The Old Family

The Longest Line

It is a fact that I won't continue investigating a branch of a tree if there is any serious doubt about the authenticity of any of the records as I have previously thrown away hard-earned data because of an error closer to home.  It was therefore with some satisfaction that I was able to trace a line back to Agnes Linne who married Thomas Walles (probably Wallace) in Cramond in 1667.  Before that there were no church records and only aristocracy have any records of their ancestry going beyond that period.  In the modern era there is a robust system of interlinking records as birth, marriage and death records all cross-reference each other and censuses and valuation rolls add corroboration.  This allowed us to identify Margaret Simon as the great-great-granny of my own granda Alexander Old.

This is where we have to turn to the Scottish Church Records to continue the trail back.  We are lucky in Scotland that we were pretty much the first in the world to record such events and even the first census (the Rev Webster only gave us figures though and not personal data).  The problem is that they vary in detail and even completeness as some parishes weren't too bothered about record keeping and dampness and mice have removed some old registers from us.  However, if the family used the traditional Scottish naming conventions and was fastidious in recording the special events we have a good chance of recreating that branch of the tree.  The description below details the ancestry of Margaret Simon, mainly along her maternal line.

Margaret Simon was born to Hugh Simons Sailor in Leith and Janet Fyfe his spouse.  Their marriage record read "Hugh Simons Sailor in Leith and Janet Fyfe Residenter in Cannongate and Daughter of John Fyfe Innkeeper Corstorphin after proclamation of banns were married December 12th 1788".  Hugh's ancestry is unclear because although I have found appropriately named parents around the right period they are inland in St Cuthbert's parish and I feel that a sailor's father would most likely be linked to the sea as well.

Janet Fyfe's birth is found in Corstorphine and reads "Janet Daughter to John Fyfe and Agnus Alshinder? (really Alexander) born March 16th and Baptized 27 1765", the writing causing me real problems first time through.  Variable spelling, over-ornate handwriting and bad scanning or photography make some of those records a puzzle but often a second look after some other information has been uncovered helps to decipher the texts.  No marriage can be found for this couple but that is no surprise as there are significant gaps in the Corstorphine records in that period.  Other birth records do refer to Agnes as his spouse though so a marriage was recognised.  Both births are easily located and because Corstorphine parish was fairly sparsely populated and the names aren't too common we can be pretty certain we have the correct records.

John and Agnes had eleven children and the the first four were John, Andrew, Marion and Agnes.  There was only one birth of an Agnes Alexander in Corstorphine and it fits exactly when we would expect it to be.  "1727 - Agnes Daughter to John Alexander Wright in Corstorphine and Agnes Cuningham his Spouse born May 14th and Baptized May 19th Witnesses Robert Alexander in Woodhall and Robert Cuningham in East Craigs".  With their known children starting from 1751 this would be a perfect date of birth and the parents names match two of their earliest children though it's interesting that they are what we'd expect if it was their first son rather than daughter.  However, it does mean that John's parents could be Andrew and Marion and we do indeed find a John Fyfe born to parents of that name in Corstorphine.  "1716 - John, son to Andrew Fyffe taylor in Corstorphine and Marion Fyffe his spouse born October 12th & baptized October 12th".  There are a couple of points to note here.  Firstly, all other birth records around this give the bride's maiden name so we have to assume that Fyffe is the surname of both, which is quite strange but certainly not unique in our trees.  Secondly, this would make him eleven years older than her but this wasn't unusual in rural communities in those days.  He would have been 55 at the last birth but she would have been 44 which is definitely possible.

Following Agnes Alexander's line back, her parents John Alexander and Agnes Cuningham married in Corstorphine, "John Alexander and Agnes Cunningham both in this paroch after orderly Proclamation three several sabbaths were married July 29th 1726".  Note the spelling of parish as paroch which gives us the word parochial, meaning "of local significance only".  We can't be certain of John's line but Agnes Cunningham's once again presents us with one obvious birth record in that period and it has excellent parent names.  "Robert Cunningham & Agnes Wallace (?) his spouse in Easter Craigs had a daughter baptized named Agnes".  Wallace could be read as Walker in the old-style handwriting but since Robert's mother was a Walker this could just have been a slip-up by the clerk.

Robert and Agnes had married in Cramond, had one child there and nine in Corstorphine.  Their marriage record is real old-style - "Betwixt Robert Cunningham in the paroch of Corstorphine and Agnes Wells in this paroch. Consigned 2 vox dolars Married April 12 1695 pledge restored January 19th 1696".  I can't find a good translation of the vox dolars but I think we can take it that this was a deposit made which would only be returned if the first birth was more than nine months after the wedding.

Robert's parents were another Robert Cunningham and Agnes Walker, East Craigs Farm being a common link.  Of course, there could have been cousins with the same names but this fits in nicely with what was expected.  East Craigs Farm was on the site of the current Craigmount High School. 

Agnes Wallace's birth was expected, from the marriage record, to have been in Cramond and so it appeared in 1673, "Agnes daughter to Thomas Walles and Agnes Linne in Clermistone was baptized witnesse William Linne in Craighouse and George Linne in Barnton".  There are interesting references to Clermiston, Craighouse and Barnton, farms then, housing estates now.  All that remains is to note the marriage of the parents in 1667,  "Betwixt Thomas Walls and Agnes Lyn both in this parich married October 1" and we have exhausted the church records.  We have gone back as far as they go.

I'll finish by going back to the marriage between the Fyffes, Andrew and Marion of the same surname.  "Betwixt Andrew Fife and Marion Fife both in this paroch Puentes quoond gibon (looks like) to the poors in place of pledge of Marriage Juny 4th 1708".  I have no idea what this means and neither does Google!  I assume that Juny is between June and July!

Note - Mystery solved. Another researcher with shared ancestry, Debra Paget, looked at other entries around this one and deduced that it is "Twenty Pounds given", which makes absolute sense.  The old writing, as stated before, can be incredibly difficult to decipher.

So here is the longest line in my family tree -

Agnes Linne around 1645
Agnes Wallace 1673
Agnes Cunningham 1700
Agnes Alexander 1727 (you can see how names were passed down)
Janet Fife 1765
Margaret Symon 1800
Mary McGregor 1821
Rachel Hogg 1852
Mary Beaton 1875
Alexander Old 1906
Allan Old 1927
Allan Old (me) 1954