Hmmm.
http://libindx.moray.gov.uk/mainmenu.asp tells me that James Edgar died at Sauchenbush, Rothes aged 79, in 1880, and that he lived in Fochabers, Forres and Nairn. He married Ann Watt on 23 February 1828 and they had eleven of a family.
Seven of the children are listed in the IGI at
www.familysearch.org, and of those the four eldest were born in Bellie between 1828 and 1834 and the three youngest in Nairn between 1847 and 1852. There is a gap of 13 years between the Bellie-born ones and the Nairn-born ones. Two of the Bellie-born ones died young and are buried in Bellie Kirkyard beside their parents.
This in itself is slightly unusual, given that they had apparently left Bellie by about 1840, and implies that even though neither James nor Ann was born there, they maintained a strong link to Bellie throughout their lives.
http://freecen.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl tells me that in 1841 the family was in High Street, Forres. James was a coachman, aged 40, and Anne is 35, both born outside Moray. The children are James, 10; William, 10; Alexander, 5 and Mary, 2.
In 1851 they were in 6 Douglas Street, Nairn. James was aged 50, a labourer, born Gladsmuir, East Lothian, and Ann was 43 and born in Huntly. The children at home were Mary Ann, 11; Robert, 9; Francis, 7; Walter, 4; John, 1. The first three were born in Forres and the last two in Nairn. 18-year-old William was an apprentice carpenter at 17 Acre Street, Nairn. Alek, 14, born Nairn, is a stable boy at Westerton, Elgin.
In 1881 Annie was aged 73, a widow, at Sauchen Bush, Rothes, but this time she gave her birthplace as Cairnie, Banffshire.
There also seem to be plenty of Edgars in Gladsmuir in 1841, presumably many of them related to your James.
Interesting that he was a coachman, because I've come across a few of those who seem to have moved some distance from their parish of birth. I also note that he must have moved north as a young unmarried man, and that he spent several years in Bellie.
The obvious inference is that he was originally employed as a groom or coachman in Bellie, and if so the likelihood is that he was employed by the Duke of Gordon at Gordon Castle. The baptism entries of the Bellie-born children might mention his occupation, or say where he lived. You could look at the baptisms at
www.scotlandspeople.gov.ukI wonder if there is a connection between the Dukes of Gordon and Gladsmuir? Perhaps through Duchess Jane Maxwell, wife of the 4th Duke.
Incidentally James and Ann's son James, born 1830 in Bellie, married Isabella Ingram, and in 1881 they were mine hosts at the Gordon Arms Hotel in Elgin. Their daughter Beatrice Gordon Edgar (I wonder where her name came from?), born 1883, married my 2nd cousin twice removed, James Stephen Souter, a member of the well-known Souter engineering family in Elgin. James and Beatrice had three daughters, all of whom died in England. Two of them married, and the third one became an engineer and worked in Russia - unusual for a woman born in 1917. I can let you have chapter and verse if you contact me privately.
Does this help at all?
