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Archiver > ABERDEEN > 2009-08 > 1249290272


From: Gavin Bell <>
Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] SMITH family New Pitsligo Aberdeenshire
Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:04:32 +0100
References: <8CBE211138E0F1A-1428-717D@WEBMAIL-DF03.sysops.aol.com>
In-Reply-To: <8CBE211138E0F1A-1428-717D@WEBMAIL-DF03.sysops.aol.com>


wrote:

>I hope someone can help straighten this family out.?
>I have found John SMITH and Anne MASSIE, along with many of their children in the census records for 1881, 1871, 1861.? In 1871 &?81 they were living at Woodhead Gonar.
>

There are instances of "Woodhead" in half a dozen Aberdeenshire
parishes, but "Gonar" apparently occurs only in the parish of Tyrie. So
did you find them in the Census for the parish of Tyrie? When looking
for ancestors in 19th century and earlier, it is vital to know the name
of the parish, since most records are indexed by parish.

>For the census of 1861 they can be found at Carvel Croft, Tyrie, New Pitsligo.?
>

Thast would be better written as "Carvel Croft, New Pitsligo, Tyrie".
New Pitsligo is the largest village, but "Tyrie" is still the name of
the parish.

>Also listed in 1861 and 1871 is John McCARTNEY Step-father.?Margt or Mary McCARTNEY mother is living with this family in 1861.??The copy I?downloaded from SP is difficult to read and not being familiar with the place names in Scotland I am hoping someone can give me a?better idea.? ?I would also like to know?how the people living at "Back of Carval Croft" would be connected.?
>

I think that is probably "Garvel" or Garval".

When you ask how they would be connected, do you mean as family? If so,
the answer is quite possibly "not at all".

The fact that their address is similar means only that they lived in the
same general area. Placenames in rural Aberdeenshire follow a fairly
standard pattern - there will, in any parish (and occasionally
straddling parish boundaries) be a number of base names, such as
"Garvel" or "Skelmanae", to which are added various qualifiers such as
"North", "South", "Upper", "Lower", "Croft", "Cottage" etc. The base
names tend to be fairly stable over long periods of time, but the
qualifiers are liable to vary, sometimes over quite short time-spans,
such as between one Census and the next.

You will also find several households all with apparently the same
address. In some cases, this may have shared one larger dwelling, but
it is far more common to find several separate houses sharing one
placename.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the great majority of rural
dwellers were employed on short-term contracts, and lived in rented
houses, so tended to be quite moblile. There is good chance that the
folk at "Garval Croft" and the folk at "Back of Garval Croft" were not
related.


Gavin Bell

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