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Gloswegian
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:24 am
Location: Gloucester (Ex Glasgow)

Post by Gloswegian » Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:37 am

Curry Wrote:
MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.—THREE LIVES LOST.—On Thursday last, the 30th ultimo, a coble, belonging to the salmon fishing station of Messrs Hogarth, adjacent to Whitehills, left the harbour at Blackpots, about eleven o'clock forenoon, for the purpose of bringing on shore their bag-net, which, owing to the violence of the surf, was apparently driving among the rocks, where it would have been soon torn to pieces. The coble was manned by four men, Charles Maclean, James Robertson, and two lads from Rosemarkie, near Cromarty, who, proceeding towards the net, the boat swung round broadside on to the wave, and was struck by a heavy sea, and three of the men precipitated into the water. One of them regained the boat, which had (relieved of the men) again righted, but was full of water. This young man being an excellent swimmer, rashly resolved, by the assistance of the boat, to clear himself of the incumbrance of his clothes, and swim on shore, which, having partly effected, the boat being then sunk to the gunwales, he left her to make the attempt; but the tide then running strong, and the surf very violent, he was soon exhausted, and with much difficulty reached the rocks, where he was dashed by a tremendous wave upon the very first rock he reached, and killed on the spot; his body has not yet been recovered. The two others, for a very brief space, were seen struggling violently in the surf, but soon disappeared. One of them kept hold of the boat, and drifted with her on shore, but so exhausted that up to this day (Monday) his recovery is doubtful. The two bodies recovered were decently interred in the church yard of Boyndie. Charles Maclean and James Robertson have left widows and families, in poor circumstances, to deplore their sudden and untimely fate. In the end we deem it fair to state, that the fishermen of Whitehills, on learning the catastrophe, hastened to the spot, boldly facing the raging surf, to afford assistance, so far as practicable; but we are sorry to say the fate of the unfortunate sufferers was sealed before their arrival.
Sorry people, I'm in tears!

I cannot thank Alan enough for this gem.

I don't know why I had a feeling that some kind of catastrophic accident was involved, I don't normally believe in a sixth sense.

Would anyone know if any of the more local papers (Banff / Aberdeen)archives are available on line? I feel I need to know more about this obviously.

Gordon

Gloswegian
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:24 am
Location: Gloucester (Ex Glasgow)

Re: Watson Urquhart link

Post by Gloswegian » Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:49 am

kenspeckle wrote:Just found some more may be of interest on Roots Chat Whitehills, Boyndie, Banff, Family History Local also has a lister related to Jane Urquhart & James Watson ! see McCase who now live in California USA at bottom of page 1 and top of page 2
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.ph ... c=198925.0

also a person on this list who lives in Whitehills who may be able to help
regards Lesley in Tassie
Lesley,

Fantastic stuff also. To find the link to Jane Urquhart is great and looks very interesting.

I will be getting in touch with the Whitehills contact as well to see if I can trace James Robertsons resting place.

I am just so amazed with the support and help available on this forum. I only hope someone comes along with something I can help with sometime.

Very many thanks
Gordon

Currie
Posts: 3924
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:20 am
Location: Australia

Post by Currie » Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:49 pm

Hello Gordon,

I managed to track down the article in the Aberdeen Journal. It’s on Wednesday, June 5, 1839, about half way down the 4th column on page 3. The print is readable but is too fuzzy to be picked up by a search. The wording is exactly the same as in the Caledonian Mercury.

The only online Scottish newspapers for that particular year are the Caledonian Mercury and the Aberdeen Journal available online here http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/ There’s also the Scotsman available here http://archive.scotsman.com/

There may be something else in the more local Aberdeen Journal but it could be a matter of trawling through the pages. It’s possible but you don’t often find as much detail as is in the article I’ve posted. The Aberdeen Journal was a weekly newspaper at the time.

If you do access the online AJ select between 4th and 6th June, 1839, select the AJ and search for SCOTLAND. Click on any AJ result for 5th June then click on ‘enlarge page’ and follow your nose. (That’s assuming the site interface is the same as the one I access.)

PM on the way.

All the best,
Alan

nelmit
Posts: 4001
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 11:49 pm
Location: Scotland

Post by nelmit » Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:01 pm

Gloswegian wrote:Thanks again everybody,

I will have a go at the research suggested and see what happens.

I believe that William is the only child of James Robertson and Jean Urquhart from what i can see on SP and the IGI and the popular consensus is that Jean was a widow by 1851. (it is completely irrational I know and not based on anything at all, but I have a feeling there may be something strange about James' death. Either a work accident or something else more sinister! I don't know why I have this feeling but....)


Regards to all

Gordon
Your gut feeling was right Gordon! :shock: :cry:

Well done Alan.

Regards,
Annette

Gloswegian
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:24 am
Location: Gloucester (Ex Glasgow)

Post by Gloswegian » Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:23 pm

Annette,
Your gut feeling was right Gordon!
I hope I'm not possessed.............. by anything other than a healthy curiosity. :)

I have to admit to being a bit spooked :shock: and was quite choked when I read of the demise of James this morning.
I was in the process of showing a work colleague how good the response had been on the forum, when Alans post dropped in and we read the report live. I really did get chills down my spine!

At least we now know that Jean was indeed a widow by 1851 for sure. It could also explain why she used her maiden surname of Urquhart on the 1841 census?

Regards

Gordon

Currie
Posts: 3924
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:20 am
Location: Australia

Post by Currie » Wed Sep 02, 2009 6:29 am

Back again Gordon,

I forgot to mention that the 19th Century British Library Newspaper database is available free to Higher and Further Education students in the UK http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestyp ... ndproject/

It is also available to access from home and/or library to County residents in some UK County Library systems including now also Gloucestershire it seems. http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/libra ... leid=10789

All the best,
Alan

kenspeckle
Posts: 178
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:30 am
Location: born in Glasgow now living in Huon Valley Tasmania

Post by kenspeckle » Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:28 am

I had the same gut feeling bout my GGGrandfather Captain George Combe of Greenock master of the John he was a Whaling Ship Captain who's crew had a mutiny to do with his ship being part of Captain John Ross search for the North west passage as they would not earn as much as they did when whaling in the Baring Sea ..the following year according to Captain Ross a mutiny took place on board near Baffins Bay and this resulted in the Death of my GGG Grandad and the mate with a crew were expelled and never heard of again The ship was then under the command of the Spikesoneer and then lost on the western coast when most of the crew drowned Captain Ross said the circumstances were never rightly explained

It took years of chipping away finding little titbits and clues in newspapers also with help from others (especially Alan Currie of this list Thanks again alan ) to finally find the diary on google books
It was very sad also 3 of his daughters also married ships captains who also were lost at sea very early in their marriages it was a hard life back then

regards lesley in Tassie
Last edited by kenspeckle on Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
researching : Roddick, Stewart, Combe,Lyle , Wilkie, Budge, Kirkwood,Howat, McKinlay, Gunning, Gumprecht, Mirrlees, Muckersie, Greig, Moncrieff, Pattison, Hornibrook, Teape, Brockhoff,Buchanan,

Gloswegian
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:24 am
Location: Gloucester (Ex Glasgow)

Post by Gloswegian » Wed Sep 02, 2009 1:37 pm

My thanks again to everyone who has contributed to this thread so far.

Despite my best efforts last night, I could not locate a death record for James on the SP OPR's, but I immagine this may be because the death occurred at sea and the records may be held elsewhere. Where I don't know. :?

Also strange is that in the newspaper article it says that both James and charles McLean were "decently interred" in the churchyard ay Boyndie. At the time the church yard in use would have been St Brandans. I checked the inscriptions last night and there does not seem to be any. Would this indicate that there is no headstone and that he would be just buried without any of the grandeur of a stone to mark the spot?

What kind of records would the church keep of this kind of event that may still be available? I've read of something called a Mortcloth but am not clear what it is. What would this tell me anyway? Sorry, soooo many questions...

Thanks to Alan again for the link to the newspaper archive. My daughter has a local library card and I have just logged on to the on-line service through my library site. Another great resource.

Gordon

Gloswegian
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:24 am
Location: Gloucester (Ex Glasgow)

Post by Gloswegian » Wed Sep 02, 2009 1:40 pm

Lesley,
It was very sad also 3 of his daughters also married ships captains who also were lost at sea very early in their marriages it was a hard life back then
Was there any kind of support for these widows you know about? It seems barbaric that they would be completely on their own following such tragedy. On the other hand, it may have been a fairly common occurrence in the days before the Health and Safety act and social insurance.

kenspeckle
Posts: 178
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:30 am
Location: born in Glasgow now living in Huon Valley Tasmania

Post by kenspeckle » Wed Sep 02, 2009 2:24 pm

not sure about Support ... the girls all had boarding houses about the Clyde in Glasgow so most likely survived from income from this and mainly had mariners as boarders and I reckon this was their way of helping them
the poor law records are always interesting if not sad reading(all in Mitchell in Glasgow ) Des Garrity a friend has the actual indexes
I had one of my Gunning line end up on this and they went right into all the relatives ( good info) and which ones were not willing to help and widows had to itemise every penny spent ie material for new dress for eldest to attend fathers funeral they even describe the flat they lived in and how it was kept , it would make you weep folk today with social security dole ect are living the life of Riley by comparison
I have access to a fair bit of stuff if you ever need help just say

regards lesley
researching : Roddick, Stewart, Combe,Lyle , Wilkie, Budge, Kirkwood,Howat, McKinlay, Gunning, Gumprecht, Mirrlees, Muckersie, Greig, Moncrieff, Pattison, Hornibrook, Teape, Brockhoff,Buchanan,

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