Scotch-Irish-L Archives

From: linda Merle <>
Subject: A vacation to a new place!
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 21:21:31 -0700

Thanks, John, for sharing with us what you are up to these days. Sorry,
I can't help! I spent my lunchtime exploring a new place and I thought I
would share because not only is the place nice but more important,
I learned SO MUCH finding it. Last week I used the Scottish OPR CD
at LDS to trace back a line of my Scottish ancestors from late 1700's
to the mid 1600's in one evening. Tenitive, still! I was tracing the surname
DUDGEON, which beleive it or not, is Scottish. A Marion DUDGEON married
James REID on May 27, 1815 in Prestonkirk, East Lothian, Scotland. I found
Marion's christening record without much trouble: Feb 21 1787 in Spott,
East Lothian. I had two choices for parents for her, but noticed that one
of their granddaughters,a sib of my ancestor was named Elizabeth Smith REID
and the wife of the one choice was Elizabeth SMITH. I suspect that's the one.

Now I have these people with this strange name living in Spott. Elizabeth
Smith
and John Dudgeon had no marriage record, but lots of kids. There was a
christening
record for John in Spott Setp 6, 1713. It listed mother as Marrion BEGBIE.
His parents were Charles Dudgeon and Agnes Jamison. Charles and
Aggie were already in Spott, being married there in 1711, but both were from
North Berwick. Charles appears to have been born 19 Feb 1684 to a
John Dudgeon. And there I run out of records -- and OPR's. They are slim
pickings before 1650. Anyhow, I was then curious as to East Lothian.
Other lines of my father's were in various parishes of East Lothian.

So at lunch today I searched the internet and found the East Lothian webpage:
>http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/Scotland/EastLothian
>http://members.aol.com/gfsjill/elothian.htm -- lovely photo

I learned:
>Lothian is an administrative region in southern Scotland. Bordered by
>the rivers Tweed and Forth, the region has an area of 1,716 sq km (663

>sq mi) and a population of 723,678 (1991). A highly developed region,
>Lothian is a major agricultural and industrial center. The chief crops
>are wheat, barley, and vegetables, and manufactures include paper and
>engineering products, textiles, and heavy metals. Some coal mining and
>fishing also take place. The principal cities are EDINBURGH, Haddington,
>and Linlithgow.

>Lothian was a part of the English shire of Northumberland before coming
>under the influence of the Scots in the 11th century. In 1333 the region
>was taken by EDWARD III of England, but it was eventually returned to
>the Scots. In 1975, during the reorganization of local government in
>Scotland, Lothian was created from parts of the former counties of East
>and West Lothian and Midlothian. (From Grolier's Encyclopedia)
>Our Lothian families were most likely descendants of Normans, Flemish,
>Saxon, or Norse progenitors. Some of the early people were Pictish
>Celts, found in Roman times. Others came up from the south thus having
>more in common with the English stock than the Gaelic-speaking Scotti of
>the Highlands. With the capital city a relatively short distance away,
>life for many was not as difficult as it was for the Highland folk.
>Villages, weather, arable land, and milder climate all attributed to
>this. Not that life was easy for our ancestors. Even the wealthy did not
>have the modern conveniences that we take for granted today. Civil war,
>disease, and religious persecution plagued the Scottish lowlanders of
>the Middle Ages. The water and streets in 17th and 18th century
>Edinburgh in nearby Midlothian were polluted, thus giving it the unlucky
>nomer, "Auld Reekie."

Check out these pages. There are INCREDIBLE CHURCHES.

The kings who ruled over East Lothian:

http://freespace.virgin.net/david.ford2/gododdin.html
Incredible castle :

http://www.sportstune.com/elothian/towns/history/tantalloncastle.html
Final irony on the above page: In 1669 the barony was sold to Sir Hew
Dalrymple but he made no effort to make the castle inhabitable. At the
end of the 19th century Sir Walter Hamilton Dalrymple began to arrest
the decay and did much to safeguard the fabric of the castle until it
came into state care in 1924 [Father's other line has surname Dalrymple,
though they were coalminers in Stirling in the 19th century.]

Knowing my father I found this amusing: http://www.theplumber.com/loo.html

North Berwick:
>http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/vdunstan/genuki/ELN/NorthBerwick/index.htm
>l
>"BERWICK (NORTH), a parish, containing a royal burgh and post-town of
>the same name, on the north coast of Haddingtonshire. It is bounded on

>the north by the frith of Forth, and on other sides by the parishes of
>Dirleton, Prestonkirk and Whitekirk. Its length from east to west is 3
>miles; and its breadth is upwards of 2 1/2 miles. Toward the east, the
>coast is rocky and bold; but toward the west, on both sides of the town,
>it presents considerably stretches of level sand and flat grassy downs,
>of the kind called links ... Population of the parish in 1831, 1,824; in
>1861 2,071." from the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John
>Marius Wilson, 1868.

And at last, the part you were all waiting for, Spott!!!!

>http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/vdunstan/genuki/ELN/Spott/index.html
>Spott
>"SPOTT, a parish, containing a post-office village of its own
>name, and comprising a detached section and a main body, in the eastern
>part of Haddingtonshire ... bounded by Dunbar, Innerwick, Whittingham,
>and Stenton. Its length north-north-eastward is 3 3/4 miles; and its
>greatest breadth is 2 3/4 miles. Its surface, in a general view, is an
>alternation of hill and valley; but, in the north, it is aggregately
>lowland or undulated plain, and in the south it climbs up to the
>summit-range of the Lammermoors about 700 feet above sea-level.
>Population in 1831, 612; in 1861, 555." from the Imperial Gazetteer of
>Scotland, edited by John Marius Wilson, 1868.

What a hole in the wall!! It had 550 people in it in the mid 19th century!
I wonder how many a hundred years before!

Now Prestonpans is interesting:
>"PRESTONPANS, a small parish on the west coast of

>Haddingtonshire. It contains the post-town of Prestonpans, the villages
>of Dolphinston and Preston, and the harbour of Morison's haven. It is
>bounded by Edinburghshire, the frith of Forth, and the parish of Tranent
>... Population in 1831, 2,322; in 1861, 2,080."

http://freespace.virgin.net/thomas_carroll.woods/Prestonpans.html

>"The TOWN of PRESTONPANS is a burgh of barony. It stands along
>the shore of the frith of Forth, on the Edinburgh and North Berwick
>road, 2 1/2 miles east of Musselburgh, 9 east of Edinburgh, 9 3/4 west
>of Haddington, and 14 south-west of North Berwick. It is supposed to
>have become a seat of population for the manufacturing of salt, so early
>as the 12th century. The monks of Newbattle, who pushed out their
>trading enterprises in all directions from their property of
>Preston-grange, appear to have adopted and cherished Prestonpans as the
>scene of their salt-making operations."
>from the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John Marius
>Wilson, 1868.

Cute to think of those monks there so long ago.

I can only hope my ancestors are there because:
>The parish church (Church of Scotland) has records dating from 1596.

>"PRESTONKIRK, a parish a little north-east of the centre of
>Haddingtonshire. It contains the post-office station of Prestonkirk, the
>post-office village of East Linton, adn the villages of New Linton and
>Old Preston. It is bounded by North Berwick, Whitekirk, Dunbar, Stenton,
>Whittingham, Morham, Haddington, and Athelstaneford ... Originally, and

>so early as the 12th century, the parish was called Linton; during some
>time before the Reformation, it was called indifferently Linton and
>Haugh; after the Reformation, it was called Prestonhaugh; at a later
>period it got its present name of Prestonkirk ... Baldred, who
>flourished in the latter part of the 6th century and the beginning of
>the 7th, was long the tutelary of the parish, and is said to have
>dignified it by his residence, and founded its earliest church. Preston,
>the site of the church, was one of three villages which contended for
>his body after his decease. His statue long lay in the burying-ground,
>and was intended to be built into the church-wall, but was broken in
>pieces by an unromantic mason ... On the farm of Markle stand the ruins
>of an ancient monastery, considerable in extent, but unrefined in
>architecture, of whose history little is known." from the Imperial
>Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John Marius Wilson, 1868.

Fantastic information, free on the web. I feel like a whole new universe
has been opened up.

Can you imagine the great family history you can write -- including those
great photos of the old churches and all??

Linda Merle

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• A vacation to a new place! by linda Merle <>