Nicolson - Fife 1770s.....

Post by **Liz Turner** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:09 pm

Hi there folks!

I'm just making this post really to get the information out there in case anyone else is searching for the same family. (I know my sister is, but we share info - honest!). We have a distant cousin who is also looking, but we've kind of all come to a complete halt with this one. We've all gone off over the years and hunted down other branches of the family, leaving this one on the back burner ... so make yourselves some tea and settle down ...

The family name we're researching is Nicolson and families resident in Pittenweem, Fife in the mid 1770s. There is a group of six families who "appear" in Pittenweem, each one of them having children. Our eventual aim is to go back further than the 1770s, but with the exception of one of the lines, we seem to be stuck. If anyone has information, suggestions etc., we'd love to hear from you - but I'm really just posting this in case someone somewhere is looking for the same familes! It's all in Fife. We're all quite certain that the families are connected in some way. I know we all go on about the similarity of names, and I know the selection available wasn't quite the same in those days, but when you look at the middle names of the children you can see that they match the maiden names of the wives of other Nicolson men. (It's not my imagination!)

Family 1
Robert Nicolson b c1754 married Anne Duff 21/11/1777 (St Andrew's & St Leonard's)
Children:
Elspeth b 11/1/1778 (St A & St L)
Mary b 28/9/1779 (Pittenweem)
Robert b 6/1/1782 (Cameron)
Nelly b 18/7/1784 (Cameron)
Laurence b 14/1/1787 (Cameron)
Ann b 1/8/1789 (Cameron)
Grizel (Grace) b 16/12/1792 (Cameron)
David b 23/8/1795 (Cameron)
James b 17/12/1797 (Cameron)

Family 2
John Nicolson (Kilrenny) married no Elspit (Euphan) Chapman - could find no record of marriage in Fife but probably 1778 or earlier.
Children:
Christian b 1779 (Pittenweem)
John b 1781 (Pittenweem) ***
Robert b 1783 (Pittenweem)

*** John's descendants come down to my mum's 3rd (I think) cousin, Murray Nicolson - who is also working on this research. Murray connects to my family via a brother and sister by the name of Nicolson who each married people also called Nicolson thus joining up three "different" families.

Family 3
David Nicolson b 18/5/1774 St Monans and died 16/5/1847 Pittenweem (his parents were likely James Nicolson who married Agnes Brown) married to Margaret Wilson on 15/5/1801. (Her parents were Alexander Wilson and Elizabeth Paton who married in 1752 Carnbee.
Children:
Hannah (Anne) 1801-1815 (Pittenweem)
James b 1803 (Pittenweem)
David b 1805 (Pittenweem)
Alexander b 1870 ** (Pittenweem)
Margaret b 1810 (Pittenweem)
Helen Foreman b 1815 (Pittenweem)
Charles b 1812 (Pittenweem)
Hannah b 1817 (Pittenweem)

** Alexander's descendants come down to my sister and me.

Family 4
James Nicolson married Margaret Pearson 5/6/1778 (St A & St L)
Children:
George Haliburton b 1779 (Pittenweem)
James b 1782 (Pittenweem) twin
Margaret b 1782 (Pittenweem) twin
Robert b 1785 (Pittenweem)
John b 1788 (Pittenweem)

Family 5
George Haliburton Nicolson b 17/4/1745 (d 4/6/1792) married Anne Chalmers d 30/9/1818
Children:
Bethia Anne b 13/11/1779 (Pittenweem)
Charles b 4/4/1781 (Pittenweem)
Janet Haliburton b 1783 (Pittenweem) d 1/6/1834
Walter b 1786 (Pittenweem)
Margaret b ?

[George (b 1745) Haliburton Nicolson's parents James Nicolson b 26/1/1718 d 4/6/1772, and his second wife Janet Haliburton married 12/11/1741; James was minister in Banchory-Devenick, Aberdeenshire; The parents of James (b 1718) are James Nicolson and Isabell Fairbairn. I guess that they would possibly be born around 1690 but I've no idea where. Isabell died in 1755. I've got quite a lot of other descendants of this branch but at the moment don't think they're related to me!] This is the furthest back line I can get on this branch of Nicolsons. I can get the Haliburton line back via Lindsays to the late 1500s/early 1600s, but it all needs verification. When I retire ....

Family 6
Alexander Nicolson d 1818 married Jean Morton (can find no record so far in Fife) but possibly around 1775
Children:
Jean b 1776 (Pittenweem) twin
Alexander b 1776 (Pittenweem) twin married Jean Russell
Anne Chalmers b 1778 (Pittenweem) married John Philip (Carnbee)
Christian b 1780 (Pittenweem)
Thomas b 1782 (Pittenweem)
William b 1788 (Pittenweem)

Anyone who is still reading this deserves a medal!

We've got lots of descendants of many of these families and anyone who thinks they might be connected, please feel free to contact me. I can confirm that the data from Pittenweem is accurate because around 1986 my sister and I spent a day in Edinburgh writing down every reference we could find to Nicolson (we also covered Cornfoots and Walkers) in the OPRs for Pittenweem from the microfiche.

The other part of my family also originates in Pittenweem - names are Cornfoot and Walker. Since the day I began my searching about 1982 or so, I've been so thankful that (i) the family didn't move around too much and (ii) I've got so many unsual surnames that searching is often not too hard.

For general information the occupations ranged from masons, lighthouse builders, candlemakers, shoemakers, weavers, sailors, fishermen, confectioners, and bakers to name but a few.

Anyone with any suggestions as to why these families might have appeared in Pittenweem in the 1770s, please feel free.... I am sure that I will have missed out some relevant date or place, but I'll come back and update. We're now beginning to look at these families again, because we've filled in lots of the blanks on the collateral lines.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Liz

karenc · Post by **karenc** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:45 pm

HI Liz

I cant help you with your families, i just wanted to say well done

Im surprised you still have the energy to keep on searching after doing all of that.

Some of my research has just taken me to the fife are and at he moment it is not going well

like you i will keep trying.

good luck
Karen

Post by **Liz Turner** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:50 pm

Hi Karen.

Glad you made it to the end ! Let us know names that you're looking for and we'll keep our eyes out for them.

Liz & sis

karenc · Post by **karenc** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:43 pm

Hi Liz and sis

well i have a william sim who is listed as being born in dunfermline circa 1837. his parents were william sim and janet allan/wilson. i havent found anything for the parents yet and i have found some sims on census in dunfermline but i dont think they are mine, well not at the moment. i will try and get to look at OPRs and thing soon.

although at the moment i am not holding out much hope

thanks anyway

Karen

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:01 pm

Hi Liz
Have you seen the Fife "Death Index" CD?
There are 41 Nicolson deaths in Pittenweem on it. No idea if any of them are what you need! The majority of them seem to be deaths in the 1840s to 50s.

Best wishes
Lesley

Post by **Liz Turner** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 8:43 pm

Dear Karen

Well our area of search is a bit further along the coast than Dunfermline, in the East Neuk. All the best in your search.

Liz

Post by **Liz Turner** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 8:56 pm

Hi again Lesley

Yeah we've got the Fife death CD and also the recent update. Many of the ones in the East Neuk are related to us. However we are now going back to look at David Nicolson who married Margaret Wilson in 1801. David is the furthest back we can get in that particular direct line of descent - so that's where we're really stuck.

I strongly believe David's parents to be James Nicolson and Agnes Brown, and that David was born on 18/5/1774 in St Monans. He was a weaver. Margaret Wilson's parents were Elizabeth Paton and Alexander Wilson and they married 1752 in Carnbee. That suggests to us that we're looking for James and Agnes to be marrying (hopefully) around 1770 or so. I've not found any siblings yet for David.

I also have a file of all Fife births/baptisms and marriages from the OPRs which relate to Nicolsons (and spelling variants) and have found that quite helpful for tracking children.

Thanks for your encouragement!

Liz

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 9:35 pm

Excuse me asking but what is on the Fife death index CD. Is it Parish Records or Statutory Records?

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 10:06 pm

Hi Mallog
The Fife Death Index CD is a collection of pre-1855 deaths collected together from various sources - MIs, OPRs and also some newspaper sources. As far as I'm aware, though I may be wrong, I don't think it is a complete record...yet! e.g. I don't think ALL available OPR deaths for Fife, for example, have been included. However, it is a hugely helpful CD ROM to check if you have Fife families, though as usual, once you are that far back there is an element of chance whether you find anything or not.

Its at: http://www.fifefhs.org/ & go to "publications for sale".

Best wishes
Lesley