Rosebank Cemetery Leith Headstone Photo Request - Marion Edmonston Seggie

[kathyc]

Thank you so much for looking. It was very kind of you, and I really appreciate it.

Good idea about contacting the Edinburgh council. I'll do that.

She's an interesting one, at least to me. Her husband started out as an ag lab and later was described as a gamekeeper (by her on his death certificate, though he was an ag lab on the 1841), and they lived somewhere outside Falkland in Fife. He died young in 1850 when she had a houseful of kids from infant to age 14.

One of the great mysteries of my family history, one I'd love to know the story of, is how she managed to get from there to having three of her sons in apprenticeships in Edinburgh. One became a cabinetmaker, another, my ancestor, a gunsmith, and the third a shoemaker who ultimately owned a boot factory and shop on Princes St employing over 40. He's the one buried closest to her, in another section of that same cemetery, with a not-inexpensive obelisk-style stone for a bunch of his family members. He's also the one who informed on her death certificate.

At the time of the 1891 census, she was a boarding house keeper, but by 1901 was described as the head of the household, an annuitant living with (or at least on the census with) a granddaughter.

[Rena]

Officially every one who worked in the country on the land  was an ag.lab. whether they had a specialized job or not. 

Have you looked in the Kirk/parish records?   There might be some mention of the church organising work places for youngsters.    Even at a young age it seems he was considered to be a reliable lad, otherwise he would not have risen up the ranks.  Possibly in autumn when the landowners and their guests held shooting parties for grouse, etc. he could have been a quick lad who held the shotguns/rifles, maybe his mother organised food for the shooting parties. 

btw, for anyone researching ag.labs and wondering how they managed to travel so far away places, it might have been because they were hired via THE LOCAL  MOP FAIR/HIRING FAIR.

url link

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01tnk/

[kathyc]

Thanks, Rena.

I've suspected the same, that either they made a good impression themselves, or their mother did, on people who could help them.

The movement of people in the lower echelons of society is always interesting, whether from the fairs or other reasons. My great grandfather evidently impressed the factor at the estate where he worked as a young man as a gardener, and when the factor moved from up in the West Highlands to work at an estate in Moray, so did my great grandfather.

[Rena]

Both my English lines and Scottish lines have kept to the same naming pattern:-

The first son was named after the father's father.
The second son after the mother's father.
The third son after the father.
The fourth son after the father's oldest brother.

The first daughter was named after the mother's mother
The second daughter after the father's mother
The third daughter after the mother

Take notes of family stories that you've heard over the years.

For instance:-

My paternal grandfather was named after a local benefactor who I eventually discovered had married my ancestor's female cousin - the couple were unable to produce children.