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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Topic started by: Pipey on Thursday 10 May 12 00:48 BST (UK)
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I have recently been advised of a post from January, 2012 by "Boomeranger" requesting details of my great grandfather, the Rev/Dr James Anderson ROBERTSON, MB, MA, CM. He was born in Hobart, Australia in 1853. I am new to this website so I don't know how to get ahold of "Boomeranger".
My grandfather's name was Eric Anderson ROBERTSON (b. 25April1885) and he was the s 6th child of James A. Robertson and Amy Isabel HARRIS. I am part of the quite large Canadian contingent of this family mainly in the Vancouver area. I have numerous details and photos (one the James A. Robertson himself) so I would like "Boomeranger" to reply to this post.
Thank you.
Pipey
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Hi Pipey
I've sent a PM to Boomeranger with a link to this thread.
Hopefully Boomeranger will respond soon but if you post just twice more you will be able to send them a PM . You need at least 3 posts to be able to send and receive PMs. (Top middle right of the screen, then search by name, click on profile and you can send a message)
Ann :D
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Hello Pipey,
Boomeranger here! This sounds very exciting and I would really appreciate hearing from you with more details. I will be able to fill you in a little about James' brothers and sister all born in Australia, as far as I have been able to trace them. James' brother Alexander was my great grandfather and both ended up in Scotland.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Andrew
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Hello Pipey,
Boomeranger here again.
I haven't heard back from you yet, did you get my previous Post? I do have some information about James, his father and mother, and his grandfather, which may be of interest to you.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Cheers,
Andrew
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Sorry for the delay Andrew...life just gets in the way sometimes. This is just a brief view of the Robertson connection in Canada:
My grandfather was Eric Anderson Robertson (b. 25 Apr 1887 at Partick, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Eric died in 1958 at Burnaby, B.C. His father was James Anderson Robertson (1853-1922) and mother was Amy Isobel Harris (1859-1892). Eric immigrated to Canada in 1906 (we celebrated his 100 years in Canada in 2006) originally to Tessier Saskatchewan. He enlisted in the 28th Light Horse Brigade in WW1 and served in France and Greece. In 1916 he married my grandmother, Phyllis Thomson (b. 5 Apr 1890) who died in 1956 at Vancouver B.C.
Eric and Phyllis had 3 girls, Heather (Abel), Muriel (Compton) and Sheila (McRae) and the family eventually settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. Heather Robertson is my mother and married George Cormack Abel just after the 2nd World War ended. Heather died in 2001 but George is still a healthy 92 year old living in Vancouver. There are over 60 living relatives of Eric and Phyllis living in various places in Canada and we are a family of pipers, drummers, highland dancers and were raised in the Scottish culture.
I hope this is a start to our connecting the Canadian and Australian branches of the Robertson Clan!
Pipey (Colin Abel)
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Hello Colin, great to hear from you again. Below is a wad of stuff that will no doubt take you some time to absorb. Hopefully it will be of interest to our mutual extended family!
Robert Robertson (1)
b. 1783 Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland
d. Feb 21, 1850, Blairgowrie
m. Elizabeth Anderson (b. 1787, d. 1831) 27 Nov. 1808
Children:
William, 13 Oct. 1809
James, 18 June 1811
Alexander, 30 Oct. 1813
John, 27 Dec. 1815
*Robert (2), 25 June 1817
1831, RR remarries: Margaret Hutcheon (b. 1810). Their children:
David, 1 July 1819
Margaret, 23 Aug 1832
Anne, 30 Jan 1834
John, 28 Sept 1835
Elizabeth, 15 March 1837
27 Dec 1842, son *Robert (2), who is a Corporal in the 1st 99th Foot Regiment (Wiltshire, Duke of Edinburgh), marries Janet (“Jessie”) Page in Chatham, England. The regiment is posted to Australia, with the troops escorting the convict ships to Hobart and Sydney.
1843 Robert (3), born at sea. Birth registered with NSW BDM
1845 Nicholas, (named after Janet’s father) born Sydney. Birth registered with NSW BDM
1847 Alexander, (named after Robert’s brother) born Sydney. Birth registered with NSW BDM
1849 Mary Elizabeth, born Hobart Tasmania. Birth reg. TAS BDM
1853 James, born Hobart Tasmania. Birth reg. TAS BDM
I have been advised that the whole family appear as resident in Perthshire, Scotland for the 1861 census. Don’t know precise date of their leaving Hobart. I assume Robert (2) and his brother James have finally received their inheritance from their father’s estate. I have a copy of RR(1)’s Will, where he states Robert and James have been naughty boys and won’t get the capital unless they can prove to the Trustees they have changed their ‘profligate ways’. Don’t know what James was up to back in Scotland, but Robert had 5 kids and was earning 9 pence a day and living in the boondocks surrounded by crims, so one would think not a lot of opportunity for profligacy! However their father was big in the Royal Bank of Scotland, so....
So that’s pretty much all I have of their Australian history. Alexander went to Glasgow University and added Page, his mother’s maiden name, no doubt to differentiate himself from his uncle and two first cousins, all with the same name. He became a very wealthy dental surgeon, grand poohba in the Masons, Elder of the Church of Scotland, more or less built St. Bartholomew’s Church in Gourock, Scotland and endowed it with marble altar, bronze eagle lectern and stained glass windows to commemorate his parents. He was my great grandfather. His son Alexander also became a dentist, and his son was my father. We were all born in Scotland and I lived there until migrating to Australia in 1962, 50 years next month! I did not discover the circuitous link with Australia until a few years ago when I began researching the family history. My wife and I have two daughters and five grandchildren. One son in law is a Glaswegian with a family tree covering in excess of 4000 McDonalds, so I’ll leave that branch of research in his capable hands!
I believe the adding of family names later in life to avoid confusion may also be where your James got his ‘Anderson’, being his grandmother’s maiden name. I have no early records of either brother having anything other than one given name and Robertson, so some of the early census documents are a little vague.
A gentleman in Gourock (which is where all my branch resided) helped with the research for St. Bartholomew’s and my GG’s connection with it. Because he had links with the Church authorities, he also supplied some details for James, who as an ordained minister seemed to be on call for the rest of the family for hatches, matches and despatches. I will try and dig that out, and send it with my next posting. If you Google my name you will connect to my website, blogs etc. and you’ll get an idea of what I’ve been up to since retirement. The contact button will let you do just that, if you have photos etc to send.
My mother remarried in Canada in 1963 and lived in Ottawa until her death just before last Christmas. We visited her last April with our eldest grand daughter to help celebrate her 90th birthday. This was our 20th visit to Canada, and we have many close friends on both coasts, particularly in Vancouver and especially Victoria BC, which we think of as our second home.
Who knows, we may even have passed each other in the street at some time!
Yours Aye,
Andrew Page-Robertson
PS This weblink below shows two historic letters from our mutual GGG which are of unique military and postal interest. The first is from Sydney, and I still have it, the second is a copy from the Auctioneer and it mentions James in Hobart. It sold for over A$6400, just in case you’re interested in collecting such items!
www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/218.shtml
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Hello again Colin. I am still keen to hear from you and view the photographs you referred to a few months ago. I have been trying to tidy up some of my files and noticed that you mentioned your Eric as being one of 6 children of the Rev. James Anderson Robertson.
I have located references to 4 of the others, Maisie Anderson Robertson (Taylor), Dorothy Anderson Robertson (Primrose), Kathleen Anderson Robertson. I have assumed these 3 girls are probably from James's second marriage to Mary Anderson Robertson. The fourth is another son, James Henry Anderson Robertson, who I assume may be the first born, as he carries his father's Christian name, and has named one of his daughters Jessie Amy (after his grandmother, and after his mother).
All the married children had their own children baptised by James, from 1915 to 1921.
I look forward to hearing from you again.
Regards, Andrew
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Dorothy Anderson Robertson was my grandmother . I am currently trying to find out when and where her sister Kathleen Anderson Robertson died. She had a brother Alec Robertson and I am also seeking info re his date and place of death. I have archival material for Kathleen and if anyone can give me info very grateful. DOB for Kathleen is 10/03/1903, Alec was born1899.
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Hi there, the following is all I have. As my earlier postings elaborate, James was brother to my ancestor Alexander Page Robertson, both born in Australia.
James is mentioned in the 8 January 1856 letter from Robert in Hobart Town to brother Alexander in Blairgowrie. Broke his leg in a fall at the barracks (I have a copy of the letter).
Graduates 1885 from Glasgow Uni. Was he married before this date? Wife Amy dies in 1892, she is the mother of 5 of his children. In 1907 decided to take holy orders, letter in Bishop’s (Glasgow & Galloway) papers say’s ‘He is a cricketer of some repute and a golfer’. Made deacon in 1907 and is curate at St. Mary’s Cathedral (Glasgow). Bishop wants him to go to Africa but his Doctor says no.
Is Sec. to Medical and other missions from 1907 -1914.
Moves to St. Martin’s West Acton, Middx., London 1914 -1915 then made Rector of St. James Muthill, Perthshire 1915 – 1920 also Priest in Charge Rosyth (major RN Dockyard on Firth of Fourth)1917 – 1918. Bishop offers him a church in Glasgow but he declines, does not agree with local Vestry who run raffles etc. Went to Canada in summer of 1920 but returned in 1921 (perhaps to visit son Eric who emigrated there?). Retired 1920. There are apparently many descendants in Vancouver area, all involved in ‘things Scottish’, see postings on RootsChat.
FROM REGISTERS OF ST. JAMES MUTHILL
11 June 1919: marriage performed by J. Anderson Robertson MA. MB. CM. Rector, between
Edward James Primrose BSc. MA. MD. Late RAMC, and
Dorothy Anderson Robertson MB. ChB. (JAR’s daughter)
Witnessed by
Christine Harrington Walker
Kathleen Anderson Robertson (another JAR daughter)
James H. Anderson Robertson (JAR’s son)
Ceremony performed by J. Anderson Robertson 18th October 1919, burial of
Mary Anderson Robertson aged 60 of The Rectory, Muthill (wife of the Rector)
Baptisms: (JAR grandchildren)
Oct 24th 1915 James Anderson Taylor (born 5/9/15)
Father:Thomas Dunnachie Taylor, Merchant, Inverness
Mother:Maisie Anderson Robertson (JAR daughter)
Aug 27th 1916 Jessie Amy Robertson
Father: James Henry Anderson Robertson, Schoolmaster, Inverness
Mother: Jean Barclay
Dec 4th 1918 Mildred Anderson Robertson
Father: James Henry Anderson Robertson, Schoolmaster, Inverness
Mother: Jean Barclay
Aug 13th 1921 David Alexander Robertson Primrose
Father: Edward James Primrose, Doctor of Medicine, Partick, Glasgow
Mother: Dorothy Anderson Robertson
Apparently a church record states that James and his wife Mary (Mary who?) had another son Alexander Page Anderson Robertson, born 25 August 1899 and recorded as a Mining Engineer in Nigeria. This would be the one you are chasing? Unfortunately it all came to me via a church elder who has gone quiet. He was accessing records with the Bishop of Glasgow's approval.
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glaic, I would be very pleased to get any information you may have that I am missing, I realise my 'family tree' is spreading relentlessly in all directions, but I'm quite happy with that, and would be pleased to add whatever you can give me. Thanks, Andrew Page-Robertson
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Boomeranger- thank you for that. There is a lot of info to take in! Alec Robertson emigrated to New Zealand I think and there was a son still living there a few years ago. I met Sheila Macrae when she came to Scotland to visit my mother.Anne Primrose. JAR 's 2nd wife was Mary Weir. I have various photos which I will have to dig out. At present I am trying to send stuff to Glasgow Uni scottish Theatre archive as Kathleen A Robertson was with the Scottish National Players in the 20's. I am sorry I did not know about the Hobart connection as I was there last year! Quite happy to send you photos but I will have to go in the loft again.
Helen Walker/Primrose
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Hello, I`m picking up on this topic, and will work my way through the information, above. My interest is that I am descended from James Anderson Robertson (1853 - 1922), on my mother`s side. I live in Linlithgow, in Scotland. My mother was Mildred Anderson Robertson (1918 - 59). One of her sisters, (the late) Jassamy Stursberg (Anderson Robertson) settled in Vancouver some 50 or so years ago, and her husband Peter Stursberg (journalist) died within the last year aged 101). I do remember an Edward (Teddy) Primrose, who was a regular visitor to my Uncle Kenneth Anderson Robertson`s house in Edinburgh in the 1960s. He was a GP in Brora, Sutherland for some time. My cousins, daughters of Kenneth, were convinced that the Anderson Robertson name would die with them (in due course). so it has been great to discover that the name still lives-on, mainly in BC. I will be keen to weave this into the family history project I`m working on. I`m most grateful to Andrew Page Robertson, who has generously shared the information that he had gathered, and which take the Robertson line back to the late 18th Century in Blairgowrie, Perthshire. Ever onwards with the project . . ..
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Really interesting set of posts. My father (James Anderson Taylor) a maternal grandson of James Anderson Robertson. His mother (Mary/Maisie Anderson Robertson, daughter of JAR) married Thomas Dunnachie Taylor in 1912 and they had two children - my father James b 1915 and Tom Dunnachie Taylor b 1913. Tom Dunnachie Taylor researched the Taylor side through "The Annals of Fenwick"
My father lived in Inverness, Stirling and Aberdeen and married my mother (Doris Margaret Ramsay Taylor) in 1941.
I was a general medical practitioner in Aberdeen. One of my sons is also a doctor and lives in Crieff, just beside Mutthill where JAR worked laterally.
I'd be interested in a photo of JAR
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Hello Tecnam, you may get a reply by another route, but in case not, I'm at : I've photos of both JAR & JHAR & others. Also lots of other info for you. I did a huge family history last year, and the journey goes on.
Hope to hear from you.
Peter
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Hello Tecnam, interesting post.
I Have Maisie Anderson Robertson born 1884, married Thomas Dunnachie Taylor (no dates), two sons, James Anderson Dunnachie Taylor born 1915, and a John (not Tom) Dunnachie Taylor born 1913. Can you please confirm you have him as "Tom", and also I would like to add your own names and dates if you are happy to provide them to me
as the Tree continues to expand in all directions. Regards, Andrew Page-Robertson
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Hello,
Now this is fascinating. Yes, I`ve photos of both JAR, and JHAR, and a number of others. Also received a response from Glasgow Council, re, burial lair in Glasgow Necropolis - I carried out some urgent repairs to it last year. I've a considerable amount of info on Anderson Robertson, now going back quite a long way, to Blairgowrie. Very happy to share.
And I'm fascinated to receive your own ancestry which you outlined, as that was a gap in my wider family history.
Posted on behalf of peterwright who had sent the message to me in error.
Please remember that you should only ever pass on your emails via pm for your own security, otherwise this is how spammers pick up on your details.
Regards
Sarah
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Maisie Anderson Robertson (b 19 Aug 1886 Cathcart Glasgow, m Thomas Dunnachie Taylor 14 Oct 1912 in Wandsworth London, d 8 Sep 1943)
Thomas Dunnachie Taylor (b 16 Jun 1881 Dennistoun Glasgow, d 15 Jan 1960 in Stirling)
They had 2 children
- Tom Dunnachie Taylor b 5 August 1914 in Inverness I think, m twice to Evelyn Walcott (divorced)/Agnes T Wyllie, spent most of adult life in New Zealand in Palmerston North, 5 daughters and d in Ranfurly War Veterans Home Auckland tho' I have mislaid the date. Definitely Tom as edited a revision of the Annals of Fenwick (author James Taylor) which was a history of the village plus genealogy including Taylor's, Dickies etc
- James Anderson Taylor (my father) b 5 Sep 1915 in Inverness, m Doris Margaret Ramsay Webster on 31 Jul 1941 in Aberdeen, d 18 Jun 1991 in Durris by Aberdeen. Two children Michael William Taylor (myself) b 19 Jul 1948, Kathryn Dorothy Taylor 8th Apr 1952
I have additional information about more recent tree, Dunnachies, Primroses etc but don't want to contaminate the JAR thread
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Hello folks,
I am now well on my way to pulling together a pretty comprehensive biography of JAR, with a lot of valuable in-put from relatives in Canada and Australia, as well as the historian from St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, and a Mission Society in Edinburgh. Is turning into a great collaborative venture. JAR is emerging from the mists of relative obscurity to be a fascinating character, and great humanitarian. The latest addition to my archive, is a copy of his Will and associated Probate settlement. Always looking for more info of course. My aim is to write-up the Biography of him in narrative form as soon as possible.
Best wishes, Peter
www.ribbonofwildness.co.uk