naming children - andrew ross

[bobandbryony]

Hi everyone,

I have only just joined so I hope I am doing this right.

Can anyone help me with a question about the use of names for children. I am familiar with the convention often mentioned of first daughter named after father's mother etc.

In our research of my wifes g.grandfather Andrew Ross and his wife William Frances Gillon we can find no logical reason for the names of their first 3 children;

William Macdonald Ross
Hugh McRae Ross
David Johnstone Ross

who all sadly died in a whooping cough epidemic in 1875 in Edinburgh.

We can find no reason for the use of the middle names.

Andrew was a military historian (author of Old Scottish Regimental Colours) and the "Ross Herald" at the Court of the Lord Lyon from 1901 until his death in 1925. They went on to have seven more children including one son who played Rugby for Scotland on five occasions and another who went on the 1902-1904 National Scottish Antarctic Expedition with Speirs Bruce aboard the Scotia.

If anyone can help about the names used or would like more information about Andrew and his family please contact us.
Bob and Bryony

[Anne H]

Hi Bob and Bryony...and a warm welcome to TalkingScot.

Middle names could be in honour of anyone besides immediate family members, such as a minister, an in-law, a good friend, a hero of the day, etc., anyone the parents admired at that particular time. I've actually come across a few that I puzzled over only to eventually find that the children were named after second husbands of somebody or other.

Hopefully as you continue to search you'll find a connection to tie them in.

Regards,
Anne H

[emanday]

Hi Bob and Bryony,

A welcome from me too

I can understand why these "rogue names" have got you confused. I discovered several similar discrepancies in my mother's lineage. Some I did finally work out - i.e. one turned to be a marriage witness's maiden name. Not a relative, but well enough thought of to have such an honour as their name given as a middle name. Funnily enough I got a huge boost when I discovered that - almost as much as I've had from finding a long-lost "deid yin"

I've still got two that have totally foxed me though! Two of my grandmother's sisters have middle names that have no apparent family relevance.

I live in hope that I will finally discover the folks whose names were used

[bobandbryony]

Just a further thought on this point.

Andrew's parents in Invergordon had neighbours who were called Hugh and Jessie. These names were then used by Andrew for (1849-1925) his second son and second daughter. I should also point out that he was orphaned at age six and we don't know what happened to him until he pops up in 1861 at the school for the poor in Prestonpans near Edinburgh.

These 2 christian names do NOT appear for any of the ancestors of his or his wife.

Has anyone heard of this practice?

It all seems very strange because Andrew went on to be a kind of geneologist himself when he was appointed Ross Herald at the court of the Lord Lyon (which deals with lineage) in 1901.

There must be some reason why he used the middle names of Macdonald/McRea/Johnstone for his first 3 children -all boys. Following up on a previous suggestion I looked for someone who may have influnced him in his youth but could only come up with Major General Hector Macdonald who was a contempory of Andrew and who was born just up the road fro Invergordon. As Andrew had by the birth of his first 3 children (1870 -1875) started writing articles on military matters for the Courant and others it may be he was trying to honour famous soldiers. If so does anyone know any famous military people called McRae or Johnstone from around 1850/1860?

Thanks for your help.

[joette]

I have an ancestor named Ramsay Wardlaw McFarlane(thanks goodness) which made his trek from Midlothian to Australia trackable.
The only Ramsay Wardlaw I could find which may have a connection is this lot




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


WARDLAW, surname, one of the oldest in Scotland, the meaning of which is evidently a guard or fortress upon a hill, from the Saxon word ward and the Gaelic law, a hill of a conical form. This derivation acquires probability from the fact that there are various places of the name in Scotland, as Wardlaw bank in Berwickshire, where are the remains of an ancient camp, supposed to be of British origin, and Wardlaw or Weirdlaw, a hill, 1,986 feet above the level of the sea, in the parish of Ettrick, Selkirkshire. In the ‘Cameronian’s Dream,’ a poem by James Hislop, mention is made of a hill in Ayrshire of the name as

“William, his successor, and Henry, bishop of St. Andrews and founder of the university thereof, of whom a memoir is given below. The elder son, parish of Dunfermline, and his eldest son, Sir Henry, was created a baronet of Nova Scotia by Charles I. in 1631. From a younger son the family of Wardlaw Ramsay of Whitehill, Mid-Lothian, descends

I have no proof this is why they named their son thus but can find no family connection for Duncan McFarlane & Janet Veitch to have named their son this.

[mulberry]

my gggrandmother born 1824 was named Agnes Stevenson Young. In all the time I have been researching the family I have never found out why the Stevenson and even more strangely all the records I have for her have never again used the name Agnes but in marriage, birth records and her death certificate named her as Stevenson Baillie. My own mother was named Isabella Stevenson Baillie and I have no clue why? but at least in her case the Stevenson was dropped except in official records.Then most of the children of Robert and Amelia Young had middle names that could not be accouinted for. I gave up searching some time ago as it was costing me a fortune trying to chase them up. I just think myself lucky if a happen to drop on a reason why.
rachel

[bobandbryony]

Thanks Mulberry.

Isn't going mad part of the fun of researching.!

Anyway we now know that our family of five children were orphaned aged 1 to 10. I suspect that the surnames used as middle names were those of kind neighbours who took the wee bairns in - or maybe that's wishful thinking on my part. If you want to know what happened to one of the kids we posted a story on Successes called Orphanage to Westminister Abbey.

Will now try to find the neighbours in Invergordon high street with the surnames MacDonald,McRae and Johnstone - wish me luck.

Bob and Bryony

[bobandbryony]

Hi everyone,

We just thought that we should say that we have tracked down a relative in New Zealand who tells us he has a family tree for the Ross family going back to the early 1700s. When asked he read out extracts -(there are hundreds of names) the middle names of McRae,McDonald and Johnstone are clearly there as surnames of previous ancestors so much to our amazement we have cracked the puzzle. It appears we have a full tree with male and female roots including siblings. Truly amazing! And the tree had been drawn up by our very own Andrew Ross - the Ross Herald before his death in 1925 and added to by his son Donald.

We have to wait for the large document to be scanned and sent over but we are very happy.

Thank you all for your input. I had nearly given up hope of ever finding out.

In desperation we had contacted the Rotary Club of the small town where our relative had died and they pulled out all the stops to locate and put us in touch with these lovely people. We cannot praise the Rotary Club enough.

Thanks everyone

From a very lucky Bob and bryony

[grannysrock]

What fantastic news ! Here's hoping Donald added Alistair too ( for anyone wondering what I am going on about please see Bob and Bryony's post in the Americas forum ) .

Sally

[jennyblain]

That is just amazing news - you are very fortunate! So much revealed by your ancestor... =D>

All best,
Jenny