Queries Index TUV

The Society has received queries concerning the following surnames:
(These queries have also been published in the Society's Journal)

THAIN

Stan Thain

stan.thain@
ntlworld.com

Looking for information on Alexander THAIN who married Jean Thain (his cousin?) at Marnoch, Aberchirder, Banffshire in 1781. The family then moved to Macduff where Alexander was a shoemaker. His son James (my ancestor) became a shipwright in London. I cannot identify Alexander earlier than 1781 because I cannot find the birth of an Alexander Thain who fits; his wife Jean had a brother Alexander which has confused the search. There is a possible link to Thains in Dundee. Jean Thain’s mother was Jean HAY. Jean’s aunt also married a Hay. That family also came from Banffshire. I am now systematically casting my search outside the Banffshire area.

TULLOCH

Rod Gair

rod@rodgair.f9.co.uk

Looking for any information regarding the following:- John GAIR, born 3 May 1805 at Nigg, Ross & Cromarty, died 13 or 30 September 1841 at Mains of Torbreck, Inverness; Walter GAIR, born 14 November 1801 at Nigg; Alexander GAIR, born 1803 or 1806 at Nigg. All three were described as teachers at the Academy at Torbreck and also as farmers at the Mains of Torbreck (Essich). Alexander subsequently immigrated to Manitoba, Canada. Their parents were William GAIR and Isabella TULLOCH. Any information regarding a private academy at ‘The House of Torbreck’ run by the above family would be most welcome. Also seeking information on the following:- Duncan GAIR, who married Catharine McLEOD 30 May 1829 at Inverness; Charles GAIR, born 1837/8 Ross & Cromarty, who married Anne Frazer GAIR of Inverness on 6 January 1868 at Monkwearmouth, Co. Durham (their first child was Jemima GAIR, born 11 June 1865 in Leith).

URQUHART	Eleanor Rimmer	eleanor.rimmer@ baesystems.com	I am searching for the parents of my 3xgreat grandfather William GRANT. According to his headstone in Killearnan Churchyard he was “descended in the fourth line from the family GRANT of GRANT” and was orphaned at the age of 11. If his age at death on the headstone is correct, he was born 1758/59. He was a house carpenter and was living at Lakefield, Glenurquhart when he married Christian BANNATYNE in 1790. At various times they lived at Redcastle, Killearnan, Polmallie, Fingarth and Moy. Their children were:- William, born 1791 (civil engineer, who died 1824 in Dublin); James, born 1793 (surgeon, killed in Texas in 1836); Sarah, born 1795 (married Hugh URQUHART and “emigrated to Montreal to found an Academy”); Gregor, born 1798 (surgeon, drowned in an East Indiaman shipwreck 1818); Isobel, born 1800 (married William FRASER in Glenurquhart); Anne, born 1803 (married Andrew McINTOSH, carpenter in Killearnan); Christian, born 1805 (unmarried); Hugh, born 1806 (lawyer, who married Ann Jane McCLURE and died New Orleans in 1855); Jane Hannah, born 1809 (unmarried); Alexander Stuart, born 1810 (teacher, then a minister, who married Martha McINNES and died Ontario); Peter, born 1812 (untraced); Catherine, born 1816 (married John McPHERSON) and Gregor, born 1819 (master carpenter, who married Sarah MACDONALD and died during a visit to New Orleans in 1854). I would love to hear from anyone who recognises any of the family or who has any ideas about William’s parentage.
URQUHART	Laurence Ross	lh.ross@bigpond.com	Seeking information on the family of Charles ROSS and Mary ROSS in Easter Ross. Charles was the son of Donald ROSS and Margaret URQUHART and was born in Kilmuir Easter in 1799 and died at Rhicullin, Rosskeen in 1882. Mary ROSS was the daughter of Donald ROSS and Mary ROSS. She was born in 1801 at Auchnacloich, Rosskeen and died at Rhicullin in 1883. They had issue: - Donald, 1831; Mary, 1833; Margaret, 1839; Alexander and Charles, 1845, who married Isabella MACRAE and had 12 children. Charles died 1929 and Isabella 1933, both at 35 Outram Street, Invergordon.

VASS

David Ross

davidwross@
tiscali.co.uk

My great great grandfather John ROSS, fisherman of Shandwick died in July 1862. His details at death state "formerly married to Ann VASS, latterly to Margaret VASS". It is about his first wife Ann VASS that I seek information and if any member can help me with identifying her, I shall be grateful. In the 1841 census she appears with John (35), her age shown as 32 and her birth place as Ross & Cromarty. There are three children, Andrew (17), William (5), and Donald (3). By elementary maths I calculate that she must have been 15 at Andrew’s birth yet his (Andrew’s) death certificate confirms that his mother was Ann VASS and his father John ROSS. The marriage of John ROSS and Ann VASS is found in the Nigg OPRs as being on 27th December 1821. If the census details are right, she would have been 12 at marriage! I conclude the census ages are wrong. On 4th June 1847 John married Margaret VASS (Nigg OPR), so Ann must have died between 1841 and 1847. I can find no record of this event. I have been quite unable to establish any details about Ann’s birth, parentage or death. It may be that one of our members has done research into the Vass family and can help.

Queries for inclusion in the society’s journal and on this website should be emailed to info@highlandfamilyhistorysociety.org with the subject box clearly stating what name, place, or topic the query is about.
Those replying to queries should quote the surname the query is indexed under and the name of the original enquirer, and they are asked to forward a copy of their responses to the above email address for possible publication in the journal.