Birthplaces of the Buchan family

The birthplace for vast majority of our family is either confirmed or strongly suggested from other family information on genealogy databases. Every birth in Scotland has been confirmed by direct reference to the birth certificate. A surprising pattern of emigration is shown in the graph below of birth country according to the sibling from which they descend.

The families of each sibling seem to have emigrated to different countries!

William               79% Scotland, 11% England

George               71% Scotland, 14% USA, 5% each England and Canada

Isabella              46 % Scotland, 38% England, 7% Australia, 5% Canada

Andrew               58% Scotland, 27% USA, 15% Canada

Robert                 51% Scotland, 39% Australia, 5% USA

Alexander           49% Scotland, 51% Canada

Other birth countries in each sibling’s family:

In William’s family, 13 in South Africa, 10 in Canada, 1 in Belgium;

In George’s family, just 14 in Australia, 14 in New Zealand, 3 in Wales, 2 in Egypt, 1 in Burma(?) and 18 unknown;

In Isabella’s family, 33 in Australia, 21 in Canada, 7 in Wales, 2 in USA, 1 in Sweden, 1 in Brazil, 1 in Denmark, 1 in Netherlands, 1 in Northern Ireland, 1 in South Africa, 1 in Switzerland and 2 unknown;

In Andrew’s family, 1 unknown location (person only recorded as informant on father’s dc);

In Robert’s family, 6 unknown, 2 in South Africa, ?1 in Wales, 1 in Ireland; and

In Alexander’s family, no other countries.

How have these patterns come about? 

The clearest single migration impacting on birth country was my x2 great grandfather, Robert Buchan born about 1833, in 1852 to Melbourne, Victoria in Australia. His was the first migration in the entire Buchan family, and as such has had the longest period of time to generate descendants. It might also be the case that being my direct line, I am likely to have more complete family details (although only for families outside Scotland, where the dataset is complete.) I have identified that 457 of his descendants were born in Australia. In 2027 I plan to contact all my Australian DNA matches and ask them to provide more details for this study.

The family of Alexander is the only one now more likely to be born outside Scotland. Four of Alexander’s seven children had families, one with two children, two with three children and one with four children. In contrast George and Robert’s children tended to have much larger families of ten children. One of Alexander’s sons, Andrew Wightman Buchan migrated to Canada, and his daughter Isabella wed Peter Imlay in 1886. The Imlay family constitute most of the Canadian born descendants.

The first of William’s line to be born outside of Scotland was Janet Buchan in 1926. Her father, Alexander Ross Buchan, emigrated to South Africa with his wife and two eldest sons in 1925. All 13 South African-born Buchans in this line descend from Alexander. Those born in England descend from Alexander Smart Japp. He is the only biological descendant of his generation of William (the sibling) through his daughter Mary Ann born in 1852. Marrying aged 40, she had just one child, Mary Ann Buchan Smart in 1895. This Mary Ann also had one child, Alexander Smart Japp in 1925. This was a very slender branch indeed, although the Japps have improved the situation, as Alexander had seven sons.

Isabella, the sibling, married Daniel Inglis and they had ten Inglis children. A grandson George Inglis was the first to have a child outside Scotland, in England in 1895, who was their sixth child. A different branch of grandchild also moved to England, Helen Inglis Veitch had her third child Doris Edith Scribbins in 1898. These Inglis and Scribbens families both had large families building the large English contingency of Isabella’s line. By far, Isabella’s line has spread the most widely around the globe.

The first child of George’s line to be born in the USA was George Robertson Buchan in 1882 after his father, engine fitter George Buchan, emigrated with wife and children in 1881. The family returned to Scotland by 1894, and the father died in Leith. Another family to emigrate were the Scotts in 1904; George’s daughter Isabella wed John Scott in Newlandrig in 1866 and they had 11 children. A different grandchild to migrate to USA was Catherine Scougal Buchan, one of three granddaughters named after their grandmother Catherine Scougal. This one married Alexander Kilpatrick in 1887, and their first child was born in USA in 1890. [The other two Catherine Scougal Buchans remained in Scotland). The first member of this line to be born in South Africa was Annie Mary Buchan in 1898. Her father Robert Buchan married in South Africa in 1897, last found on a 1881 census in Scotland. The first of his line (and of the whole family) to be born in New Zealand was James John Buchan in 1903. His father James Philip Buchan, an insurance agent, migrated with his wife and infant son in 1902.

The first of each line to be born outside Scotland:

William                1926 in South Africa

George                1882 in USA

Isabella               1895 in England

Andrew               1910 in Canada

Robert                 1861 in Australia

Alexander           1887 in Canada  

What stories they must have had to tell.