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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Banffshire => Topic started by: Northern Jo on Wednesday 05 March 14 18:38 GMT (UK)
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We are trying to determine where BRIDGEND COTTAGE, Parish of Alvah, County of Banff was located when our illegitimate grandmother, Lizzie Ann Reid, was born there June 24, 1892 to Lilly Jane Reid, Domestic Servant (Domicil - Gushetbog, Parish of Marnoch).
Any hint as to where this might be would be greatly appreciated ..... Google (and other engine) searches have come up with nothing. We have found Gushetbog without too much difficulty.
Joanne ???
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Associated (not a duplicate) post here with background
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=679822.msg5243837#msg5243837
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Thank you CaroleW ---- I also posted the "associated" message regarding the Heron/Reid family. We are trying to determine where Bridgend Cottage, Parish of Alvah, County of Banff is as we haven't been able to find it on maps or gazetteers so far.
??? Joanne ???
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Hmmmm.
Modern gazetteers are as good as useless when it comes to finding single 19th censtury or earlier houses, farms or crofts, so I am not surprised that you have drawn a blank there.
The gazetteer at http://www.abdnet.co.uk/genuki/BAN/Alvah/locations.html doesn't pinpoint it, but I think we can do better.
In the 1881 census there is one listing of Bridgend, parish of Alvah, in ED4. In the same ED are Burreldales, Lintmill, Newton, Pole of Itlaw, Itlaw Smithy, Bagra, Greenlaw, Waulkmill, Auchinbadie, Hungryhills, various bits of Mountblairy, Boggiehead, Brownside, and Maryhill. This puts it in the southern part of the parish of Alvah, next door to Forglen.
ED 3 includes among others Linhead, Roberton and Rosieburn, so the boundary of ED4 must follow the B9121 road south of the Pole of Itlaw, with ED4 to the east and ED3 to the west. You can check the exact boundaries of each ED by looking at the start of the pages for each ED in the census.
Various 20th century maps show a place named Bridgend of Mountblairy, just a short distance from Pole of Itlaw. There is no mention of Bridgend of Mountblairy in either the GENUKI Gazetteer or the 1881 census.
The late-Victorian six-inch map of the area shows both Lintmill and Newton as 'of Mountblairy' even though neither the 1881 census nor the modern maps include 'of Mountblairy'. So it is not impossible for a place's name to change over time by the subtraction of a suffix, or for different variations of a name to be used in different places around the same time.
It also shows Bridgend of Mountblairy. By the same process whereby Lintmill and Newton lost their suffixes, Bridgend of Mountblairy was probably known locally as just 'Bridgend'. Why bother to say or write 'of Mountblairy' every time, when everyone knew the place just as Bridgend?
Therefore I think that your Bridgend Cottage is or was almost certainly at the farm or croft which is named on modern maps as Bridgend of Mountblairy.
To see where it is, go to http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NJ6856
Click on the map and the more detailed map in the pop-up window will show you where Bridgend of Mountblairy is.
If this isn't conclusive enough, there are other ways of verifying the location.
You could search for the address in the 1891 and/or 1901 censuses, and note the name(s) of any householders at Bridgend/Bridgend of Mountblairy. Then go to the valuation rolls for 1885 (also available on Scotland's People) and check the name of the householder against the address.
You will almost certainly find that the proprietor then was Mountblairy Estate; if so it might be worth contacting the estate office to ask whether Bridgend Cottage and Bridgend of Mountblairy are/were one and the same.
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Hi Northern Jo
Try the National Library of Scotland website. It has an extensive range of detailed maps covering the whole of Scotland available online. You should find Bridgend Cottage there.
However I am very interested in finding out what you know about the Reid family of Alvah. One of my direct ancestors was an Agnes Reid who was born c1785 possibly in Alvah or Banff. Unfortunately I can find nothing about her from the usual sources. Could she belong to the Reid family, you are researching. Please help.
Kind regards
colincam
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Good day colincam:
Unfortunately, I'm not sure that I can be of any assistance to you at this time. I do have a John Reid born c1746 (place unknown) and died 1850 Auchterless. He married Jane Pratt (birth and death info unknown). Their son John born 1781 Fyvie and died 1861 Auchterless married Margaret Brandy born 1790 Auchterless and died 1822 Auchterless.
I don't have any other children listed for the John Reid/Jane Pratt family other than John (b1781) but this family would be the most likely to be related to your Agnes if a positive connection could be made. Do you happen to know who her parents were and/or when she married and died? Who was her husband, if there was one?
Please let me know if you can provide any other information because without more I can't help you. The earliest Agnes I have in my tree is one born in 1847 who was a granddaughter of the John Reid/Margaret Brandy union. If naming patterns were followed, it would be quite possible that John Reid (b1781) had a sister Agnes.
Joanne Peterson, Canada
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Hi Joanne
Thanks for your swift reply to my post.
I do not know anything about Agnes Reid except that she and a Thomas Wright (b1783 Banff) had a daughter in Banff by the name of Agnes before he eventually married another woman. I do not think Thomas and Agnes were ever married and I have found no record of Agnes's birth, marriage or death. Unfortunately the daughter Agnes died before the statutory recording of deaths in Scotland.
Regards
colincam
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Not a problem Colin. I know how frustrating those births/marriages/deaths before statutory recording can be.
If you are a member of Ancestry, my public tree, Peterson - Dumas 2014(1), is available there and you will find all of the information that I have about the Reid family to date. I work in Family Tree Maker and 'sync' FTM to Ancestry on a regular basis so if I happen to find anything more it will be updated later.
Best of luck with all of your searching. I will keep you in mind if I come across anyone that I think might be of interest to you and hope you would do the same.
Joanne :)
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I took a little wander down to Mountblairy yesterday. In passing, I noted that there is a modern house on the site I have previously identified as Bridgend. The name at the gate of this house is Bridgend.
Therefore I have no doubt whatever that this is the site of the Bridgend where your Lizzie Ann Reid was born. Nothing remains of the actual house in which she was born, however.
The attachment shows the new house on the site.
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Thank you Forfarian for taking the time to stop and take the photo ---- this looks like a lovely, modern, home. I've found so many places called "Bridgend" while doing the research but cannot find anything that states, absolutely, where Bridgend Cottage, Alvah is/was. This will suffice until I get a "bee in my bonnet" again about finding out exactly where Grandma was born.
:-\
Joanne
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Thank you Forfarian for taking the time to stop and take the photo ---- this looks like a lovely, modern, home. I've found so many places called "Bridgend" while doing the research but cannot find anything that states, absolutely, where Bridgend Cottage, Alvah is/was. This will suffice until I get a "bee in my bonnet" again about finding out exactly where Grandma was born.
This, taken with my earlier post above, is exactly that statement. There is no other Bridgend in the parish of Alvah. I am telling you that this is the Bridgend where your Grandma was born, although the actual building she was born in no longer exists.
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Once again Forfarian, thank you very much for stopping at Bridgend and providing the photo.
As I, unfortunately, don't have the funds and/or the time to travel to Scotland to tromp through the regions of my ancestors, everyone who takes the time to provide us with information about those areas is greatly appreciated. If it wasn't for people like you, we would spend a lot more time banging our heads against those proverbial 'brick walls'.
Joanne