DIVORTY family - Huguenot refugees?

[Mudlark]

Hi Sancti

Thank you for these Divorty name variations.   
It must have been an easy name to misspell (not being a familar Scottish surname) the local clergy probably made a wild guess. The English certianly made a hash of it when my ancestors moved south!

Cheers
Chris

Variations to the name in the Aberdeenshire OPR's include

DIVARTY

DIVERTIE

DIVERTY

[sancti]

Scotland:

Although some Huguenots went to Scotland, especially to Edinburgh, only one settlement is
known to have left detailed evidence of its short existence. For that see: The Weavers of Picardy by
John Mason in the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club XXV, 1945, pp1-33, and A Huguenot
Community in Scotland: the Weavers of Picardy, by Anthony Springall, Huguenot Society
Proceedings, Vol 27 pp 97-109.

[Mudlark]

Hi Grothwell,

Thank you so much for this information.
It would seem that the Dovertie/Divertie surname variation was around earlier than I thought. Because Divorty is a French surname it's possible that French Protestants were arriving in Scotland from a much earlier date than recorded in the history books. From my research, I gather that the NE of Scotland had a strong Presbitarian tradition.
It would be great to be able to link these Divorty families together - perhaps we will get lucky.

All the best
Chris


 

Hi Chris,

I did a phonetic birth search in Aberdeenshire for Divorty on SP, birth dates from 1553 to 1730

The earliest were;

03/01/1633 DOVERTIE ALEXR to GILBERT DOVERTIE/JEANE TAILYOR
06/02/1637 DOVERTIE MARGRAT to GILBT. DOVERTIE/JEANE TAILYEOR
Aberdeen City
27/11/1636 DIVERTIE ALEXR to JAMES DIVERTIE/CHRISTIANE BRUCE
18/01/1639 DIVERTIE WILLIAM to GEORGE DIVERTIE/ELSPET PHILPE
Both Belhelvie

I don't know when the Hugenots arrived.

Unfortunately as you probably know there was no Robert birth recorded, and non in Kintore.

My Doverty Connection is a Margaret Doverty who married James Argo in Tarves 17/04/1742. There were a couple of Margarets born around 1711 in Methlick, but a John Divorty had children around 1720 in Tarves, but no Margarets recorded. It's all a bit of guess work I suppose.

Hope you get more info, if I do I'll get in touch.

Best wishes,

Grothenwell
 

[ElleMcR]

Hi I was wondering if you ever got any further with your Divertie/Divert/Divorty anscestors.

I have Divertie's in my family tree and I've not been doing my research long, but Alexander Divertie and Annie Divertie (nee Laird) were my GGG Grandad & GGG Gran. They were in Anderston and Eastwood areas of Glasgow.  Family then moved to fife as their son Alexander Divertie worked on the Forth Rail Bridge and lived in Inverkeithing.

[frankray]

Hi Elle,

Thanks for getting in touch. I have not found a connection from Aberdeenshire to any of the Glasgow Divertie's so far. Could you let me know the dates you have for the birth's of your GGG Grandparents. This might help to see if there might be a link.

In my case the Divorty's who migrated south seem to have travelled to Edinburgh and then on to Durham or London.

Cheers
Chris

[ElleMcR]

Thanks for the quick reply - my GGG Grandparents were Alexander Divertie born 17/12/1831 and Ann Laird born 28/4/1824 they were married in Pollokshaws on 23/6/1855.

[lizgraziani]

Alexander Divertie and Ann Laird are also my 2nd great grandparents.  I have Alexander's parents are William Divertie (from Paisley) and Helen Patterson (from Lightburn), both born about 1799 and married in Eastwood 29 Jul 1821.  Hope this helps.  My mother said she was told there were French ancestors but she never knew where it fit in.   This is as far back as I've been able to trace.  Would love to know more.

[frankray]

Thanks for your reply. Seems not to be any connection between the two families.
My Divorty ancestors were born and bred in Aberdeenshire c1792 and earlier.
Good luck with your research
Chris

[Grothenwell]

From my research, I gather that the NE of Scotland had a strong Presbitarian tradition.

Yes there is a strong Presbyterian tradition, but overall probably less than other parts of Scotland. Historically Episcopalianism had a large following in proportion to other areas. I know next to nothing about which branch of Protestantism the Huguenot faith would be closest to.