Aitken and/Harvey/Hardie

[tiger lilly]

Hi to all on  the list

I have William Aitken who married Jane Harvey/Hardie
Coldstream  20th Sept 1803. They married irregular, but the
church record states that both were from that parish.
I`m trying to place William and Jane`s parents.

They had children christ St Cuthberts, Edinburgh
Alexander Aitken5 Apr 1804
Margaret Aitken15 Nov 1807
Margaret Aitken21 May 1811
Isabella Duncan Aitken 14 Oct 1814

William was a Gentlemans servant, they resided at Candle
makers row Edinburgh.

Isabella when she immigrated to Australia  in 1844, stated on ships indents , that both parents were dead.

Has anyone these folk in their lines?
Thanks
Tiger Lilly
Oz.

[Colin.S]

Hi Tiger Lilly

I have been putting together a book on my ancestors, going back to William Henry McGuire and Isabella Duncan Atiken. I have some information that may help you, if you are still looking, and would be delighted to find out what else you know.

Cheers

Colin McGuire


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[Malcolm33]

Hi to all on  the list

I have William Aitken who married Jane Harvey/Hardie
Coldstream  20th Sept 1803. They married irregular, but the
church record states that both were from that parish.
I`m trying to place William and Jane`s parents.

They had children christ St Cuthberts, Edinburgh
Alexander Aitken5 Apr 1804
Margaret Aitken15 Nov 1807
Margaret Aitken21 May 1811
Isabella Duncan Aitken 14 Oct 1814

William was a Gentlemans servant, they resided at Candle
makers row Edinburgh.

Isabella when she immigrated to Australia  in 1844, stated on ships indents , that both parents were dead.

Has anyone these folk in their lines?
Thanks
Tiger Lilly
Oz.

      Looks like both parents were still alive in 1851:
1851 Census
Piece: SCT1851/685 Place: St Cuthbert's -Midlothian Enumeration District: 55
Civil Parish: St Cuthberts Ecclesiastical Parish, Village or Island: St Cuthberts
Folio: 712 Page: 6 Schedule: 28
Address: 8 Canning Place         
Surname   First name(s)  Rel     Status    Sex    Age    Occupation   Where Born        Remarks AITKEN        William    Head    M    M    65    Annuitant     Peebles-shire      c.1786
                                                                                          - Newlands   
AITKEN        Jane       Wife    M    F    63            Berwickshire       c.1788
                                                                                 - Gordon   
FORBES       James    Lodger    U    M    48    Clerk        Kincardineshire - O'Neil    THOMSON Robert    Lodger    U    M    20    Joiner Jrnymn     Midlothian - Dalkeith   

   Margaret Aitken born 1811 died in the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh on 24th April, 1864 and in the death register it states that her father was William Aitken, Butler, deceased and mother was Jane Aitken MS Harvey, deceased.     Margaret married John Grant who was a pianto forte maker and then organ builder.   Their daughter Marion Grant married William Forsyth in Edinburgh and had a son born there named William.  The family then moved to Bermondsey where William worked for a brewery and they had twins Alexander Aitken Forsyth and John Grant Forsyth born in 1866.   By 1881 parents William and Marion Forsyth were back in Edinburgh, but Alexander remained in the London area, whilst older brother William and the other twin John Grant disappear at a very young age, but then turn up in New Zealand.     William married a Polish/German girl Elizabeth Borkowski who had arrived in NZ in 1876 on the Cartvale with her parents.    John Grant did marry, but deserted his wife after two or three months, and eventually made it to Sydney only to be deported back to Auckland to stand trial for 'uttering'  (forging cheques).    After two years inside he went back to OZ, worked as a Chef on various outback stations, and died in 1953 in Rockhampton.
    John Grant Forsyth was brought back to Auckland in August 1886 along with the notorious murderers Caffrey and Penn with whom he played cards while humming 'Hear Me Gentle Maritana'  (from news reports in Papers Past NZ and Trove).

[4HORSEMEN]

Hello Malcom33,

Any ideas as to William Aiken and Jane Harvey's parents, as i have them in my genealogy but

have not been successful finding their families.

look forward to your response.

[Malcolm33]

Hello Malcom33,

Any ideas as to William Aiken and Jane Harvey's parents, as i have them in my genealogy but

have not been successful finding their families.

look forward to your response.

     I've had a good look back at what I did find and I think we can be fairly sure that William Aitken's father was James Aitken.   Family search show a christening for a William Aitken at Kilbucho and Broughton and Glenholm on 9th October, 1785 - father James Aitken.
    In 1851 William gave his age as 65 born Newlands Peebleshire.   The age and date of birth match and Newlands lies some 4 kilometres north of the A72 and to the west of Peebles, while Broughton and Kilbucho are around 9 kilometres to the south of the A72 road.    There is a photo of the ruins of Kilbucho Church - just two end walls of rough stone, one low stone wall and boundary walls in a green field next to a forlorn looking tree - on the net.
    About 7 kilometres to the east of Newlands there is the Leadburn to Peebles road, running north to south.  Halfway between Leadburn and Peebles is the village of Eddleston which is due east of Newlands.   About 200 metres just to the south of Eddleston, the River Eddleston Water passes within yards of the A703 - the Leadburn to Peebles Road.
     This would be where another William Aitken was drowned on the 8th October, 1832.    In 1835 his widow, Margaret Dewar sued the Peebleshire Road Trustees for negligence in failing to maintain the road.   The report says that she was claiming 1000 pounds in damages.    William was driving his horse and cart along the road and there was a breach caused by the River being unusually swollen at the time.   William along with horse and cart fell into the river and was drowned.   The findings reported some negligence on William's part as the reins were found tied to the cart when it was taken from the water.   A clerk of the Road Trust had warned that there was danger and lives might be lost, but the Trustees ignored the warning.    Consequently a sum of 250 pounds was offered and agreed.
     So we now need to establish who this William Aitken might have been.   As he was very close to Newlands at the time, it does sound like some family connection.

[Malcolm33]

   Just a resume and update on what we have found about these ancestors.   First of all I am still waiting for an estimate on the cost of William Aitken's Entry Papers as an Excise Officer in 1850.   National Archives acknowledged my request on 7th September and promised an estimate within 10 working days, so could be as late as next week.    Hopefully these may name his father or at least contain some reference from his previous employer(s) - the Gentleman!    William's application must have been late in 1850 as he described himself as an Annuitant in the 1851 census, but the death register in June 1852 says that he was an Excise Officer.    The 1851 census and the death register both give the same address in Edinburgh - 8 Canning Place.
   Sharon and myself have searched vigorously for Harvey families in and around Gordon and we know they were there since Joseph Harvey and family show up living in Gordon in the 1851 census.  That Joseph's father was another Joseph Harvey born 1803 to a Joseph Harvey and Mary Kirkwood.
   I suspect that Joseph senior married twice or had a cousin Joseph, because Margaret Hervey was born 15 November 1784 to a Joseph Hervey and Barbara Stocks.  This would have been just 4 years earlier than Jane Harvey's birth circa 1788.    Remember, William and Jane named their eldest daughter, Margaret, and Margaret who went on to marry John Grant in Edinburgh then named second eldest daughter Barbara.
   We then thought that if we could trace Margaret Hervey's marriage and family it could help find out where William's Jane went to after William died in 1852.   Bit of a problem with that since she married a James Nicol in June 1803 at Coldstream, but daughter Margaret born April 1804 in Coldstream is named Neil and her parents James Neil and Margaret Harvey.     Nicol seems to be the correct surname judging by the birth of a James Nicol at Lauder in 1778 - Lauder being right next door to Gordon.
   I have looked carefully at Parish deaths and Statutory deaths for both Jane Aitken and her daughter-in-law Jane Adam of Errol, Perth who was married to Alexander Aitken, but so far cannot spot any possible match in Scotland's People.
   There was a Jane Aitken living in Bonhill Dunbartonshire in the 1861 census who was born circa 1788, but being almost out of credits now, I haven't viewed the entry, as there were other Aitken families around that area.
    Has anyone else had better luck?    Malcolm

[Malcolm33]

Hello Malcom33,
Any ideas as to William Aiken and Jane Harvey's parents, as i have them in my genealogy but have not been successful finding their families.
look forward to your response.

     It is now looking very likely that Jane's parents were Joseph Harvey and Barbara Stocks.    William and Jane's daughter Margaret did name one of her daughter's, Barbara.     I also think that Jane had two sisters, Margaret Harvey who married James Nicol and their daughter Margaret married Alexander Watson, and Barbara Harvey who married John Gordon in 1811.    On their marriage registration it gives John Gordon as being in the Royal Artillery and Barbara resident at Portsburgh which is right below the Castle.   The registration also tells us that her father Joseph Harvey was deceased at that time. 
     Portsburgh Square is only 400 metres from Candlemaker Row where William and Jane were living then.
     A John Gordon - or two of that name - did serve in the Royal Artillery in the Peninsular War - is anyone able to check his service record?