps he was working in the plantations.  Yet the family histories do not suggest this nor mention something which would have been quite memorable.

Another possibility is that the Cnappaig births are not the same couple.  This is not helped by there being no marriage entries in the Blair Atholl OPR from 14th December 1781 until 26th August 1784. The 1776 marriage of John Fergusson (Moulin OPR) states that he was from Moulin parish and his wife was from Blair Atholl parish, but provides no further information.

We are slightly puzzled,

Throth (www.borenich.co.uk)

[MunroPerthshire]

I am a Perthshire traditional musician and am currently researching the history of Cnappaig in Blair Atholl parish  ..... there are a few interesting musical and other leads I've uncovered.

I would really like to find out what happened to some of the people who once lived there - and those that possibly emigrated, including John 'Craggan' Fergusson. I would be really grateful for a reply - or get in contact via a private message if you'd like to discuss ... I would love to share what I know and hopefully help fill in a few missing gaps.

Re John Craggan Fergusson's son / sons called Alexander, it was not unknown for more than one child to be called the same name ...... even when they were both alive ..... e.g. here is some info on famous fiddler from Tulliemet, Robert Mackintosh from the Box and Fiddle magazine back in 2002 ...

Robert Mackintosh (born Tullimet c1745 died London 1807)
Known as Red Rob – Fiddler, Music Teacher, Composer and Band Leader.
If there are less-known contemporaries of Niel Gow who deserve equal praise – and there are plenty – ‘Red Rob’ Mackintosh must head the list. His compositions are elegant and masterly (even the accompaniments in his collections have style); he taught many of the great fiddlers of his day; his band was in unceasing demand at all the popular functions. His son, Abraham, followed him as a composer and teacher and there were descendents of the Tullimet Mackintosh family living and playing in the Atholl district up until the 1930s. He married Margaret Mill and they had 13 children, born between 1767 and 1797, of whom 3 were christened Robert and the two younger of these were alive at the same time. This must have been confusing!

I hope to hear from you!
Munro