Alexander Hutcheon, 1826-1861

Margaret Burns Hutcheon, 1826-1899

AL(H)W's father was Alexander Hutcheon, born approximately 1826 in Montrose. Her mother was Margaret Strachan Burns, born Dec 27, 1826 in Inverkeithing. The couple married in Montrose on August 19, 1849. We don't know when it was that the Burns/Blue family moved from Inverkeithing to Montrose - it likely was after Margaret's father died. However, Catherine Blues Burns herself was born in Montrose, so it may have been quite natural for her to return there to raise her young family. Margaret Strachan Burns wasn't the only Burns child to marry in Montrose. Her brother, Alexander, did as well and, like his sister, he raised his family in Montrose.

Above are photos of two oil paintings of AL(H)W's parents. According to Margaret Herrald, granddaughter of Alexander and Margaret through their daughter Catherine, They were painted the year before Grandfather died in London. Some of the Montrosians commissioned a London portrait painter to come to Montrose and paint a few of the prominent people there, among them Provost Melville and our grandparents! They cost 100 guineas, for the pair, and that was real money in those days. According to Amy Campbell Hutcheon (the granddaughter of Alexander and Margaret through their son William), these portraits were in William's house since ever I can remember. I took them to America in 1961. My nephew George has (the picture of) grandfather and my niece Mary (the picture of) grandmother. The nephews that Amy C. Hutcheon was referring to were children of her sister Edith who had married and moved to New Jersey. Margaret Serzans found the descendents and they provided photographs of the paintings.

Alexander and Margaret Hutcheon had five children born in Montrose between 1850 and 1860.

1. Catherine, b. 1850
2. Margaret, b. 1852
3. Mary Ann, b. 1853
4. William, b. 1856
5. Amy Louisa, our ancestor, born 1860

Alexander was the captain of one of the ships in his father's fleet - the Amy Louisa, majority owned by David Walker. Both Margaret Herrald and AL(H)W reported that Margaret accompanied him on some of his voyages to Russia, London, the Baltic, New Zealand, and so on. In at least one case, they took their first born, Catherine. There is an amusing story about three fur coats, which they brought home from Archangel – in the extreme North of Russia. Grandfather and grandmother took Kate with them on that voyage. They had bought three fur coats, or cloaks, as they termed them at that time. Approaching Montrose, on their ship, Grandma dressed Kate with one garment over the other -- so as to fool the Customs Officials. One was squirrel fur; one was an ermine; and the other was a sable. Poor little Kate dripped with perspiration before they got onto the dock and home. The weather was warm, after their trip to cold Russia, and she felt the warmth so much more on their arrival, but they did not have to pay any duty. Grandma told me that after its first use was over, that fur was used, cut up, and trimmed many an outdoor dress. They also made muffs out of them and put the fur to many uses. (Source: Margaret Herrald, Alexander and Margaret's granddaughter through Catherine Hutcheon.)

Here's another story about their travels: His ship was the Amy Louisa. Once when in the Baltic, Alexander broke one of the regulations and would have been sent to prison had he not been a free mason and given the signs. Margaret Burns sometimes sailed with him. (Source: Amy Campbell Hutcheon, Alexander and Margaret's granddaughter through William Hutcheon.)

Tragedy struck in 1859 when both Margaret and Mary Ann died of scarletina within months of each other. Those deaths would be followed soon afterwards by Alexander's death at the age of 35. Alexander died in London when there, buying chronometers and such for a new ship being built. He died of rheumatic fever, having slept in damp sheets at the hotel where he and his wife put up during their London trip. (Source: Margaret Herrald) Unfortunately, we have conflicting opinions as to the exact year when Alexander died.

• According to Margaret Herrald, Catherine Blues Burns was only 54 when her daughter Margaret Strachan Burns was widowed. Since Catherine was born in 1806, that would put Alexander's death around 1860.
• According to AL(H)W, Alexander died in April, 1861.
• According to Margaret Herrald, Alexander's son (William) was 5 years old when his father died. Since William was born in 1856, that would put Alexander's death in about 1861.
• Margaret Serzans has precise death dates for two of Alexander's children (Margaret and Mary Ann) who died of scarletina in 1859. According to Margaret Herrald, Alexander's death occurred "soon after." Death in 1860 or 1861 seems reasonable to me.
• According to Margaret Herrald, Margaret Strachan Burns was 37 when she was widowed. Since she was born in 1826, that would put Alexander's death around 1863.
• According to Margaret Herrald, AL(H)W was 3 years old when her father died. Since she was born in 1860, that would put Alexander's death in about 1863.
• According to Margaret Herrald, Alexander's first daughter (Catherine) was 13 years old when her father died. Since she was born in 1850, that would put Alexander's death in about 1863.
• According to Margaret Herrald when she discussed Alexander directly, she said he died in 1864 at the age of 35.

Both of Margaret Serzans' data are precise and suggest an 1861 death year. Also, AL(H)W pinpointed an exact month in 1861 that Alexander died. Margaret Herrald's data, on the other hand, are contradictory so I'm inclined to discount them. Some of her other data in her letter proved to be a little inaccurate as well. So, if we assume that Alexander died in 1861, and if it was true that he was 35 when he died, that means he was born in 1826, and that's the birth year I have used.

Regardless of exactly when Alexander died, he left a young widow with three children between the ages of 1-11 (approximately) to raise. By 1871, Margaret was living in a residence at #50, St. John's Place in Montrose. With her, was Catherine (20), William (15), Amy (10), a boarder, and Margaret's mother, Catherine Burns (65). (If you wish to see this record, you'll need to search the ScotlandsPeople database under the surname Hutchson.)

Our next glimpse of the family is in the 1881 census when we find Margaret Hutcheon (reported as 53 years old) living in Montrose (35 Palmerston Street) and working as a seamstress. With her was 30-year old Catherine who also was working as a seamstress. The two other children were living in the Edinburgh area. William was 24 years old, employed as a chemist, and living as a boarder with Robert Penman and his family and another boarder on 39 High Street, Cockpen Parish, Edinburgh (formerly Midlothian) about 7 miles south-east of Edinburgh. Cockpen Parish was a small parish measuring 3.5 miles in length, and 2.5 miles in width. It contained three villages, the main one being Bonnyrigg. The other villages have disappeared but Bonnyrigg still exists and it has a High Street. Meanwhile, 20-year old Amy Louisa was living with 15 other young, unmarried women (18-21 years old), all of whom were scholars. The exact address was not given on the census record, but the (presumed) dormitory was in the parish of St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh. We know that AL(H)W attended the Moray House Training College and so it's probably safe to assume that this is where she was in 1881. (If you wish to see AL(H)W's entry in the Scotlands People database, you'll need to search under the surname Hutchson.)

Bonnyrigg proved to be full of excitement for the Hutcheon family in the first half of the 1880s. Catherine married John Jamie Alexander in Bonnyrigg in 1882. We don't know what brought the couple together to this village but can only assume that William's presence in the village was a contributing factor. According to the marriage data, John was a resident of Dundee and Catherine was a resident of Montrose. The couple took up residence on Lothian Street. Three years later, in June of 1885, Amy Louisa married our John Murray Wighton in Dalkeith, just outside of Bonnyrigg. The marriage certificate reported her residence as Maryfield, Bonnyrigg. Two months later, William married, also in Bonnyrigg. Like Amy Louisa, he gave his residence as Maryfield, Bonnyrigg.

Margaret Burns Hutcheon, taken 1885 in Perth, presumably while visiting AL(H)W and JMW.

The 1891 census found 65-year old Margaret Hutcheon still a resident of Bonnyrigg, this time in a residence named Hill View . The head of the household was her son, William. Also in the house was her daughter-in-law Matilda, her 3-year old granddaughter, Edith, and her 8 month old granddaughter, Alice. Margaret died in April 21, 1899 from heart problems that were accompanied by paralysis. Signing the death certificate as a witness was her daughter-in-law. Margaret's address at the time of her death was given as Hillview, Maryfield, Bonnyrigg. Seeing all three names together as one address suggests that this was very likely the same residence as where William and Amy Louisa were living before their weddings in 1885. (There's a picture of the house at the bottom of the page.)

Above, the village of Lasswade, near Bonnyrigg

Above, the village of Lasswade, near Bonnyrigg

With Bonnyrigg serving as the family home for several decades, you might want to know a little bit more about it.

Bonnyrigg was a mining (collier) village until the 1920s. (The pictures above are from a nearby town of Lasswade - the towns were likely similar in appearance.) A carpet mill was built in Bonnyrigg in the 1870s and carpet making continued as an industry for more than 100 years. Early maps of the locality show different spellings. In 1766 a village called "Bannockrigg", is shown on maps, then in 1815, the spelling changes to "Bannocrig". This spelling remains until 1854, when for some unknown reason the spelling changed to Bonnyrigg.

In 1547 when the nations of Scotland and England were at war with one another, a fierce battle took place at Pinkie which is East of Dalkeith and the retreating Scots army with the English army in pursuit, headed westwards to the River North Esk where some 14,000 Scots perished. Many bodies strewed the countryside giving rise to the place being called "boney ridge" where many bones were found, hence the name Bonnyrigg may be a corruption of these words.

There's a Maryfield Place in modern Bonnyrigg, that connects with Lothian Street, where Margaret's eldest daughter (Catherine Alexander) was living. The two residences wouldn't have been all that far away. From Google, I learned that Maryfield or Maryfield Place consisted of fifteen properties including a shop and also a field. In 1874-75, the greater part of this area was owned by Thomas Steven, a builder, although some of the properties were owned by the Marquis of Lothian. The name Maryfield perhaps originates from Mary Kay, the wife of Charles Kay who owned Maryfield Cottage in 1874. This may have been where the street name originated. A modern picture of the house where the Hutcheon's lived is shown below.

Hillview House. formerly #9 Maryfield Place

Sources

Margaret Serzans

Letter from Margaret Herald to Harry Latta Wighton in 1953

Letters from Amy Louisa Hutcheon Wighton to John Latta Wighton and Ella Peterson around 1939

Letter from Amy C. Hutcheon, AL(H)W's niece, to Margaret Serzans in 1968

Various web sites, including:

ScotlandsPeople Database (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/)

The Latter-Day Saints website: http://www.familysearch.org/

Janet Sommerville Brown's Descendants Visit Bonnyrigg: http://www.bonnyrigglasswadehistory.org.uk/Family%20Visit.htm

Bonnyrigg & Lasswade - The Origins of the Street Names: http://www.bonnyrigglasswadehistory.org.uk/street%20names.htm

A Brief History of Bonnyrigg & Lasswade: http://www.bonnyrigglasswadehistory.org.uk/brief_history.htm