Please help with my Craib family!

[millerina]

I am trying to find out about two distant relatives that my Gt Grandfather used to talk a lot about, I know a fair bit about them, but because I'm not sure of their names, I can't find anything else out about them! I would love to be able to find them in the census! 

The first man I only know as Professor Craib - he was a Professor of Botany in Scotland in the 1900s/1910s and possibly earlier. He also wrote books about Botany, I think he may have been a fairly well known Botanist in those decades!

The second man was, I think, his brother:  A. Craib - he was a governor of Peterhead Prison again probably in the early 1900s.

I think that I might be connected to them through this man: William Craib b. 1852 Rothiemay, Banffshire - I'm just not sure how he was connected to them! I suspect he may have been their brother, but that is just a guess.

Can anybody help put names to these two men, so I can find out more about them?
Many thanks,
millerina 

[stuizzy]

Googling around, I think the botanist could have been W.G. Craib who was at University of Aberdeen. He did publish a book called "The Flora of Banffshire" in 1912, so certainly could be tied to your Craibs.

In 1851, I found the census which possibly includes your William. Do you have this info? There's a brother Alexander who's 2 years older. Could this be the prison governor? The father, also William, is from Hampshire and listed as a farmer.

I hope that it helps a teeny tiny bit anyway.
Isobel

[stuizzy]

PS Just found another thing. I think the botanist's names were William Grant Craib 1882-1933. Check out

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantcd/craibzim.htm

Isobel

[millerina]

Hi Isobel,

Thats brilliant, that must be my Professor Craib!  Your googling skills must be much better than mine, I couldnt come up with anything much when I tried! Seeing as he was born in 1882, its quite possible now that he was my William's son, making him an even closer relative than I first thought. How wonderful that he had a whole genus named after him! 

Thanks for your help!
millerina

[MonicaL]

Hi Millerina

In case you don't have this, these are the children showing to William Craib and Margaret Leslie on IGI:

1. ALEXANDER CRAIB Birth: 15 OCT 1848 Rothiemay, Banff, Scotland
2. WILLIAM CRAIB Birth: 07 APR 1851 Rothiemay, Banff, Scotland
3. JOHN CRAIB Birth: 02 MAY 1854 Rothiemay, Banff, Scotland
4. CRAIB  Female Birth: 05 JAN 1857 Rothiemay, Banff, Scotland
5. MARY CRAIB  Birth: 03 JUN 1859 Rothiemay, Banff, Scotland

And the family's 1861 entry:

William Craib    50, Farmer 19ac, b. Hants, Porkea South Ampton (as indexed!)
Margaret Crait    39, b. Rothiemay, Banffshire
Alexander Craib 12, b. Rothiemay, Banffshire
William Craib 10, b. Rothiemay, Banffshire
John Craib 7, b. Rothiemay, Banffshire
Margaret Craib    4, b. Rothiemay, Banffshire
Mary Craib 1, b. Rothiemay, Banffshire
James Dawson 15, stepson, House Carpenter Ap, b. Rothiemay, Banffshire
   
Address: Moss Side, Rothiemay, Banffshire


Parents' marriage was on 07 DEC 1847 Rothiemay, Banff, Scotland


Regards.

Monica 

[MonicaL]

Millerina

William Grant Craib would look to be the son of your William b. 1851 assuming I'm looking at the right 1881 census entry for him. On this it shows William b. 1851 as a flesher, married to Jane Grant and living in Fordyce, with one daughter, Ann, and his father in law William Grant visiting.

William Grant Craib was born in March 1882 in Banff:

1882   CRAIB   WILLIAM GRANT   M   BANFF/BANFF   147/00 0026

Regards.

Monica

[millerina]

Thanks Monica, I think that must definately be the family I'm looking for, and the 1861 entry is fascinating - I wonder how someone from Southampton ended up in Rothiemay! 

Thanks for the info!
millerina 

[stuizzy]

He'd certainly been in Scotland for a while. There's a reference in the 1841 census to Wm. Craib in Rothiemay. He's down as from Banffshire, ENGLAND. Living with
Isobel Sharp 69  Independent  Banffshire
Ann Sinclar    13  Female Servant Banffshire
Wm. Craib     30  Ag. Lab              England

By the way, I did some looking into governors of Peterhead. I couldn't find a Craib listed, but there were some gaps which might give an idea of A. Craib's age.

1888 - 1908 Major Simon A. Dodds
c1918 - 1927 Lt. Col. Randolph Eustace Wemyss Baird
c1932 - 1945 James Ivory Buchan

Pure speculation here. Could be have been governor during the 1908-1918 period? Perhaps he was in the military before then? Perhaps he was the Alexander Craib, brother of William, son of the English William.

Perhaps a search on Scotlandspeople for the later census information is in order? Also, I wonder whether there's the death certificate for the English William. That would list his parents, or perhaps you have that already.

Isobel

[MonicaL]

From my searches yesterday, there is an Alexander showing in the 1881 Census which fits his birth year/place:

Alexander Craib, 33, Farmer Of 50 Ac 20 Arable, b. Rothiemay
Jessie, 34, b. Grange, Banff
Maggie, 3, b. Deskford, Banff
William, 1, b. Deskford, Banff
Sarah DONALDSON, Servant, Widowed, 40, Sick Nurse, Enniskillen, Ireland

Address: Duffushillock, Deskford, Banff

And the marriage:

ALEXANDER CRAIB  Marriages: Spouse: JESSIE GARROW    
Marriage: 26 NOV 1874  Grange, Banff, Scotland


You'd have to follow this Alexander through later censuses and death cert. to see if he did end up as Governor in the early 1900s.

Regards.

Monica