3 Reid Bros. Doctor? Minister? General?

[Ratchete]

Hi there,

This is my first post so please bear with me.  I've been researching my husbands family tree for the last few months and it's been going quite well.  However I've been doing the easy bits and have now decided to turn my attention to what appears to be quite difficult.

One of my husband's ancestors Arthur Reid (baptised 1921 Tullynessle/Forbes) married twice.  His first wife Jane Milne gave him 2 sons (John b.1847 Huntly and James b.1850 Forgue) and then appears to have died (no record found yet) but the fact that her sister, his sister-in-law, Isabella appears on the 1951 census with him and the two young boys indicates that it probably wasn't divorce/abandonment. He remarries Ann Duffus who gives him 3 more children, one of which is Arthur Reid (b.1858 Forgue).  This second family is very traceable and is the line my husband comes from.  The first family on the other hand seems to peter out.

John Reid appears to move to a nearby farm, Balgaveny, Forgue as an Agricultural Servant where the 1861 census picks him up.  After that he disappears?

James Reid moves with the family to  another farm -  Anguston, Peterculter (1871 census).  After which he also disappears?

I've tried various searches of marriage death and census's but nothing seems to fit.  However I have a letter dated 1874 to Arthur Reid (b.1858) which appears to be from  cousin a possibly W? Reid. The writing is beautiful but very difficult to read.  In the letter W? Reid talks about a visit he made to Ann Duffus (widow); he had been hoping to see Arthur Reid snr, unfortunately he had just died.  So he was writing to the son ie his cousin instead.  From the letter you can conclude that he had never met Arthur Reid snr or Ann Duffus but appeared to trying to reconnect with family.  On the letter is much more recent note made probably by my MIL (deceased) that W? Reid was a minister (the tone of the letter supports this) and had a brother who was a doctor and another brother who was a general. In chat's with my FIL (now also deceased) he seemed to think that the general was in America.  We believe that this W? Reid might be a son of either John or James, but the ages don't tally.

I would really appreciate some hints/suggestions/strategy on how to proceed from here.

Thanks

R

[kenjo]

Hi R,
Welcome to rootschat,
I have read your plea, and firstly, do you have the death certificate of Arthur Snr?
Because, if it was a cousin to Arthur jnr, who wrote the letter then, it would be Arthur Snr's brother who could be the father to W Ried, so in that case it would help very much to find out who the parents of Arthur Snr was, to find all the siblings to Arthur Snr, to then work out who may have emmigrated.

(It wouldn't be that W Reid was a cousin to Arthur Jnr, but a halfbrother, not like you have implied in your posting)

regards,
Joanne

ps
After reading again, I see you had the Baptism of Arthur Snr, and the parents were Arthur Reid and Elspet Lumsden, who married 12 April 1810, in Leslie

There are these children.

Alexander  31 MAY 1814   Leslie,
John Reid,  19 MAR 1818   Leslie, 
 Mary           23 APR 1816   Leslie

There is bound to be more children.

There is this link, that has Arthur and Elspets son Alexanders family
http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/peterhead/d0006/g0000050.html

Also this is Marys family she married a reid as well.
http://www.culter.net/html/dat2.html

Also there may be a Will for the father of Arthur Snr, there is one 1837 in Oyne which is 5 miles from Leslie. If this is the right Arthur then it could reveal everything you need to know, about his sons emmigrating.

modified.
I see you have a tree on Ancestry which has more than I have found here, so you really haven't learnt anything new here, except, that you need to look further back to find the parents of the cousin.

regards,
JO

[Ratchete]

Hi Jo,

Thanks for your very prompt reply.  Funny you should say that about W Reid possibly being a half brother, because the letter ends really oddly

..............."Now in closing this first letter to you, I may add that your mother asked not my name neither yet does she know anything of me but generously placed meat and drink before yours truly W Reid ps preserve this and say nothing"

What on earth was he on about..........oooh the frustration.   I suppose Arthur Reid(1821) wouldn't be the first or last to play away from home.

Arthur Reid(1821) died of unknown causes & without a will (there are inventory papers which say nothing) so it will be interesting to see what the will you have unearthed says.

As for the family being smallish (well = or <5 kids) it appears to be the norm with this lot of Reids either they suffered high infant mortality or were very good a natural family planning. Except one of Arthur Reid(1821)'s daughters had 10 kids - but I digress.

The links you have provided will provide me with more leads........... although W Reid calls himself cousin in his letter there's nothing to say that he's a first cousin.....I just knew it wouldn't be that simple.......ach weel!

Thankyou again for your help.

R

[KirstyG]

If this W. Reid really was a minister then he should be listed in the Fasti.

http://www.archive.org/details/fastiecclesiaesc00scot

There is a William Laing Reid, son of Alexander Reid and Mary Laing, born near Chapel of Garioch....full details on page 140

He could therefore be the son of Arthur Snr's brother. There were 7 children born to Alexander Reid and Mary Laing, 5 of them boys so there is the possibility of the notes made by your MIL being true. You might be able to check the matriculation rolls of the universities for medical students, some of them are available online.

Kirsty

[Ratchete]

Thankyou Jo and Kirsty for the help and leads you have given me.  I will follow them and post again when I have more info, or as is more likely, when I come unstuck again.  Although that may be some time off as I fear I've become a little obsessed with ancestor hunting and need to detox a while.

Thankyou again

R

[atom12]

Nooo ...oo, please don't be gone too long Ratchete.  I've enjoyed reading this thread especially since I'm from another Reid line which hasn't tied up with your line, but still fascinating nonetheless. 

[Ratchete]

Hi All,

I'm not really anywhere nearer finding out who W Reid is but have found some one called Cressida Potter who has done a fair bit of research on Reids in Glenkindie.  She has a website and whilst browsing it I came across a William Reid who was a minister and whose sons were a major general, a professor and a doctor.  This may be a huge coincidence but I'm going to try and see if there is any connection between the Glenkindie Reids and mine.  Geographically they are very close but that doesn't necessarily mean anything as I have found to my literal cost.

Thanks for your previous help.

R

ps the Fasti was fascinating

[flst]

Hi, I think I've found John Reid in 1871&1881. He's in Edinburgh, 37 Arthur Street,(1871) & 37 Arthur Street (1881) & is a Police Constable. His birthplace is spelled Huntley.He's married (ancestry says Diana)but in 1881 his wife is named as Ann.They have a daughter, Jane b.1869, son John, born 1870 & Arthur I.born 1878. Ann's birthplace is Caithnessshire.
Hope this is the correct family,
flst

[Ratchete]

Dear flst,

You were correct for both 1871 and 1881.  His first wife Diana died of smallpox and he subsequently married Ann.  He  seems to have had a thing for women from Caithness; both were born there.  I'm very happy to have found him but I don't think John will lead me to the W? Reid who wrote the letter.

Thanks

R