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HISTORY OF THE REIDS OF RINMORE in GLENBUCHAT and GLENKINDIE |
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Glenbuchat |
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The
earliest confirmed record I have for my branch of the Reids, is the birth,
in Glenbuchat, of William
Reid on 5th March 1727.
William was born to a James Reid, unfortunately I
have not been able to trace a mother’s name.
Also to confuse the issue, a William Reid was also born
to a Archibald Reid and Elspet Toshach. (these as far as I can
tell, are not related). William went on to marry Anna William on 11th
August 1747 and father another James Reid, born 30th
April 1757.
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William and Anna founded, what I consider the start of the family tree as I know it – they were my great, great, great, great grandparents. We descend thus:
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*William Reid and Anna William (c 1727-1815) great, great, great, great grandparents *James Reid and Hellen Reid (1757-1843) - great, great, great grandparents *Peter Reid and Jean Reid (c 1794-1855) - great, great grandparents *Gordon
Reid and Jane Grant
(1842-1923) - great
grandparents William Reid and Elizabeth Nicol (1873-1960) - my grandparents Full details below
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Children of William and Anna William (1st son and eldest child) b 1750 at Baltimore, Glenbuchat - no more information. Archibald (2nd son) b1753 at Baltimore, Glenbuchat - no further information John (3rd son) b. 8th June 1755 at Baltimore, Clenbuchat. Farmed Miltown of Glenbuchat and married Charlotte Lindsay (1773-1836) they went on to have at least four children, one of whom William (1804-1882) gained an M.A. and went on to be minister of the united parishes of Auchindoir and Kearn: he in turn married Elizabeth Mary Scott (1814-1890) and they had 6 children, two of whom are worth mentioning: son Alexander John Forsyth Reid * KCB, MA, LLD (1846-1913) became a Major General in the Indian Army and Hon. Col of the 29th Punjabis., marrying Alexandra Catherine Dyce Stewart (1863-1928) eldest daughter of Sir David Stewart of Banchory, Devenick and Leggart: they had no children. The other son being Robert William Reid MD, LLD, FRCS (1851-1939) Professor of Anatomy at Aberdeen University 1889-1925. John died on 5th October 1844 and is buried in the churchyard of the Old Kirk of Glenbuchat. It is worth mentioning the inscriptions here for both parts of this family. They are inscribed on white marble tablets set into stone and are upright. As of May 2005 the left hand one in memory of Alexander John Forsyth Reid had the top third broken off and laid beside it. See inscriptions on Graves and kirkyards page.
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Jean (1st daughter, 4th child) b 27th March 1756 at Baltimore - no further information
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JAMES (4th son, 5th child) b 30th April 1757 at Baltimore - my great, great, great grandfather (further information below) |
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Peter
(5th son, 6th child) b 25th
February 1760 at Baltimore. Continued farming at Baltimore. He married
Mary Dingual
and they had at least 4 children, Peter died 10th August
1808. Mary survived him by a
further 40 years, dying in 1848. Peter and some of his family are buried in the same grave in the Old Kirk of Glenbuchat next to that of his brother James and sister-in-law Helen. It is inscribed on a flat stone on graves and kirkyards page Adam (6th son, 7th child) b 24th April 1762 at Baltimore - no further information Anna (2nd daughter, 8th and final child) b 5th August 1764 at Baltimore - no further information
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JAMES REID AND HELLEN REID * James Reid's birth certificate James
Reid was born to William Reid and Anna William on 30th April 1757 at
Baltimore Glenbuchat. James Reid dies in 1836 aged 79 and Hellen dies aged 80, I have been able to discern her age from the gravestone, so this would be around 1843 Children of James and Hellen Harry the eldest son died aged 30 in 1819. Archibald the 2nd son died at only 7 months in 1792 James the 3rd son married twice, firstly to Mary Glennie (probably one of the Glennie family from Lochrie) on 8.8.1829 in Inveravon and they had three children James b2.9.1830 who died as a child, Jean b 18.8.1833 and Mary b 31.5.1835 who also died as a child. Mary Glennie herself died c1835/37 and James then married Jean Dawson (b 1799) a member of the Dawson family from Largue, just up the glen. They had no children but James's daughter Jean lived with them up to the 1851 census, when she would have been about 19, perhaps she followed many other of the family members and emigrated. James and Jean farmed at Rinmore and later Rinmore Croft, James dying on 13th October 1862 at Rinmore aged 69. His widow Jean died on 5th April 1881 at East Rinmore. PETER the 4th son (my great, great grandfather) see below. Gordon
the youngest died in 1823 aged 26, and had also been a farmer at Rinmore. James
Hellen, Harry, Archibald and Gordon are buried in the Old Kirk of
Glenbuchat they share the same grave, under a flat stone, full details
under graves and kirkyards.: The gravestone has been very difficult to decipher, we have had to scrape away years of growth, dampen the stone and try our best!
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PETER
REID AND JEAN REID Peter and Jean's marriage certificate Peter
was born the 4th son of James and Hellen in 1794 and Jean was the eldest
daughter of Gordon Reid and Jane MacDonald from Tollafraike
- a farm about a mile
further up Glenkindie. Jean sometimes appears in accounts as Jean and
sometimes as Jane, but it is the same person. Jean and Jane appear
to be interchangeable in Scotland at this time. Peter farmed East Rinmore all his working life and all their children were born here. He must have died around 1849/51 as his youngest daughter Mary Jane was born in 1849 and by the time of the 1851 census, Jean was a widow. Jean died somewhere between the census of 1851 and the death in 1859 of her son Harry, the informant for Harry’s death was her brother Gordon, as Jean was already described as deceased. I
have yet to find Peter and Jane’s grave, but I believe it to be the
fallen gravestone adjacent to that of James and Hellen in the Old Kirk
of Glenbucket.
Children
of Peter and Jean Peter
the eldest son married Isabella McDonald (1834-1904) and continued farming
East Rinmore after his father's death. He and Isabella had seven children - James 1860-1.6.1941,
Robert b 1862,
Jean or Jane b
1864, Isabella b
1866-25.12.1958), Helen b
1869, Peter b
1873-18.2.02 and Elizabeth b
1878. Their daughter
Isabella married twice - 1)
?? Stephen and 2) Alex Webster, she had two children from her first
marriage John and Isabella Stephen. Peter and Isabella are buried in the churchyard at Towie in a tall four sided granite faced edifice flanked by two well clipped yew trees along with their daughter Isabella. Full inscriptions under graves and kirkyards. Helen or Ellen is the eldest daughter born in 1837, as yet I have no future for her, but am working on it! Harry
(2nd
son) died on February 5th 1859 at Rinmore of acute
rheumatism sequelae of scarlatine, 3 days (both his parents were already dead). He is
buried in the churchyard at Glenbucket and the informant was Gordon Reid
of Chapeltown (uncle).
This uncle was his mother’s Jean’s brother, not his father Peter’s
brother. GORDON
ALEXANDER (3rd son and 4th child) my
great grandfather, see below James is the youngest son and was born in 1845, as yet I have no future for him, but am working on it, but he was a witness at the 1870 wedding of his brother Gordon to Jane Grant.
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Mary Jane, the youngest child, was born in 1848, she left Rinmore in 1873 and emigrated to the United States. In the 1880 census for the US, she was living at 'Our Home Hygienic Institute' in North Danville, Livingstone County, New York, where she was employed as a chamber matron. Also employed here was one James Bird born in England in 1850, who had arrived in New York as an immigrant in 1871. They were to marry two year's later in 1882 and have three children. Mary Jane born February 1883 and Alfred J born August 1889, there was a third child, but by the 1900 census, the child had died and the family were living at 24 Mathews Street, Rochester, Monro County, New York. By the 1910 census Alfred too had died, but James, Mary Jane and Mary Jane junior were still living there, where James was in real estate and owned his home and daughter Mary Jane was a public school teacher. This is the last record that I can find on the family. It is to James and Mary Jane Bird that my great aunt Georgina (their niece) entered as the address that she was en route to on her arrival at Ellis Island in 1906.
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Mary Jane's documentation in USA
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GORDON
REID AND JANE GRANT
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Gordon
and Jane had 9 children - WILLIAM GORDON 1873-1960, Mary Jane 1874-1894,
James 1875-1910, Helen Ann
1878-1946, Isabella Grant
1880-1944, John Grant b 1882, Margaret Grant b 1883-1968 Alexander Grant 1885-1974, Georgina Grant 1887-1979. Jane Gauld Grant was the eldest of 10 children. Her father George Grant's mother was Jean Gauld (born in 1782 in Tarland and Migvie) and the name was passed on to his eldest child. Unfortunately Jane does not enjoy a long life and dies at West Rinmore on 3rd January 1888 when she was only 37. The death certificate states pyoemia as the cause of death – this is an old word for blood poisoning or septicemia. I have no idea how she contracted this, I had originally thought that her death was brought about as a result of giving birth to her last daughter, but Georgina was born a full 7 months previously. It states in the death certificate that Jane had been suffering from blood poisoning for 3 days, so we can assume that she fell ill around the last day of 1887. We shall probably never know what actually happened. After
her mother’s early death, I assume that Mary Jane takes over and
brings up her seven younger siblings, as she is the eldest daughter.
She would have been only 14, but as children left school at that
age in those days, it would have been deemed the correct course of
action. On
25th June 1894 Mary Jane too dies at West Rinmore of acute rheumatic endocarditis (this is
, apparently, the effect of rheumatism on the heart) she
died even younger than her mother, being only 20.
Poor Mary Jane does not seem to have had much of a life. Jane Grant and her daughter Mary Jane are buried in the Old Kirk of Glenbuchat in the same grave, topped by a tall four-sided pink granite edifice, this is situated above the flat stone inscribed to James and Helen Reid and is described in full under graves and kirkyards. Unfortunately death within the Reid family and virtually all others in the glen, figures all too painfully often. In
1895 Gordon moves his family (with the exception of son James) from West Rinmore to Shannoch Farm on the Breda Estate, Alford, a
move of some 15 miles to the east.
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Children of Gordon and Jane Reid Three of Gordon and Jane’s children - John, Alexander and Georgina emigrated to the USA, John in 1905 and the others in 1906, but their elder brother James predated them, by migrating in 1895 to Melbourne, Australia.
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William
Gordon Reid (eldest son and first born child)
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Mary Jane
(eldest daughter and 2nd
child)
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James
(2nd son and 3rd child) Born 31st December 1875,
died 21st October 1910 at Hamley Bridge railway yard, in Melbourne, Australia. |
James's documentation unfortunately I am not able to append James's emigration details at present.
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Helen Ann Grant (2nd daughter and 4th child). Born 7th July 1878, died 20th March 1946 at Laurelbank, Inverurie. Born at West Rinmore and educated at Ardler School in Glenkindie. After the death of her eldest sister Mary Jane in 1894, 'Nell' took over as housekeeper for the family, I believe she was the last of her siblings to leave home. Aged 35, she married widower John Watt on 26th July 1913 at the Coffee House in Inverurie. John was a retired builder considerably older - 33 year's older in fact. The Minister of the United Free Church of Alford, Gordon Cameron, officiated and two of her siblings were witnesses, namely oldest brother William and Margaret Milne, herself married for just one year. After the wedding they moved into the groom's home - Elm Cottage, North Street, Inverurie. My mother did not relish the visits of ‘Aunt Nell’ who had no sense of humour and was very stern and taciturn.. Apparently, the visits were not much liked by her mother Elizabeth Nicol (Nell’s sister-in-law) either, who always had to produce the best china when Aunt Nell dropped in for afternoon tea. Nell survived WWII, dying on March 20th 1946 at home in "Laurelbank", Inverurie of myocarditis and a brain haemorrhage. By this time Nell was a widow and the informant for her death was her brother-in-law Peter Laing. |
Helen's (Nell) documentation
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Isabella Grant (3rd daughter and 5th child) Born 12th May 1880, died 2nd October 1944 at Kepplestone Nursing Home, Aberdeen. Born at West Rinmore Farm and educated at Ardler School, Isabella was known as Bella within the family. She would have completed her education at Ardler and not transferred to Gallowhill School after the family's move to Shannoch as she was around 15 years of age at the time and school leaving age in those days was 14. Bella stayed at home until around 1913, when she moved to Inverurie to take up a post as a nurse/governess. Bella did not marry until she was 40 when she married Peter Laing a master printer aged 50. Peter gave his address as 11 Market Place, Inverurie on their wedding certificate. Bella appeared to be living with her sister Nell, prior to her wedding; which was held at the Gordon Arms Hotel in Inverurie. Because of their ages, Bella and Peter had no children. Mum
remembered Bella as different as chalk from cheese to her sister
Nell. . The visits from Aunt Bella were greatly anticipated by her
nieces and nephews. Bella
died on 2nd October 1944 at Kepplestone Nursing Home in |
Bella's documentation
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John Grant (3rd son and 6th child) b 1882 - still researching date of death. John was born 14th April 1882 at West Rinmore Farm and educated at Ardler School, he would probably have finished his education at Gallowhill School, being only 13 year's of age at the time of the family's move. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade and was the first of his siblings to emigrate to the USA. He left Glasgow in a 2nd cabin on the SS Caledonia out of Glasgow on 9th September 1905 arriving at Ellis Island, just off the coast of Manhattan. I have a great deal of admiration for this great uncle of mine; he was only 23 year's old and had lived in a quiet backwater all his life, New York City must have seemed so daunting to him: He must have felt so alone leaving his close-knit family and everything he had ever known so many thousands of miles behind him and knowing that in all probability he would never return, to start a new life in a land he probably knew very little about. From here he travelled to Rochester upstate New York to a friend whose name in the ship's manifest looks like James Baird, but is probably James Bird, his fraternal aunt Mary Jane's husband. The next year when his brother Alexander joined him, he was living at 21 Mathews Street, Rochester. In the USA Census for 1930 John is living with his wife Amy Brigham, who was born in New York of English parentage and mother in law Elizabeth at 6511 Auburn Avenue in Detroit City, Wayne County, Michigan. He married Amy around 1914 , but they did not have any children. He owns his home which is worth $4,500 and is aged 47, his profession is stated as carpenter, contractor, but unfortunately he is also unemployed. In the present family it is believed that John was wiped out in the building slump of the 1930s and it is thought that he never returned to the land of his birth. I have not been able to trace either Amy or John's deaths, but Amy is still alive in 1958, as she is mentioned in a letter from John's sister Georgie to their brother William in Scotland, but I believe that John had already died. At present, there is an intriguing possibility that John and Amy may have had a son, I have traced a John G Reid born to a John Reid in Detroit City around 1930, Amy would have been about 44 years old, but it is possible. I have to send for the birth certificate to check it out - watch this space..........................
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John's documentation 1905
emigration
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Margaret Grant (4th daughter and 7th child) Born 31st December 1883, died Aberdeen 31st October 1968. 'Peggy' was born at West Rinmore Farm and partly educated at Ardler School, before finishing her education at Gallowhill School in Breda. As was the tradition in those days, Peggy lived at home at Shannoch until her marriage. She was employed as a 'clerkess' in a law firm in Aberdeen. I think she must have been an early commuter, using the rail link from Alford into the city. She married William G Milne a motorcar engineer (manager) from 34 Castle Street, Forfar at The Grand Hotel, Aberdeen on 14th December 1912 when she was 28 and William 33. They had no children. Peggy became a widow around WWII and didn’t remarry, dying in 1968 shortly after a fall and is buried in Aberdeen Cemetery.
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Margaret's documentation
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Alexander
Grant (4th and last son and 8th child) Born
5th August 1885, died 1st July 1974 Colorado, USA He sailed on the SS Ethiopia out of Glasgow in a 2nd cabin, on April 28th, arriving on 11th May 1906 again to Ellis Island en route to his brother John now living at 21 Mathews Street, Rochester, upstate New York. He was to become a civil servant in the USA. He married Nora, I am not sure of the surname, but it may have been Russell, who was also Scottish and came over in the same year (wonder if they met on the ship)?? and when we knew him lived in Denver, Colorado. ‘Uncle Alec’ returned to the UK on a few occasions, never missing out on visiting any of his nieces or nephews. In his 80s, he intrepidly flew back and forth on many occasions between the States and the UK, visiting his niece Margaret and family in London, before embarking on a train to Lincolnshire to visit his niece Bessie and thence up to Aberdeen, where he visited his sister Peggy, nephews Gordon, James, John and Ronald and niece Bunty and their families. In the USA Census for 1930, Alec and Nora are living in Columbia Heights, Jefferson County, Colorado, they are both 44 years of age and have been married for 18 years, therefore marrying in 1912. Their home is worth $4,000, but no occupation is listed. A son was born to them on 28th September 1913 and they named him Gordon Russell Reid, after Alec's father, but sadly the baby did not live long, I believe he died before his first birthday, unfortunately they had no more children. Alexander died
on the 1st July 1974. I remember Uncle Alec well, he was a genuinely 'Christian' gentleman who always made us say grace before a meal, even when we were dining in a hotel - as a teenager I found this embarrassing, how shallow that seems now. He had a fascinating accent, as he never lost his soft Scottish brogue, but it was overlaid with an American drawl.
Alec with his wife Nora in Colorado - 1925
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Alexander's documentation emigration
1906
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Georgina
Grant
(youngest and 9th child) Born 7th June1887 in Glenkindie
died January 1979 in Anaheim, Orange County, California, USA.
I cannot find Georgie in the 1910 USA Federal Census, but in 1912 she married Johnston Walter Day Denyes, a Canadian by birth. Walter was born in Lennox and Addington County, Ontario on 30 October 1882 to Harvey Denyes and Mary Jane Johnston. In 1917 Walter was called up to fight for his adopted country and gave his occupation as an electrician and an address - 272 Hazelwood Terrace, Rochester. He was of medium height and build and had blue eyes and brown hair and Georgina is listed as his next of kin. In the USA Federal Census for 1920, Walter has survived the war and they are still at the same address in Rochester, he is now 37 and Georgie 32, they are listed as both having arrived in the US in 1906, Walter becoming a naturalized citizen in 1919.. They had two boarders lodging with them and did not have any children. I
have managed to glean a little more information on Georgina recently,
via the American website - Ancestry.com. Georgina sailed to the UK
on a visit in 1921 as there is a record of her return to the States on
21st August of that year.
I am assuming this was a visit to her father and siblings and was
probably the last time she was to see her father at least, as he was to
die two year's later. On the ship's manifest (SS Cameronia out of
Glasgow on 13th August) it is noted that she became a naturalized US
citizen at the Superior Court in Rochester NY in 1912. Walter is
listed as her next of kin and by now they are living at 605 Polk Street,
Gary, Indiana. I would like to know why the move from Rochester NY to
Gary Indiana. In the absence of any alternative information, I am
going to assume that Gary offered more opportunities to the couple, both
work and lifestyle-wise. Georgie is a widow by 1929, this information has been confirmed after my last trip to the States, where I have been able to trace an entry in the Gary Indiana City Directory for 1929, she is living at 605 Tyler Street. Finally, after a great deal of research, I have found Georgie in the 1930 USA Federal Census, she has remarried to Bernard Weber they are still living in Gary (Calumet Township) with Bernard's 19 year old son Herbert. I believe that Bernard, although born in Michigan USA, was from a German background and the name was originally Waber. Bernard is listed as aged 50 and a railway superintendent. He was actually the Superintendent of Transportation for Gary Railways. Bernard, known as Ben, died on 1st November 1958 leaving Georgie a widow yet again. She wrote a very poignant letter to her oldest brother, my grandfather William after the event (letter reproduced right and transcribed below) in which she empathises with him as he too lost his wife of 54 years in the same year. Georgie has now acquired a large family, by marriage, as Ben leaves two sons, a daughter, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. The eldest son Herbert also lived in Gary, second son John in Hammond and daughter Aline (Hankinson) in San Francisco. I believe Georgie remained at 605 Tyler Street in Gary until around the middle of the 1970s, when probably due to ailing health, she moves to Anaheim California, I guess this is where Ben's daughter Aline now resides. Georgie dies aged 91, in January 1979, the last survivor of her generation. The
Lord is my strength, and I laid all my burdens at His feet He cares for
me. May He be very real and
near to you these lonely days, with Him we are never alone.
Remember me to all the family With
love sister Georgie.
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Georgina's documentation birth
certificate
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For the next generation of Reids - William Gordon Reid and Elizabeth Nicol - see Shannoch Farm
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