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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Dumfriesshire => Topic started by: houseofbrown on Sunday 06 January 13 00:59 GMT (UK)
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My 6xggparents married in 1698 and, as far as I know, lived most of their lives in the Langholm area. They are both buried at Staplegordon.
Several family trees on line suggest that Grizel Beattie was born 18 Jun 1669 to parents William Beattie (1613-1693) & Grizel Porteous (1627-1707) but I have been unable to confirm this.
The Porteous family history appears to be a very interesting one but before going further I am looking to confirm that I have the correct connection.
I would appreciate any assistance in establishing who the parents of Grizel Beattie are.
Thank you, Bill.
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As a starting point you may wish to obtain a copy of an article in the Eskdale & Liddesdale Advertiser of 4th August 1880.
It is the 4th in a series (weekly) called The Unknown Porteous. This records that Grizzel Beattie was daughter of Grizzel Porteous and William Beattie. Grizzel Porteous and Walter Nicoll are buried in the churchyard at Stapelgordon.
I do have quite a lot of information about the family (Nicol and Beattie) and also the other children of William Beattie and Grizzel Porteous. If I can help further let me know.
Reiver
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Hello Reiver
I'm very pleased to hear from you and I'm also pleased to be able to confirm (at long last!) the connection between Grizzel Beattie and parents William & Grizzel. I have emailed the newspaper to enquire how I get a copy of the article you refer to. Do all the articles in the series refer to The Unknown Porteous, or only the 4th one? I have been able to establish (including headstone inscription) that Walter Nicoll is buried at Staplegordon but cannot find any record of Grizzel Porteous's burial at that cemetery. Do you happen to have her headstone inscription?
Your kind offer to assist me with further information is greatly appreciated and I will contact you shortly.
Thank you, Bill.
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Hello Bill.
There were 4 articles in the E&L Advertiser in a series entitled, in each edition, The Unknown Porteous. These were in 4 successive weekly editions of the paper - the 4th being on the date I quoted before. Though I have read them all I must say it left me a little cold. However the 4th includes fairly detailed information about a descendant of The Unknown Porteous called Grizzel who married William Beattie (Beattie of Burn). Few dates but information about their children and so on. William Beattie and Grizzel Porteous are buried in Watcarrick Burial Ground in the parish of Eskdalemuir.
The stone read - from a 1960s survey - "Here lies William Beattie in Holm who died in February 1693 of age 80. Grizel Porteous his spouse she died October of ........ age 90." The survey number was 55. I believe it is possible to obtain a copy of the survey possibly on-line. I'm sure someone else may be able to advise.
Their only daughter - who married Walter Nicol - had two children - William and Isabella. William married three times.
Where do you enter the tree :) ??
Reiver
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Hello Reiver
Thank you for the additional information. (Next step is to get photos of the MIs).
Where do I enter the tree?, I hope this makes sense:
Grizel Beattie (1669-1750) My 6th great grandmother
William Nicol (1705-1798) Son of Grizel
Walter Nicol (1747-1846) Son of William
Sarah Nicol (1777-1843) Daughter of Walter
Jane Nicol Anderson (1819-1901) Daughter of Sarah. Migrated to Australia 1839
Charles William Goode (1854-1888) Son of Jane Nicol
Charles Laidler Goode (1886-1976) Son of Charles William
Gladys Mary Goode Daughter of Charles Laidler. My Mother.
I'd be interested to know where you fit in as well ;D
Cheers, Bill
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Hi Bill,
Thanks for the info.
William (b c17000), son of Walter Nicol and Grizel Beattie, married three times - to Sarah,
Elizabeth and Margaret. If my chart is right your Walter was the son of William and Margaret Beattie. It is a while since I've looked at some of my material so please correct me if you feel I'm wrong.
Where do I fit in? To be honest after many many years of searching I don't know ;D
I know up to my 4 great grandfather Robert Beattie (Born c 1780). In the early 1900s my father and his uncle did some research and linked the family to the Beatties at Walcarrick in Eskdale. Whereas i have much information about the Beatties and other families from then on I still havn't got a positive link to Robert Beattie's parents.
My best wishes
Reiver
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Hello Reiver
My Walter Nicol (1747-1846) was the son of William Nicol's first wife, Sarah Reid (1709-1775).
I haven't been able to ascertain who Margaret Beattie (the 3rd wife) parents are as yet but it's starting to look a bit incestuous ;) (Old William Nicol must have been bit of a lad!)
I'm now waiting to hear back re MI photos and newspaper articles.
Thank you
Cheers, Bill
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Hi. I was glad to find your posts!
Grizel Jean Beattie was my 4x great grandmother. Her son William, as you have mentioned, had several wives, and is my 3x great grandfather through his marriage to Elizabeth Graham. Their only child (so far as I know) was Francis Nichol, who emigrated to Ontario, Canada in 1833.
Francis's wife was Janet Nichol (this is her maiden name), daughter of Thomas Nichol and Janet Murray. I have not verified her parents.
Several of Francis and Janet's brothers emigrated with them--I'm in the process of straightening out just who.
I have lots of information about the Nichols from William and Francis on down. What I have for William's ancestry is not as solid, and I'm hoping to find out more. The family lore gives information that I haven't been able to verify, going back to a Sutherland Nichol born 1585.
I love to share information with both of you, and would be happy to send what I have as well!
Carrie Wingate
Maine, USA (via Canada)
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Hello Carrie
And I'm glad that you found our posts!
Francis Nicol is my 4th ggrand uncle and therefore you and I would be cousins of some sort, which I will attempt to work out later. I was unaware (but not surprised) that he migrated to Canada but I have done very little research on this branch of the family. As you can see by the previous posts I have been trying to establish my ancestry relative to the Nicols. Reiver has been of considerable help and little by little I am confirming 'ggggparents'. As you would be aware, it is quite time consuming and my biggest issue is that I tend to go off on tangents and every so often I need to refocus!
I would be pleased to share any information that I may have and wonder what is the best way to do that. Do you happen to have a family tree on line? (with perhaps, Ancestry.com)
Cheers, Bill
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Hi, Bill. I just tried to send you an invite to my tree in Ancestry, but failed. The Web link is
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/45998055/family
Also, I think if you search on my name, or on Catherine Edith Fricke (my "born" name), you will find the Fricke Family Tree.
I need to warn you that much of what's online at Ancestry isn't verified yet. I do have quite a bit of family info there that I haven't added sources for, because I get lazy and adding a source is a bit of a pain. Plus I too go off on tangents all too often. It's fun, but it keeps me from doing the huge amount of real work I need to do on maintenance... And sometimes I add in people before I've verified them, just to keep track of possibles.
We can also share information by sending files. I can create gedcom files easily, and can turn anything into a PDF to share.
My email is (*)
I'm so glad to get in touch with another relative!! And an Australian cousin at that!
Carrie
* Please use the Personal Message service to exchange personal details such as emails etc. Thank you.
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Hello Bill and Carrie,
This is getting interesting :) - though I'm not sure whether I can add anything yet that you do not already know.
Bill,have you had any luck yet with the Langholm Archive Centre? I did notice that they had created their index of the Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser up until 1878 whereas the Unknown Porteous Articles did not appear until 1880.
Carrie, I notice that you gave Grizel a second name - Jean - which I did not know. Have you the information from the memorial to William and his three wives in Stapelgortoun cemetery near Langholm?
Bill mentioned Margaret Beattie the third wife of William. Some years ago I was in contact with a descendant of that family. She lived in Canada (Langley, British Columbia (?). On the off chance that she may still be there I googled her name and her details turned up. At that time she did not know Margaret's parents but it was a long time ago. You may know of her Carrie but if you don't I will PM her name to you both.
Regards Reiver
(Neil)
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Hello Neil
Nice to hear from you again.
Yes, I did manage to get copies of the three articles but I haven't had a chance to sit down and fully digest contents as yet. Fair bit of reading by the look of it!
Will get back to you both shortly.
Cheers, Bill
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Ooh, Bill! Are you able to scan the copies?
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Carrie, if you would like to send me your email address by Personal Message I will email copies of the newspaper articles to you.
Cheers, Bill
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Hello all.
I have read this post with interest, and wonder if any of you have come across a Walter Nichol who married a Jean Beattie? I do not know when they married nor do I know anything else about them.
I know of only one child for Walter and Jean -: William Nichol who was born 11 March 1705. Walter and Jean were "in Kirkandrews" when William was born.
William went on to marry Euphan/Euphemia Elliot (though I have no record of their marriage).
They seem to be unrelated to the Nichols in this thread, though the names are similar, but I just thought I would post in case any of you who have researched the Nichols may know of my family. William and Euphemia lived and had children in Canonbie.
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Hi-
What a coincidence! I just removed your William and Euphemia from my tree, where I had added it as a possible match with my William! There were altogether too many folks named Nichol, Beattie, Laidlaw, and Grieve in that area. And they all moved to Ontario, Canada and continued the confusion!!
I have birth records for several of your William/Euphemia's children. I don't think I have anything on either of their parentage, but I will look through my notes and snippets and see if there's anything there.
Cheers,
Carrie
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Ruskie
There is a memorial at Westerkirk which may be that for for your William. Do you already have it?
Reiver
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Hello Carrie,
Oh, how exciting. I have four children for William and Euphemia. (this is my brother in law's family actually) - he is descended from their daughter Margaret b 1733 who married Francis Bell. It would be great if you have anything on earlier Nichol/Beattie generations.
Hello Reiver,
No I don't have the Westerkirk MI for William Nichol. If you have it to hand (or a link to the appropriate website) I would appreciate it. Thank you. ;D
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Ruskie,
The memorial reading I was referring to is as follows:-
Westerkirk
(150) In memory of William Nicoll died at Enzieholm July 2nd 1749 aged 45 years. Also his daughter Betty who died November 3rd (no year cut) aged 2 years. Also Margaret Bryden spouse to the said William Nicoll she died October 1788 aged 71 years.
It is taken from the survey done in the 1960s.
Regards
Reiver
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Reiver,
Many thanks for the MI, but alas, I don't think this is my William Nichol. Age estimate is about right, but my William was married to Euphemia Elliot not Margaret Bryden. As far as I am aware he did not have a daughter called Betty (or Elizabeth or other variants) either (though I may not be aware of other children).
That is a little disappointing but thank you for your help.
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Carrie and Bill
If you have not already done so you may wish to give a lot of notice to the following web site
www.glendinning.name
It includes the families which have been the subject of this topic. I was in contact with the owner some years ago about the families in which we are interested. His Glendinning ancestor wrote - in the 1800s - a detailed description of his family. This included William and his wives. His address is on the home page.
Regards
Reiver
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Hello Reiver
Thank you for referring us to the Glendinning site - I have emailed re information on William and his wives.
Regards, Bill.
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And I have requested help from the Borders Family History Society...
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I was so excited to read your posts! I am a descendant of Grizzel Porteous and William Beattie through their daughter, Grizzel Beattie, who married Walter Nicol. I've come to a grounding halt, however, trying to figure out the ancestors of Grizzel Porteous and William Beattie. There are several tantalizing possibilities, but I can't make any of them "stick" with records. I've read a lot of commentary on poems written about a Patrick Porteous, Laird of Hawkshaw in Peebleshire, and his possible wife, Mary Margaret Scott. Does any of this sound familiar?
My line goes on from Grizzel and Walter to James Nicol, who married Anne Smith
Alexander Nicol, who married Margaret Phillip
George Nicol, who married Ann Gray
David Nicol, gardener at Drumlanrig Castle, who married Agnes Hay
Robert Hay Nicol, who married Henrietta Wright
Robert C. Nicol, who married Cassandra Roberts
Henrietta Nicol, who married Roy Yount
Cassandra Yount, who married Charles Watson
Emily Watson, who married Rex Pitts
me, Karen Powell
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Karen,
I saw and read your message very soon after you posted it but decided to wait to see if any of the others could positively answer your query. In the circumstances I thought I'd offer what I can :) :)
The thread as you will have seen started a couple of years ago but I cannot really add to what I noted earlier. I think you may find it useful to read the series of articles in the Langholm and Eskdale Advertiser called The Unknown Porteous Chapter and verse are in Replies 9-10 or thereabouts.
I hope it helps though no authoritative dates are given.
Reiver
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Hello I am a new member and a direct descendent of Walter Nicol & Grizel Beattie. I have heard of the 4 articles the lost Porteous but don't seem to be able to find them anywhere online. Does anybody know where I could get a copy of them? I am intrigued to see how/if my family connect with the Porteous's of Hawkshaw. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Regards Ryan
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Hello Ryan and welcome to Rootschat. i too am directly descended from walter & grizel and i would be interested to see your family line. unfortunately i have recently broken an arm and am keying this with one finger. that means i am 50% slower than usual and am getting a bit frustrated. i have copies of the newspaper articles and you could try to get them on this site;
www.langholmearchive.org.uk/lookup.php (SEARCH FOR UNknown Porteous). SORRY, BEST I CAQN DO, but its a start.
cheers
bill
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ryan, meant to say articles are around august 1880.
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Hello Bill,
Thanks very much for the reply. I have made a request to the archives because they can sometimes print the articles on request. My line descends from the marriage of Walter & Grizel's son William Nicol & Sarah Reid on to their daughter Ann Nicol who married Peter Graham, then down to William Graham who married Elizabeth Armstrong then Jane Graham who married John Dickson. My maternal line then carried on as Dickson until my Grandmother was born in 1933.
Regards
Ryan