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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Angus (Forfarshire) => Topic started by: mrshoneybear on Thursday 05 July 12 03:03 BST (UK)

Title: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: mrshoneybear on Thursday 05 July 12 03:03 BST (UK)

My husband's uncle has been researching his father's side of the family & has only been able to get back so far & then comes to a dead end.  He is looking for information on Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher, from St Andrew's Church, South Tay St, Overgate, Dundee.   His son was William Morris Bresslin Fletcher born in 1822.  William emmigrated to Tasmania, Australia & was married to Sarah Ann Stops.  He died 15 November 1876 & his grandson Frederick William died 8 June 1881 - both in Australia.  Someone had a monument of some kind erected in Scotland for William & his grandson which gives the above information about Thomas.  A few of us have searched from here in Australia & cannot find any more information on Thomas.  We would like to know more about his family & who he married & of other children he had.  If anyone can help with this information it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Vicki

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: Gali on Thursday 05 July 12 08:30 BST (UK)

Hmmmm, do you have any other details?  What is written on William's marriage and death cert about his parents?  When did he emigrate? 

Can't find anything that looks right for William or his father on the 1841 or 1851 census from the information that you have given. 

Here is a list of all ministers of the established church ... no Fletchers there:
http://www.archive.org/stream/fastiecclesiu05scotuoft#page/n5/mode/2up

Here is some info about past ministers of St Andrews ... nothing there:
NB: the church is not on either Overgate or South Tay
http://www.standrewsparishchurch.co.uk/Past_Ministers.htm

I note the four mentions from Trove in 1876 detailing William's death, 'youngest son of the late Rev. Thomas Alexander Fletcher, of South Tay street, Dundee, Scotland' but can't quite match this up with anything in the Scottish primary sources I've looked into as of yet!

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: Gali on Thursday 05 July 12 09:05 BST (UK)

But ...

St Andrews is also the RC church in Dundee ... have you looked in the Catholic records on SP? 

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: GR2 on Thursday 05 July 12 09:10 BST (UK)

Gali, you're not suggesting that a minister of the Roman Catholic Church would have a son  :o.

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: Gali on Thursday 05 July 12 18:17 BST (UK)

That would be quite a story!

Reason I mentioned St Andrew's RC is because it's located at the southern end of South Tay Street ... the street that William's descendants believed that their grandfather had once lived (as per his brief obit from 1876 Aus newspapers) ...

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: mrshoneybear on Friday 06 July 12 03:33 BST (UK)

Thanks to you all for your responses.  My husband's uncle has been doing this research & I'm just jumping in to see if I can help get anymore info re William's father.  I have been doing my father's side of my family plus helping a friend with hers because I am a bit more computer savy & love researching about this type of thing.  I have info from William Morris Bresslin Fletcher onwards, but apart from the Trove notices I have little else.  The uncle gave me a copy of what is on a monument in Scotland which I guess is a bit like a headstone.  it reads:

To the memory of
William Morris Bresslin Fletcher
Native of Glascow
Son of Rev. Thos. Alexander Fletcher
of St Andrew's Church. South Tay ST,
Overgate, Dundee
Died 15th November 1876, Aged 54 years
Only gone before
Also
Frederick William
Grandson of above and second son of
Wm. F.B. and Elizth Fletcher
Born 16th Sept 1880, Died 8th June 1881
A wee bit flower nipt in the bud.

I did do some research & the only St Andres in the area was the Catholic Church & then I thought that can't be right.  But now his uncle has given me this inscription??  It may explain why we can't find any other info but someone must have had the monument erected & you think it would be family.  I'm trying to find out just where this was erected.

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: Gali on Friday 06 July 12 08:35 BST (UK)

Still a blank from me unfortunately ...

What is written on William's marriage and death cert about his parents?  When did he emigrate? 

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: GR2 on Friday 06 July 12 09:55 BST (UK)

Try looking for a will on Scotland's People.

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: GR2 on Friday 06 July 12 10:04 BST (UK)

Or see is anyone can find the elusive Rev. in a newspaper index. It is difficult to find anyone called Bresslin in Scotland at this earlier time. It is more of an Irish name. Certainly large numbers of folk were coming to Glasgow from Ireland at this time. I wonder if the Fletchers originated there as well.

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: bleckie on Friday 06 July 12 21:09 BST (UK)

Hi All

Link to St Andrews church dundee

http://photopolis.dundeecity.gov.uk/wc1446.htm

In the Cowgate  CofS

Link to the ministers from the build of the church to present date

http://www.ninetradesofdundee.co.uk/files/Nine%20Trades/Nine%20Trades%20Property/Property/Trades%20Kirk/James%20Cant%20Church%20History.pdf

Yours Aye
BruceL

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: mrshoneybear on Saturday 07 July 12 10:06 BST (UK)

Still a blank with Thomas Alexander Fletcher.  The family has a photo of the monument for William Morris Bresslin Fletcher, but all anyone seems to know that it is in Scotland.  We don't know who erected it & how the family come by the photo.

I have checked the details from William's marriage certificate, but neither William's or Sarah's parents are listed.  It is the same for the deaths.

I think I may have tracked down when William arrived in Tasmania  as there is a William Fletcher who arrived from London aboard the 'Sydney' on 28 Jan 1842 who was aged 20 years.  As William was supposed to be born 1822 this would seem to be him. 

I have been told that the information passed down through the family is that Thomas was at a protestant church - Presbyterian??  Looking at St Andrews Church (Church of Scotland) it is not far from the Catholic Church.  I'd venture to guess at this stage that Thomas was not the senior minister & is therefore not listed along with all the senior ministers. He may well have lived in South Tay st & this is just a coincidence that it is the same street as the Catholic church.

Thomas must have had other children as the death notices for William give him to be the youngest son of Thomas.  William, his son William & his grandson Stanley all have Bresslin in their names & so you may think that this may come from Thomas' wife's side of the family.  As yet I can't find anything to confirm this or to find the name of Thomas' wife.

So therre is still a way to go with this part of the family.

Vicki

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: Br1gau on Saturday 07 July 12 16:13 BST (UK)

I had a family of Irish origin by the name of Bryceland living in Lanarkshire but they came up in different records variously as Bryclane, Bressland and Bresslin.  If you haven't already done so, it might be worth considering different spelling options.

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: Forfarian on Friday 13 July 12 00:52 BST (UK)

The inscription is not included in the book of Angus Monumental Inscriptions covering Dundee and Broughty Ferry.

There is no death of a W* Fletcher, age range 52 to 56, date range 1874 to 1878, in Scotland's People. Nor is there a death of a Frederick Fletcher 1879 to 1883.

There is no marriage of a William F* Fletcher to an Elizabeth in the SP index.

There is no birth, baptism, marriage or death of a Fletcher with middle name Breslin or Bresslin in the SP index to the old parish registers, the statutory civil registers, or the Roman Catholic registers.

Putting 'Breslin Fletcher' or 'Bresslin Fletcher' into the 19th century British Newspapers database produces zero results. William Fletcher produces 7190 results and Thomas Fletcher produces 4790 results. Thomas Alexander Fletcher produces just one result, and the cited article mentions an Alexander Fletcher and a Thomas Russell.

FamilySearch has a marriage of William Frederick Bresslin Fletcher, aged 19, to Elizabeth Agness Kerslake in Tasmania in 1878 and the marriage of their son Headley Leopold Fletcher in Launceston, Tasmania in 1907. There is also at least one submitted tree with a marriage of William Morris Bresslin Fletcher to Sarah Stops in Tasmania in 1858, and the birth of six children to WFBF and EAK including Frederick William on 16 September 1880 in Tasmania.

Could you post the photo here so that we can have a look at it?

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: Isabel H on Friday 13 July 12 12:07 BST (UK)

To add to Forfarian's list of negative findings, there is no Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher in the Fasti of the Church of Scotland. I also tried various newspapers, and specifically those for Dundee and Glasgow, and found no references to him, which is unusual as ministers generally do get mentioned in some context.

Dundee Post Office Directories available on the National Library of Scotland website, covering a fairly wide time period, do not seem to list Rev Fletcher in South Tay St, or as clergy.

I did stumble across a genealogy posting about a Thomas Alexander Fletcher in America, but dismissed it as unlikely. However, now I wonder if there might be somewhere called Scotland in the USA? The spelling "Glascow" on the monument inscription suggests to me it might be located outside the country of Scotland.

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: Gali on Friday 13 July 12 12:26 BST (UK)

This is probably a red herring but might be worth looking into given Br1gau's findings about the potential spellings of 'Bresslin' ...

SP Wills and Testaments
SC36/51/44
Fletcher, Michael, date of will, 11/12/1862
Cotton Waste Merchant in Glasgow, spouse of Roseann Breisland Fletcher

SC36/48/61
Fletcher, Roseann, date of will, 01/01/1869
Mrs, alias Briesland, residing at Apsley Place, Glasgow, widow of Michael Fletcher, Cotton Waste Merchant in Glasgow


SP CPR Marriages
13/04/1836   
Fletcher, Michael, Buyslan Roseanne, Glasgow St Andrews

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: Andy_K on Friday 27 May 22 11:13 BST (UK)

I have a daily bible reading book here that's been dedicated to the late Rev Alexander Fletcher D.D
from Finsbury chapel in London. It has an original memoire from him.
I have been trying to find his family so i can pass it on to them.
Could this be the same person?

Title: Re: Rev Thomas Alexander Fletcher
Post by: Forfarian on Friday 27 May 22 17:32 BST (UK)

According to https://www.ecclegen.com/general-index-f/#Fleming,%20Thomas the Rev Alexander Fletcher (1787-1860) was a minister of the United Presbyterian Church.

Fletcher, Alexander
Life and Ministry: 1807, Bridge of Teith (Burgher), Small, History, Vol.2, p.678; Call, Small, History, Vol.2, p.371; Call, Small, History, Vol.1, p.368
Family: Small, History, Vol.2, p.219; London, Small, History, Vol.1, p.607
Publications – about him: Dictionary of National Biography (1885-1900), Vol.19, George Clement Boase, Fletcher, Alexander; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, G. C. Boase, revised by I. T. Foster, Fletcher, Alexander (1787–1860), minister of the United Presbyterian church

If you go to the link you should be able to view all the assorted items that mention the Rev Alexander Fletcher.

https://archive.org/details/historyofpresbyt01smaluoft/page/607/mode/1up?view=theater says that Rev Alexander Fletcher, the celebrated minister of Finsbury Chapel in London, was the son of Rev William Fletcher, Bridge of Teith.