Buchans of Borthwick

Buried with our Buchans in Newbattle Churchyard are five other people. Four of those are named Brown.  Refresh your memory of the lair records .  Is there a reason why they were buried across the same plots as the Buchans? When I found that three were related to each other, and the stillborn Brown child was also probably part of this family, I began to suspect that there just may be a link. The first child I looked at was named Janet McCree Brown and you can image why her name caught my eye. She was only 18 months old when she died of Croup on 13 April 1889. She was buried on 15 April 1889.  She lived at Hunterfield, as did the two other Browns. Hunterfield is a hamlet about 2 miles from Newlandrig, and is the closest settlement to our village. Janet's parents were revealed to be Abram Brown and Mary Falconer. I then bought this couple's marriage certificate of 31 December 1880. They married in Stobhill, another nearby small village near Gorebridge. I was thrilled to see ...

My Buchan ancestor came to Australia in 1852. Buchans have been probably been on the move for a very long time. Our DNA confirms that the Buchan family have ancestral roots in Scotland, meaning they were there between 500-1000 years ago. [Many 'Scots' find out that their DNA suggests Irish or sometimes English or European ethnicity].  A study such as mine can document  where  Buchans went, and  when  they went. Social history might tell us why they emigrated when they did. I have traced the movements of all descendants of George Buchan and Jean Johnston until modern privacy laws kick in. Scots, like all peoples of the British Isles, moved primarily to North America (USA - 33% and Canada 48%), to Australia - 76% and New Zealand - 70%, to South Africa - 3%, to countries in South America, to the Indian subcontinent as well as western Europe, Scandinavia and Central America. The darker the colour in the map below, the higher that place's current population is though...