Photo from collection of Elizabeth Wilson Kerr, Scotland about 1904. Photo currently held by Joan Miller.CLICK ON PHOTO for larger view.

"A bothy bunch about 1904". Click on photo for larger view.

This photo of  “A Bothy Bunch” was found in my Granny Kerr’s photo collection. Granny was born Elizabeth WILSON (1884-1973) in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, not to far from Peterhead. She immigrated to Saskatchewan, Canada in 1909 and married Homer KERR who was homesteading not to far from her brother Alex WILSON’s homestead.  We have no other information about this “Bothy bunch” although I assume they are family or school friends.

The photographer information states “Willie Watson, 13 Duff St. TURRIFF which takes us to a town about 30 miles west of Peterhead as the crow flies (37.5 miles via road).  Note WATSON was a family name as well.  Elizabeth Wilson’s father’s name was Martin Watson Wilson (1857 -1942).  He was born in Gamrie, County Banff, Scotland.

UPDATE – Marie, one of my Scottish friends pointed out this was likely a “bothy” bunch instead of brothy bunch. and indeed that is what Granny has written on the back of the postcard.   Marie said “Bothy” means a small cottage or in this case where workers lived. I’ve corrected the “brothy” to “bothy in the text above but left the title as “brothy” because of the spoons and bowls.  Thanks Marie.  I learned a new word today “bothy)

Alexander Wilson, Shoemaker and Elizabeth Dockar were married 20th June 1840 before witness, William Dockar and Alexander Innes.

Source - ScotslandPeople – 20/06/1840 WILSON, ALEXANDER (O.P.R. Marriages 155/00 0030 0728 Gamrie and MacDuff)

This couple were my great, great grandparents on my father’s maternal side.

Back to my Scottish roots and my g-grandmother Mary Metcalf ROBERTSON born November 20, 1853 daughter of James ROBERTSON and Mary WEBSTER.

She married my g-grandfather Martin Watson WILSON 24 June 1876 at New Blyth, Aberdeen Scotland.

Connections?  Please leave a comment below.

Lizzie’s parents were Martin Watson Wilson (1857 – 1942) and Margaret Metcalf Robertson (1854 -1936)

Siblings were Alexander, Mary and Martin.  All of the children immigrated to Saskatchewan Canada.  Other names married into this family are Freethy, West, Whyte.

I heard from a descendant of Lizzie’s brother’s (Martin) family this week.  Like me, she grew up in Saskatchewan and now lives in Montana.  We share great grandparents.

I’m looking forward to comparing our research!

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Related posts:

My Grandmother was a Blue Tooner!

My grandmother, Elizabeth (WILSON) KERR on my father’s side of the family came from Peterhead Scotland.

She was the daughter of Martin Watson WILSON, b. 1857 Scotland married to Margaret Metcalf ROBERTSON.

Martin WILSON worked on the railroad and their first residence was at Boddam, Scotland.

Martin and Margaret had four children:  Alex, Mary, Martin and Elizabeth.    Alex and Elizabeth immigrated to Saskatchewan,Canada.

Elizabeth married Homer KERR in Saskatchewan (my grandparents).

Connections?  Please comment below.

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Related Posts:

My Grandmother was a Blue Tooner!

The challenge this week:

1. Pick a place that you have ancestry, but don’t know much about.

I picked Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, birthplace of my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth WILSON (b. 1884 Peterhead), daughter of Martin Watson WILSON and Margaret Metcalf ROBERTSON.

2. Go to Google (or your favorite search engine) and put in the place name, the state name, and the words “genealogy” and “society.” For example my search string is going to be [mccook nebraska genealogy society]. Don’t use mine – use your own!

I did this but the searches all led to very general listings and I wasn’t learning anything specifically about our WILSONs in Peterhead….thus I dropped the “genealogy society” part from the search and instead put in “cemeteries”. 

3. Go to the web site that looks the most interesting or promising, and search for data about your ancestor(s) that lived there.

That produced quite a few hits including google maps and tourist pages of Peterhead, the Wikipedia info….and a link to the Scotland BDM Exchange. 

From Wikipedia I learned that:

Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire’s largest settlement, having a population of 19,000 at the 2001 Census. Peterhead sits at the easternmost point in mainland Scotland. Peterhead is often referred to as ‘The Blue Toon’ and people who were born there as Blue Tooners. More correctly they are called Bloomogganners, supposedly from the blue worsted stockings that the fishermen originally wore.

Blue Tooners!  My Grandmother was a Blue Tooner! 

And a “Bloomogganner!” (what a great word!) I wonder if my ancestors wore blue worsted stockings?  Were they fisherman? 

4. Did you find anything new or interesting? If so – those are your genealogy Easter Eggs! Enjoy them – browse some more! If not, try again with another place name.

On the Scotland BDM Exchange I scored a match to several WILSONS and other related surnames; not specifically ours but with Peterhead’s  population of only 19,000 and a street named “WILSON Street”, I bet there is a connection!  I emailed the contact on the other WILSONs.  Perhaps I will hear soon if there is a connection we can pursue further.

AND….I’ll definitely have to find out more about Blue Tooners! 

Thanks Randy for your Saturday night fun!

In a very timely fashion Dick Eastman did a post on the availability of Scottish records on line.

The digital images, on scotlandspeople.gov.uk, the official Government source of genealogical data for Scotland, are of deaths and burials contained in the Old Parish Registers of Scotland (OPRs). The OPRs are the records which the Church of Scotland kept of births and baptisms, banns and marriages and deaths and burials for the 300 years before the start of the civil registration system in 1855.

Births, baptisms, banns and marriages can also be found on this website.

My paternal Grandmother Elizabeth WILSON was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland November 2, 1884, the daughter of Martin Watson WIlSON (b.1857 in Banff or MacDuff Scotland, d. 15 June 1942) and Margaret Metcalf ROBERTSON (b. 1854, d. 15 October 1936).  She had two older siblings, Alec and Mary, and a younger brother Martin.  I’ve heard she was born in the village or town of Peterhead.

Elizabeth came to Canada to join her brother Alec and married Homer KERR, my grandfather in 30 November 1910 in Saskatchewan.

I will be definitely be searching the Scotland database mentioned above for more information.  I recommend you do so too if you ancestry lies in Scotland.

If anyone has connections to the WILSON and ROBERTSON families please leave a comment or use the contact form.

Thanks!

My sister has red hair, my two kids have red hair and my husband used to have red hair. So did my Mom and Grandmother. My father in law too!

Red hair is the rarest natural hair color in humans (1-2% of the population) but you wouldn’t know it in our family. Redheads are found most commonly in northern and western Europeans and their descendents. The colour ranges from deep coppery tones to bright oranges and is the product of two copies of a recessive gene that has been associated with the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R), a protein associated with fair skin, red hair and ultra violet sensitivity.*

It shouldn’t come as any surprise to know that our family, are of northern European extraction.  Our IRVINEs are from Ireland and so were the KERRs, most likely via Scotland originally.  One of my grandmothers was a WILSON from Scotland.  The other, a WOODLAND, also with northern European roots. 

My husband’s AUMACK side of the family has been traced back to Dutch settlers on the Isle of Amager, in Denmark.   His father, a MILLER and also a redhead is thought to have English ancestry.

With all those redheads in the gene pool it wasn’t a surprise that our two children turned out to be redheads. 

How many of YOU have redheads in your family?  Are they of northern European extraction?  I’d love to hear your comments.

*Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair