Jonathan Beattie is my great great grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born in Kirkcudbright, Scotland in 1829 and is the second child of Robert Beattie (b. abt 1804) and Elizabeth Gordon (b. abt 1807). He left Kirkcudbright for the United States in 1842 at the age of 17 and was the only one of nine brothers and sisters that came to the United States.  This family surname has always been a favorite of mine to research.  I have had tremendous success mapping out all the branches of Jonathan’s descendants and have even become good friends with some of the new found cousins.

Well, today the Beattie family tree just got much bigger.  I queried for a “Robert Beattie” born in 1804 in Kircudbright (Jonathan’s father).  Shoot… no direct matches found.  But the third listing from top was a Robert Beaty, born 10 Feb 1804 in Kircudbright to Robert Beattie and Ann Cameron.  Could that be him?

There was no real way to tell for certain based on the info in the record.  So I opened up my “Beattie” research folder and began looking around for clues.  One of the first things I looked at is the old letter of Beattie birthdays, marriages and deaths that was handed down through the generations.  The letter is in rough shape and is clearly missing several parts.   But at the top of what I believe to be the first page, it reads “…Feb 10th, 1804 in Kirkcudbright.  Elizabeth Gordon born Feb 25th 1804 in Gatehouse Fleet Parish…”

In my humble opinion, there is not a chance in the world that the “Feb 10th, 1804” date in the letter could be referring to anything other than Robert Beattie’s birth date. So Robert Beattie’s birth date is no longer “abt 1804”.  It is 10 Feb 1804! Armed with this information, I headed over to the scotlandspeople.gov.uk website and downloaded a copy of the actual records (below).

So the reason I was stuck at this “road block” for the last couple of years was a spelling issue.  Interesting!

Armed with some new motivation and the new records at beta.familysearch.org, I quickly discovered ten other brothers and sisters, including a a set of twin girls named Agnes and Ann, born in 1810.  It  appears that the twins did not survive as those names were later reused on subsequent children.  Because of the initial spelling issue I discovered, I changed my search strategy to find the eleven children.  This time I searched for all children born in Kircudbright who had a “Robert” as a father and and an “Ann* Cameron”as a mother.  Notice that I did not define the last name and used a wildcard search for the name “Ann”.  Good thing I did.  The children were found using three different spellings of “Beattie”.  Ann is also seen as Anne and Annie.

• John Beatie born 11 Mar 1802
• Robert Beaty born 10 Feb 1804
• Jonathan Beatie born 13 May 1806 (spelled as Jonathon on the original record)
• Mary Beatie born 27 Aug 1808
• Ann Beatie born 08 Oct 1810
• Agnes Beatie born 08 Oct 1810
• Ann Beatie born 09 Oct 1811
• Joseph Beaty born 02 Aug 1813
• Janet Betty born 09 Sep 1814
• Agnes Beaty born 12 Mar 1817
• Barbara Beaty born 02 Sep 1819

All names and dates of birth have been verified at the scotlandspeople.gov.uk website and have been added to my Family Tree at Ancestry.com. I have now begun to research this new generation of Beattie family members and already discovered some interesting facts.  For instance, Ann Cameron Beattie appears to have separated from her husband sometime between 1820 and 1841.  Ann is seen in the 1841 Scotland Census living alone and then with her single daughter Barbara on High Street in 1851.  The 1851 Census lists her occupation as housewife, so maybe there is another reason for them living separately. Ann’s husband Robert is found on High Street in the 1841 Census living with his single twenty year old daughter, Janet Beattie.

I have not been able to find a death record for Robert yet, but I did find one for Ann.  She died 2 Jun 1869 in Kirkcudbright.  Daughter Janet was listed as the informant.

This brings the known Beattie Family Tree back to 1776 with many more new cousins to look for.

The party was attended by numerous relatives and friends….

Mr and Mrs Reginald Parrett.
Mrs Reginald Parrett is also known as Irene Tierney Parrett . Irene was 21 years old. She was Reginald’s third wife and sister of Reginald’s second wife… got that? Yea it took me a while too. Irene’s sister Mary, was Reginald’s second wife. She died unexpectedly in 1909. Reginalds first wife died in 1908. Talking about a string of bad luck…. wow!

Mr and Mrs F. J. Parrett
F.J. Parrett is presumably Reginalds brother or son from his first marriage. I’m not really sure yet.

Margrite Parrett
I’m not sure who Margrite is. She could be his daughter from Reginalds first marriage.

Mr and Mrs James Sproul Tierney (James is about 28 years old)
James is a brother of Irene and the son of Mary Jane Kinneary and Thomas W Tierney. He was a NY Police Officer . He was married to a Sarah Gray. I don’t know if they had any children.

Mr and Mrs Simeon LJ Tierney (Simeon is about 25 years old)
Simeon is a brother of Irene and the son of Mary Jane Kinneary and Thomas Tierney. He may have been a Police Officer and possibly a private detective later in life. Simeon was married to Anna Smith. They had just married at the time of this party and had their first of four kids the following year. I don’t know if there are any living decendants of this branch of the family tree.

Mr James Tierney (about age 18)
James is a first cousin of Irene and is the son of Sarah Beattie and James Tierney. He married Adelle Lehr in 1927, but died in 1931 when the car he was driving went out of control on Edgecombe Avenue, 25 feet south of the Middle Bridge Viaduct. The car plunged 100 feet into Colonial Park, landing upright, but killing him.

Miss Grace Elinor Tierney (about age 19)
Grace is a first cousin of Irene and is the daughter of Sarah Beattie and James Tierney. She sang a vocal solo for the event. Grace later became Grace Dunn. They had no children.

Miss Isabelle Tierney (about age 14)
Isabelle is a first cousin of Irene and is the daughter of Sarah Beattie and James Tierney. She later became Isabelle Lewis. She is my Grandmother.

Mr Charles Beattie (about 43 years old)
Charles is the brother of Sarah Beattie Tierney.

Also in Attendance….
Mr and Mrs J F Dobbs (Capt. Dobbs made some humorous speeches)
Mr and Mrs R L Robins of Northport, Long Island
Maria Flood
Mr and Mrs Daragh – Police Officer
Mr and Mrs J Adams
Mr Lawrence McCaughery (played a musical instrument for the event)
Miss Precella Dobbs
Mr and Mrs John N Perkins of Boston
Mr and Mrs F.A. Kuell (Mrs Kuell played a musical instrument for the event)

This death certificate is for a Robert John Beattie who died in the Walton section of Lancaster, England. The death certificate indicates that he was found drowned at Langton Docks on May 20th, 1889. Robert was 24 years old and was a foreman at a business on Newark Street in Walton. Robert was last seen alive on December 8, 1888. How he got into the water is not known. The death record indicates that a death certificate was received from a coroner’s inquest held on May 21, 1889.  I will have to see if I can get a copy of the Coroners Inquest Report.

Based on the information in the death certificate, I am fairly certain that this Robert John Beattie, is the son of Robert Beattie of Kirkcudbright, Scotland and the Robert John Beattie who born in Hong Kong, China. We know that there is a Robert J Beattie (b. circa 1866), listed as a nephew, living with the family of John and Edith Mann Beattie in Everton (1871) and Kirkdale (1881). These two locations are just mile or two from Langton Docks (see the map) where this Robert John Beattie was found.

This Robert was 24 years old at the of time his death. That would place his date of birth crica 1866, which matches what we know about our Robert John Beattie based on those Census records.

What makes this story even more tragic is that his father, Robert Beattie, was reportedly murdered in Hong Kong. As the story goes, brother John Beattie sailed to China to bring his young nephew home.

So now the big question…  Was he murdered?  Did he take his own life?  Or was this just a tradgic accident?

When searching Census records for a Francis Dillon who was born circa 1848 in Scotland, I came across just one possible match and it was in the the 1861England Census.  In it, we find a family of Dillon’s living in Liverpool, England.

Francis Dillon 54 abt 1807 Ireland Head of Household, A Feather Dealer

Sarah Dillon 60 abt 1801 Ireland Wife

Ellen Dillon 19 abt 1842 Ireland Daughter

Frances Dillon 13 abt 1848 Scotland Son

This most certainly seems to be a match for the Francis Dillon buried with the Beattie’s at Holy Cross Cemetery. With further research, I found the same family 10 years earlier in the 1851 England Census.  In this Census, there is another daughter named Sarah with the family. But in this Census, it indicates that Francis was born in Ireland.  Inconstancies like this are not unusual in Census records, but it does make it difficult to confirm relationships.

Francis Dillon 38 abt 1813 Ireland Head of Household

Sarah Dillon 38 abt 1813 Ireland Wife

Sarah Dillon 15 abt 1836 Ireland Daughter

Ellen Dillon 9 abt 1842 Ireland Daughter

Francis Dillon 3 abt 1848 Ireland Son

By the time the 1861 Census was taken, the younger Sarah Dillon must have died, married or emigrated to America. In the 1871 English Census, the Dillon family seems to have disappeared from the Liverpool area.  No close matches could be found for any of the family members.  Does this mean they came to the US?

According to Lloyd Lewis’ notes, Francis Dillon “returned to Liverpool in 1880 and died about 1883″.  This seems to indicate that Francis Dillon Sr., was in America for at least a small period of time.  I did find him back in Liverpool in the 1881 Census.  The Census taker wrote his name as what looks like “Francis Delane”.  He was listed as a patient at the Catholic Institute at 70 Hope Street in Liverpool and is still listed as married.  His occupation was “Former Feather Merchant”.

Searching death registrations in the Liverpool area for the time period that Lloyd Lewis indicated he believed Francis Dillon died, I found a Francis Dillon who was 67 years old at death and was living at 70 Hope Street, the same address as above.  Taking 67 years away from 1883 gives us an approximate birth date of 1816.  This Francis Dillon’s death certificate also states that he was a feather dealer.  This information appears to confirm that the Francis Dillon in the Death Certificate is the same one in the 1851, 1861 and 1881 Census, leaving him missing from the 1871 English Census.

Hypothesis #1

So, the big question is…  Is there a Mary associated with the Dillon family of Liverpool that left before the 1851 England Census?  Both, the 1900 and 1910 US Census indicate that Mary Dillon arrived in the US in 1850 at the age of 16, one year before that 1851 England Census.  Her early arrival would explain why there is no Mary in the 1851 England Census of that Dillon family in Liverpool.  We also know what there is a Sarah McDermott buried with the Beattie’s who was born circa 1840 and lived to age 55..  Could Sarah Dillon have married a man named McDermott and / or had a daughter named Sarah?

Hypothesis #2

Or here is the other possibility… According to US Census records, Mary Dillon Beattie was born circa 1834. This is within 2 years of the Sarah Dillon in the 1851 English Census.  Sarah Dillon disappeared from the Liverpool Dillon family after the 1851 Census .  Could this mean that Sarah came to the US and decided to change her name or go by a middle name that could be Mary?

Conclusion

I tend to be leaning toward my first Hypothesis.  The  Dillons of Liverpool are somehow related, but I still lack the proof necessary to concretely make the call.  And if I am right, what happened to Mary Crilly Dillon, Mary Dillon Beattie’s mother? Was she  Mary Crilly Dillon or Sarah Crilly Dillon? Did she die in the United States?  Was it before or after Francis returned to Liverpool?  Did Francis return alone?  If so, why?  Was is because of a health issue?

]]> http://hayesfamily.us/index.php/2009/11/17/looking-for-the-dillons/feed/ 0 http://hayesfamily.us/index.php/2009/04/09/rendezvous-report-for-jonathan-beattie/ http://hayesfamily.us/index.php/2009/04/09/rendezvous-report-for-jonathan-beattie/#comments Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:22:27 +0000 Philip Hayes http://hayesfamily.us/?p=533 Several branches of the Beattie family have been told of Jonathan J. Beattie’s time in the Navy during the Civil War.  Unfortunately, none of us have any details of his experience there.   My Uncle Lloyd only documented that he believed that Jonathan “Was a Seaman in the US Navy  in the Savannah, Georgia area”.

Knowing that Jonathan’s family were all sailors back in Scotland and England, it makes sense that he served in the Navy…. but where and on what ship?

So with a little advice from some friends on the internet, I ordered the “Rendezvous Reports” index for the Civil War from the local Family History Center.  Rendezvous Report indexes are like Muster Rolls, but for the Navy.  They arrived in just about a weeks time.  I was very excited, thinking that these indexes would answer all my questions… or at least point me in the right direction on where to go next.

Unfortunately it was not going to be as easy as I had hoped.  The Rendezvous Report indexes are basically index cards with some notes typed on them.  At least they are not hand written.  The problem was that I didn’t find a direct name match.  The closest name match I could find to Jonathan J. Beattie, was John Beatty.  The encouraging news is that this John Beatty’s card was out of New York and it appears he served in the Savannah area.  So could this be him?  Maybe.

I plan to order this person’s Civil War Rendezvous Report from the National Archives.  But I have five other possible matches.  I sure don’t want to have to pay for all of them, just to do the research.  In addition, I have to do the same type of research for another person in the Navy that comes another branch of the family tree.  For that person, I found more than 15 possible matches.

Is there a better way to research this?

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On Sunday we attended the first  “Beattie Mini-Reunion” in Manhasset, NY at the home of Patricia Celmency, my third cousin.  Myself, my wife Colleen, Philip Jr, Kevin, my brother Jerry and mother Jeanne all headed down to Pat’s house which is just 50 minutes away from mothers house in Katonah, NY.  We arrived at 1 PM and were warmly greeted at the door by Patricia and the rest of her side of the family. In attendance from the John Beattie side of the family were my Moms second cousins Regina Haffey and Angela Dolores Hughes; my third cousins Patricia Clemency, Anne Haffey and Regina O’Connell;  as well as Philip and Kevin’s fourth cousin Kevin Clemency.

It was the most incredible experience.  Although we had never met before, we all started in conversation as if we had known each other since we were born.  It it a very hard experience to describe in writing, but all who were there, agreed that the bloodline must have something to do with it.

We spent more that six hours sharing stories, pictures and other family memorabilia with each other.  I only wish we could have stayed longer.  There was so much more to talk about.

But a very special moment of the serendipity came during a photo sharing opportunity.  Angela Haffey passed around a photo that she she believed was the photo of John Beattie and his father Jonathan J. Beattie (also my great, great grandfather).  I asked her if she ever had taken the photo out of its frame and looked at the back for any notes.  She welcomed me to take a look…  so I did.  Look what I found!

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Yes, this picture is of Jonathan J. Beattie and his son John.  What a treasure for all of us to see!

Before we left, we were able to get a few photo’s in..

Second Cousins Angela Dolores Hughes, Regina Haffey and Jeanne Hayes:

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Third Cousins J. Jerald Hayes, Philip Hayes, Regina O’Connell, Ann Haffey and Patricia Clemency

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Third Cousins Philip Hayes, Kevin Clemency and Kevin Hayes

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And lets not forget the “Outlaws”; Joe Haffey, Colleen Hayes and Bill Clemency.

Thanks to all for an absolutely wonderful afternoon.  I hope w can do it again soon!

1.  Charles Belford Beattie married Mary Ellen Wainwright on February 17, 1874.  Charles was 25 years old while Mary Ellen was 18.  Robert Beattie, Charles’ father is listed as a “Captain”  while Alfred, Mary Ellen’s father was a “Cooper”. What is curious is that Mary Ellen is listed as a “spinster” under her current “Condition”.  The defintiions very, but  according to Wikipedia:

A spinster (or old maid) is a woman or girl of marriageable age who has been unwilling or unable to marry and, therefore, has no children. Socially, the term is usually applied only to women who are regarded as beyond the customary age for marriage, and is generally considered an insulting term, more degrading than the term “bachelor” for males.

2.  Edith Beattie, daughter of Charles Belford Beattie married a Charles King on August 22, 1914.   Charles King’s father, deceased at the time of marriage, was also named Charles. He was 25 years old and she was 24.

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Source: http://www.kirkcudbright.co.uk/oldhighst/index.html

A Walk Along Kirkcudbright’s Historic Old High Street

1. Harbour Cottage Gallery
2. No.3 High Street
3. No.1 Gordon Place
4. Broughton House
5. No.14 High Street
6. The Greengate B&B
7. Vailima Books
8. Osborne Antiques
9. Gladstone House
10. Tollbooth Art Centre
11. Jo Gallant Textiles
12. Cranberries Crafts
13. Tollbooth Jewellers
14. High St. Gallery
15. Baytree House B&B
16. Gordon House Hotel
17. Selkirk Arms Hotel
18. Stewartry Museum

]]> http://hayesfamily.us/index.php/2009/03/13/map-of-historic-high-street-in-kirkcudbright-scotland/feed/ 0 http://hayesfamily.us/index.php/2009/03/13/the-gravestone-of-eliza-gordon-and-robert-beattie/ http://hayesfamily.us/index.php/2009/03/13/the-gravestone-of-eliza-gordon-and-robert-beattie/#comments Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:09:10 +0000 Philip Hayes http://hayesfamily.us/?p=474 Finding distant cousin’s most certainly has it’s advantages in genealogy.  After a brief introduction, my newest found Beattie cousin (John, of Toronto, Canada) sent me one of the most exciting things I have seen in quite some time!  Pictures of the gravestone for Eliza Gordon, Robert Bettie and…. drum roll please….David Beattie.  The gravestone overlooks beautiful Kirkcudbright and the River Dee.

David Beattie, according to the gravestone was lost at sea on 8 October 1861 at the age of 20.  I cannot tell you how much time I spent looking for him, never considering the possibility that he was lost at sea.

Thank you John!

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