RootsChat.Com

Hi James

I have just picked up your very interesting post about your family connection to James King and thank you for sharing this information.  It’s always good to hear from a living family member who can provide first-hand information about their ancestors.  As you know, I have been researching the family line of Ann King, James King’s sister, which has proved to be quite a challenge.  However, I was very grateful to have connected with John, who has done some extensive research into the King family and he has been very helpful in providing me with some valuable facts that I’ve struggled to find.  It’s always very satisfying to be able to complete another strand of the King family, which can be very confusing as there are so many family members with the same name! 

I think we can safely say that Robert King b 1768 married Mary Whyte (White) b 1782.  I have their marriage date of 14/2/1801 in Beith.  Also, I have researched the Whyte family line.  Thomas Whyte b 1767 was Mary’s brother who was a farmer at Giffen Castle farm and was married to Mary Montgomery.  Jean King, James’ younger sister, brought up Ann King’s son, William Young (my great grandfather) and they lived at Giffen Castle farm with Thomas and Mary Whyte.  I found them in the 1851/1861 Census, so there is a very strong connection with the King/Whyte family.  I also have the birth record of Ann King b 22/8/1816, daughter of Robert and Mary King.

You mention in your notes that there may be a connection with the Free Church.  I have a copy of Jean King’s Will, dated 1883 where she has left the sum of £19 to the Home Mission Fund of the Free Church of Scotland.  She also left a sum of money to David King, her brother who emigrated to Canada. 

I have also not found in my research any connection to the McGregor Clan.

I was very interested to hear that your grandfather emigrated to Canada at the young age of 14 yrs – how amazing is that?  You mention that he was married twice and had 4 children with his second wife.  You also mention Matthew Neilson and Jean (Andrew) in the same paragraph.  I’m not sure where these members fit into the picture. I would be grateful if you could please clarify this?

Thanks again for your very useful and valuable contribution.

Hi Sally

I'm also looking for my grandfather's Rand Pioneers record circa 1895. The Brenthurst Library in South Africa (www.brenthurst.org.za) has some documentation relating to the Rand Pioneers and Rand Women Pioneers Associations.  Perhaps they would be able to help with your research.

Does anybody know who to contact for information about graves/lairs in Beith Cemetery, Ayrshire Scotland?

Incidentally just an interesting piece of history about Giffen farm and Robert King.  I wonder if the J. Smith might have been Robert's great great grandmother Jean Smith (White)? 

https://canmore.org.uk/site/42183/mains-of-giffen#701714

Thanks for your help Monica.  On William jnr's marriage cert of 1872 Ann is shown as Ann Young M.S. King (deceased).  Also, I have found a very interesting revelation on Scottish Indexes, which is a child maintenance claim in the Sheriff's Court for King vs Young dated May 1840. William jnr's birth date is given as 1st November 1839.  Although the names and dates seem to match up quite well, I can't really say whether this is a co-incidence (I'm thinking unlikely), but there is no age given for the parents etc or any other details about them which is most frustrating. However, I have since found a birth record for Ann King on 22nd August 1816, parents Robert and Mary Whyte King on Family Search (thanks for your suggestion!).  Now I just need to find a marriage cert or birth record for William?