Possible English ancestry

[ScrittiPolizei89]

Good evening.
I have a heck of a lot of Scottish ancestry, and that also encompasses my paternal line, which is traced back to Andrew Hutchison, who was born, c. 1789, in Leslie, Fife. The mystery however concerns this part of my family tree, and Andrew's son, my 3x great-grandfather, also called Andrew. Andrew the younger was born in 1814 in Edinburgh, his mother was Janet Swan, her own parents were also from across the water (Fifers). This is all from my research on Ancestry and this is where it gets interesting. It appears I have some distant English ancestry on further down the line on Janet Swan's side. Her paternal grandfather was James Swan, who was born, c. 1729, in Kennoway, Fife. James's father's side seems to have several family lines that originate south of the border. His 4x great-grandmother (and my 12th), Eupham Judith Bell was born in 1555 in Perth, but her parents, Edward Bell and Margaret Boyes, were both from Durham. On another line one of his family lines, his 3x great-grandmother Betty Collier is seemingly from England (or at least both of her parents are). Betty Collier was born in 1749, she married George Smith, who was born, c. 1740 in Markinch, Fife.
On another line of her family tree concerns another 4x great-grandparent, represented by Sir John Sims/Symes, who was born in 1572 in Chard, Somerset. He married Elizabeth Pynchen (who was born in Fife, although the surname 'Pynchen' is also English) and their daughter was Jane Symes (born in Dunfermline in 1594).
I am wondering how accurate this information all is for one, and also if there was a large ever a smallish concentration of English settlement in parts of Scotland, a case in point being here (if it is true, ofc).
The Scottish diaspora is extensive and substantial, and an enormous amount of Scots emigrated either to England or the New World, but we don't hear much about the migration of English north of the border (althouhg it was obviously never big in number); Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon both have 'English' ancestors.

[Forfarian]

I am wondering how accurate this information all is for one

If you are taking all this from trees submitted to Ancestry, don't. Just don't.

There are some trees on Ancestry that are well researched and backed up by a genuine original documents, but there are others that are just cobbled together in a mixture of fantasy, wishful thinking and downright lies, especially once you start getting back into the mid-18th century and earlier

Unless the tree(s) you are looking at can be verified backwards at every step, using original documents, do not trust them. They may be true, but you can't be sure without checking.

The source of most of the surviving authentic original records of births/baptisms, banns/marriages and deaths in Scotland is www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. It's pay-per-view but modestly priced.

There is a record of the banns of marriage of Andrew Hutchison and Janet Swan in Leith in 1808.

Andrew Hutchison, son of Andrew Hutchison, mother not named, was baptised by the minister of Kirkgate Associate Church (not necessarily in the church building) in Leith on 23 May 1813.

The banns of marriage of George Smith and Betty Collier were recorded in Kinglassie and in Markinch in January 1777.

[ColC]

Based on the information posted this might be of interest, all records on Scotland’s People can be searched for free, a small fee to view.

SWAN JANET   JAMES SWAN/GRIZEL BALINGALL    08/04/1791   KENNOWAY

JAMES SWAN   MARRIED   GRIZEL BALINGALL   13/12/1788   KENNOWAY

SWAN   JAMES   JAMES SWAN/JANET BIRREL   01/03/1757   KENNOWAY

JAMES SWAN   MARRIED   JANET BIRROL   26/12/1754   KETTLE

“Her paternal grandfather was James Swan, who was born, c. 1729, in Kennoway, Fife”

I do not see a birth/baptism for James in Kennoway, however there is this below.

SWAN   JAMES   WILLIAM SWAN/BARBARA BELL    16/11/1735   FALKLAND

WILLIAM SWAN   MARRIED   BARBARA BELL   15/08/1724   FALKLAND
SWAN WILLIAM   MARRIED   BARBARA BELL   15/08/1724   MARKINCH

Their eldest son James was born in 1725, I assume he died but no record in Falkland, they had several other children there, however their youngest daughter Isabel was born 1744 in Kennoway. My only concern is that I do not see any kind of naming pattern.
 
Colin

[Forfarian]

Lots of potential leads, but the important thing to remember is that just because there's only one matching individual doesn't mean they have to be the right person. In the middle of the 18th century there are probably as many people missing from the surviving records as there are on record, so it is never safe to assume that the only candidate is the right one.

[Rena]

I usually look at the family's occupation and also check the area for early modes of travel.

 Were the Swann family drovers?  Drovers routes where cattle/sheep/geese were moved from  farms to major markets along "drovers roads".  Probably the largest market being London's Smithfield market..

From the mid 1800s railways started to appear but several hundred years ago the easiest form of movement was by water along rivers and by sea.  When the Romans came to England they connected rivers with man made canals.   

People generally migrated to specific regions for work,  My Scottish family were mainly weavers and any English man that travelled up to their part of the world was experienced in new weaving techniques.

[ScrittiPolizei89]

I usually look at the family's occupation and also check the area for early modes of travel.

 Were the Swann family drovers?  Drovers routes where cattle/sheep/geese were moved from  farms to major markets along "drovers roads".  Probably the largest market being London's Smithfield market..

From the mid 1800s railways started to appear but several hundred years ago the easiest form of movement was by water along rivers and by sea.  When the Romans came to England they connected rivers with man made canals.   

People generally migrated to specific regions for work,  My Scottish family were mainly weavers and any English man that travelled up to their part of the world was experienced in new weaving techniques.

How rare was it for English to migrate up to Scotland at this time?

[Forfarian]

Hard to say.

Smith is the commonest surname in both Scotland and England. In the 1881 census there were in Scotland 47,145 Smiths born in Scotland and 1,249 born in England. So 2.6% of the Smiths in Scotland in 1881 were born in England.

If that statistic is representative it would suggest that there was not much migration from England to Scotland in the mid-1800s. The total population of Scotland in 1881 was 3,753,357; if the same proportions applied there would have been just 99,442 people enumerated in Scotland but born in England.

However I don't think you can safely assume that the statistics for Smith are necessarily representative of all surnames. The second commonest surname in England in 1881 was Brown, and just 2% of Browns enumerated in Scotland in 1881 were born in England.

With those caveats, I think the 1881 census figures suggest that there was no mass migration from England to Scotland in the mid-19th century.

[Rena]

You might consider the reason for movement is that parishes were required to hand over a set number of young men to serve in the army.    Edinburgh had a barracks and Leith/Cramond on the River Almond was, I believe, a defensive port.

I'm surprised the church registers haven't noted the father's occupation.  I have a London marriage which states the groom was a coachman, his child was born in Yorkshire and again the father's occupation was mentioned = "coachman in London".

[ColC]

Just as an example of the previous post, one of my ancestors was born in Coventry Warwickshire in 1780. In 1804 he married in Dunbar East Lothian, the marriage record shows that he was a Farrier in the Flying Artillery. This was the nickname for the Royal Horse Artillery.
Between 1804 and 1815 they had four children in Leith, Midlothian, in 1818 the fifth in Coventry, plus four more there 1818 – 1822. Clearly the family moved to England  between 1815 – 1818.
However number four, a boy, remained in Scotland with his grandparents, he married in Berwickshire in 1836 and many of his descendants remain there today.
We made contact several years ago.

Colin