Margaret Serzans did extensive research on Ann Baxter and I added a few bits and pieces here and there. Here's what we were able to put together.

Ann's parents and grandparents

Ann's parents were John Baxter (a shoemaker) and Janet Adam. The two were married in Alyth in 1793 (Banns were proclaimed March 3, 10, and 17). The couple had 8 children between 1794 and 1811 - all in Alyth. Ann was their third child (born December 3, 1799, baptized December 8, 1799), the first of two daughters.

One of Margaret's finds was the marriage certificate of Ann's parents - John Baxter and Janet Adam. That certificate made reference to Janet Adam's father being Peter Adam, late miller in Mill of Queich. This gave us two leads to pursue. We found that a Janet Adam was born to a Patricek Adam in Alyth on October 28, 1772. This birth date would make Janet 20 years old on her marriage and 27 when Ann was born. There were no other Janet Adam births in Alyth at about this time which suggested that we had probably found Janet's father. However, the reference to her father as Patricek instead of Peter was a little disconcerting. Further searches into births to a father with the search pattern P* Adam revealed that nine children were born between 1757 and 1772 to four different Adam men - Piter, Peter, Patrick, and Patricek. Were there two different P. Adam men (Peter, Patrick), or was there just one Adam man who went variously as Peter and Patrick? Given the phonetic spelling of the time, and the state of record keeping in general, it was possible that all nine of these children were born to the same man. The birth dates did not exclude the possibility. We hoped that the reference to Queich would provide some insight. Perhaps Janet wasn't born in Alyth after all.

There was a Quiech Castle in the village/parish of Tannadice in Angus but that was a long hike from Alyth, and furthermore, I found no evidence of a Janet Adam being born there. Some Google searches which suggested that Queich/Quiech was another name for the Alyth Burn prompted me to look more closely at a map of Alyth on the web. Following the Alyth Burn (river) eastward from Alyth, I discovered Inverquiech where the Alyth Burn meets the Isla River. There's a reference to a mill on the Isla River. I had a copy of a 1783 map of the area and using the juncture of the two rivers as a starting point, I found the words Mill of Quich in very small print. That pretty much confirmed that Ann's maternal grandfather was Peter or Patricek Adam who was a miller living about 1.5 miles east of Alyth.

On Ann's paternal side, I found her father's birth reference (John Baxter, b. around 1768 in Alyth) but could go no further because John Baxter's father wasn't named. There were just too many Baxters to be able to pick out Ann's paternal grandparent.

Ann Baxter and her family with John Wighton

From John Wighton's biography, you know that Ann married John on December 30th, 1821 in Alyth. John was 29 and Ann was 22. Ann's father, John Baxter, must have been a successful shoemaker because apparently he hired John Wighton to be the manager of his boot and shoe factory. Sometime between 1823 and 1826, Ann and John left Alyth and relocated to Dundee about 14 miles to the south-east where they had four daughters to torment their first child, John Baxter Wighton, who had been born in Alyth. They would later lose one daughter - Ann - to water on the head.

The next time that Ann (Baxter) Wighton appeared in the records was in the 1861 census. In 1861, Ann, aged 60, was living with her husband, two daughters (Elizabeth and Mary Ann) and two grandchildren at 174 Overgate in Dundee. In the 1871 census, those entries had changed. John had died and Ann (aged 70) was listed as the head of the household. Most significantly, she was also recorded as being blind. Also gone from the Overgate residence was Ann's daughter, Elizabeth Taylor, and Anne's grandson Alfred. Her daughter Mary Ann was 34 and employed as a factory worker. Granddaughter Luisa was 14 and a scholar. (Aside: According to one website, in Scotland of this period, seamstresses were prone to going blind due to the poor light conditions in which they worked. In another website, I read that many shoemakers worked out of their own homes and with their wives helping with the sewing. Perhaps, this was the source of Ann's blindness.)

There was one other interesting change in the 1871 census records. The family's address was recorded as Calendar Close (spelling uncertain). No street number was given and the Wighton family's entry on the census page was immediately after the entry for 172 Overgate. Subsequent research that Margaret did on Elizabeth Taylor Wighton revealed that Calender Close and 174 Overgate were the same address. Interestingly, in my search for information about Calender Close, I found that the last witch burnt to death in Dundee (Grissell Jaffrey, November 1669) had been held in Calender Close prior to her execution. Perhaps our family got a break on the rent because of regular hauntings.

By the 1881 census, more changes in the household were evident. Now, only Ann and daughter Mary (not Mary Ann) were recorded. (Luisa had died in 1873.) Mary Ann (listed as 40 but actually 44 or 45) was recorded as the head of the household and was working as a jute weaver. Ann was listed relatively accurately as 80 years old. The two had also moved approximately 1 mile west from the home on Overgate to 40 Ure Street in the parish of Liff and Benvie.

Circumstances around Ann Baxter's death

Ann died on April 5, 1884 in the Poorhouse on Blackness Road in Dundee from senile disability. Daughter Mary Ann Wighton signed the death register and gave her address as 40 Ure Street.

Of much more concern to us as Ann (Baxter) Wighton's descendents is that she died in a poorhouse. Furthermore, the death register listed Ann Wighton as a pauper. We know that Ann had been blind for at least 13 years before her death and had been living as a widow ever since John died in 1869. Naturally, this would have made life difficult. But, Mary Ann was living with Ann, Barbara and her large family was also living in Dundee, and John Baxter had returned from his military service in 1864 and had been working during this period as a factor for an estate near Alyth and Meigle. How could Ann's life had deteriorated so badly that she was a pauper and living in a poorhouse when she died? To get insight into this dilemma, you'll need to read the essay on Health Care in 19th Century Scotland.

If you've read the essay on Health Care in 19th Century Scotland, then you'll know that Ann's family had limited options for taking care of their blind mother. Ann had gone blind sometime between 1861 and 1871. By 1881, only Mary Ann was left in the household to take care of her, and presumably, she had a full time job (i.e., 12+ hours a day). As Ann's condition deteriorated with age (she died of senile disability), the only healthcare option open to the family was to have Ann admitted to a poorhouse where she would get medical care and attention. Here's a link to information on nineteenth century Dundee's poorhouses . Click the button for further information on how Ann may have spent her last years.

Like me, you are probably sad about how Ann Baxter spent her remaining years - blind, senile, and in a poorhouse. It may help a bit if you think of the poorhouse as a "poor hospital" but, even then, this hospital would have provided her scant comfort. Even being aware that this was the best that Scotland could have given her does not remove the image of her lying in some uncomfortable bed, perhaps with scanty coverings, and eating gruel. There was one mitigating factor that may give us some small comfort, but to learn about that, you'll have to read Mary Ann's biography.

Sources

Family Search, The LDS Genealogical Website: (http://www.familysearch.org/)

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

Scots Ancestry Research Society (March 26, 1971). Report to John L. Wighton

Where to now? To read more about Generation 4 John's immediate family, just click top to make a selection from Generation 4's genealogical table at the top of this page. The navigation buttons just below will give you quick access to biographies in other generations.