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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Fife => Topic started by: sparkle60 on Sunday 29 December 13 11:43 GMT (UK)
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I have a newspaper article which was in the papers of my great grandmother
whose parents were JOAHAN Walker WATSON and JOHN Watson BROWN .
The newspaper article is about a John Watson who in 1898 was Coxwain of the Crail Lifeboat.
Trying to discover the connection between my family and this John Watson.
Have been tracing forwards, backwards and sideways no luck so far.
If you are researching either of these families, pleased to hear from you.
MY FAMILY:
JOAHAN Walker WATSON b 1831 Anstruther Wester, Fife, d 1903 at 27, Nethergate, Crail
Parents were Alexander WATSON and Margaret PATRICK
Joahan Walker Watson (aka Johanna 1881 census)
married JOHN Watson BROWN who was b 1837 Kingsbarns, Fife
They married at the Manse, Crail Parish Church
His parents were James Brown and Ann INNES
Marriage Witnesses Alexander Mitchell
and James Wood (b 1891, husband of John's aunt Mary Innes).
THE COXWAIN - how was he connected to the above...?
JOHN WATSON Birth 1841 in Crail, Fife, d 1921 Crail, Fife
parents were Alexander WATSON B 1782 Crail and Helen STOBIE b 1797 Crail
He married Jenet/ Janet/ Jessie LAIRD at Kingsbarns, Fife in 1864.
Here they are in the 1891 census living at Nethergate, Crail, Fife, Scotland
John Watson 49 b Crail, Fifeshire, occ Fisherman
Jessie Watson 46 wife, MS Laird
Mary Watson 25
Alexander Watson 17
Jessie Watson 13
John Watson 11
James Watson 7
Davina Watson 5
Robert Watson 3
William Watson 10 Mo
Then 1898 he was Coxwain of the Crail Lifeboat (newspaper article)
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Hi sparkle60
There is an older post here on RC which I have added:
Hello Harry,
Thanks for your interesting reply yesterday.
You mention Mary Innes and Catherine Innes married James and William Wood respectively
and that James Wood was a widower and his sister-in-law Janet Innes, also born in Kingsbarns,
was his housekeeper.
How fascinating - I have a James Woods as witness to the marriage
of John Watson Brown and Jotana Walker Watson 1862 both of Airdrie, parish of Crail.
John Watson Brown (born 5 April 1839) in Kingsbarns (whose line I am following)
was I believe the third child of James Brown and Ann Innes. I’m still wondering how
he had Watson for his middle name, his bride’s surname also being Watson
which may connect with the following mystery…
I have an old newspaper article passed down in my family papers
through the John Watson Brown line.
It’s about the Crail lifeboat and rough Fife seas of October 1898.
It mentions,
“John Watson, age 57, coxswain, married, three daughters and five sons...”
Searching, it seems that this John Watson was born 28 Oct 1841 in Crail
and lived at Nethergate, parents Alexander Watson and Catherine Stobie.
He married a Janet / Jessie Laird I believe, and there were maybe nine little Watsons.
A public tree on ancestry.com provides plenty of names and dates on that.
I suspect there is a connection,
otherwise why would John Watson Brown’s married daughter
and her husband in Kincardine keep the article?
The main thread starts here www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=466290.0 to let you read through from the beginning.
Monica
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Hi sparkle60 There is an older post here on RC which I have added
Thanks but that's an old thread when I first began researching (user name winnie7).
My current post - this new thread - is seeking connection between two distinct sets of Watsons.
One set is "My Family", the other set is "The Coxwain" as outlined above.
I'm hoping someone related to John Watson the coxswain (who married Jessie Laird)
may respond so we can work out the connection between our families.
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Hi Sparkle60
Can find neither marriage nor children for Alexander Watson and HELEN Stobie but there is a Marriage in Crail 16 June 1821 for Alexander Watson and CATHERINE Stobie. They are listed on Family Search as having 6 children born in Crail between 1821 and 1841 (John).
Alexander Watson and Margaret Patrick married 04 Aug 1827 in Anstruther and had 6 children, including Joahan 1831) listed on Family Search between 1829 and 1844.
You may get more information from OPR records on SP.
Dod
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You just got in before me, Dod! I was also about to point out that Alexander Watson married Catherine, not Helen, Stobie. The couple had a daughter called Helen.
I've been struggling to find a death for Alexander Watson(Stobie), who was 68 in the 1851 census of Crail and 78 in the 1861 census. But I've just cracked it. Instead of looking on Scotlandspeople for an Alexander Watson dying post-1861, aged 78+, I deleted the first name and just looked for a male Watson dying in Crail at an advanced age. The result was an Adam Watson dying in 1866. From my researches I knew there was no Adam Watson in Crail, and in fact when I downloaded the death-certificate, it was Alexander Watson, the widower of Catherine Stobie. His parents were Robert Watson, fisherman, and - Bowman (first name not known).
As for Alexander Watson who married Margaret Patrick, he died in 1877 aged 71 and was the son of Alexander Watson, weaver, and Margaret Parky (i.e. Parker).
There is no obvious connection between the two families of Watsons. And if you get further embroiled in Crail Watson researches, watch out for the other Watson family there which came from the Sunderland area, via Cellardyke (and were no relation to the Cellardyke Watsons)!
Harry (Watson)
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Yes Harry , errors do exist on SP either because there are errors on the original certificate - especially if it involves elderly people - or errors of transcription in the indexing. Your approach is always worth a try if the straightforward isn't producing results.
Small addition regarding Alexander and missing forename for mother - Alexander Watson Christening Date: 01 Jul 1782 Christening Place: CRAIL,FIFE,SCOTLAND Birth Date: 29 Jun 1782. Son of Robert Watson and ISOBEL Bowman. Robert Bowman Watson married Isobel Bowman 11 Feb 1772, Crail, Fife, Scotland.
Dod
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Just to avoid confusion, you meant to say Robert WATSON married Isobel Bowman.
Harry
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Yes Harry - old-timers disease kicking in unfortunately, I did mean ROBERT.
Dod
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This isn't strictly relevant, but as people seem to be interested in things maritime - one of the English Watsons who moved to Crail - Alexander Watson, married to Jane Lyle from Newhaven - became mate on the North Carr lightship, dying on board the vessel on November 13th 1887, aged 48.
Harry
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Thanks everyone for your interest and help.
Apologies, my typo, yes John Watson the coxswain's parents were
Alexander Watson and Catherine (not Helen) Stobie.
I checked the marriage of his grandparents Robert Watson and Isobel Bowman;
familysearch.org Batch M114176 shows 25 Jan 1772 Crail, Fife.
I agree that there seems no obvious connection...
However, the Crail Lifeboat coxswain John Watson lived at Nethergate (1881 census onwards)
and my John Watson Brown and wife Joahan Walker Watson moved to Nethergate
(1891 census onwards) so the families may have been acquainted.
John Watson Brown and Joahan Walker Watson’s son-in-law was my great grandfather.
As a young salmon fisher from further north, he moved to “Old Haiks via Wormiston”
and courted their daughter. On their marriage certificate his occupation was fisherman.
So maybe he also did sea fishing and may have known the Crail lifeboat coxswain John Watson.
And as his mother-in-law was a Watson, you may appreciate why I was wondering
if those two Watson families were related.
Further, the newspaper article I mentioned earlier. My great grandfather,
now a gamekeeper and his wife had moved up to Kincardine and he began writing.
On 19 October 1898 there was a great storm. The Crail Lifeboat coxswain was telegrammed
that a vessel was in distress near May Island. So the lifeboat was launched.
A full page article about this appeared in The People’s Journal on 5 Nov 1898,
along with a sketch of the crew and their names.
This was in my great grandfather ‘s collection of published pieces (for which he received payment)
though I'm uncertain whether actually wrote this one, as there is no by-line.
Then he had a short piece published 30 Nov 1898 in the Weekly Welcome about the same topic .
While writing from Kincardine, all his other articles and anecdotes refer to game keeping
and the glens, but for these two articles about John Watson the coxswain in Crail.
No other articles about Crail. Hence my ongoing suspicion that in some way
the two Watson families were related though I may never discover how :-)
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The Nethergate is one of the main streets in Crail and a lot of fishing families lived there. I was born in my maternal grandmother's house at 39A Nethergate.
My maternal grandfather Jimmy Peebles was on the Crail lifeboat Edwin Kay in December 1914 when she was involved in the rescue of the crew of the torpedo destroyer Success, which had been holed on the Cambo Briggs rocks off Kingsbarns. The episode is vividly described in an article in the Scots Magazine
of January 2002.
My maternal great-grandfather, another Jimmy Peebles, was known as "Pilot Jimmy" from his sideline of piloting Dutch and German boats into Crail's tricky and narrow little harbour entrance. The "tauttie boats" came for the fruits of the East Neuk potato harvest - our potatoes were as well known and sought-after as the local herring. My mother remembered the foreign sailors in Crail's High Street.
Harry
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Here are the names of the Crail Lifeboat crew in 1898
which I've transcribed from the People’s Journal 5 November 1898
ALEXANDER BOYTER, aged 20, married
GEORGE BOYTER, aged 40 – six boys and four girls
PETER CUNNINGHAM, aged 32, unmarried
ANDREW CUNNINGHAM, aged 35, second coxswain, married – four boys and three girls
JAMES DEWAR, aged 29, married – one boy and one girl
ARCHIBALD DEWAR, aged 25, married
JAMES GRUBB, aged 26, unmarried
GEORGE GRUBB, aged 22, married – one boy
JOHN WATSON aged 57, coxswain, married – three daughters and five sons
JOHN MURRAY, aged 36, bow man, married – two girls
ALEXANDER SMITH, aged 26, married – three of a family
ALEXANDER TAYLOR, aged 45, married – two boys and four girls
ANDREW MILLAR, aged 31, one of a family
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Hello
I realise I am replying rather late as I think this was posted in 2013 but the John watson coxwain of the Crail life boat is a relative of mine in my family tree I am researching I was wondering if you could put the newspaper articles on here or let me know how I could see a copy of it
many thanks
Bexhill12
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Bexhill12, I have sent you a message, please look in your rootschat inbox
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Bexhill12, welcome to RootsChat :)
sparkle60, Bexhill12 needs one more post here on RC before the private message service (PM) is activated...
Monica
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Bexhill12, welcome to RootsChat :)
sparkle60, Bexhill12 needs one more post here on RC before the private message service (PM) is activated... Monica
It would seem Bexhill12 has not looked since... unfortunate
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Bexhill logged in 29 February, so last month.
Unfortunately, she hasn't posted any more, so still can't send her a PM to alert her back to this thread. B has still only made 1 post, and needs 3 to activate her PM facility, so she will need to post 2 more before that will happen.
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Would anyone have any details on the Alexander Taylor, age 45 mentioned as a member of the crew of the lifeboat??
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Would anyone have any details on the Alexander Taylor, age 45 mentioned as a member of the crew of the lifeboat??
Suggest you also put this question as new thread, BW252 on the Fife board. When I was sesearching my Brown and Watson ancestors in 2010, there was a Rootschat veteran "hdw" who is quite an expert, will be helpful if he can. If you want a reference, look for hdw on http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=466290.msg3398121#msg3398121