Peter Raitt - ships'carpenter

[jen wilson]

Carol,

I'll get back to you with all my Raitt information as soon as possible. There is a huge amount of it and it is most definitely bed time in Cumbria!

Cheers for now,

Jen

[speleobat2]

Good night Jen! I have a desk covered with papers that'll keep until morning.

Paula,

You and I might not be related but it's starting to look like some of our relatives might have been neighbors! How funny that Jen should pop up just after you and I had been trading emails about relatives and your trip to Peterhead!

Carol

[PaulaD]

Hi Jen and Carol,

Carol - it's a small world

Jen

My GG grandfathers sister Margaret Gibb 1798 - 1888 married William Crichton 1798 - 1877. He was eldest son of William Crichton and Mary Brichen. Which of William & Marys children are you related to?

My GG grandfathers son Alexander Gibb 1826 - 1885 married Ann Milne 1839 - 1932 (parents Alexander Milne 1789 - 1869 born in Auchterless and died in Oldwhat New Deer and Janet Mitchell 1806 - 1885. Alexander was 36 when he married Janet so he might have been married before.) and younger sister Margaret Gibb 1827 - 1903 married John Milne born c 1819 Longside. No idea of his parents.

Paula

[jen wilson]

Paula,

Christian Crichton, born 1800, Methlick married James Raitt in 1832. Their daughter, Jane was my 2 x great grandmother. There is doubt though as to whether or not Christian was actually Jane's mother as she would have been forty nine when Jane was born and James already had a reputation for fathering offspring elsewhere. However, Christian is named as Jane's mother on her death certificate so without anything else to go on, I have to accept it as correct.

The Milne / Mitchell connection could throw something up, don't you think?

Jen

[PaulaD]

Hi Jen,

Knew nothing about Christian - I only had 8 children for William & Mary Brichen so have been following Christian and James through the census and also checked the IGI.

Re Mitchells and Milnes - they were definitely neighbours in Oldwhat for about 40 years between 1840s and 1880s. I was up in the area last week and there are several farms and houses where they probably lived. Will have to do a bit more digging on this lot I think!

Paula

[jen wilson]

My Milnes - John and Christian ( nee Mitchel) lived at Cairness in the parish of Lonmay. Is this close to where you are talking about?

Jen

[PaulaD]

Hi Jen,

No my Milnes/Mitchells were in Oldwhat just north of New Deer which is probably about 30 miles from Lonmay

Maybe its just co-incidence.

Paula

[jen wilson]

Never mind, I guess it's just back to the search then. At least we have established the Crichton connection.

Jen

[joette]

Don't rule out Christian on account of her age.My Granny had a cousin who had her first child at 50- twins & the next year another!This after a childless 25 years!

[jen wilson]

I had always accepted, though with a bit of doubt because of her age, Christian as Jane's mother. It was only when I was told about Eliza Sherriffs being the natural mother of at least one of James's (and Christian's) other children that it began to make sense to me that Jane was probably also the product of some extra marital liaison. It would make life much easier for me to accept Christian as the real mother as I already have a substantial amount of Crichton information and if Jane is actually someone else's daughter, I have to start all over again.

So, do I do the easy thing and stick with the Crichtons or do I keep digging, hoping to find irrefutable proof one way or the other. The number of times I have told other people that they can't necessarily take things at face value leaves me in a bit of a quandary on this. Shall I be an ostrich or a bloodhound?

Jen