Author Topic: Alexander Rolly  (Read 1106 times)

Offline hdw

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Alexander Rolly
« on: Wednesday 20 June 18 14:48 BST (UK) »
My wife's ancestor Alexander Rolly, later known as Rollo, was born in 1776 in the parish of Rathen to Robert Rolly and Margaret Henderson. I'm having difficulty making out the exact birthplace. Is it Whincleugh??

He had a brother and sister born at Auchiries, Rathen, presumably nearby.

Harry

Offline Flattybasher9

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Re: Alexander Rolly
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday 20 June 18 18:17 BST (UK) »
The only thing that I can think of is a misspelling of "Winnyfold" which is just South (1.5 miles) of Port Errol/Cruden Bay and South South East (2.7 miles) of Auchiries.

Malky.

Offline hdw

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Re: Alexander Rolly
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday 20 June 18 19:29 BST (UK) »
Thanks for that. I'm not familiar with that area at all, being a native of the East Neuk of Fife and a long-time resident of Edinburgh.

Harry

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Alexander Rolly
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday 20 June 18 20:42 BST (UK) »
W(h)innyfold is a long way from Rathen - it's well south of Peterhead, in the parish of Slains.

There are places in several parishes and counties called Auchiries. The one in the parish of Rathen is about two miles south of Memsie and two miles west of the kirk of Rathen. See http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NJ9760

There's another in the parish of Cruden, about a mile north-west from Cruden Bay. This would be about three miles from Whinnyfold. See http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NK0837

As all the children of Robert Rollo/y/ey were baptised in Rathen, it isn't likely that they lived in the Auchiries in the parish of Cruden.

Normally, if a place xxxx is mentioned in a parish register is not in the same parish, it says 'xxxx in the parish of yyyy'. Since it doesn't say anything like this in the extract you have posted, it is almost certain that the place you are looking for is in the parish of Rathen.

It looks like Whinbush to me, but it's very hard to read. ('Cleuch' or 'cleugh' is quite common in place names in the south of Scotland, but it's not common in the north-east of Scotland.)

I have scrolled right through the 1841 census on FreeCEN, and read through the OS Name Book for Rathen, but I haven't come across anything resembling Whin.....

I suspect it is either a place that ceased to exist before 1841, or possibly a place whose name was changed between 1776 and 1841.

If you can find any estate maps of Rathen, and in particular of Auchiries in Rathen, I reckon that would be your best bet. Unfortunately that's easy to say and not so easy to do!
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 hdw

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Re: Alexander Rolly
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday 20 June 18 21:11 BST (UK) »
Thanks for taking all that trouble. The main thing is that we know Alexander Rollo/Rolly was born in Rathen. He joined the Royal Artillery when they were recruiting at Strichen, and served in the Peninsular Wars. Before that, he married a Tynemouth woman called Margaret Bruce when the regiment was stationed there, and she accompanied him to war.

Alexander's main claim to fame is that he was the soldier who held the lantern at the midnight burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna -

"Not a sound was heard, not a funeral note/As his corse to the rampart they hurried ..." or words to that effect, I'm quoting the poem from memory.

Alexander was discharged from the army in 1820 and returned with his wife and ten children to Aberdeenshire, but at some point they returned to Tynemouth where he became sexton at Tynemouth Priory and he is buried there under a headstone telling his story. There are apparently quite a few descendants on Tyneside, and they all know the story about Corporal Rollo.

Harry

Offline Flattybasher9

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Re: Alexander Rolly
« Reply #5 on: Friday 22 June 18 09:21 BST (UK) »
It is interesting that on the same 1773 “Rathen” page of marriages, there are several others, New Deer x 1 off, Fraserburgh x 4 off, Rathen x 2 off, Aberdeen x 1 off and the Rolly/Henderson marriage, no parish mentioned.

Malky

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Alexander Rolly
« Reply #6 on: Friday 22 June 18 09:52 BST (UK) »
It is interesting that on the same 1773 “Rathen” page of marriages, there are several others, New Deer x 1 off, Fraserburgh x 4 off, Rathen x 2 off, Aberdeen x 1 off and the Rolly/Henderson marriage, no parish mentioned.
Interesting indeed - and bears out the point that if an event took place in a different parish, the recording parish normally states which other parish was involved.

Were these marriages where one of the parties resided in Rathen and the other in New Deer/Fraserburgh/Aberdeen?
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.