Relative in Stuartfield

[Forfarian]

Wow. I guess it isn't an exaggeration to say that Northeast Scotland had a lot of illegitimate children in the 19th century.... ;-)

No, it isn't.

I don't have it to hand, but in T C Smout's A Century of the Scottish People there is a chapter about this among other matters. If I recall the figures correctly, the authorities were horrified to find, after the first year of statutory civil registration in 1855, that 19% of births in Banffshire were out of wedlock, and a significant further number of babies was born a less than decorous interval after their parents' weddings. The corresponding figure in Ross-shire was about 2%, and there have been lots of attempts to explain this large disparity.

[Fogmoose]

OK time for updates re: GG Grandma (what a woman.... 5 illegitimate children and counting!). I have found new evidence that leads me to believe with near certainty that Jane Hutcheon (also spelled Hutcheson or Hutchison) is indeed the same person on the 1944 DC, and that her son Donald Forsyth Hutchison, B. 1878,  had an older sister Johan Forsyth Hutchison B. 1876, most likely to the same father. As in the case of my G Grandfather and the other half-siblings, in each case found so far the father's surname is used as the child's middle name (thanks for that G Grandma!). I found a death for a Donald Forsyth in 1961,  so he was by that time using his fathers surname ....the same as my G Grandfather had done. The reason I can say this all with near certainty is I have found only two photos of GG Grandma. One is a photo of her and her Grandson (My G Grandad) aged about 8 years old. Not of much use. But the second makes up for it. It shows two woman and two men, and on the back it says "gram aged 84. august 1935 Donald Grandma Johan & Husband". Donald I now know is the uncle whom my Grandmother corresponded with back in Scotland (he would periodically send her heather), however I never realized that Johan was a girls name... a variant spelling of Jo-Anne...stupid me.  So now back to work to see if I can find a marriage for Johan! What an amazing journey family history is!

 

[Forfarian]

I never realized that Johan was a girls name... a variant spelling of Jo-Anne

I think you will find that Johan and Johanna both have a far longer history than Jo-Anne or any other double given name with a hyphen in the middle. All of these, plus Joanne and Joanna, are variants of Joan, and Joan is one of the feminine versions of John, along with the much commoner Jane, Jean and Janet.

See www.whatsinaname.net

A quick search on SP finds
34 references to Johan* in the 1500s, plus one to Joann*
43 in the 1600s plus 863 to Joann*
1034 in the 1700s, plus 1115 to Joann*
40,678 in the 1800s but just 1 reference to Jo-An* (which looks like your Johan Forsyth, aged 14, in the 1891 census in Methlick but recorded as Jo-Anna!) plus 25,693 to Joann*
47,400 in the 1900s but just 509 references to Jo-An*, plus 40,424 to Joann*
4876 in the 2000s so far but just 390 references to Jo-An*, plus 15,850 to Joann*

So it looks as if the insertion of the hyphen is very much a relatively recent fashion compared with the use of the h or the name without the hyphen.

Note that most of the earliest Johan* references will be to males, because John is often recorded in its Latin version as Johannes in early documents, and it's not possible to tell from the indexes to births and deaths whether Johan* is male or female without using gender as a search parameter, which is not available in the "quick search" on SP.

I have known several women and girls named Johan, especially in the Highlands.

[Fogmoose]

Looks like Jean/Jane Fowlie might have been the daughter of the Jean/Jane Greig, widow, she is with in the 1861 census in New Deer. In 1851, the family are at Auchmunziel, New Deer:

William Greig, 79, head
Jean Greig, 76 wife
Jean Fowlie, unmarried, 28, daughter in law
William Hutcheon, 7, grandson
Alexander Hutcheon, 4, grandson

‘Daughter in law’ in this case probably means step-daughter - which either means Jean Fowlie was also illegitimate, or she was the daughter of her mother’s previous marriage.

There are baptisms recorded for both William Hutcheon and Alexander Hutcheon in New Deer - the father is named as Alexander Hutcheon in both cases. A look at one of the records will confirm whether they were legitimate or not, but it seems unlikely given their mother’s unmarried status.

Jean Fowlie appears as a servant at Auchmunziel in 1841, aged 20 - next door to her parent's farm. There is an Alexander Hutcheon, farm servant, aged 15 also present, who is presumably the same Alexander Hutcheon who fathered her children.

Ruth

Ruth, where are you seeing Jean Fowlie  and Alexander Hutcheon at Auchmunziel in 1841? The only  ones I can find are not the ones you mention. The only Jane Fowlie age 20 I see is at Oldmaud with her (presumed) husband John, a Crofter.

[Fogmoose]

OK I found it.... Jane Fowler, age 20 F. S  does that mean Farm Servant?

and Alexander Hutchon, 15 M.S  Man Servant? is that what that stands for?


what evidence do you see that her parents farm is next door?

[flst]

I searched & found them on freecen. Janes parents are on the previous page. SCT1841/225 Folio 1 page 10. Their surname is spelled as Grieg.
flst

[flst]

FS = female servant
MS =male servant
flst

[Fogmoose]

OK Got it, FreeCEN is great....and Free!

[Fogmoose]

Can anyone venture a guess as to why Jean Fowlie and her son would be listed as Daughter-in-Law and Grandson, respectively, in the 1851 census; and then as Servant and Visitor in the 1861? I see that sometime during that ten year span, William Greig had died. Since William was listed as the sponsor on another of Jean Fowlie's (Illegitimate!) baptisms (see http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=764843.0 ), would it be fair to assume that Jean Fowlie had a connection to William Greig and NOT Jean Greig? Perhaps from a prior marriage? But then why would she not have the same last name, unless she was also illegitimate and Mr. Greig did not legally admit parentage? Further evidence is that Jean Greig died the next year (1862) and her death was registered by a cousin and NOT by Jean Fowlie.

Any help would be appreciated...