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Messages - JSmith

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Banffshire / Re: Stuarts stonemasons Tomintoul.
« on: Monday 04 January 10 21:44 GMT (UK)  »
Elgin:
Yes, I have been to Heritage Center in Elgin - indeed their collection of information on buildings may be relevant to your original mason question.
A version of the catalog is online - for example James - the father of John, James and Alexander is:
http://libindx.moray.gov.uk/subjects/subject_people_report_view.asp?REF_ID=NM188040
I came away with an lovely obituary of Margaret Robertson, (who was married to John Smith and was living in Altnahillick in 1841) which led me to look for the rest of her children. She had 10 children, 8 with John and 2 later, and the families of James and Alexander fell into place while trying to sort then out.

I have had my hands on a copy of "The Lordship of Strathavon". Interesting, heavy going, with the emphasis on the history before 1750., but not a light read.

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Banffshire / Re: Stuarts stonemasons Tomintoul.
« on: Saturday 02 January 10 17:53 GMT (UK)  »
I believe Glenconglass farm is the farm at NJ174223.
It is still very much in use.

There is a stream flowing SW coming down to Glenconglass farm - visible on the modern 1:50000 map. I have a copy of an ancient OS map that calls the stream the "Allt na h-Ellick"
A few hundred yards up the stream is an old ruin - little more than a gable end. I guess this is the Aultnahillick farm mentioned in the 1841 census with John Smith and his family.

This link is (I hope) centred on the Altnhillick ruin.
http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=57.286303,-3.36849&spn=0.002882,0.008208&t=h&z=17

There is a picture of the modern Glenconlass farm at. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/51088. The farm house and older buildings are behind the big modern barn.

There are very brief references to these Smiths as tenants of farms in the book Lordship of Strathavon by Victor Gaffney. The Gordon estate papers and rent accounts for at least some of these farms still exist in Edinburgh.
I understand they suggest farming on the Ellick hillside was not easy. In a poor year the rent had to be held over to the following year.

Stories told to my Grandfather around 1900 claimed the family was related to John Smith, the first licensed whisky distiller. They include tales of how John escaped ambush in an inn by shooting into the fire, filling the room in soot and smoke, and escaping in the ensuing mayhem. The same story appeared more recently in Glenlivet advertisements. But we have yet to find any supporting historical record - and so far the dates don't fit very well.

I haven't looked for Grace Cameron and Kincairn.

Happy New Year!

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Banffshire / Re: Stuarts stonemasons Tomintoul.
« on: Saturday 02 January 10 00:09 GMT (UK)  »
Probably not really what you are after, but you can lookup Janet Smith's ancestors:

Janet Smith - b 18 July 1820 to James Smith and Grace Cameron.

In 1841 James Smith, his two brothers John and Alexander, their wives, and about twenty children were all living close together at Ellick and Glenconlas

James Smith - b 8 June 1780 to James Smith and Helen Fraser
John Smith - b 24 November 1777 to James Smith and Helen Fraser
Alex. Smith - b 15 March 1787 to James Smith and Helen Fraser

James Smith and Helen Fraser's gravestone is in the Kirkmichael churchyard. Though worn, it suggests James was born about 1745. Changing from English Smith to Gaelic Gow, the records suggest one more generation:

James Smith - 8 August 1745 to John Gow and Christan Gould, Ruthven

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