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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Midlothian => Topic started by: kathyc on Monday 10 February 25 23:09 GMT (UK)
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Hello there,
If anyone happens to be wandering through Rosebank Cemetery (Pilrig St) with time to look for a stone, I would appreciate the help. I spent some time there when I was across the pond in the spring and failed to find it, and fear it might be face down as a few in the section are, but am hoping maybe I just missed it or was looking in the wrong place. It's been niggling at me since I got home that I should have spent more time hunting, which is why I'm reaching out.
The stone is for Marion Edmonston Seggie (married name Lugton) 1811-1906, my 2x great grandmother. The Edinburgh and Leith (Rosebank) cemetery register lists her as being buried in Compartment I, number W 93 in a private grave.
Her sons had money, and all of them have stones on their graves (also in Edinburgh), so it seems very likely there is a stone on the plot.
Thanks very much to anyone who's able to help. I appreciate your time.
Kathy
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I could have a look next time I’m over that way.
Do you have a map of which which area as often the lairs aren’t numbered.
You can get one from the council I think.
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Thank you! That's very kind of you.
I have a photo of the map that's posted at the Pilrig Street entrance, attached.
Kathy
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Hi just a thought looking at map you posted could the grave you are looking for be in section IW grave 93 found left hand side of map and not compartment I number W93
Harrywrag
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Thanks for that. Your post made me realize I have a typo in the location in my original post. It's N rather than I.
It appears in the cemetery register like this (see attached):
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Great thanks for that, I will go and have a look when I have someone to come with me.
Will be in touch.
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Great thanks for that, I will go and have a look when I have someone to come with me.
Will be in touch.
Don't know how well you know the cemetery but this may help to find Section N
Look on Google maps and the cemetery is marked, switch to satellite view and you can clearly see the
'circular' area. Below that the staggered line across N, W & O on the section map is, if you zoom, there is what seems to be a wall which matches the shape of that line, so from there it should be easier to find Section N?
Boo
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Thanks again, oldfashionedgirl. Here's hoping you get lucky! :)
Harrywrag, thanks.
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Hello Kathy,
I have been to Rosebank cemetery this morning with my son and we thoroughly scoured section N.
Sorry we had no luck finding the grave you are looking for.
In that section there were two headstones face down and one very small one whose inscription had completely worn away. You would be very unlucky if it was one of those amount the 70/80ish graves we looked at.
As with many cemetery’s the grave numbers aren’t marked so you can’t go straight to it.
My suggestion is that if you contact Edinburgh council they will preform a search and email you a map of exactly where it is.
I did this once before a few years ago and I think it was about £25 and they would look up a maximum of four graves. They give you the exact location and tell you all the burials in the lair.
So if you have some others to look up i.e. the sons you mentioned or her husband it would be worth it. Your dates suggest she was 95 when she died so she was likely to be pre deceased by her husband and possibly her sons?
I am happy to go and look again if you do decide to get a precise location.
Last thought that occurred to me was her address, 223 Easter Road is very likely to a tenement flat, not a ‘wealthy’ address, that would merit a costly headstone. It depends who organised her burial I suppose. Who was she living with in the 1901 census?
Sorry not to have found it for you, happy to try again, and for others, if you decide to buy the info.
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Thank you so much for looking. It was very kind of you, and I really appreciate it.
Good idea about contacting the Edinburgh council. I'll do that.
She's an interesting one, at least to me. Her husband started out as an ag lab and later was described as a gamekeeper (by her on his death certificate, though he was an ag lab on the 1841), and they lived somewhere outside Falkland in Fife. He died young in 1850 when she had a houseful of kids from infant to age 14.
One of the great mysteries of my family history, one I'd love to know the story of, is how she managed to get from there to having three of her sons in apprenticeships in Edinburgh. One became a cabinetmaker, another, my ancestor, a gunsmith, and the third a shoemaker who ultimately owned a boot factory and shop on Princes St employing over 40. He's the one buried closest to her, in another section of that same cemetery, with a not-inexpensive obelisk-style stone for a bunch of his family members. He's also the one who informed on her death certificate.
At the time of the 1891 census, she was a boarding house keeper, but by 1901 was described as the head of the household, an annuitant living with (or at least on the census with) a granddaughter.
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Officially every one who worked in the country on the land was an ag.lab. whether they had a specialized job or not.
Have you looked in the Kirk/parish records? There might be some mention of the church organising work places for youngsters. Even at a young age it seems he was considered to be a reliable lad, otherwise he would not have risen up the ranks. Possibly in autumn when the landowners and their guests held shooting parties for grouse, etc. he could have been a quick lad who held the shotguns/rifles, maybe his mother organised food for the shooting parties.
btw, for anyone researching ag.labs and wondering how they managed to travel so far away places, it might have been because they were hired via THE LOCAL MOP FAIR/HIRING FAIR.
url link
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01tnk/
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Thanks, Rena.
I've suspected the same, that either they made a good impression themselves, or their mother did, on people who could help them.
The movement of people in the lower echelons of society is always interesting, whether from the fairs or other reasons. My great grandfather evidently impressed the factor at the estate where he worked as a young man as a gardener, and when the factor moved from up in the West Highlands to work at an estate in Moray, so did my great grandfather.
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Both my English lines and Scottish lines have kept to the same naming pattern:-
The first son was named after the father's father.
The second son after the mother's father.
The third son after the father.
The fourth son after the father's oldest brother.
The first daughter was named after the mother's mother
The second daughter after the father's mother
The third daughter after the mother
Take notes of family stories that you've heard over the years.
For instance:-
My paternal grandfather was named after a local benefactor who I eventually discovered had married my ancestor's female cousin - the couple were unable to produce children.