FREEMAN in Gourdon & Johnshaven

[foggyman]

Hi Robyn,
Welcome to the McBay/Bey Family Line of Isabella (Bell) MCBAY she is my 4xGrt.Aunt. and I have a lot of family data from 1700 to present day.I will be very happy to share all my information with you. my records show 7 children for JOHN/ISABELLA.
I will send you a private mail with my e-mail address.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards
Mike (UK)

[farah]

Hi, My ancestor John Ritchie married Bervie 2nd October 1782 to Isobal Freeman daughter of James Freeman and Margaret Allan They had the following children Isobal b 1783,James b1786,John b1788, David b1791(my line) Elizabeth b1793 and William b 1796

[Isles]

Hi Johnner Kid.  In reply to your post of Tuesday, 4 August '09 I consider that as Alexander Freeman's children were all born in Bervie Parish (Gourdon) it's likely that he married a Gourdon lass. I say this because it was important that a fisherman's wife had the knowledge and the skill to be able to bait her husband's lines.  The drawback is that the Bervie marriages don't start until 1735 so any earler records are lost.
There is one headstone in Bervie Kirkyard to a Walter Freeman and his wife:-

"Erected by Walter Freeman white fisher in Gourdon in memory of his wife Jean Greig died 18 Feb 1843 aged 61; their daughter Janet died infancy; foresaid Walter Freeman died 17 Aug 1852 aged 72.  In memory of Walter G. Ostler eldest son of Walter Ostler."

[Johnner Kid]

Thanks Isles, I'll make a note of this one as possible twig to my FREEMAN tree.
I can't as yet fit this Walter FREEMAN into my FREEMAN line.
The forename Walter has continued in the Freeman family to the present day.
My late brother was Walter FREEMAN PITTENDREIGH
The earliest Walter I have in my maternal line is the sixth child of
Alexander FREEMAN = Elizabeth LOWNIE,  m. 28th September 1797 in Bervie
 
Walter FREEMAN = Elizabeth CRIGGIE  m. 5th December 1834 in Bervie
Walter died  2th March 1886 aged 78 years 
Elizabeth died  14th Feb 1885 aged 75 years
They had eight children.
Elizabeth [1]  b. 22nd Nov 1835 
[She probably died in infancy before 1841, 
Death registers for Bervie have been ‘lost’ so can't locate any church record.]
Jane  b. 22nd Oct 1837 = James BEATTIE   m. 1861
Alexander  b. 16th June 1839 = Jane DAVIDSON  m. 1st April 1864
Elizabeth [2] b. 7th Nov 1841 
[So named probably to preserve the grandmother & mother’s name in the family]
Christian CRIGGIE  b. 11th June 1843 = David RITCHIE  m. 21st December 1866
[Christian had an illegitimate son, Walter FREEMAN b. 6th December 1863, source SR for Parish of Benholm 1863 p. 19.  Father recorded as Archibald HOWATT  Source:  RCE 1865 p.9]
Walter  b. 7th  May 1848
Isobella  b. 1st Jan 1851
Andrew  b. 26th March 1853

Cheers,
Sy

[Isles]

This may or may not be of interest in your research.  I prepared an index which was compiled from the Register of Interments, the first covering the period 9 Jan 1864 to 2 Sep 1892.  The Registrar appears to have been written by the grave-digger.  The Registers of Deaths held at St Nicholas House, Aberdeen can be consulted for further information as to the parentage of the deceased etc.,
A blank exists between 1892 and 1898.  When the new cemetery at Gourdon was opened in 1899, only those who already held ground at the Old Kirkyard continued to be interred there, and this second Register extends from 18 May 1899 to 18 Oct 1934 when the last interment took place.
There are no markers for those listed below:-

                                               Year & Entry Number         

                                                                                       
FREEMAN, Alexander                        1887/42
       "      , Mrs Alexander                  1887/32
       "      , Andrew                            1884/39
       "      , David                               1887/10
       "      , David(55)                        1908/121
       "      , James                              1873/35
       "      , Walter                             1886/14
       "      , Mrs Walter                       1885/10

Isles.               

[Ellie89]

Hi,

I'm not sure if I am on the right tracks here, but I thought I would give it a go anyways. Ok, so I am a 21 year old female from Aberdeenshire with the surname Freeman.
My Grandad was from Johnshaven, and him and my granny lived there for many years before moving. I know that his parents lived below the Mason Hall, and he was one of many children. After his mother died, he and another brother were sent to the Aberlour Orphanage.
My grandad does not remember too much about all of this as he was very young when he went to Aberlour. My dad however, remembers visiting his auntie Mary (she had a prosthetic arm) and cousins in Johnshaven when he was a kid.

We actually went to Johnshaven on Sunday just past and had a look through the village, also the graveyard and seen a few Freeman gravestones.
I would love to find out about the rest of my family and I would be happy if you had any information about this.

Thanks for your time
Elaine x

[Johnner Kid]

Hello Ellie,
I'm a lot longer in the tooth than you so I won't make it public here.
But I 'm happy to tell you that I have a lot of information on this Freeman family of Johnshaven.
The photo you see on the left is of Walter Freeman, he was my maternal grandfather, he married Isabella [aka Belle] ADAM, the would be would be your great grandfather and great grandmother. Your grandfather would have been their eldest son, David.  My mother Mary was their youngest child, there were seven children. Being long in tooth [OK I'm 72] I knew your grandfather and most of his family, David, Sandy, Mary & Nancy who were your Auncles and Aunts.  I never knew their mother she died before I was born, her name was Williamina TAYLOR WYLLIE. I never knew about two of my cousins being sent to an orphanage and that upsets me when I think that I spent my earliest years in Johnshaven living in one of the small houses below the Mason's Hall.
We can't exchange email address on this forum but we can do by anther means. 
If what I have said fits with what you know I would be happy to share more information with you.

Regards,
Sandy

[Kingussie]

I am researching the Fraser family, one of whom married Mary Freeman. She was a Land Army girl in 1944 and had been brought up in Aberlour orphanage and belonged to Johnshaven. She and her husband moved to Johnshaven in 1951 to live and later operated a fish 'n chip shop. Mary didn't have children of her own but raised some of her nephews and nieces and was very much loved by them.  Please contact me if you connect to Mary and want to know a wee bit more about her.  Donna