The Right Hon. Sir F. E. KENNEDY.

[minniehaha]

Hello,

My great-great-grandfather was apparently appointed head forester on the estate of the Right Honorable Sir F. E. Kennedy, in Ayrshire, "which estate adjoined the ancestral home of Sir Charles Fergusson."

The years of employment would have been between approximately 1851 & 1859.

Can anyone please provide information about the man and/or his property?


Minniehaha.

[Ruskie]

Have you located your ancestor on the 1851 and 1861 censuses? Is he living on the estate, and is FE Kennedy also living there? What does the F and E stand for?

[minniehaha]

Hello Ruskie,

[Just modified my post to show great-great-grandfather]

In 1851, David Nicoll* was in Dalgety, Fife.
In 1861 he was in New Zealand.

The information in my first post comes from the obituary of one of his daughters here in New Zealand, so the details would have been handed down. Unfortunately I have nothing more on the Right Honorable.

There is some background to the family here:

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=711544.msg5551104#msg5551104

Still trying to establish why there were name changes and we now wonder if David/James was perhaps trying to evade the law? In order to emigrate to New Zealand, he and his eldest daughter apparently travelled all the way from Scotland to Gravesend where they boarded the ship, the Clontarf in 1858, arriving in New Zealand in 1859. They have not been found on the shipping list.

Minniehaha.

[Forfarian]

Try looking in the Valuation Rolls at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk - you should be able to find out which properties were owned by which of these two gentlemen.

[GR2]

The 1841 census shows Sir Charles Fergusson at Kilkerran in the parish of Dailly.

My 1883 Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (at that time the laird was Sir James Fergusson who, amongst many other jobs, was governor of New Zealand 1872-74) says:

Kilkerran, a mansion with fine grounds, in Dailly parish, Ayrshire, 1 mile SE of Kilkerran station on the Maybole and Girvan section of the Glasgow and South-Western railway, this being 4 1/4 miles S of Maybole .......................... and the estate contains acid works, limeworks, a sawmill, sandstone quarries, and remains of a strong castle.

Now to look for the neighbours!

[ShaunJ]

There was a Kennedy family at Dalquharran Castle in Dailly.

[GR2]

I was just thinking it might be Dalquharran. The 1883 Ordnance Gazetteer says:

Dalquharran Castle, a fine mansion in Dailly parish, Ayrshire, on the right bank of the Girvan Water, 5 furlongs E of Dailly Station, this being 7 3/8 miles SSW of Maybole. Built about 1790, it was the seat of the Right Hon. Thos. Fran. Kennedy (1788-1879), who sat for the Ayr burghs from 1818 to 1834, and whose son and successor, Fran. Thos. Romilly Kennedy, Esq. (b. 1842), holds 4142 acres in the shire, valued at £5941 per annum, including £900 for minerals.

I would suggest that "The Right Hon. Sir F. E. Kennedy" is a mis-remembering of the Right Hon. Thomas Francis Kennedy. The fact that a neighbouring Fergusson became governor of New Zealand would reinforce the link in the telling in view of the family having moved to NZ.

[Forfarian]

The 1855 Valuation Roll lists 30 properties belonging to Sir James Fergusson in the parish of Dailly. However some are lumped together as groups of 'small posessions' so the real number will be far more.

In 1865 the Rt Hon Thomas Francis Kennedy was proprietor of 20 properties including Dalquharran. There are none listed against his surname in 1855, but there are 8 properties listed under Dalquaharran without the name of the proprietor.

[Ruskie]

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=16&lat=55.2918&lon=-4.6731&layers=6&right=BingHyb

and

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=16&lat=55.2918&lon=-4.6731&layers=6&right=BingHyb
(there certainly seem to be a lot of forests in the area) 

Added: GR2's reasoning for the mention of Fergusson seems very logical.