John White Ramsay & Margaret Spruce Findlay

John White Ramsay, apprenticed as a carpenter and machinist in London, England before immigrating to the United States in about the year 1881 with older brother George Ramsay.

 John and George purchased 160 acres in Oakgrove, Franklin County, Nebraska.  In the 1885 Agricultural Census return John and George state that 40 acres are tilled land, 20 acres are wood, and 100 acres are unimproved. The 1890 Franklin Gazette listed John and George as residents of the area surrounding the town of Bloomington.   Their land was situated in Sections 23 and Section 24, Township 1 North, Range 14 West.

Sometime between 1887 and 1901 George Ramsay, wife Jemima Hood and at least two of their children twins George Hood Ramsay and Binnie Ramsay, born ca. 1887,  returned to Scotland living in Forfar.  George Ramsay Senior died 15th June 1921 in Forfar.

Standing left to right: Janet (1888), William (1891) and Agnes (1899)
Seated: John White Ramsay and wife Margaret Spruce Findlay

Leaving family and friends behind, Margaret Spruce Findlay, age 31,  a  recent resident of Rescobie, Scotland, immigrated to the United States in 1887 to join her future husband John White Ramsay.  Margaret was born September 25, 1856 in Zoar, an area located on the northern border of the town of Forfar near Brechin Road. Daughter of William Findlay and Agnes Nancy Winter, and granddaughter of Walker Findlay and Helen Smith.

John Ramsay and Margaret Findlay married 27 June 1887 in Franklin County, Nebraska.  They had four children: Janet Whitten Ramsay (1888), George Ramsay, who died in infancy in 1890, William Edwin Ramsay, (1891), and Agnes Nancy Ramsay, (1897).

Agnes Nancy (Winter) Ramsay, a widow,  age 78, immigrated to the United States, living with her son John White Ramsay and daughter-in-law Margaret Spruce Findlay in Turkey Creek, Franklin County, Nebraska.  Agnes is incorrectly enumerated under the surname "Ramsay" instead of "Findlay" in the 1900 census.

They Ramsay family lived in Franklin County for well over 60 years.  Son William Edwin Ramsay registered June 9, 1917 for the World War I Civilian Draft in Franklin County as reported in the Bloomfield Advocate Newspaper. William and wife Rebecca, along with their two-year old daughter Margaret lived with John and Margaret in the year 1920.

John White Ramsay died in 1942 at age 84, son William Edwin Ramsay died in 1945 at age 54, and  Margaret Spruce Findlay died at age 96,  in 1952.   Mrs. Agnes Nancy Winter Findlay died in 1908 at age 87 in Franklin County, Nebraska.

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