Beveridge connections.

[tommacgregor]

Hello All,

In a previous posting I made mention of Alexander Beveridge who married Chritian Moreis. This posting is concerned with one of their sons, William Beveridge, who was born on the 27th March, 1763 at Dunfermline in Fife. He married Elizabeth (Betty) Hynd on the 28th October, 1785 at Dunfermline.

Their children:

Alexander Beveridge born 14th August, 1786 at Dunfermline in Fife.
Thomas Beveridge born 6th May, 1788 at Dunfermline in Fife.
William Beveridge born 26th April, 1790 at Dunfermline in Fife.
Elspet Beveridge born 3rd August, 1792 at Dunfermline in Fife.
David Beveridge born 16th March, 1795 at Dunfermline in Fife.
Robert Beveridge born 24th July, 1797 at Dunfermline in Fife.
Christian Beveridge born 23rd December, 1798 at Dunfermline in Fife.
John Beveridge born 12th May, 1801 at Dunfermline in Fife.
Betty Beveridge born 9th April, 1806 at Dunfermline in Fife.
Alexander Beveridge born 9th April, 1810 at Dunfermline in Fife.

Kind Regards,


Tom.

[crayspond]

Hi Tom,

I do not want to deviate from your Beveridge line but thought i would throw in my line in case someone reading yours recognises a relation.
When researching your Beveridges is it always spelled the same way?  I notice that it was spelled Belfrage on many parish records.

This is the furthest i can get back in my line

John Belfrage  married 30th Dec 1715 to Janet Bell in Inverkeithing Fife

Children
John Belfrage    b.13.01.1717
Rebecca Belfrage b.19.06.1720
Jean Beveridge b. 17.03.1723
John Beveridge b.04.01.1726   (my relation)
James Beveridge b.17.03.1728
Janett Beveridge b. 03.09.1730   

Would the distance between Dalgetty and Inverkeithing be considered far at that time?
You are doing a great job Tom i do read the posts hoping for a link.  Its as if there was a split between the Coalmining Beveridges and the Weaving Beveridges.  Maybe even the Thresher Beveridges.

One thing for sure is there was plenty of them!!

Regards,

Ailsa

[tommacgregor]

Hello Aisa,

It's lovely to hear from you. The names "Belfrage" and "Beveridge" were probably variant spellings of the same name just as "Stevinson" and "Steinson" were. At one coalmine near Dunfermline, in August 1741, I can see a James Bevridge and a Thomas Bevridge as well as an entry for Martinmas 1741 where they are shown as James Belfrage and Thomas Belfrage. In another paper going back to the colliers of Berrielaw we can read about James Belfrage, Thomas Belfrage and William Belfrage. Now, these are the things that you wont find on some of the search engines used for genealogy - they are from documents made out by the private coalmines.

These documents give me names such as Bessie Allan, who "went to ye Indes" as well as James Trotter who also "went to ye Indes". Bearing in mind that this was before transportation to Australia, it makes quite interesting reading. Time and time again, I see names straight out of my Family Tree, and it brings everything to life, when one realises that a coal miner's wife, and sometimes daughter, acted as coal bearers.

The distances from the Royal Burgh of Kirkcaldy to places such as Beath, Coaltown of Dalgety, Aberdour and Inverkeithing and even Torryburn, weren't all that much, and as you will see from my postings, families moved to and fro from and to Dunfermline. I know the area quite well although I now live south of the City of Melbourne, here in Australia. Many members of my family still live around the Cowdenbeath and Aberdour areas of Fife.

If you would like to contact me off-line, then perhaps I can take a much closer look at members of your family and try to help you out.

Kind Regards,


Tom.

[tommacgregor]

Hello again, Ailsa,

As I mentioned in my previous posting, the distances between places like Beath, Dalgety and Inverkeithing weren't all that great. My grandparents and great-grandparents used to work in the mines to the north of Dunfermline although they lived around Hill of Beath. Talking about that, sometimes various records speak of Dunfermline as though they are talking about the Royal Burgh itself. That isn't always the case!

I know for example that an Andrew Belfrage married Christian Gib(b) and their son, John Belfrage was born/christened on 28th December, 1697 "at Dunfermline" - that could mean near Dunfermline.

There were quite a few Belfrages who married at Inverkeithing in the early 1700's. Here are just a few:

Bessie Belfrage married John Thomson on 6th June, 1703.
Christian Belfrage married William Smart on 17th July, 1711.
Henry Belfrage married Christian Robertson on 6th January, 1712.

Kind Regards,


Tom

[sancti]

Ailsa, here are a list of the children of John Belfrage and Janet Bell. The John born in 1717 must have died as an infant. These are christening dates not birth dates from SP

13/01/1717 BELFRAGE JOHN born to JOHN BELFRAGE/JANET BELL at Inverkeithing

19/06/1720 BEVERIDGE REBECCA born to JOHN BEVERIDGE/JANET BELL at Inverkeithing

17/03/1723 BEVERIDGE JEAN born to JOHN BEVERIDGE/JANET BELL at Inverkeithing

04/01/1726 BEVERIDGE JOHN born to JOHN BEVERIDGE/JANET BELL at Inverkeithing

17/03/1728 BEVERIDGE JAMES born to JOHN BEVERIDGE/JANET BELL at Inverkeithing

15/09/1730 BEVERIDGE JANET born to JOHN BEVERIDGE/JANET BELL at Inverkeithing

[sancti]

Checked the marriage date for the parents and got these 2

17/11/1715 BELFRAGE JOHN married JANET BELL at Inverkeithing /FIFE

30/12/1715 BELFRAGE JOHN married JANET BELL at Inverkeithing /FIFE

There are various spellings of the surname for other marriages around that time such as

11/08/1704 BELFRADG JOHN married RACHALL THALLAN

 02/05/1700 BELFRAGE JOHN married JANET HORN

24/11/1711 BERRAGE JOHN married JANET BERRAGE

12/10/1701 BEVERAGE JOHN married MARGARET BROUGH

 12/06/1708 BEVEREGE JOHN married MARY HIDLESTONES

 05/11/1702 BEVRADGE JOHN married EUPHAN BEVRADGE

23/12/1712 BEVRAGE JOHN married ISOBEL LOW

07/10/1711 BEVERAGE JOHN married ANNE FAIRNY

20/11/1713 BELFRAGE JOHN married GIELLS MCLARINE

[crayspond]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for looking for me - i do have that information and feel lucky that i have actual copies of the pages from the Parish Records.  It does make it feel more real i think.
I have posted you privately as i said i don't want to hijack your line and really get people muddled.

I hear Melbourne is a really nice city to live  - bit different from Dumfermline!

Ailsa

[tommacgregor]

Hello Ailsa,

Yes, I received the private e-mail, and I'm examining the details and will get back to you.

Yes, Melbourne is a nice city, but, how can one compare it to Dunfermline with it's centuries of history? I actually live quite a few miles from the city at the entrance to the Mornington Peninsula. My wife and I live a very quiet life.

Kind Regards,


Tom.

[tommacgregor]

Hello All,

I've just noticed that I haven't thanked "Sancti" and "Diddymiller" for their most welcome contributions above. I do apologise for that, it's just that I was wading through some records about the people that they were writing about, and I thought that I would wait a short time before posting what I have found. I think that "Sancti" and "Diddymiller" would know that I would never be so rude as to ignore their continuing assistance.

Another lady has been in touch with me by private e-mail and I tried to explain about the "confusion" about the Beveridge and Belfrage surname.

Let me give other researchers a bit more information about the dangers of this problem, because, believe me, over the past few days I feel as if I've been wading through a sea of mud. I was looking at some records that stated that a Margaret Belfrage was born on 7th February, 1739 at Dalgety in Fife and that a Walter Belfrage was born on 11th November, 1740, also at Dalgety. Their parents were shown as James Belfrage and Doretta Williamson.

Now, maybe I'm just a stubborn old fella, but when I see a Janet Beveridge shown as born on the 18th September, 1733 at Dalgety in Fife to James Beveridge and Dorothy Williamson, I don't accept that as pure coincidence.

Another example: I see a record for a David Belfrage being born on 28th May, 1740 to a Robert Belfrage and Marin Jape and this is an Extracted Birth/Christening Record. However, when I see yet another record stating that a William Beveridge was born on 2nd August, 1752 at Dalgety in Fife to a Robert Beveridge and Marian Japp, that's when I again reiterate that I don't believe in the Tooth Fairy!

Now, some of you newcomers to RootsChat may understand why I can spend several days on examining a mass of paperwork, to come up with a "satisfactory" answer. I hate like Hell to leave people "hanging in the air" so to speak. Naturally enough, I do make the occasional slip - we all do! However, it's nice to think that I have the time and the patience to check these discrepancies and report back to you via my postings. I am, in no way, trying to discourage people from using their available resources. On the contrary, I'm trying to demonstrate how careful we have to be about inserting data into our Family Tree.

I will be returning to my "normal" postings very shortly, and the different spellings has triggered me to insert just "a morsel" of information about the Beveridge - Japp connection. It will not be all neat and tidy, I assure you. However, now that I've attempted to explain the difficulties with the Surnames, you should be able to pick your way, (with a lot of care!) across the ice.

Kind Regards,


Tom.