My great-aunt Beline showed me a porcelain teacup. She had
many teacups. Her father and grandfather were tea merchants,
among other things, and she appreciated a strong, hot cup of tea.
But this cup and saucer weren't about tea. "This is part of
the wedding set that was given to The Rev. David Robertson and
his wife when they married in 1810." The Reverend was her
great-grandfather, minister of the Associate Congregation of
Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, Scotland.
The teacup was a very fine bone china, ivory in tone, with an
inch-wide strip of painted gold filigree around the lip of the
cup and the edge of the saucer. "It was one of two cups and
saucers that I brought back from Scotland when Harry and I
visited many years ago. I carried them on my lap the whole trip
back." They were, of course, carefully packed in a box at
the time. But she was speaking of trains across Scotland, a boat
crossing of the Atlantic and more trains across the American
continent. This wasn't a short flight over the pole. Only one set
was displayed in her china cabinet. She did not say where the
other set had gone, nor do I know who received the set she showed
me, but I remember the cup and saucer very well.
Beline bore a striking resemblance to
her great-aunt Anna Black Robertson. Anna took care the
family after Jessie Robertson's death in 1859.
Detail
of water-color done by an itinerant artist in Glasgow ca.
1860.
Over the years I researched the family, building on
Beline's memoirs, but my information was sketchy. When I
went to Scotland, I was able to collect a good deal more
documentation.
I received considerable help from my connections on the
Internet, and was introduced to a family who lives in Kilmaurs.
They graciously invited me to come to Kilmaurs where I enjoyed
lunch and a tour of the church under the guidance of a former
minister. He had written a short history of the church and gave
me a copy.
It proved difficult, however, to identify the parents of David
Robertson and Ann Black. I had clues pointing to Kinross and I
collected a mass of Kinross documentation, but nothing provided
the necessary link between families. I was fairly certain that
David's parents were Peter & Agnes Robertson. They were
founding members of the Kinross Associate Congregation. They had
a son, David, born at the right time. My certainty of the link
was based on very tenuous and intuitive ground. For Ann Black, I
had no clue at all to her parentage other than knowing she was
born in Fossoway parish, Kinrosshire.
I received an email in June 2001 from Andrew Shaw, a previously
unknown cousin. He spotted the family reference on my website and
contacted me to confirm the link between David in Kilmaurs and
Peter in Kinross. Then he informed me that he had just posted 120
pages of Robertson
family correspondence between 1831-1860 on his website! The
dates covered neatly meshed with the documentation I had
collected and the information proved invaluable in illuminating a
number of questions that had been raised. Thanks, Andrew!
Look for updated pages as I collate the new material with what I
have researched.
Be Not Confused -- Two Robertson lines
I have two lines of Robertsons in my family. Beline's paternal
and maternal grandmothers were both named Jessie Robertson. The
paternal line--the Robertsons of Paisley,
Renfrewshire--are unrelated to those of Kinross and Kilmaurs.
These Robertsons are in her maternal line.
+ (1) CHRISTIE, The Rev. Francis,
1819-1851; m. 1847 Christie took over
Robertson's pulpit in 1847. After
his death and that of her sister
Jessie in 1856, Anna came to take
care of the Ritchie children
until William's remarriage.
+ (2) FORDYCE, George -- Business
partner of William Ritchie,
Jessie's husband.
4--Robertson, Margaret, Kilmaurs
+ ALEXANDER John, UP minister
5--Alexander, David
5--Alexander, Anna
4--Robertson, Isabella,
Kilmaurs> Glasgow, 1827-
+ RITCHIE,
Alexander, accountant,
Kilwinning> Glasgow (brother
of William), 1826-1860; m. 1851
5--2 boys who died young.
5--Ritchie, Anna
+ CAMPBELL, The Rev.
James
6--Campbell, Belle
+ Mr. Knight, no
children
6--Campbell, James [James
was a minister who
married and had one son,
lost in WWII.]
6--Campbell, Rhoda, d.
1923/24
+ ?? [Rhoda died
less than two years after
their marriage.]
6--Campbell, Norman [Served
in both world wars, Brig.General
in WWII.]
+ INGLIS, Mary [dau.
of a shipping magnate in
Glasgow] Issue
+ RITCHIE,
William, West Linton, Peebles, ?1810-1850s?,
m. 1832 by Rev. David Robertson;
missionaries to Yass, New South Wales,
Australia--As far as I know, this Ritchie
line is unrelated to William &
Alexander Ritchie of Kilwinning who
married the Robertson sisters, Jessie
& Isabella.
4--Ritchie, Susan, West Linton,
Peebles, 1833-
4--Ritchie, James Peter, West
Linton, Peebles, 1835-1878 Yass,
NSW
+ McBEAN, Jessie Home, ??-1898; m.
1865 in Yass The McBeans were graziers and
local J.P.s; they originate from
Inverness
Get your own Free Home
Page 
.gif){kind=small}
.gif){kind=small}