Saltpan owners in Torryburn in the 1780s

[Revolution]

Hi

My ancestor Agnes/Ann/Annie Muir was born in 1782 in Torryburn, Fifeshire, Scotland to Margaret Drysdale and John Muir. The baptism says she was begotten in adultery. Her death certificate on 20 DEC 1872 in Alva, Clackmannanshire, Scotland also says she was illigitimate.

John Muir is named as the owner of a saltpan but apart from this we know nothing about him. Looking at Scotlandspeople and filtering by Fife theres a few John Muirs who are fathers 20 years before and 20 years after Agnes is born. Im assuming as a 'saltpan owner' he would have been older than 20 years.

Of course John Muir may not have been a saltpan owner but a worker...

There are no other baptisms in Torryburn for a longtime.

Any idea how to find saltpan owners from 1782 so I can try and find if my John Muir married and had more kids?

[Margow]

The following transcribed extract from Torryburn Kirk Session Minutes of 9 March 1783 may be of interest. 

Compeared upon Citation Margaret Drysdale Spouse to Roger Martine a Soldier who has been Several years in America and Acknowledged that John Muir Cowfeeder in the Parish of West Kirk in whose Service She had been before Martinmas eighty one was the only true father of the Child She brought forth Last year  She declared that the Said John Muir Died in January Seventeen hundred & eighty two And Produced an Extract from the Records of Mortality from the Parish of West Kirk Certifying the above Fact  She also Produced a Paper Dated Portsburgh 28th Febr. 1783 Signed James Somerville Bearing that the Said John Muir at the time of His Death was by Habit & Repute a Married Man

See Torryburn kirk session, Minutes (1777-1848), CH2/355/7  (ScotlandsPeople Virtual Volumes)

[Revolution]

Thats amazing! Thank you Margow

[Margow]

You're welcome !  In cases of adultery and/or illegitimacy, it's always worth checking the kirk session minutes in SP Virtual Volumes - unindexed, but free to search.

[Revolution]

I found this reference on Ancestry and the death on SP. Not so easy to read the death place. Or is it only the parish mentioned?

Name   Muir or Mure, John
Dates   13 Jun. 1782
Place   Thorneybaulk St. Cuthbert's, Midlothia, Scotland
Book   List of Burials excerpted from Register in possession of the Registrar of the Canongate. (Burial)
Collection   Midlothian: Edinburgh - The Commissariot Record of Edinburgh, 1701-1800
Volume   The Commissariot Record of Edinburgh.
Chapter   Register of Testaments. Third Section--1701-1800.
Text   Muir or Mure, John, cow-feeder at Thorneybaulk, par. of St. Cuthbert's 13 Jun 1782

[Revolution]

Johns wife named as Hannah Somerville in the "Will"

[Revolution]

Hannah remarries in 1783 to William Stewart - another Cowfeeder

[GR2]

Muier      19   John Mwier Cowfider in thorney
                     Bailck Lys 25 f: N: from Bwies tomb         41     Decay
                     1[1] f: E: from the W Dyke

Muir       19    John Muir, cowfeeder in Thornybauk lies 25 feet north from Buie's tomb, 1[1] feet east
                     from the west dyke                                 [age] 41 [cause of death] decay

I am 99% certain it is 11, rather than 14. It is quite normal to see the location of a grave being given in relation to fixed points in the kirkyard, here Buie's tomb and the west dyke (= wall) of the kirkyard.

Thornybauk in 1817 (follow the middle fold of the map down until you come to the first "proposed basin" coloured in blue - Thornybauk is just below that):

https://maps.nls.uk/view/74400073

The same in 1784 (go to the oval at the bottom left that says "A PLAN OF THE CITY AND SUBURBS ...", then follow the "Road to Peebles" north from that until you come to "Weir's Feu". Thornybauk is not marked, but it is the area west of Weir's Feu):

https://maps.nls.uk/view/74400071

[Revolution]

Thank you GR2!

There's a couple of Muir plots around there too.

I was hoping it was saying where he died for the family record. I havent seen such clear burial instructions before.

His children with Hannah were baptised in Carnwath, Lanarkshire, Scotland