Those Browns in the grave
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 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 that Abram's parents were George Brown and Jane Brown nee McRae.
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| Marriage record for Abram Brown and Mary Falconer 1880, Stobhill |
Quickly I purchased the death certificates of the other two Browns in the graves - Beatrice King Brown (aged 10 months) and Jane Brown (aged 49). Jane Brown was the grandmother of Janet McCree Brown - Jane was born Jane McRae! But she was only 49, and so born about 1825, and was too young to be Robert Buchan's mother.
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| Death certificate of Jane Brown nee McRae 1875, Cockpen |
Undaunted I searched for the family of Jane McRae who married Mr Brown. Her parents were David McCree and Mary Shaw, both deceased when Jane died in 1875. I found her parent's marriage certificate in the Parish of Newton, which is directly north of Dalkeith Parish.
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| Marriage of David McCree and Mary Shaw, 1816, Newton |
Searching ScotlandsPeople I found seven children born to this couple, including Margaret in 1820, John in 1822 [died 1823],Jean [Jane] in 1826, Mary in 1829 [died 1831], John in 1831 and Ann in 1832. But the most important member of this family was their first child, Janet McCree, born in 1817. She would have been 16-17 years of age when Robert Buchan was born. Is she our Janet McRae?? As the wife of Robert Buchan is she buried in the same grave as Robert senior's sister and daughter, and possibly also his parents?
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| Baptism record of Janet McCree, 1817, Newton |
How will I try to see if this is possible?
1. Follow the life trajectory of Janet McCree/Cree. Ancestry trees claim this woman was the wife of a William Aitchison who died in 1877 aged 58, so born about 1819. But I bought her death certificate and her parents are a David Cree and Helen Wilson. An easy mistake, but leaving the door open for the Janet born in 1817 to be Robert's mother.2. Follow all the children of David and Mary, to see if any others gravitated to the Newlandrig area, as Jane did, which would strengthen the ties between the two families and regions.
3. Look for any DNA links to the children of David Cree and Mary Shaw. I have not had a lot of success finding these two families, with both parents probably dying before 1855. I think I know Mary Shaw died in 1845, and I think David may have died in 1832.
4. Fill out the trees for the families of David and Mary, and especially look for an links to the Janet McCree in Fife who is the ancestor of match Toby H.
5. Continue to follow the five McRae clusters in our DNA. So far I have only identified the common couple in a single cluster, Mathew Paterson and Annie McKenzie who wed in Lanarkshire in 1849. Toby H is part of this cluster.
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