John Cruickhank - Mortlach

[scotsloon]

I'm struggling to find any information on my 4 x Great Grandfather John Cruickshank.  I think he was born in 1761 (not confirmed) and I know he married Jean Dow on 14/4/1799 in Mortlach and they had a son Thomas Cruickshank who was born in Mortlach on 18/2/1802.

I like to find out some more information about John as I've hit a dead end and can't seem to get any further back.  I'm also presuming they had more than 1 child but again I haven't been able to find any during my search.

[Forfarian]

I'm struggling to find any information on my 4 x Great Grandfather John Cruickshank.  I think he was born in 1761 (not confirmed) and I know he married Jean Dow on 14/4/1799 in Mortlach and they had a son Thomas Cruickshank who was born in Mortlach on 18/2/1802.

I like to find out some more information about John as I've hit a dead end and can't seem to get any further back.  I'm also presuming they had more than 1 child but again I haven't been able to find any during my search.

Have you seen the baptism? Does it say where they lived?

There was also a daughter Margaret, baptised in 1800.

I have some information about Thomas' family.

[scotsloon]

I've only seen the baptism of Thomas, from the handwriting it looks like they lived in Laichie?

What info do you have on Thomas?  I know he was married twice and had 4 kids with Ann Cattenach and 3 with Elizabeth Stuart.  I know he was killed when he was thrown from a horse in a storm and there was apparently a cairn dedicated to him near Rothes - that part was told to me by my Uncle so I don't know how true it is and if it's still there.

[Forfarian]

Thomas married Elizabeth Stewart in 1842 and had three children: John 1843-1900; Robert 1845-1915; Margaret 1847-1853. Elizabeth died in 1859 and in 1860 Thomas married Anne Cattanach, by whom he had Jane 1862; George Thomas 1865-1887; James 1868-1939; Peter Alexander 1871. Thomas died in 1876 and Anne in 1893.

Laichie would make sense. It was near Laichie that the town of Dufftown was founded in 1817, to provide employment for demobbed soldiers after the Napoleonic Wars. However I have yet to find a map with Laichie shown on it.

Thomas' death certificate gave as cause of death fatigue and exposure to cold, but I've never heard of a cairn. He was found dead in Drumbain Plantation so if there's a cairn it would probably be somewhere near there.

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These Cruickshanks are possibly related to mine, who first appeared in Rothes in 1766: Robert Cruickshank and Janet Rainnie. Your John could even, conceivably, have been another of their children.

There were a lot of Cruickshanks in the parish of Knockando, which is next to Rothes, but unfortunately the Knockando parish registers were destroyed in a fire in (IIRC) 1783, so there isn't any way to prove for certain that 'my' Robert and Janet moved from Knockando to Rothes, or that 'your' John was also related. Even Y-DNA won't help because there are, as far as I know, no living male descendants in my line.

In 1841 John C, aged 79, born Moray; Jean C, 75, not born Moray; and Thomas C, 37, not born in Moray were living at Newton, Rothes.