Those Places Thursday - Buckie

Going back in the Cowie and Smith lines the families seem to have always lived in and around Buckie.

This was my Grandparents house at 14 Cluny Terrace in Buckie. 

I loved this house 

Things I  remember.

The roses and mint plants either side of the path. 

The covered porch that you could go in either to the hall or the kitchen. 

The steep set of stairs in the middle of the house leading up to two bedrooms in the roof. 

The posh sitting room with all the ornaments the organ and the picture of the Gospel Ship

The box bedroom next to the comfy living room with Gran and Grandads chairs. 

The pantry and kitchen that seemed to go on for ever

The wee door to the shop in the back that Gran and Grandad used to run with it's own address. 

The sofas and dressers that opened into beds, 

and the amount of family that could fit a small house all at the same time. 

This one photo brings back so many happy memories. 

Surname Saturday - Smith

My Grandmother Hannah Cowie was a Smith before she married.

The furthest back I've gone on the Smith side is my 4th Great Grandfather Alexander Smith and his marriage to Jean Reid record in 1788. (second Smith on the page.)

The family was recorded in Rathven, Banffshire and many of them are still in the area.

I've not come across many misspellings for Smith, Smithe, Smyth, Smythe, Snith

Tombstone Tuesday

Another gravestone from my Cowie side of the family. My Grandad John William Cowie also on the stone is my Gran Hannah Smith and my Uncles George and Henry who died four months apart in 1998.

This was taken in Burnside Cemetery at Rathven outside Buckie in Banff.

Surname Saturday - Cowie

One of the family lines I'm researching is my Cowie line on my Dads side from Buckie in Banffshire, Scotland who are mainly fishermen.

The problem this time is not spelling as I've thankfully only come across a couple of options Cowie, Cowey, and possibly Coue or Couie. It's more a question of the number of different families in a small area sharing the same surname and profession but not necessarily related.

The electoral roll for Buckie has over 200 Cowies and searching the 1881 Census on Ancestry has 571 Cowies just for the Parish of Rathven although narrowing for fishermen gives a slightly more hopeful 139.

The answer in that part of the country to help them work out who they were talking about was to have 'tee names' or boat nicknames that can be passed down familes and often turn up in vital records and newspapers as found in a snippet from the Banffshire Advertiser of 1902 transcribed by Allan Fraser for Buckie Heritage.org

May 29

An article title -'An Aged Crew of Buckie Fishermen'

Buckie harbour all but deserted of herring boats apart from 2 or 3 of the old scaffies that are fast disappearing. The crews of these with up to date character of the boats but one of these, 7 the Margaret would if met on the high seas probably cause many a fish to rub their eyes a second time thinking that it was a phantom boat.

The crew of 8 has been got together by John Cowie 'Carrot' as skipper, who says, "We don’t go out but when we like".

The total age of the crew is 567 with and average age of 71. They are Messrs - John Cowie,'Carrot' 70, Alex Cowie, 'Dosie', 74, William Cowie, 'Dosie', 72, Alex Cowie, 'Dougal', 72, George Thomson, 'Law' 70, James Cowie, 'Carrot',70, George Cowie, 'Carrot', 65 and George Cowie, 'Cornal' 74.

That seven out of the 8 men are Cowies illustrates the necessity of tee names among fishermen.

My tee names (so far) - Cowie 'Coup', Cowie 'Rosie', Smith 'Peter',

Poem

At my Buckie Grans funeral (Hannah Cowie nee Smith) at the start of July I met some of my dads cousins Anna, Marjory and Etta who were my Grans neices. They've all been really helpful in filling in information about my Gran and her brothers and sisters.

Today I received a poem from Marjory that her mother Iris May Soutar (nee Smith) wrote about who married who.

Dae ye ken Maggie Bruce's family That bided doon the Brae?
Peter Smith's their Faither -A fisherman was he.
Noo Wullie mairrit Lizzie, In Leith they bade a wee
And Jessie mairrit Wullie Wood -A Portknockie man was he.
Pat, Johnny, Anne and Jimmy Are names of those who died,
But Marget still lives in the Sloch -She likes her ain fireside.
And Ina - she got mairrit Tae Tam wha cams frae Fife
And Henry gaed tae Stornaway And took Etta for a wife.
Hannah mairrit Johnny Coup, Noo he's a Buckie loon,
And Jeannie mairrit Charlie, He's frae Portgordon toon.
Davy Mairrit Peggy Frae Wick across the Firth,
And Iris Mairrit Andrew, They roam a' ower the earth.
Noo the Faimly are a' scattered And living far and wide
And the Family Tree has branch'ed Since a' thae knots were tied,
And children's children's children Hear tales of auld lang syne
And R-o-etten-etten -The Sloch that is oor Hame.

bits of translation for the non scots -

• Dae ye ken = Do you know
• bided = stayed or lived
• mairrit = married
• the Sloch= Portessie in Buckie
• frae = from
• gaed tae = went to
• loon = boy
• Hame = home

not sure what R-o-etten-etten refers to though.

I spent last night tidying up my genealogy files and adding info received from Marjory Davey to the info I gathered while at Buckie Grannies funeral. Still have to update my website with some of the info but nice to be able to fill in more details on Hannahs side

First Entry

Starting a blog to help me record research and findings on my family tree.

Came back to edit this first post as I realised it would have helped to say what I'm researching.

I am following my family tree back through the Cowie, Duncan, Shields and Smith lines in Rothesay, Bute, Buckie, Glasgow, Lewis, Banff and eventually Donegal Ireland.

I'll be updating my family tree on ancestry.com and starting a family tree website www.joannecowie.co.uk