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     I saw a post by you dated 2007. I have just come on to this website and finding my feet, as they say. Do you still need help with the family Harvey from Macduff (Parish of Gamrie)?

     James Harvey is my great-grandfather. He died on 19 December 1913 in Kirknewton in the Parish of Kirknewton & East Calder. I do have some family records. He was married to Agnes Gibb of East Calder and who died in 1918.

     James was the son of Charles Harvey (b. 1812 in Gartly, near Huntly, Aberdeenshire). His father was Peter Harvey, born around 1768, probably in Gartly. There were quite a few Harvey’s living in that parish in the 18th century.

     Charles married Margaret Brown and his father Peter married Jane (Jean) Mason about 1790.

      Around the late 1850’s the entire family moved to Stirling. Why I do not know but one explanation may have been to do with famine in that part of Scotland during those times.

     

I am a direct descendant of James Harvey.  He is buried in the village cemetery at Kirknewton, now in the County of West Lothian, Scotland.  Until 1975 Kirknewton was in the County of Midlothian.  He died aged 73 on 19th December 1913 in Kirknewton.  He left a widow, Agnes Gibb.  His parents were Charles Harvey and Margaret Harvey nee Brown. His occupation had been at the time of death a retired Oilwork Labourer.  The local area was the largest world producer of oil (ie mineral oil extracted from the ground, which accounts for the orange shale bings or slags surrounding this area).  The grave has a headstone marking his death and that of his widow, who died on 1st June 1918 in Kirknewton.  In the next grave is buried his son, William.

Charles Harvey and Margaret Brown had children as follows:
James born 22 Mar 1840
Charles born 16 May 1841
Margaret born 13 Mar 1843
William D.  born 18 Jul 1845
Peter born 17 Jul 1848
Alexander Leask born 4 Apl 1852

All were born in Macduff, a town 2 miles east of Banff in Aberdeenshire.  Macduff is a fishing port situated on Gamrie Bay and was known as the parish of Gamrie.

Sometime around the 1850s they moved to Stirling, ie St Ninians.  A son, Charles, was involved in the printing business.  There Margaret Brown died aged 60 on 27 Aug 1875; her widower Charles died aged 78 in nearby Old Sauchie on 11 Dec 1890 (St Ninians Parish, Parish No. 488/1, Entry 73).

The Marriage Entry for the Newington District of Edinburgh (Parish No 685/5, Entry 159) shows that 31 year old James Harvey, a Clerk residing in the Pleasance, Edinburgh, married Agnes Gibb on 23rd May 1871.  Prior to their marriage they had a son, James, on 6th June 1870. (Newington 685/5 Entry 708). The occupation of father James is recorded as Druggist's Assistant.  They later had a number of other children, all born locally, and from which I am descended in the male line.  Just prior to the 1891 census the family moved to Kirknewton.  The forefathers of his wife, Agnes Gibb, all came from West Lothian since the 1600s.  She grew up in East Calder, 2 miles away from Kirknewton.

The children of James Harvey and Agnes Gibb are:-
James      b. 6 Jun 1870
Mary        b.1872
Margaret  b. 1874
Agnes      b. 1876
Charles    b. 1878
William      b. 1881
Archibald   b. 1883
All were born in the Edinburgh area.  I have no record of a John having been born to them.

AH