"Far Away" is the latest theme from "52 Ancestors
in 52 Weeks". I turned to the Island of Unst in Shetland, the most
northerly point of the British Isles. It was the home of my cousin's paternal
ancestors, and this is his story, beginning with his own words".
"When I was young, growing up in Blackpool, Lancashire, I was intrigued as to the origins of my middle name - Ingram. There was no-one to ask. My own father was unable to help me and unfortunately both my grandfather and great grandfather had died in 1923 and 1925, long before I appeared on the scene. The only answer given to me was that it was an old family name. Eventually I undertook my own research into my paternal line and discovered that the family came from Unst in Shetland - cue some island visits."
Great, Great, Great Grandfather - John Smith. (1759- c.1840's)
John Smith married Barbara Charleson and they had a family of five. The eldest William and his sister Ursula never masrried and lived throughout their life with members of his family. Daughter Jane Elizabeth and son George married a brother and sister - Andrew and Catherine Sinclair - both had large families, with distant descendants still in the Shetlands. Finally youngest son and my great, great grandfather, Gilbert, was born in 1802.
Many of John and Barbara's children were born here at Snarbrough
The 1841 census saw John, aged 82 living at Millagord Uyeasound at the home of his youngest son, Gilbert and family - wife, Catherine, their four children, Gilbert's unmarried brother and sister, William and Ursula, and three young visitors - a large household!
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| View from the front door of Millagord |
No trace of John could be found in 1851 and he is presumed to have died. In Scotland, unlike in England (1837), it was not compulsory to record births, marriages and deaths until 1855. A search of the Old Parish Records proved fruitless.
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Great, Great Grandfather - Gilbert Smith (1802- 1871)
Gilbert Smith was born at Snabrough c.1802 and married Catherine Mouat in 1829 at Baliasta, with the ceremony performed by the Rev James Ingram - here was the first clue to the Ingram name that featured down the generations in the Smith family.
The witnesses to the marriage were Gilbert’s two brothers George and William, together with a Lawrence Smith of Ramingoe. Gilbert and Catherine made their home at Gardin (below) and later Millagord Uyeasound (above).
Gilbert and Catherine's first born son John, (named after his grandfather) was born in 1830, but died at the age of 11. Between 1834 and 1847, seven more children were born - Lawrence Edmonston (christened after the name of the local doctor), Ursula Isabella, Ellen Barbara, Andrina, Janet, Jane Ingram, and John Ingram.
Gilbert Smith was born at Snabrough c.1802 and married Catherine Mouat in 1829 at Baliasta, with the ceremony performed by the Rev James Ingram - here was the first clue to the Ingram name that featured down the generations in the Smith family.
The witnesses to the marriage were Gilbert’s two brothers George and William, together with a Lawrence Smith of Ramingoe. Gilbert and Catherine made their home at Gardin (below) and later Millagord Uyeasound (above).
Gardin Croft - the first home of Gilbert and Catherine
Gilbert and Catherine's first born son John, (named after his grandfather) was born in 1830, but died at the age of 11. Between 1834 and 1847, seven more children were born - Lawrence Edmonston (christened after the name of the local doctor), Ursula Isabella, Ellen Barbara, Andrina, Janet, Jane Ingram, and John Ingram.
In the 1841 census, Gilbert's occupation was given as farmer and ten years later as turner/crofter/agricultural labourer. But by 1861 he had a change to that of fisherman, when he was living at Scallawaybooth with his wife Catherine, two children Janet and John Ingram, and sister Ursula.
A Major Move - But Why?
But what circumstances occurred thereafter that prompted a major move from such a small rural island community to Edinburgh? Was it economic considerations? For by the 1871 census, the family was living in the capital at Jamaica Street - a city centre location.
But what circumstances occurred thereafter that prompted a major move from such a small rural island community to Edinburgh? Was it economic considerations? For by the 1871 census, the family was living in the capital at Jamaica Street - a city centre location.
The
move was not a happy one for the family. Catherine died there in
1868 aged 63 and a year later eldest son Lawrence died in Edinburgh,
aged 37. As the informant on the death certificates, Gilbert gave his
occupation as shoemaker. In the 1871 census Gilbert was living at 19
Trafalgar Lane, Leith. In November 1881 Gilbert died in Edinburgh Royal
Infirmary, buried in Rosebank
Cemetery Edinburgh. The informant of death was his daughter Janet of
Dryden Place, Edinburgh, with Gilbert's occupation this time given as
wheelwright.
The
family still have in their possession two black edged invitations to
Gilbert and Catherine's funerals written by youngest and only surviving
son John Ingram Smith.
The
youngest child of Gilbert and
Catherine was John Ingram Smith who was born 22nd January 1847 at
Millagord and was
baptised at Gardie Uyeasound by Rev John Ingram. In 1861 he was aged
14, living with his parents, sister Janet and aunt Ursula,
John
Ingram Smith left Unst with his family and worked for several years in
service as a butler at various large houses in the Aberdeen area. The
reference letters he obtained from his employers are still held by the
family. He was for a time the landlord of the ‘Crown and Anchor’ in
Aberdeen and the ‘Gordon Arms’ in Inveruie. He moved on to Fife but in
1883 he left Scotland to become became a hotel manager in Leeds,
Yorkshire before at last settling in Blackpool, Lancashire in about
1895. He became the Catering Manager of the Winter Gardens, the
entertainment complex that was then part of the Blackpool Tower
Company.
John Ingram Smith was the last of the immediate Smith family to be born on the island of Unst, but the connection lived on through his middle name Ingram passed down to his son, grandson and great grandson. But that is another story!
John
Ingram Smith's grandson was Blackpool-born Arthur Stuart Ingram Smith
(1908-1979), looking non too happy here, clad in a dress as was the
custom for many young boys (though I thought the practice had died down
by the early 20th century). The tartan no doubt reflected the family’s
pride in their Scottish ancestry.
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Background Information
- Orkney and Shetland were once held under Norwegian and Danish control - this heritage still reflected in place names. In 1492, they were offered up as security for the dowry of the Princess Margaret, the prospective wife of James III of Scotland. The dowry was never paid - and thus the islands became part of Scotland.
- The island of Unst at 12 miles by 5 miles is the most northerly point of the British Isles, 821 miles form London. It lies 45 miles by ferry from Lerwick, capital of the Shetland Isles, which are situated 120 miles north of the mainland of Scotland. To the north of Unst is Muckle Flugga Lighthouse, a name that always appealed ot me!), built in the 1850's. Unst is closer to Bergen in Norway than to Edinburgh.
In 1851 the population of Unst was 2977; it rose slightly by 1861 to 3060, but dropped to 2780 by 1871- a fall of 9%. Between 1861 and 1881. over 8000 residents are said to have emigrated from the Shetland Isles to make a new life overseas. Shetland, like other parts of Scotland, experienced the Clearances, where landlords, their eye on maximizing their wealth, greatly reduced the number of small, uneconomic crofts, banishing tenants in favour of large scale sheep farming. In the last 2011 census, the population of Unst was 632.
- Rev.
James Ingram (1776-1879) who performed the marriage ceremony for
Gilbert Smith and Catherine Mout in 1829 and baptised the Smith children, had a long life, living to
the great age of 103.
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| The Ingram Family |
- James' son, Rev. John Ingram(1808-1892) baptised John Ingram Smith in 1847.
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