Robertson/Paterson/Mitchell/McArthur – Old Deer – circa. 1780-1870

[ruthhelen]

Hi all

This is my first post on RootsChat – and it's a bit of a conundrum. If anyone else has any of these families in their tree, and can shed any light, it would be gratefully received 

I have two branches of Robertsons, which I'm sure must be related, but I can't find the link.

The first branch is:

1. Ann Robertson (abt 1812, Strichen) married William Mitchell, farmer (1 Aug 1798, Ellon), on 28 Nov 1833, Old Deer. They had eight children (that I know of), including my great, great grandmother, Elizabeth Paterson Mitchell (19 Nov 1845, Old Deer), who married Robert McArthur (3 Jan 1843, Old Deer). Ann died aged 50 on 5 Apr 1862 – her parents are noted on her death certificate as John Robertson (farmer) and Ann Morison.

2. Christian Robertson (abt 1818, Strichen), Ann's sister, married John Henderson (abt 1817, St Fergus) on 12 Nov 1842. They had six children. Christian died 28 Aug 1872 – on her death certificate, her parents are noted as George Robertson (no occupation recorded) and Ann Morrison.

I have all records for Ann and Christian, except their birth records – which I can't find a trace of. I'm fairly sure they were sisters, as Christian appears in the 1841 census in Old Deer living with Ann and her husband and children (although relationships weren't recorded in the 1841 census, so it's a bit of an educated guess). Also, Ann's son, William Mitchell married Christian's daughter, Maggie Henderson – the fact that they are cousins is recorded on the marriage certificate (18 Jan 1873, Old Deer).

I can't find any other siblings though – and it seems likely there were some. I thought I had the family – there is a John Robertson and Ann Morison who married 21 Feb 1807 in Huntly. They had eight children, all baptised in Huntly, including a daughter, Ann (1808), but no Christian – and Huntly is nowhere near Strichen, which is recorded in all the census records as the birthplace for both Ann and Christian.

The web gets even more tangled with the second branch of Robertsons:

1. James Robertson (18 Aug 1837, Old Deer) fathered an illegitimate daughter (Ann Mitchell or Robertson, 24 Dec 1859) with Janet/Jessie Mitchell (25 Apr 1841). Jessie was the sister of Elizabeth Paterson Mitchell and daughter of Ann Robertson (above). Jessie went on to marry Alexander Morrison (blacksmith) and had a further nine children.

2. James Robertson's parents were John Robertson, farmer (abt 1806, Ellon) and Elizabeth Paterson (abt 1805, Cluny or Monymusk). They lived at Mains of Annochie. Elizabeth Paterson died 16 Dec 1872 of meningitis – her death certificate is witnessed by my great, great grandfather, Robert McArthur (the husband of Elizabeth Paterson Mitchell), who was a neighbour of the Robertsons, living at Annochie.

My first thought was that John Robertson (1806, Ellon) must be the brother of Ann and Christian Robertson – why else would Ann have called one of her daughters Elizabeth Paterson Mitchell, after John's wife, Elizabeth Paterson? Calling one of your children after the spouse of one of your siblings seems to have been quite a common practice – I have several examples elsewhere in my family tree. But John's death certificate (3 Dec 1879) records his parents as Arthur Robertson (miller) and Christian Bannerman. So perhaps they were cousins, and it was Arthur Robertson (John's father) and John/George Robertson (Ann and Christian's father) who were brothers? Unfortunately, I'm struggling find any evidence of this, as we're back in the 1700s, where records were sketchier.

There's also a whole Morison/Morrison thing going on with this lot too, but that just complicates matters further 

If anyone's still with me after that lot – then well done – I've just read it all back, and it seems even more complicated than it at first appeared 

Ruth

[flst]

Hi, and welcome to rootschat. I've had a look, on familysearch & freecen, for Arthur Robertson. I see that in 1841 Arthur William Robertson is living at Mains of Annochie. His occupation is given as a wheelwright, not a miller. His daughter, Margaret is at the same address. I found mention of 3 children to Arthur, your ancestor John, Margaret , and a Eupheme, all in the parish of Ellon. If you were to find either a marriage or death certificate for Margaret you'd get confirmation of her parents. Who were the witnesses at the baptisms of the Robertson children?  Have you found any headstones for the Robertsons? There may be important information on them By the way, I found a newspaper article on a presentation given to John Robertson on July 15th 1859. I found it by searching for "Mains of Annochie" on the National Library of Scotland's website. Hope this helps,
flst

[flst]

By searching Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives I've managed to find Arthur Robertson. His name appears on the Record of relief given to families of militia men. The family were living in the parish of Logie Buchan.  His wife was Christn.Bannerman & there were 2 children under the age of ten - Euphemia & John. In the first entry (no.241) they are 6 & 5. In the second entry (no.767) in 1812, they are aged 8 & 6. You now have confirmation that John's parents were as stated. Margaret, christened on April 1799 in Ellon, was too old to be a dependant & that's why she doesn't appear on the form.
flst

[flst]

In the 1851 census Arthur's birthplace is given as Fintray. There are 2 brothers baptised in Fintray, father, John Robertson & mother (only named in one entry) Margaret Tap. Arthur was baptised 27th October 1771 & John 3rd October 1774. You can read the full entries on scotlandspeople. It may give you the address, occupation of the father & names of any witnesses/sponsors. Your theory could be correct, but it has still to be proven, that John, Ann & Christian were cousins.
Regards,
flst.

[flst]

There is a headstone in Ellon Churchyard with an inscription for Euphemia, daughter to A.K. Robertson, Mill of Auchmacoy. In freecen's transcription of the 1841 census Arthur's middle initial was shown as W. Have you viewed the original? Euphemia died April 4th 1819 in her 13th year of age. The full transcription can be found in the Aberdeen & North East of Scotland Family History Society's publication  "The Kirkyard of Ellon". Also mentioned are another Robertson family. The head was George Robertson of Cairnadailly.Married to Jannet Keith, he died in 1886 aged 77. It would be worthwhile purchasing his death certificate from scotlandspeople. There's a high possibility he's a close relative of Arthur
flst

[ruthhelen]

Thank you so much - this has given me a lot to follow up 

I think I've also now found Arthur in the 1851 census - still in Mains of Annochie, and still with his daughter, Margaret. I also have a death certificate for 7 Mar 1857, witnessed by his son, John - his parents are given as John Robertson and Isabel Simpson.

I've also found what I think is a death certificate for Margaret - she seems to have died in the pauper's lodgings in Old Deer in 1866. Interestingly, her parents are given as Arthur Robertson and Jean Milne.

I was beginning to wonder whether Arthur may have been married twice (his death cert just says 'married' - no names) - the marriage date I have for him and Christian Bannerman is 1803, which is about four years after Margaret was born. There is a marriage between an Arthur Robertson and a Jean Milne in Ellon in 1795, which would match. There may also be another daughter from this first marriage - there's an Isabel Robertson, daughter of Arthur Robertson, baptised in Ellon in 1797... Unless there are two Arthur Robertsons, with children of similar ages and names...

Think I need to do a bit more digging around to try and confirm all this - and I'll get hold of the original 1841 census image to see what that has to say about Arthur's middle name... onwards and upwards 

[ruthhelen]

Right, I have the 1841 census entry, and it's made me even more convinced that all these disparate Robertsons must be related… 

Firstly, the 'William' thing is definitely a transcription error - Ancestry has the entry transcribed as 'A Wm Robertson' - but it's actually simply 'Arthur' - I can sort of see where they got the 'Wm' from, but it definitely looks like just Arthur to me…

The best thing is that the census page has all the various Robertson families that I've encountered so far living within half a mile of each other. Firstly, at Mains of Annochie, we have John Robertson and family, then next door, his father Arthur and sister Margaret, then across the river at Craigiehill, we have Ann Mitchell (nee Robertson) and family, and her sister Christian Robertson.

And to add to the intrigue, there is another family at Mains of Annochie called Wildgoose - my great, great grandmother, Elizabeth Paterson Mitchell McArthur (the daughter of Ann Mitchell) named one of her daughters Margaret Wildgoose McArthur 

[flst]

If you look up the baptisms for the children you should be able to tell if there's one or two Arthurs in Ellon parish at the same time.(Available on scotlandspeople.)
flst

[ruthhelen]

The plot thickens - back to the two Robertsons baptised in Fintray… The first, Arthur (1771) was the son of John Robertson of Newmill - no wife named and no profession. The second, John (1774) was "a son of Margaret Tap, daughter of John Tap of W Fintray, begotten in adultery with John Robertson, miller, in Loggie parish"… 

I suspect these two John Robertsons may be one and the same, as Arthur's death certificate records his father, John Robertson, as being a miller. Now I wonder what happened to the illegitimate John Robertson - presumably he stayed with his mother...