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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Banffshire => Topic started by: suzy_homemaker on Thursday 13 March 08 01:54 GMT (UK)
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I'm looking for information on Alexander Forbes (born circa 1750), who was a tenant farmer in Banffshire and whose spouse was Cecilia Wilkie. They were married on 5/11/1777 and their children were all born in Rathven, Banff: Alexander (born 3/20/1778), James (born 10/3/1780), William (born 8/16/1781), Elspet (born 11/24/1783), Anne (born 12/2/1785), John (born 12/17/1787; he was the Sir John Forbes, physician in England, who died in 1861 there), George (born 3/23/1790), and Cicilia (born 3/26/1792).
Specific information may include marriage/death dates and places, parentage of Alexander Forbes Sr. if known, families of the children and their specific dates and places of marriage and death, etc.
I also have a question, as well. Places that I've looked online say that Cecilia Wilkie-Forbes married a George Steinson in 1796; however, this was before Alexander died, so I presume there was a divorce in the family. Where could I check out this information?
Are there any sources available that would supply information about tenant farmers and their families at all? Given that Alexander Forbes was a tenant farmer, would there be any information sources to check into that would reveal who he worked for and that might provide any other clues about him? I've hit a real brick wall with this side of the family.
Any and all help would be hugely appreciated. Many, many thanks in advance!
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Hi Suzy,
Do you have the census entries for 1841? This may give the address of the farm which could give you more information about the landowner and the estate where Alexander worked. FreeCen has 286 entries for Forbes in Banffshire in 1841.
Aberdeen City Council holds a great number of records, some of which cover Banff for the period you are interested in.
http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/ACCI/web/site/LocalHistory/RM/loc_AberdeenshireRecords.asp
The Aberdeen and North of Scotland Family History Society has a wealth of resources, including publications which list ( I believe I am right in thinking) an entire census area in one booklet which would allow you to possibly see the other people living in the area (including the landowner if he was home!)
http://www.anesfhs.org.uk/index.htm
Hope this helps
Kirsty
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Hi Suzy,
Welcome to Rootschat! ;D
You probably already have the marriage details of Alexander and Cecilia, and the baptism details for their children, but I thought I'd post a link to this great Rathven OPR website anyway, just in case it helps!
Alexander and Cecilias marriage:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/sheena_charles/R_Marrs2.htm
Forbes childrens Baptism info:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/sheena_charles/R_BirthsV1_p180.htm
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/sheena_charles/R_BirthsV1_p150.htm
When most of the children were baptised, it seems the family were living in Cuttlebrae, I put that into a search engine and lots of interesting results came up, including a Cuttlebrae farm, and a PDF file about Sir John Forbes. It also looks like Alexander's Forbes relatives lived in a place called "Swallow Hollow".
millerina :)
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Just wanted to add that it looks like Swallow Hollow (or Swallow Holly?) was home to this Forbes family:
Alexander Forbes + Marjory Badenoch
Children:
James b.1746
John b.1748
Alexander b.1750
George b.1752
Isabel b.1754
Margaret b.1756
All the Baptism details can be found on the OPR website I gave you the link to.:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/sheena_charles/oprarchive.htm
Hope this helps! ;D
millerina
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Millerina,
Bless your heart! I will look into this ASAP!!! Thanks so very much!!!!
Linda
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Hi - my name is Richard Forbes and I am a direct descendant of Alexander Forbes and Cecilia Wilkie
Interested to know what your interest is in my Great Great Great Great Grandfather - are we related???
I live in Canberra Australia.
We hold alot of information about Sir John Forbes, my Great Great Great Grandfather.
Await your reply so we can swap information.
Kind regards,
Richard Forbes :)
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Hello, Richard.
I believe I also am a direct decendant of Alexander Forbes and Cecilia Wilkie. My connection comes through my 4th-gr-grandfather, James Alexander Forbes, apparently one of their grandsons. He was the British vice-consul to Monterey, California, in the mid-nineteenth century. Based on information gleaned from a personal letter written by his son James Alonzo Forbes (my 3rd-gr-grandfather) to either a niece or his daughter, the Sir John Forbes (physician to the queen's household) was an uncle of his father's. Also, James Alexander Forbes (I refer to him as Grandpa James) had an uncle Alexander Forbes who was a merchant in Tepic, Mexico. When I was Googling to see if I could find information on this Sir John Forbes, I came across a website that was a bit of a biography on him, listed his parents as Alexander Forbes and Cecilia Wilkie, and mentioned that he had a brother Alexander who had made his fortune as a merchant in Mexico. Other sources of information about Alexander Forbes gave me his year of birth. Alexander Forbes (of Tepic, Mexico--I refer to him as Uncle Alexander) is credited with having written a book entitled "The History of Upper and Lower California", having sent it to be published by his brother John in London. This would have been in or around 1839. Anyway, based on these pieces of information, I believe I have the correct family for Grandpa James. The main branches of the Forbes family can be traced back to a Sir John de Forbes "of the Black Lip", and I am trying to pierce back as far as I can to find which branch our particular line goes through. Once the connection to Mr. "Black Lip" Forbes (what an identifier!) has been made, the Forbes family line can be traced quite a ways further back.
I live in Washington State in the US, and would be thrilled to swap information. It sounds like you may have more information than I have, but I would be happy to share what I have. Would you, by any chance, have any information on Alexander Forbes and Cecilia Wilkie at all? By Googling, I've been able to trace Cecilia Wilkie's family line back a bit but, except for what Millerina has kindly shared here at Rootschat, I've not been able to pierce back at all on Alexander Forbes.
Am eagerly waiting to hear back from you. Please take care and have a great day!
Blessings,
Linda Allen
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Hi Linda - great to make contact!
We are lucky from this perspective -Robin Agnew has written two or three short books on the life of Sir John Forbes. Please Google 'Sir John Forbes' and go to the RAN Agnew site where you will find a complete history of Sir Johns life (1787-1861). In that there is some information o Alexander Forbes and Cecilia Wilkie.
They had 8 children - James,William, Alexander (Merchant who lived in Mexico), Elspet, Anne, Sir John, George and Cecilia. I wonder which one is your relative??
(I have all their birth dates back in Canberra where I live - am on holiday at my parents in Adelaide at present).
Sir John was the fourth son of Alexander Forbes (1750-1842) and Cecilia Wilkie (1755-1831)
Alexander was a local tenant farmer - Sir John was born at Cuttlebrae, near Cullen in 1787. Two years later the family moved to nearby Dytac in the parish of Fordyce. Here Alexander farmed land on the Findlater estate near Kilnhillock.
I have pictures of Alexander and Cecilias gravestones - pretty sure they are buried in the Fordyce cemetary - I recieved the photos from the Aberdeen and NE Scotland family history society - they helped me alot.
I think Alexanders father another Alexander (need to confirm this more fully) was also a tenant farmer.
Records do no not go back much further that the 1700's so it has been really difficult to trace ancestral linkages past this point. I do not think we are related to the Forbes clan - as they are in the highlands - our family was located in and around Rathven, Fordyce etc in NE Scotland.
Hope this helps - lets keep talking and see what we come up with!
Regards,
Richard Forbes.
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Hi Suzy - did you receive my email? Richard Forbes
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Hi, Richard.
Was it your most recent post here at the forum? If so, yes, I read that, but haven't had a chance to reply. My daughter has been very sick this week and have had to take time off from work to be with her. If you sent one to my personal email address, then no, I haven't received anything from you. :( If you would like to contact me via email, my email address is: *
Hope you're having a good day! :)
Linda
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No worries Linda - hope your daughter is better soon! Richard
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I believe I also am a direct decendant of Alexander Forbes and Cecilia Wilkie. My connection comes through my 4th-gr-grandfather, James Alexander Forbes, apparently one of their grandsons.
Hello from Pennsylvania!
Cecelia Wilkie was my 1st cousin, 7 times removed. My Wilkie connections are through the family by that name in the Carolinas. Your and my common ancestors are William Wilkie (b. 11 Apr. 1708 in Foydyce, Banff, Scotland) and his wife Cecelia Brown (b. about 1720 in Banff). William's parents were James Wilkie and Isabel Peterkin, who also originated in Banff.
I had originally thought that "my" Wilkies were of the Clan Donald, but I've recently heard differently (which makes sense, since the Donalds were seated on the opposite coast of Scotland). Do you have any information to indicate possible clan affiliations for the Wilkies that are in your and my common ancestry?
Sincerely,
George
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I'm looking for a James Forbes who was born in 1819 in Keith, Banffshire, Scotland. He married Catherine Turner b. 1820 Peterhead, Aberdeen on 2 may 1843.
There childeren are:
Elizabeth M.D. b. 11 Feb 1844
James b. 1848
Alexander b. 1852
William b. 1855
John Fyvie b. 16 Sep 1857
Robert b. 18 apr 1860
elizabeth married William McPherson in 1868. This is my line. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Tracy
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Hello everyone, I found this thread when looking for information about Cecilia Wilkie and have found the information about the Forbes family very interesting. We are pretty sure that my wife is descended on the direct female line from Cecilia's daughter - Anne Forbes.
My question is whether anyone has managed to identify Cecila Wilkie's parents. The recent work I have done on this indicates there are two possibilities:
- Cecilia Wilkie baptised 04/11/1751 - parents James Wilkie and Elizabeth Lorimer
- Cecilia Wilkie baptised 12/07/1755 - parents William Wilkie and Cecilia Brown
I favour the first birth for the following reasons but I'm prepared to be persuaded otherwise...
1. The inscription on Cecilia's gravestone according to the John Forbes biography says "Cicilia Wilkie, his wife, who died on the 20th day of July 1831, in the 80th year of her age." Clearly only the first Cecilia was in her 80th year on this date (although I realise that age information is unreliable at times).
2. Anne Forbes daughter - Mary Robertson (married name Scott) baptised her first two children Francis Lorimer Scott and Anne Forbes Scott which may suggest that she had Lorimer blood in her somewhere.
The only indication that this is incorrect is that the witnesses for Cecilia's son William Forbes are "William Wilkie in Dyttech in the parish of Fordyce & Elspet Wilkie his sister". The first Cecilia did not have a brother called William although the second did. Would Cecilia have asked her cousins to be witnesses?
Does anyone have any thoughts?
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The only indication that this is incorrect is that the witnesses for Cecilia's son William Forbes are "William Wilkie in Dyttech in the parish of Fordyce & Elspet Wilkie his sister". The first Cecilia did not have a brother called William although the second did. Would Cecilia have asked her cousins to be witnesses?
Does anyone have any thoughts?
Can you be 100% certain she did not have a brother William? Just because there is no record of a brother doesn't mean to say no brother existed. It could be that there was a brother, but that no record of him has survived.
Alternatively, yes, she might have asked cousins to witness the baptism.
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Hi Forfarian,
you are, of course, correct. I am perhaps being too cautious but was interested to know what others who have been here before me had made of the puzzle.
Rip
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Do any of my Forbes' fit in anywhere? we all use the same Christian names.
Thomas Forbes married 28/6/1770 Deskford Margaret Milton
children
James Forbes B:?
John Forbes B: 1774 D: 26/11/1859 married 6/6/1801 Catherine Taylor B: 1780 D: < 1859
children
Isobel Forbes B: 20/2/1802
John Forbes B; 16/3/1803
Katherine Forbes B: 20/11/1804
James Forbes B: 3/11/1809
Elizabeth Forbes B: 18/3/1811
Jean Forbes B: 19/5/1812
William Forbes B: 25/10/1806 D: 27/2/1884 married 1837 Helen Stevenson B: 9/6/1809 D: 6/10/1863
Regards
Magian
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I have traced the FORBES back from today with certs back to Alexander Forbes and Ann Murdock who married Fordyce 4-8-1805. I am trying to trace Alexanders parents and was hoping Alex is the son of Alex and Cecelia Wilkie and born 20-3-1778 at Rathven. Can anyone help out with monumental inscriptions or their family tree to get the missing link or head me in another direction please.
alan