18thC Scottish Miller family in Durham

[J11]

In 1784 Isabella Miller became pregnant by her second cousin, "a James Grant, who was working for her brothers Charles, Hugh and John in Durham, South Britain". She was living with her father William Miller at Nether Tomdow, a farm in Knockando parish, Morayshire in the Highlands. Apparently, James Grant came up on business, spending 6 weeks with William Miller, and the dastardly deed was done. He denied all and hot-footed it off to America.

This Durham connection explains why I can't find Charles Miller anywhere on Scotlands People or Moray Libindx. He too had an illegitimate daughter Sarah (my 3xg grandmother) with a Janet McDonald, the widow of farmer Lachlan McBain of Upper Borlum, Knockando in 1785. His sister Isabella was one of the sponsors. There is no marriage record for Charles and Janet in Scotland.

Charles's father William, farmer and Church Elder, is born in 1719 in Edinkillie, Morayshire but moved to Knockando and is buried there.  There is no birth record for Charles or his brothers and sisters so, as the 18thC Edinkilllie baptism records still exist but the Knockando ones pre-1770ish were destroyed, I am assuming William had his family in Knockando.

Is there any way I can find more information on Charles and what he and his brothers were doing in Durham?  Charles's daughter Sarah remained in Scotland.  

[Geordie Mag]

There are, as you can imagine, rather a lot of Millers in County Durham and quite a few of them were called Charles. However, the name Hugh does not turn up quite so often. In the Diocese of Durham marriage bonds, for February 1796, there is recorded the marriage of Hugh Miller "of the parish of Sunderland near the sea", a spirit merchant, and Elizabeth Taylor, both over 21 years. A John Hay, Master Mariner, put up the bond with Hugh, but in the note added to the entry in the index, it says that the wedding took place at Sunderland and that Charles Miller was one of the witnesses.

[J11]

Thank you very much for looking for me.  The names certainly look promising.  I had been trying to find out what they could have been doing down there and had thought possibly cattle or wool.  Spirit merchant seemed unlikely at first but then I remembered that today the Tamdhu Distillery is on the site of Nether Tomdow Farm.  I wonder...

[Geordie Mag]

And Sunderland being a port, it would be a good place for bringing in a quality Scottish product! Keep it all in the family and cut out the middleman...could be, perhaps. My hesitation was that the date of the marriage, 1796, seemed a bit late, but it could have been a second marriage. There does not seem to be any reference to Hugh's marital status in the records.
I take it you have no clues as to when the Miller children might have been born - from Isabella's age at death, perhaps? What happened to Janet the widow? Did she disappear from Scottish records too?

[Geordie Mag]

My mistake - when I printed off the copy it missed off the crucial bit which states that he was a bachelor. Here is the reference. there is another document referring to Hugh on page 119.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11873-44958-84?cc=1675690&wc=5488692
The index reference, mentioning Charles:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-12324-149898-72?cc=1840743&wc=5486386

[J11]

Thank you very much for the information.  I'm afraid I have no record of Janet McDonald after the illegitimate birth.  Scots don't keep death records, they didn't have a funeral just an interment.  Sometimes there are mortcloth records, i.e. who paid for the church cloth to be draped over their coffin on the way to the cemetery, but they wouldn't tell us whether she married as Scottish women didn't adopt their husband's name on marriage.  Unfortunately all the Knockando records were lost in a fire in the 1780s so it is a real pain of a parish to deal with.  I agree that 1796 seems a little late for a first marriage even though he appears to be the youngest of the three from the order on their parent's gravestone.  I've pencilled it in as a strong possibility and will try looking at other trees to see if the link to Elizabeth Taylor may confirm it one way or the other.  Thank you for your help,

Jenny

[dornic]

I'm afraid I have no record of Janet McDonald after the illegitimate birth.

Hi:

I came across this thread entirely by accident but I do have a little information.
Lachlan McBean of Knockando is my fifth great grandfather through his son Ludovick McBean. Lachlan McBean married Janet McAlaster on 18 February 1775 at Knockando. Janet McAlaster was baptized at Inveravon, daughter of Donald McAlaster and Isabel Black. Her baptism was on 11 June 1756. Lachlan and Janet had six children - Ludovick, Anne, Stephen, Elizabeth, William and Grace.
According to a testament dated 14 February 1785, Lachlan McBean died in February 1784 and Janet became his relict and executrix. However, the testament which took place a year after Lachlan's death, names her as Janet McDonald, indicating she had remarried, or at least taken someone's name - not surprising since she had six children all under ten. I can find no trace of the marriage or who the husband was.

I do know that Janet McDonald is buried in Spital cemetery in Aberdeen. She died on the 23rd September 1824. Her inscription reads "Janet McDonald widow of Lauchland McBain, a farmer of Knockando". Her age in the burial records is stated as 67, which fits with the baptismal record I have for her.
I do have copies of the burial records for Janet McDonald, the six children's baptisms, the marriage record of Lachlan McBean and Janet McAlaster, and the baptismal records of Janet McAlaster and her two sisters, Margaret (bap. 1761) and Isabel (bap. 1758).
Many of the McBeans are buried in Spital cemetery, including Lachlan and his son Ludovick and Ludovick's wife, Isabel Brymer.
Your information is interesting to me. I had no idea what happened to Janet in the intervening years before her death.
It is interesting that Janet is not buried on the McBean land in the cemetery, despite there being 35 people buried in the same spot, several of whom are mentioned on the headstone.
If there is anything else I can help you with, please contact me.

Adrian Powell (Canada)

[David Geddes]

I can add a bit to this thread concerning Janet McAlaster (also known by her father's occasional surname McDonald). Janet b1758 and Lachlan Mcbean b 1749 are my GGGGG- Grandparents. Lachlan's father also Lachlan b 1725 was probably the younger son of the Mcbean clan laird of Tomatin. I have from Canada a 20 page doc transcribed from the memories of William Mcbean 1796-1883. It has helped me open up more history on Janet McAlaster (his spelling). She is described a marrying at age 16, being beautiful, clever, tolerably capable with Latin, and determined to marry Lachlan from an early age. Lachlan is appointed factor to the Grant estates centred around Knockando and is given the tenancy of Upper Borlum(e) farm. The farm animal inventory describes the stock belonging to a wealthy young man. Lachlan dies very shortly after his feudal superior- the Grant laird of Knockando. Janet McAlaster sort of disappears from factual history after the early death of her husband Lachlan. Why does the Rev Francis Grant take the guardian role of the 4 young children (3 survive) when Janet is well and it seems (for some time) retains the Upper Borlum(e) farm  tenancy?  Why is Janet not buried in the sizeable Mcbean family lair in St Peters, Aberdeen - although she is buried elsewhere in St Peters. There was a lot of bother endured to keep the many Mcbeans together in death. Some of this is explained by the fact that Janet has a child by the neighbouring farmer Charles Miller of Nether Tomdow - another Grant tenancy farm only a mile away - conceived 11 months after Lachlan was in laid in the ground.  This child  is Sarah Miller, and she is followed by James Miller in early 1787. As the Parish recorder wrote on the judgemental birth certificate  - Sarah - 'begat in fornication'.  James, some 2 years later is more sparingly described on his entry to the world. What was Janet's working relationship with the guardian of her children by Lachlan - the Rev Grant of Knockando - also her judge on the cutty stool on a sunday?  He was probably  a younger brother to the Grant Laird - the clergy was the next best career prospect to land owning - the third son generally went to the military. Sarah marries the son of a Grant family - her mother in law being loosely related to the Rothiemurchus Grants of Aviemore - a very powerful, eventually titled, and wealthy family. From the marriage of Sarah to William Grant there are an enormous number of Grant descendants who carry some shared genes via Janet McAlaster - whose father was known as a McAlaster or a McDonald. So there are now MacGregors and McGrigors in my  Morrison mix too at other points in the history.  Add the Mcbeans and the Clan Chattan affiliation - its a very blood thirsty lot on this side of the family  It may be recalled that  it was the Chattans incl McBeans who cut the Camerons down from their 30 best warriors to a single survivor in front of the King Robert 3 at the North Inches, Perth in an arranged pageantry of gore in the 1300s. Well Knockando seems to be an interesting wee place where folk in the late 1700s must have been whistling a happy tune as they watched the bairns play - but just whose bairns?  A lot of them were Janet's!  The proximity of son Ludovick’s parents' in law home (Bremners) to the castle gates at the Duke of Gordon's Castle at Fochabers makes for some interesting speculation as to patronage of his bespoke weaving. William Mcbean describes the Bremners as 'stiff and bigoted Catholics' - and his father Ludovick - thereafter referred to as 'Lewie' - as 'not over acceptable'  as a son in law- since he was Protestant . But as the Mcbeans fought valiantly in both the 1715-19 and 1745-6 Jacobite team,  Ludovick's family must have changed faith after the 1745 Rebellion. Understandably politically expedient to do so.  The Grants were Hanovarian supporters and provided officers for the Black Watch Regt- set up to police the Highlands post 1745. Ludovick and Isabella were married twice in the same day - RC and Presbyterian  - on the 1 May 1797- a day on which it snowed heavily. (I am currently attempting to complete an OCR translation of the original old scanned typed document of the McBean/ McAlaster story.