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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Aberdeenshire => Topic started by: Mudlark on Friday 21 March 08 17:10 GMT (UK)
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I'm trying to find out more about the origins of Robert Divorty and his family (below). I have no information about Robert's parents or siblings.
It's possible that the original Divorty family were French Huguenot refugees who arrived in Scotland in the 17th century.
If anyone can help I would be most grateful.
Thank you
Chris
Family Group Sheet
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Husband: Robert DIVORTY
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Birth: abt 1720
Marriage: 7 Sep 1742
Father:
Mother:
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Wife: Mary LOW
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Birth: abt 1720
Father:
Mother:
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Children
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1 M William DIVORTY
Birth: 16 Oct 1743 Midmill, Kintore, Aberdeenshire
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2 M Peter DIVORTY
Birth: 2 Feb 1745 Midmill, Kintore, Scotland
Death: 24 Oct 1807 Kintore, Aberdeenshire
Occupation: a farmer
Spouse: Jane SINCLAIR (1757-1807)
Marriage: 27 Nov 1783 Kintore, Scotland
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3 F Margaret DIVORTY
Birth: 1748 Midmill, Kintore, Aberdeenshire
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4 F Jean DIVORTY
Birth: 1754 Midmill, Kintore, Aberdeenshire
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5 F Mary DIVORTY
Birth: 1757 Midmill, Kintore, Aberdeenshire
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6 F Agnes DIVORTY
Birth: 1762 Kintore, Aberdeenshire
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7 F Elizabeth DIVORTY
Birth: 1765 Kintore, Aberdeenshire
=====================================
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I expect you are familiar with the website Hugenots II (www.rootsweb.com/~fianna/surname/hug2.html
It lists the surname Divorty amongst others who settled in Great Britain and Ireland between 1643 and 1714.
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Christening records for that exact spelling start 1720 from the OPR's on SP
23/06/1720 DIVORTY ELSPET born to JOHN DIVORTY at Tarves /ABERDEEN
01/03/1724 DIVORTY JOHN born to JNO. DIVORTY at Tarves /ABERDEEN
28/12/1732 DIVORTY ANN born to ALEXANDER DIVORTY at Premnay /ABERDEEN
13/02/1737 DIVORTY JEAN born to GEORGE DIVORTY at Kintore /ABERDEEN
14/07/1754 DIVORTY JEAN born to ROBERT DIVORTY at Kintore /ABERDEEN
11/06/1757 DIVORTY MARY born to ROBERT DIVORTY at Kintore /ABERDEEN
09/05/1761 DIVORTY ALEXR born to GEORGE DIVORTY and HELEN KNIGHT at Udny /ABERDEEN
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Variations to the name in the Aberdeenshire OPR's include
DIVARTY
DIVERTIE
DIVERTY
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Hi Chris,
I did a phonetic birth search in Aberdeenshire for Divorty on SP, birth dates from 1553 to 1730
The earliest were;
03/01/1633 DOVERTIE ALEXR to GILBERT DOVERTIE/JEANE TAILYOR
06/02/1637 DOVERTIE MARGRAT to GILBT. DOVERTIE/JEANE TAILYEOR
Aberdeen City
27/11/1636 DIVERTIE ALEXR to JAMES DIVERTIE/CHRISTIANE BRUCE
18/01/1639 DIVERTIE WILLIAM to GEORGE DIVERTIE/ELSPET PHILPE
Both Belhelvie
I don't know when the Hugenots arrived.
Unfortunately as you probably know there was no Robert birth recorded, and non in Kintore.
My Doverty Connection is a Margaret Doverty who married James Argo in Tarves 17/04/1742. There were a couple of Margarets born around 1711 in Methlick, but a John Divorty had children around 1720 in Tarves, but no Margarets recorded. It's all a bit of guess work I suppose.
Hope you get more info, if I do I'll get in touch.
Best wishes,
Grothenwell
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The date of Roberts marriage has been entered wrongly, probably read using the American system
09/07/1742 DIVERTY ROBERT married MARY LOW at Kintore /ABERDEEN
This is the closest possible christening I could see on SP
17/07/1715 DUVERTIE ROBERT born to JOHN DUVERTIE and ISABEL CALDER at Haddington /EAST LOTHIAN
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Hi Sancti, Grothenwell, and Isles
Good Morning!
Thank you all so much for taking the trouble to find this information for me. I will reply to each your Posts individually - perhaps with one or two questions.
Cheers for now
Chris
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Hello Isles,
Thank you for this website. As you've guessed, I am familiar with the it's contents. Frustratingly the Scots did not record the names of immigrant Huguenots.
I checked with the Huguenot Society in London - but they could offer no help at all and were totally uninterested in my request for information.
I wonder if there is a Huguenot Society in Scotland by now?
Thanks again
Chris
I expect you are familiar with the website Hugenots II (www.rootsweb.com/~fianna/surname/hug2.html
It lists the surname Divorty amongst others who settled in Great Britain and Ireland between 1643 and 1714.
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Hello Sancti,
Many thanks for this list of early 18th century Divorty births. I shall study the names carefully and see if it's possible to tie any of them to my Divorty family.
There is a possibility that George Divorty (father of Jean b1737) was closely related to my Robert Divorty - perhaps a brother?
Peter Divorty (son of Robert) named a son George and the name carried on down through several generations.
Thanks again
Chris
Christening records for that exact spelling start 1720 from the OPR's on SP
23/06/1720 DIVORTY ELSPET born to JOHN DIVORTY at Tarves /ABERDEEN
01/03/1724 DIVORTY JOHN born to JNO. DIVORTY at Tarves /ABERDEEN
28/12/1732 DIVORTY ANN born to ALEXANDER DIVORTY at Premnay /ABERDEEN
13/02/1737 DIVORTY JEAN born to GEORGE DIVORTY at Kintore /ABERDEEN
14/07/1754 DIVORTY JEAN born to ROBERT DIVORTY at Kintore /ABERDEEN
11/06/1757 DIVORTY MARY born to ROBERT DIVORTY at Kintore /ABERDEEN
09/05/1761 DIVORTY ALEXR born to GEORGE DIVORTY and HELEN KNIGHT at Udny /ABERDEEN
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Hi Sancti
Thank you for these Divorty name variations.
It must have been an easy name to misspell (not being a familar Scottish surname) the local clergy probably made a wild guess. The English certianly made a hash of it when my ancestors moved south!
Cheers
Chris
Variations to the name in the Aberdeenshire OPR's include
DIVARTY
DIVERTIE
DIVERTY
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Scotland:
Although some Huguenots went to Scotland, especially to Edinburgh, only one settlement is
known to have left detailed evidence of its short existence. For that see: The Weavers of Picardy by
John Mason in the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club XXV, 1945, pp1-33, and A Huguenot
Community in Scotland: the Weavers of Picardy, by Anthony Springall, Huguenot Society
Proceedings, Vol 27 pp 97-109.
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Hi Grothwell,
Thank you so much for this information.
It would seem that the Dovertie/Divertie surname variation was around earlier than I thought. Because Divorty is a French surname it's possible that French Protestants were arriving in Scotland from a much earlier date than recorded in the history books. From my research, I gather that the NE of Scotland had a strong Presbitarian tradition.
It would be great to be able to link these Divorty families together - perhaps we will get lucky.
All the best
Chris
Hi Chris,
I did a phonetic birth search in Aberdeenshire for Divorty on SP, birth dates from 1553 to 1730
The earliest were;
03/01/1633 DOVERTIE ALEXR to GILBERT DOVERTIE/JEANE TAILYOR
06/02/1637 DOVERTIE MARGRAT to GILBT. DOVERTIE/JEANE TAILYEOR
Aberdeen City
27/11/1636 DIVERTIE ALEXR to JAMES DIVERTIE/CHRISTIANE BRUCE
18/01/1639 DIVERTIE WILLIAM to GEORGE DIVERTIE/ELSPET PHILPE
Both Belhelvie
I don't know when the Hugenots arrived.
Unfortunately as you probably know there was no Robert birth recorded, and non in Kintore.
My Doverty Connection is a Margaret Doverty who married James Argo in Tarves 17/04/1742. There were a couple of Margarets born around 1711 in Methlick, but a John Divorty had children around 1720 in Tarves, but no Margarets recorded. It's all a bit of guess work I suppose.
Hope you get more info, if I do I'll get in touch.
Best wishes,
Grothenwell
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Hi I was wondering if you ever got any further with your Divertie/Divert/Divorty anscestors.
I have Divertie's in my family tree and I've not been doing my research long, but Alexander Divertie and Annie Divertie (nee Laird) were my GGG Grandad & GGG Gran. They were in Anderston and Eastwood areas of Glasgow. Family then moved to fife as their son Alexander Divertie worked on the Forth Rail Bridge and lived in Inverkeithing.
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Hi Elle,
Thanks for getting in touch. I have not found a connection from Aberdeenshire to any of the Glasgow Divertie's so far. Could you let me know the dates you have for the birth's of your GGG Grandparents. This might help to see if there might be a link.
In my case the Divorty's who migrated south seem to have travelled to Edinburgh and then on to Durham or London.
Cheers
Chris
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Thanks for the quick reply - my GGG Grandparents were Alexander Divertie born 17/12/1831 and Ann Laird born 28/4/1824 they were married in Pollokshaws on 23/6/1855.
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Alexander Divertie and Ann Laird are also my 2nd great grandparents. I have Alexander's parents are William Divertie (from Paisley) and Helen Patterson (from Lightburn), both born about 1799 and married in Eastwood 29 Jul 1821. Hope this helps. My mother said she was told there were French ancestors but she never knew where it fit in. This is as far back as I've been able to trace. Would love to know more.
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Thanks for your reply. Seems not to be any connection between the two families.
My Divorty ancestors were born and bred in Aberdeenshire c1792 and earlier.
Good luck with your research
Chris
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From my research, I gather that the NE of Scotland had a strong Presbitarian tradition.
Yes there is a strong Presbyterian tradition, but overall probably less than other parts of Scotland. Historically Episcopalianism had a large following in proportion to other areas. I know next to nothing about which branch of Protestantism the Huguenot faith would be closest to.
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I know this is an old thread. However, I just broke down a brick wall and a found a Divorty ancestor a generation beyond that. Katherine Divvorty was one of my 5th great grandmothers. She was born 1747 in Premnay, Aberdeen and married Robert Alexander in 1768 in Insch, Aberdeen.
Once I discovered that ancestor, I searched for more information on the surname because it was not a familiar one to me. Since there was some discussion here about early records for that surname, I thought I would share one reference that I came across. It is a free Google Books copy of the Register of the Privy Council 1619-1622. One of the 1619 entries on page 137 mentions a George Divortie of Essilmonth (Aberdeen). George is an adult by then, so must have been born in the late 1500s.
A complaint was made by another man that George Divortie "set upon him, and cruellie and unmercifullie invaidit and persewit him of his lyff with a durke, and thairwith gaif him tua grite straikis and woundis in the head and ane in the small of his bak ." The said George Divortie then went to his own house, and "brocht furth thairof ane hagbute in his hand and a pair of pistollettis about him," intending to kill the complainer; and he wore these weapons on his person for eight days, "and lay at await for the said Thomas Greig about his house, sua that for just feir of his lyff he durst not come furth of his house ."
https://books.google.ca/books?id=8h05AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=divortie+aberdeen&source=bl&ots=F7fE8fGwp6&sig=ACfU3U2ygFrcopRSm5mIwK9AaZe2SBTV3w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGi8-QjsiEAxVjHNAFHWREC8EQ6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=divortie%20aberdeen&f=false
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G F Black's The Surnames of Scotland doesn't suggest an origin for the name.
However the earliest reference in Scotland is in 1492, when Martin Divorty was vicar of Petty (a few miles east of Inverness). If Wikipedia is correct in attributing the term Huguenot to the Genevan burgomaster Besançon Hugues (1491–1532), then this Divorty pre-dates the Huguenots by some decades.
Black also offers a large range of variants, including Divertie, Dovertie, Durty, Dirty, Durtty, Dwertty, Douerty, Devertie, Dovartie, Dovertie, Davortie, Divertye, Doverty, Dortye and possibly Doraty.
A Quick Search on SP for D*v*r*t* finds 5290 results, though some are unrelated names (e.g. Davenport) and there is at least one Durvart who is more likely to be a variant of Dorward. And of course that search doesn't find variants where the letter v is omitted.