Ritchie tale.

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Ritchie Chronology

Since several names are common in this story have added the year of birth after the name to identify them.

Ritchie Family Tree, Descendants of William Ritchie 1782 William Ritchie

Ritchie Ancestors, from now to then, Ancestory

William Ritchie Born in 1782 in Lasswade Midlothian.

William birth year is taken from the Census, Death Certificate and Grave records. Since 1782 is consistent this appears to be the correct date. he would have been 35 at marriage, this seems very late even for that time. No parents have been found, on his Death Certificate it says Unknown. On one record it says he came from Lasswade, despite much searching it has not been possible to find any further relations. With names it is possible to say that the Ritchie's of Lasswade and Penicuik are closely related and William must be related to them, however how has not been found.

William Ritchie 1782 marries Elizabeth Ferguson on 10 Jan 1817 in Port of Monteith. On Marriage certificate William is only named, no age or place of origin, Elizabeth is a native of Port Of Menteith. The place name of Port of Monteith is the Parish, the area around the Lake of Menteith and includes the actual village. It is called Port or Monteith, the spelling Menteith is common. The Lake is also described as a Loch in 1795 but is popularly called a Lake, the only one in Scotland.
Children include


William died 10 April 1858 and was buried in Port of Menteith Church yard.

In 1841 Census William and Elizabeth stay at Garnabruich No2, work as a Labourer. Living at home is Elizabeth age 10. Wilhelmina Monteith is with them age 2. Margaret works as a Labourer and stays in a Female bothy at Milling about 18 people stay in the Bothies. William is in the male bothy called Granary Loft, probably that is what it is. The farm is called Tighnareoch and is run by James McArthur. The other children have moved someplace.

1851 Census resides at Stonefield, Port of Mentieth, household was William age 69 Agricultural Labourer. Elizabeth age 67, Christina age 29 Dressmaker, Wilhelmina Monteith a grandchild age 11 female.
Margaret the mother of Wilhelmina is now married to Walter Graham age 40. Williams Grave stone exists, in Port of Menteith church, number 20 North west corner of Church. Buried with wife Elizabeth, age 67, who Died 18 Sept 1851 at Stonefield. William was 76 died 10 April 1858. Immediately behind them is the Grave of Margaret. See pictures.

1871 census has Mary married to James MacKeurtan in Stonefield with 4 children and a Visitor, Walter McGowan a Hawker from Glasgow, married and age 44. Evidently James and Mary used the spelling MacKuertan although his parents were MacCurtain, probably reflects the translation of Gaelic to English names.

In 1881 Census Mary lived at Stonefield with James her son and Anne McCurtain sister in law. A total of five family's lived at Stonefield. Now spelled McEurtan.


William Ritchie 1827.

Born William Ritchie in 1827 in Port of Monteith.
In 1861 census William is a Road Surfaceman. Lives in Windygate, wife Margaret, children Janet 10, William 8, John 5 and Elizabeth 2, none of them born in Port so move here was recent. Had lived in the area between Aberfoyle and Drymen.

Margaret was Margaret Boyd Gillespie, this is first known use of Boyd in family name. Some of the children may also have Boyd as a name as middle names are not recorded. Since this name survives to the present day each generation must have had one using it.
This lady may also carry the distinction of introducing the wanderlust gene into the family, since this time no Ritchie has lived for long in place of birth and all have tried hard to be at least 100 miles apart! All have moved home several times. This couple also have the distinction of the first marriage problem, at her death she was described as single although describing herself as Ritchie and her estranged husband was still alive.

They must have been running a lodging/boarding house and taking in Handicapped people as guests. Windygates is a small two or three roomed cottage perched on a hillock so must have been rather full. Some of the lodgers move with Elisabeth when she married so she must have been the carer.
Margaret Agnes must be named after someone so provides a clue to further relations.

William Walter is the son of Elisabeth, he later takes the name Ferguson after Duncan Ferguson, named on his wedding certificate. He married Annie who William and Helen visited in 1932. Elisabeth married Andrew Blair and they had several children, family tradition says that the Blairs who ran the Post Office in Aberfoyle were cousins. This must be the connection. Photos of the visit in the Family Album section.


William Ritchie Born 1853 in Fintry Near Aberfoyle so first job would be about 1868, know he worked in Ballahulish slate mine so probably in 1870 time. Perhaps returned to marry in 1884 Joan Jean Murray McDonald in Drymen, note several villages exist Buchlyvie, Fintry, Balfour and Aberfoyle but the record centre was Drymen.

Joan McDonald was born on 8 Nov 1862 in Buchlyvie to Jean Murray and John McDonald. John was from Port of Menteith but they met in Glasgow, he died before his daughters birth from TB. Jean Murray re-married a James Urquart and they had several children. Joan was christened Johanna but known as Joan.

In the 1891 Census William and Joan shown as living in Aberfoyle in Slate Row and working as Slate Contractor(sub)
Family started in 1885 .

Last two born in Aberfoyle so probably returned from Canada and got job at slate quarry. The trip must be between 1886 and 1890, duration is not known or why they went. Cannot find a Jeannie being recorded in Canada or any other thing to account for the trip, Maybe it was a Good Idea. Did the Ritchie's invent the package tourist industry?

In the 1891 Census he is living in 37 Slate Row and employed as Slate Contractor (Sub) this is immediately after return from Canada. William Ritchie is reported to have been a Foreman at the Slate Quarry, this is likely as the 1901 census shows them living in a 6 window house called Crocrannich (I think). The normal is a two windowed house. Have visited Aberfoyle and could not find Slate Row or Crocrannich.

Slate was quarried in Aberfoyle to the Brig O' Turk from 1858 onwards. Foreign slate started to be cheaper than British slate about 1900 by 1910 a lot of quarries stopped work. By 1915 the quarry was effectively closed.

William went to Australia about age 24 in 1911, met girl on the boat and married Helen remembers the girls name as Alice who got a mention in her prayers. Helen Ritchie/Donaldson remembers that Grannie Ritchie, (his Mother) sent a regular sum of £5 to him. According to a EMail from Tasmania the girls name was Isabella Alice Addison and they married about 1912, they had two girls and three boys, moved to Sydney about 1928. Since descendants are still alive the story stops here.

The family moved to Perth, first record found was they lived at 24 Rose Crescent and had a Coal business run from 32 Mill St Perth in 1915. The business was previously owned by Daniel R Court. slates and less workers required. Why they chose Perth is still unknown. Soon after they moved to Ladysmith in Gray St.


John Boyd Ritchie 1901

Dad finished his schooling in Perth. Dad pointed out the Academy where he went to School in Perth. Was in Kinnoul street.

Started Apprentice in Perth 10/4/1916 to 25/11/1919 at Morton Engineers. StCatherine Engineering Works, StCatherines is now a collection of Super Markets in mid Perth.

Continues Apprentice at Naval Construction Works in Dalmuir from 14/4/1920 to 4/10/1921.

After apprentice complete Dad works in Beardmores Steam engine works in Dalmuir.

Played on the wing for a Junior team, had to dodge the spectators trying to trip him if came too close to the line. Never heard any story of drinking but do not think he was totally "dry".

Stays there until recalled to Perth to help Coal business. Was offered chance to go abroad and install or maintain the railway engines at this time. Believe it was to Rhodesia.

William Ritchie the father died on 29 April 1925 of Pernicious Amnemia. He lived and died at Ladysmith, Gray St. Perth. At time of death he was a Coal Merchant. This must have been why Dad returned to Perth.

Remember Dad story of a lorry that had a bad wheel, the half shaft would come out on some corners so had to drive to keep it in. The lorry may have been surplus after a Irish Rebellion so this could have been after 1920 or so. They had several routes, including one to Errol, according to one tale the inhabitants were all related and cross bred so all looked the same with red hair.
Horses seem to have been the normal delivery method, possibly the lorry allowed expansion of routes.
Dad stayed in Ladysmith with Granny Joan, this seems to have been his main home while in Perth.

Dad married Helen on the 3 July 1925. Helen McIntosh was a Perth girl, born 3 Feb 1902, worked as a Law Typist. They had two children Helen and William. She died in 1928 of TB at her parents home in Perth. There seems to have been a typical, for Ritchies, family breakdown between the surviving families. Since only one side of the story is known to me it is best left. However it seems that she went to her parents house when ill. As a result of events there the children were forcibly removed by Dad and placed with Grandma Ritchie in Ladysmith, Gray St. They remained there until Dad became established in Scone. The house was on two levels and Granny lived in the lower and rented the upper, in the 1940's, perhaps this was the case earlier and Dad had one part to live in. However also have a confused memory of another house in Gray St being pointed out as belonging to Granny Ritchie.

At the wedding William Oswald Craiggie, 56 George St and Margaret Nichol of Kersemills Stirling were the witnesses. Heard many stories about Cappie Oswald who worked with Dad in the coal business. Margaret was possibly Helens friend.

General strike causes the coal business to collapse, the Perth merchants hired a ship to collect coal in Belgium, the government wanted the strike broken, then the maximum price of coal was fixed, less than the price in Belgium so bad for business. The Strike was in May 1926 and lasted one week. However he seems to have been a smaller Coal Merchant for several years afterwards.

Helen Sloan Ritchie was born 21 April 1926. The address was Ladysmith, Gray St.

William McDonald Ritchie born 25 Jan 1928 in Perth Infirmary, father John Boyd Ritchie was a Coal Merchant.

Helen died in 1928 from Tuberculosis.

Dad marries Christina Peebles Sage and the rest is History.

Settle in Scone on marriage.

Story from a Family Member.
I remember the story of the halfshaft. In another similar the story, dad's traveling companion was one Cappie Oswald who was leaning out the window advising dad how close they were to the edge of the road on corners as they hurtled down a hill in the Forteviot area. I think the brakes were shot. Dad told me that Cappie worked with dad in the coal business. It so happened that he lived in Craigie next door to Nan. In fact Cappie's daughter Nancy and Nan were friends. Nan's mother had told Nan that Cappie worked with dad in the coal business. Afterwards Cappie had his own coal business, but I don't know how or when that started, or if dad sold the Ritchie business to Cappie and then bought the place in Scone.

Note: Cappie was the Witness at the wedding of Dad and Helen McKintosh where he gets his full name of William Oswald Craiggie, all stories I heard he was Cappie or Oswald. JPR

Dad's marriage to Christina Sage.

Dad bought a chicken farm named in Scone, circa 1933. They ran the chicken farm of about 500 hens, built new hen house with roosting perch and egg-laying boxes, built a "battery house" where the hens lived, were fed, watered and layed eggs in a wire structure of many single cages. Dad sold the eggs and the plucked hens in the Perth suburbs - mostly in Gannochy. Transportation was by means of a pony and 'governors trap' - a two-wheeled cart with bench seats on the sides and where passengers entered from a door in the rear. Then In the mid 1930s the price of feed drove him out of business but Dad built a trailer and got a Morris car and traveled around Aberdeenshire collecting eggs for selling to his old customers. Later, Dad decided to start selling fish and fruit on a country route that started north of Dunkeld and extended as far west as the area around Weem, across the Tay from Aberfeldy, and to Struan in the north. His customers were mostly farms and outlying villages or hamlets. For this venture he bought an old Singer car and converted it into a van, then had his fish dropped off at the door by Aberdeen fish lorries heading south. He bought the fruit at the market in Perth. This lasted until WWII started in September 1939, when he went to Clydebank to work in a munitions factory.
Thank You for the above and many other pieces of information.

Hens on the go in 1937 as have photo of me in a pram outside the hen house. This is in the Family Pictures Section.

In the War years he worked in a Munition factory in Clydebank, think it was Beardmores, making Gun's mainly the barrels. Some of them ended up at El'Alaheim. They tried using steel that originated in peoples garden railing and no guns were ever made to standard, all burst at Proofing when oil is pumped into a sealed barrel and raised to high pressure to ensure it would be safe to fire. At the end of the war he worked for a period at Almondbank Naval Station. Next came the Mushrooms, at first a decent profit but later just hard work over long hours for very little.

Granny Ritchie Dies 4 Jan 1948

Eventually the horticultural business was a loss and was sold for houses. A relative of George Donalson now stays at the position of the greenhouse.
They moved to St Andrews where he worked as a boiler man. He died in St Andrews in 1970. Christina lived on in St Andrews until her death in 1991.

The various children and childrens children now live all the way from Australia by America to england with some in Scotland.

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