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Archiver > ABERDEEN > 2005-03 > 1111238419


From: Gavin Bell <>
Subject: Re:[ABERDEEN] Kirkton of Rayne MIs
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 13:20:19 +0000


Sandra wrote:

> I just received "The Kirkyard of Kirkton of Rayne" from the Aberdeen
> FHS and need help trying to figure out plot number 278. The
> relationships are extremely confusing, esp. re George Leith. These
> are ancestors so I'd like to get them properly arranged. If anyone has
> this booklet and can make sense of this, I'd be very grateful.

This is a complicated one, and while the details will mostly interest
Sandra, I am posting this answer to the list, because this example
illustrates some of the difficulties associated with MIs.

The text of "stone 278" is as follows:

In loving memory of my husband JAMES WHITECROSS d. Ferniebrae, Pitcaple
24 July 1950 aged 80. ALEXR. JAMES d.in infancy, CHARLES JOHN d. 15
Feb. 1912. My father & mother GEORGE LEITH d.13 Feb. 1912, MARY MELVIN
d.12 Aug. 1924 also MARGARET BUCHAN LEITH wife of above JAMES WHITECROSS
d. 11 Burdshaugh, Forres 10 Feb. 1961 aged 81.
(Heart 1) In memory of our mother wife of GEORGE LEITH d. 22 Nov. 1874
aged 36.
(Heart 2) In loving memory of our dear mother E.S.LEITH d. 11 June 1908
aged 38.
(Heart 3) Our darling, C & M CANNON.

The first thing to say is that this represents the inscriptions on 4
separate bits of stone. The first paragraph is the text on the main
gravestone, but the others are "hearts", which are generally small bits
of stone either let into the turf near the main stone, or sometimes
lying loose on the surface. Such stones are notorious for "wandering"
around the kirkyard, either as a result of vandalism, or as different
sets of supposed descendants move them to where they think they ought to
be, so we you have to bear in mind the possibility that these LEITHs are
not closely connected.

That said, the main inscription is quite clear. George LEITH and Mary
MELVIN (died 1912 and 1924, ages and birthdates not specified) had a
daughter, Margaret Buchan LEITH, born 1880, who married James WHITECROSS.

Heart 1 records the death of an anonymous woman, who was married to a
George LEITH. The question then arises: "was this the same George LEITH
as on the main inscription?" If it was, then he must have been married
twice, and this memorial has been erected (if that is the correct term)
by her children, who would have been the half-brother and sisters of
Margaret Buchan LEITH. Alternatively, this inscription may refer to a
totally different George LEITH.

Heart 2 records a female E. S. Leith who would have been born in 1870,
but it is unclear whether LEITH was her maiden name or her married surname.

Heart 3 is a mystery.

The Good News is that, as all these people died comparatively (but not
too) recently, their deaths will be recorded in the Registers, as will
almost certainly their marriages, and probably their births (although
George LEITH and Mary MELVIN may have been born before the start of
civil registration in 1855. Some of them will also be found in the
Census for 1881, 1891 and 1901, al of which are indexed and available.
From these sources, it should be possible to disentangle at least some
of the story.


Gavin Bell


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