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Messages - Spence_David

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Australia / Re: Refresh - David KEDDIE and Margaret Wilson Couper Vic/WA
« on: Wednesday 28 August 19 15:58 BST (UK)  »
Jamison
I was re reading our posts from March just last Sunday the 18th Aug. We were in Scotland and wondered if we could look up anything in Fife that we had missed before. I remembered that you said you had a photo of Thomas andElizabeth headstone. So searched it out on the net and found out that it was in Monimail. So on Monday 19th I was standing in front of their headstone. Your reply to our last text in March was flagged up on my laptop later the same day!!!
Turns out that the Elizabeth Kirk's family was from Monimail. I still think they ended their days in the Asylum because they are in Chance Inn in 1851 and 1861 but nowhere to be found in census from then on. Thomas is a tenant farmer at Chance Inn paying £10 rent in 1851 and £12 in 1861.
Headstone probably erected by David and Robert between 1879 and 1881 when David dies in Australia. So he must have sent money home to family in Fife.
Questions for you - was David a successful farmer in Australia able to send money home?
Also - how are your searches going? Do you live in Australia? Mr or Mrs??
Dave

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Australia / Re: Refresh - David KEDDIE and Margaret Wilson Couper Vic/WA
« on: Sunday 03 March 19 20:44 GMT (UK)  »
Jamison
I know there are a lot of Keddies. But there are a lot more Browns. Have tried to find Christina's parents but the number of Browns are just mind boggling. The most likely places to find them are possibly in St Andrews, Fife or Crail, Fife. There are family connections to those places for the Browns.
Strange thing is that Thomas Keddie's parents are James Keddie and Elspeth Brown married in St Andrews in 1788. So Christina could be a distant (hopefully) relative of Thomas mother Elspeth.
Remember in your search that sometimes Christina is recorded as Christian etc. You need to try both.
Also you won't find a birth for John Keddie. But from kirk session records I know its around October or November of 1854.
Hope thats useful.
Dave

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Australia / Re: Refresh - David KEDDIE and Margaret Wilson Couper Vic/WA
« on: Sunday 03 March 19 18:40 GMT (UK)  »
Jamison
Thomas and Elizabeth had a son William born in 1839? They had married in 1837.
David's son John was a Keddie.
All of the Keddies in Fife were farm workers/labourers for generations. So it doesn't surprise me that David eventually becomes a farmer in Australia. It was in his genes.
In the 1850's farm mechanisation was coming in and the land owners did not need so many labourers. So in some ways getting rid of them was a problem. Supported passage to foreign lands was one solution. Hence David and his relatives end up in Astralia.
Mary would not have been allowed to go for a number of reasons. She was an unmarried mother. John was only 3 and there was a good chance that he would not have survived the journey. Mary had contracted TB in 1857 (and died from it in 1859) another reason she couldn't travel.
Dave

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Australia / Re: Refresh - David KEDDIE and Margaret Wilson Couper Vic/WA
« on: Sunday 03 March 19 17:58 GMT (UK)  »
Jamison
I have no information on Robert except his DOB as 18/11/1826 in Ceres, Fife.
Thomas Keddie's first wife Christina Brown died on 10th April 1834 at Chance Inn where they lived. Chance Inn (not an Inn) was the name of a small hamlet of houses near Ceres.
If I have my facts correct the headstone you have a photo of for Thomas Keddie and Elizabeth should show that they died within 3 days of each other. 25th Nov and 28th Nov 1879. Death record says they are age 82 and 84. It also says they died of old age.
Their address at death is given as Springfield. Its near where they lived. In Springfield at that time there was what was known as Fife and Kinross District Asylum. This may have operated as a workhouse for the poor as well. They may have ended their days there. At their age they are unlikely to have been fit for work and therefore may have had no income. I have no proof of this however. I hope the above is of some use.
Dave

5
Australia / Re: Refresh - David KEDDIE and Margaret Wilson Couper Vic/WA
« on: Friday 01 March 19 17:29 GMT (UK)  »
Hi to all on this search.
All of you are trying to piece together David Keddie, who travelled to Australia on board the "Negotiator" in 1857, and his family and ancestors etc.
His parents were Thomas Keddie and Christina Brown, married in 1822. David was born on 16th April 1825 in Ceres, Fife. He travelled to Australia with his uncle, John Keddie (born 1800) and John's second wife Margaret Herd and the 5 youngest of John's children from his first marriage to Janet Ritchie. John and Janet had 10 children in all.
When David went to Australia he left behind in Fife a son John (born 1854) he had to Mary Paton (they were never married). Its a long story. John was brought up by Thomas Keddie, his grandfather, and his second wife Elizabeth Kirk. (Mary Paton died in 1859).
Young John later married Elizabeth Angus in 1894. Elizabeth Angus had 3 sons prior to marrying John and they later had one daughter and 3 more boys when married. One of their boys was called David. This David was my grandfather. I was called after him.
 

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