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Messages - EileenA

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1
Kincardineshire / Re: STEPHEN family late 1700's Stonehaven
« on: Tuesday 18 October 16 20:51 BST (UK)  »
Good to hear from you, Heather.  For some reason I have great difficulty accessing your replies through Roots Chat.  Could we correspond in future via our normal email addresses?  It would be much easier.  Mine is eileentownsend@btinternet.com.

I'll start with our McBey/McBay line first. 
The first McBey to arrive in this area was James McBey who was chris.  31/8/1729 in the parish of Rathven, Banff, (parents Alexander McBey and Janet Anderson married Banff/Rathven 24/22/1726).  He was a seaman and was put off his ship for disobedience in 1756 at the small fishing village of Miltonhaven, three miles down the coast from Johnshaven.   He married a Margaret Blews from Miltonhaven in 1770 and was joined a few years later by his elder brother John, our ancestor, born Banff/ Rathven on 19/9/1727.  John married Margaret's cousin Barbara Blews/Blues in 1787 in Miltonhaven and their eldest son, your ancestor, James McBey was christ. in Miltonhaven on 4/11/1778.  He died in Johnshaven 13/8/1858 and is buried at St Cyrus.  My ancestor is their second son Alexander chris. Miltonhaven 30/11/1783, who was press-ganged for over 20 years and died in Johnshaven aged 92.
James married Mary/Marion McDonald  and they had three children James ,born 1808, Charles born 1815 and Elizabeth/Betty (actually christened Betty) born 1818.  Betty was the one who erected a gravestone for their parents in St Cyrus kirkyard.  It says   "Erected by Elizabeth McBay in memory of her father James McBay, late of the Coastguard, died Johnshaven 13 August 1858 aged 83 (sic).  Her mother Mary McDonald died 5 July 1857 aged 79.  The above Elizabeth McBay died 20 August 1865 aged 47.  Her brother James died 25 July 1869 aged 61."   James actually died in Sunnyside Royal Hospital (the asylum at Hillside just outside of Montrose). 

James and Mary (McDonald) McBay and their family lived at Tangleha' - a beautiful but very tiny fishing hamlet about a mile north of Miltonhaven built by the fishermen's own hands from the retrieved stones of their village of Miltonhaven which was washed away in a terrible storm in December, 1793.  ( I wrote an article about the tragedy for the "Scots Magazine" some years back.) Eventually they all moved into Johnshaven.

My great granny Mary McDonald McBay of Johnshaven (Mrs Joseph Stephen) was named after her great aunt - your ancestor.

Must dash as we're going up to Kenmore for a few days tomorrow and I've a million things to do this evening.

Hope this has been of some interest.

Best wishes from your cousin,

Eileen.

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Kincardineshire / Re: STEPHEN family late 1700's Stonehaven
« on: Tuesday 18 October 16 14:59 BST (UK)  »
Hi HeatherConnie -

Many thanks for your speedy response and my sincere apologies for not getting back sooner.  We've been at our holiday home in Kenmore on Loch Tay for most of the past week and I forgot to take my laptop with me.

I've got no doubt we come from the same line of Stephens originally but, sadly, your Fetteresso/Skateraw branch and my Catterline branch are not the same.  My branch so far goes back to James Stephen and Elisabeth Lyndsey living in Catterline in the mid 1600s and there were several Stephen families living in Catterline then.  My branch then moved to Arbuthnott, then Gourdon, ending up in the early 1800s in Johnshaven where we have now retired to and my mother's side of the family (the Stephens) come from.

What we know through family lore is that the Stephens, along with many other young fishermen from the fishing villages of Buchan and the Moray Firth came down the coast from the mid 1600s to the late 1700s for a better living, married local girls and stayed.  The harbours and fishing down here were regarded as more profitable than those of the likes of Banffshire, in particular.  If family lore is to believed, the Stephens came from around Peterhead in the 1600s, while other ancestors such as the McBey/McBays came from the parish of Rathven in Banff.

By the way, Heather, I have also got McBays and Blueses on my family tree and have got them back to the 1600s so if I can be of any help to you with them I'll gladly try.

Best wishes,

Eileen.

 

3
Kincardineshire / Re: STEPHEN family late 1700's Stonehaven
« on: Saturday 15 October 16 20:38 BST (UK)  »
Hi HeatherConnie -
I am researching my mother's tree and her Stephen ancestors are all from the North East coast of Scotland and have got back, for definite, to a James Stephen who was christened in Catterline on 26/8/1644.  I would be grateful if you could help me get them back any further as I am not sure whether they originated in Arbuthnott or Stonehaven (Fetteresso).  Family lore had it that the Stephens originated in Peterhead and came down the coast in the early 1600s but whether this is accurate or not, I don't know.  Certainly there have been Stephens involved in the fishing in Peterhead for generations so it may well be true.
I would be really grateful for any additional information you may have.
Kindest regards,
Eileen.

4
Hi Goldie -

It's quite some time since you posted your request for information on Samuel Burgess as you'd come up against a brick wall with the Burgesses in the early 19th century.  This may well be because the majority of Burgesses in Salford during this period were originally Jewish, although most had their children christened in the Cathedral and married there.  Although in public they adopted Christianity they often retained the Jewish custom of marrying cousins.  Hope this may be of some interest to you.

5
Scotland / Re: mcbays of johnshaven
« on: Sunday 12 December 10 15:15 GMT (UK)  »
Hi - Have just read your query about your Johnshaven McBey/McBay ancestors.  I live in Johnshaven and am also descended from the McBays and have done almost all the descendant family trees back to the original two brothers who came down from Banff/Rathven in the mid 1700s.  Your grandfather Edward McBey was a great character.  Known as "Lang Ned" he was the first Cox of the Johnshaven lifeboat and a very brave man.  If you need any more information I'll be glad to supply it.  Kind regards, Eileen.

6
United States of America / Re: James Alexander Cameron
« on: Wednesday 04 February 09 00:18 GMT (UK)  »
Just another quick Thank You, Shellyesq!  Have just logged on to the website you recommended (raogk.org) and am really impressed.  I'd never heard of it before and will certainly use it in the future.  It's so kind of you to share your knowledge and experience in digging up the ancestors.  It's really appreciated!

7
United States of America / Re: James Alexander Cameron
« on: Tuesday 03 February 09 23:17 GMT (UK)  »
Thank you so much once more, Shelleyesq.  I'll definitely look into that website and, hopefully, the other kind soul that you mention might find out a little bit more about Jimmy for us.  I really appreciate all your help and advice.

8
Canada / Re: Adelaide Ann Beeson
« on: Tuesday 03 February 09 23:11 GMT (UK)  »
Have just found your last helpful note, Jacquie, as have just discovered my email Server has been putting all my RootsChat replies straight into the Spam bin!  Anyway, thankfully I found it and am very grateful to you as I'd no idea that they listed the names on the marriage records on FreeBMD alphabetically.   Adelaide could well have married William Richard Nicholson and not James Lewis Grieg as I previously thought - if, indeed, she married either of them!  Food for thought!  I'll definitely try to look into it and thank you so much once again for your help.

9
Canada / Re: Adelaide Ann Beeson
« on: Monday 02 February 09 23:03 GMT (UK)  »
You're absolutely right about 1907, Jorose.  I have, however, found a marriage for an Adelaide Ann Beeson to a James Lewis Grieg in Lancaster in 1891.  That would have made her only 18 when she married and would she have travelled across to the other side of the country to marry when her mother was still alive?  I doubt it.  I reckon the best bet is your 1911 passenger list when she perhaps travelled out with the Wiggs family.  This would fit in best with the family lore of her having acted as surrogate mother to the other kids after her mother died in 1906.  She would have been 38 in 1911 so I guess she was still young enough to have got married in Canada in the years following her arrival.  Do you know if Canadian marriage records are on line for 1911 and afterwards?   I really appreciate your help and feel I may be getting somewhere at last.

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