Buchans of Borthwick

My trip to Borthwick was very successful. Firstly I survived, I only got Covid on the third day before coming home and really only two days were seriously disrupted - I didn't know it was Covid till I got back to Australia. I do wish I had not got Covid because it limited what Helen and I could do in Newtongrange and Lothian Bridge, and I did not get to wander around the Old Town of Edinburgh. But I did have a next best thing of doing 3 hours of hop-on hop-off tours of Edinburgh and Leith when I was mildly ill on my last day. It was sunny, and I sat on the open top level and I reckon not too many people would have caught my bug. Let me run through what emerged: National Records Centre (of ScotlandsPeople) I booked two days at the centre. The first day was spent recording all the people who lived in Newlandrig from 1841 to 1921. It was clear by 1911 that there were no more Buchan descendants living there. I was disappointed. Nevertheless I think there was a discovery at Newlandrig,

After the initial success of finding which Buchan family my emigrant Robert Buchan belonged to, the goal of my DNA study was to identify the parents of George Buchan and Jean Johnston from the DNA of their descendants.  George and Jean are my x4 great grandparents, both were born between 1770-1780. No document has yet been found that identifies their parents. Many researchers, including myself, propose that Jean is the daughter of James Johnston and Mary Bowstie. This couple had a daughter Jean baptised on 1 February 1780 in Temple Parish, Borthwick.   Temple is a village and civil parish in Midlothian, lying immediately to the west of Borthwick, and about 6 km from Newlandrig. Their address is provided as "Slabs Greenh[ouse?]" and as yet I have not found a similar place on any map. Findmypast has transcribed the date of baptism as 14 February 1780. I think the correct date might be 17 February, reading the text on the document as "James Johnston and Mary Bostie in Slabs

Robert was 74 years old when a wagon struck him at eight o’clock in the morning on a winters day in January 1887. He died instantly. His wife would learn quickly of his death as his body was returned home immediately to Newtongrange, a mining village less than one mile from the colliery.  Certainly a doctor was required to certify the cause of death, it being an accident. Two days later he was interred in the Newbattle Churchyard, now known as the Old Newbattle Cemetery.  Scotland has a system called Register of Corrected Entries (RCE).  Since 1855, all death certificates are issued  following a declaration by a medical doctor. This is the system we have in Australia. The death must be registered within 8 days. If the registration is delayed by the need for an investigation, then it will often generate an RCE.  RCE are also created about sudden and violent deaths for the same reason. As well, they are created for divorces, and any significant change about a birth as well.  Often not mu

After a second day in front of a computer at the ScotlandsPeople Record Centre, I have developed a sore throat. No that is not the announcement. Regardless of discomfort I walked to the Dalkeith Local Studies Centre, which is open to 7pm on a Thursday. Two objectives - find Esbank Lodge, where a Buchan girl was a servant to a local banker. Secondly look at burial records or monument inscriptions in search of where the Robert Buchan who died in a mining accident at the age of 74 is buried, somewhere in Newbattle Parish. He died in 1887, and because there is an Old and New Newbattle Cemetery which opened in 1813, I didn’t know where he was buried. There is one major deficiency with Scottish records - they don’t include the burial location. As it happened I walked down a new road today on the way to the train. Close readers of this blog know that the Newbattle Cemetery is quite close to the station, but it has been raining every time I arrived back from Edinburgh. I photographed a rather

We living Buchans are like the leaves emerging from our ancestral roots - still green, sometimes yellowy brown. My goal from 2022 was to build as comprehensive a family tree for the family of George Buchan and Jean Johnson as was humanly possible. As you may know, online family trees do NOT publish the names or details of any living person. An example of parts of an online tree on Ancestry displaying living people. We know of living relatives because we KNOW them personally, relatives share information about the current generations or we find information in places like newspapers and magazines, eg obituaries and anniversary stories. Reunions are a popular place to gather details of living 'leaves'. In Australia, as is the case in many parts of the world, there are strict privacy laws about vital record information - births, marriages, divorces and deaths. In most states and territories of Australia there is a 100 year embargo on birth information, 75 years on marriage and divor

Janet McRae is missing - is that even her real name! Janet is the mother of Robert Buchan who arrived in Australia in 1852. She is named on his marriage and death certificates in Australia, but I can not find her in Scotland.  In May I will travel to Edinburgh to do 'local' research into the Buchans and Janet. This elusive ancestor of the Australian Buchans is relevant mostly to her descendants, but the strategy to 'find' her is the same as for any missing ancestor. The task will use DNA + Documentary records and TIME. I began this research in March 2022, during the Skills course of YourDNAGuide run by Diahan Southard. So it is already taking time. Because, to my knowledge, Janet's son Robert is her only child, the DNA for the research must come from Australian Buchans only. The story so far.... I believe that Janet McCray is the name listed as his mother on Robert Buchan’s marriage certificate of 1860, see image below.   His father is listed as Robert Buchan. DNA

Out of no-where came the chance to visit Edinburgh after a holiday in Ireland. Where to visit, who to visit? I contacted all my collaborators in the region, with hopes to catch up to several.  These are my must visit places: Newlandrig - over a century of Buchan occupation. I intend to try to follow all the families living there till 1921 (and beyond). I might get to meet a relative still in residence after 220 years.  National Mining Museum, 0.5km from where Robert Buchan bc1813 died in a mining accident one cold January morning at the age of 74. Naturally I am interested in the museum as well. Newbattle cemeteries old and new (where George and Jean, and their son Robert are buried with probably no headstones). Easthouses in the Parish of Newbattle, where Buchans lived. Dalkeith - possible origin of our Buchan family, where headstones can be found and where the Midlothian Local History archives are located. Edinburgh City - a walking tour, a day in the National Records of Scotland, Le