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Adam Shirran, born 24th February 1853, probably at Shandscross
The eldest boy, Adam, was born before the General Register was introduced in Scotland, but a record of baptism says that "Shirran: On the twenty fourth day of February eighteen hundred and fifty three Alexander Shirran Farm servant at Cotburn and his lawful spouse Jessie Tawse residing at Shandcross had a son born baptized on the tenth day of April and named Adam. Witnesses Adam Tawse in Shandcross and James Smart(?) in Turriff." The pre-existence of a surviving elder boy is also mentioned on his brother William's birth certificate in 1855, and Adam is present in the census of 7th April 1861, aged eight, living with his mother and younger siblings William, Jessie and James at Shandscross. [GROS Statutory Births 1855 247/00 0081; Census 1861 247/00 004/00 011; GROS OPR Births 1853 247/00 0030 0256 Turriff] Arable land at Uppermill Farm © Anne Burgess at Geograph In the census of 2nd April 1871, an Adam Shirran, born circa 1853, is seen to be living as a farm servant at a farm called Uppermill in Auchterless in the household of John and Christian Shirran and their nephew, also John Shirran, born circa 1845. [Census 1871 173/00 002/00 014] This must be the Uppermill which is just east of North Pitglassie, and some two and a half miles slightly west of due north of Kirkton of Auchterless. John Shirran the elder, who was born circa 1800, owned a 206-acre arable farm: he and his wife were both born at Fyvie. A discussion on Rootschat turned up an Adam Shirran, baker, born about 1853 in Scotland, sailing from Glasgow on a ship called India and arriving in New York on 24th June 1872, along with Alex Shirran, a baker aged thirty and John Shirran, a weaver aged twenty-six - cousins or uncles of Adam's, presumably, and probably the same John Shirran the younger who was on the farm at Uppermill. The age fits at this point, and this pretty-well has to be the right Adam. The 1880 US census shows a John Shirrain (wrongly transcribed as Sheirain), a servant born in Scotland circa 1845 and an Adam Shirran (wrongly transcribed as Shinan), carpenter, born in Scotland circa 1855, both living in Cincinnati, John in Ward 1 Precinct C and Adam not specified. [FamilySearch; FamilySearch] An Adam C Scherran, carpenter, appears in Cincinnati Ward 16, Precinct D, Hamilton, Ohio in the 1900 US census, boarding with a family called Donelly and claiming to have been born in Scotland in February 1857 and to have immigrated in 1870. [FamilySearch] Cincinnati in 1913, from Old Pictures An Adam Shirran, born in Scotland the son of Alex Shirran and Jessie Tasse [sic], married a thirty-eight-year-old, Ohio-born divorcée named Donnie Pruitt in Hamilton, Ohio on 16th September 1902. If this is our man then either the registrar made a mistake or Adam was lying about his age, because he's recorded as having been born in 1861, eight years younger than his real age - but the Scottish records do not show an Adam Shirran born in 1861, or any Jessie Tasse at all, so it looks like this probably is our boy. [FamilySearch] It seems likely that this is the same Adam all the way through - Adam Shirran, son of Alexander Shirran and Jessie Tawse, born in 1853, went to work for relatives at Uppermill including a John Shirran born circa 1845; Adam Shirran, born in 1853, sails from Scotland to New York in 1872 alongside John Shirran born circa 1845; Adam Shirran is in Hamilton, Ohio in 1880 along with John Shirrain born circa 1845; Adam C Scherran is in Hamilton, Ohio in 1900; Adam Shirran, born in Scotland the son of Alex Shirrran and Jessie "Tasse" marries in Hamilton, Ohio in 1902. But either he was progressively shaving years off his age; or he had an abysmal memory for figures; or he didn't care about accuracy in dating to a tolerance of several years; or he had a Doric accent so impenetrable that the census-taker and registrar were just guessing at what he'd said. He was born in 1853 and was still admitting to being born in 1853 when he arrived in the US in 1872, but in 1880 he was said to have been born in 1855, in 1900 he was said to have been born in 1857 and in 1902 he was said to have been born in 1861! The fact that Adam C Scherran claimed to have been born in February ties in with the baptism record which places Adam Shirran's birth in February 1853, and makes it more likely they are the same person. William Shirran, born 1st September 1855 at Shandscross [GROS Statutory Births 1855 247/00 0081] William was born at the Tawse family home at Shandscross at 9:45pm on 1st September 1855, his father being present. [GROS Statutory Births 1855 247/00 0081] After a brief army career with the Gordon Highlanders in Afghanistan he was wounded and permanently lamed at the battle of Charasiab in October 1879, and became a Chelsea Pensioner. Extensive records exist for him and he is therefore covered on his own page. Jessie Shirran, born 12th October 1857, probably at Shandscross Jessie, her parents' only daughter, was living with her mother and her siblings Adam, William and James at Shandscross on 7th April 1861, at which point she was four. She died of diphtheria at Shandscross at 5:50am on 13th March 1866, aged eight years and five months, her father being present. [Census 1861 247/00 004/00 011; GROS Statutory Deaths 1866 247/00 0012] There is no GROS record of her birth. The registry entry for her death says she was eight years and five months old on 13th March 1866, giving her a birthdate roughly in October 1857, but the census says she was four as at 7th April 1861, which would mean she was born between 8th April 1856 and 7th April 1857. The death register is probably the more accurate, because it makes some effort to be precise, and also we know the same census of 1861 rounded her brother William's age up by five months. I am told that there is a birth record, probably a parish record, which I haven't seen but which gives an exact date and confirms her birth fell in October 1857. [parish record] James Shirran, born 3rd October 1860, probably at Shandscross James was living with his mother and his siblings Adam, William and Jessie at Shandscross on 7th April 1861, at which point he was about six months old, which should give him a date of birth in September or October 1860. He died of diphtheria at Shandscross at 1pm on 22nd March 1866, aged five years. His father was not present when he died, probably because he was working in the fields. [Census 1861 247/00 004/00 011; GROS Statutory Deaths 1866 247/00 0013] There is no GROS record of his birth. I am told that there is a birth record, probably a parish record, which I haven't seen but which gives an exact date in October 1860. [parish record] Robert Shirran, born 27th June 1863 at Shandscross and registered under the variant spelling Shirron [GROS Statutory Births 1863 247/00 0076] The fate of Robert is uncertain. He was born Robert Shirron at the Tawse family home at Shandscross at 4pm on 27th June 1863, his father not being present - presumably because he was at work. He appears aged seven in the census of 2nd April 1871, living with both parents and his siblings George, Alexander, Charles and James (mark II) at Logie Newton and entered under the variant spelling Sherran. [Census 1871 249/0B 002/00 006] There seems to be no further reference to him in Scotland. It seems likely (but, because English death certificates don't include parentage, not certain) that he is the Robert Sherran who died aged nineteen in the September quarter of 1882 and is registered in the Hartley Wintney district in Hampshire. [Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales: deaths in September quarter 1882, Hartley Wintney Vol. 2c Page 102] His death certificate shows him to have been a Lance Corporal in the 93rd Regiment of Foot (since 1881 the Sutherland bit of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders), who died on 8th August 1882 at North Camp, Farnborough of tubercular meningitis, apoplexy and congestion after an illness of ten days, certified by Sergeant Major Owen Owen. The death was recorded by someone called Frank Loftus, resident at North Camp, who was present when Robert died. George Shirran, born 27th August 1866 at Bogside, Auchterless [GROS Statutory Births 1866 173/00 0063] George was born at Bogside near Kirktown of Auchterless at 10am on 27th August 1866, his father probably being present. He enlisted with The Black Watch in November 1883 and had a long and complex career as both a soldier and an inspector for the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, before dying in July 1945: he was also the father of Kazini Elisa Maria Dorgi Khangsarpa of Sikkim. His story is dealt with in detail in a separate section. Alexander Cowie Shirran, born 21st February 1869 at Smiston (aka Smithton) [GROS Statutory Births 1869 173/00 0013] Track to Netherthird, looking south: Smiston would have been in roughly the same direction as Netherthird Farm, and about 200 yards further on © JThomas at Geograph Alexander Cowie was born the elder of twins at Smiston (a.k.a. Smithton), a now-vanished cottage or smallholding which was in the middle of a triangle bounded by Woodtown, Netherthird and Crofts of Netherthird (then Crofts of Oldwood), south-east of Kirkton of Auchterless, at 5am on 21st February 1869, his father being present. The twins and the younger, surviving James were living on the family croft at Hill of Greeness in April 1881, along with their parents and their elder brother William, a Chelsea Pensioner. The three younger boys were scholars and the twins were twelve. According to A Vision of Britain Through Time: Gazetteer entries for Auchterless there were five schools in the parish of Auchterless at that time: separate schools for boys and girls in each of Badenscoth and Kirkton of Auchterless, and a fifth school, gender mix unspecified, at Backhill to the east of the parish: living at Greeness, the boys probably went to the school at Backhill. [Census 1881 223/00 005/00 005] According to his army records Alexander initially became a farm servant, like most of his family, but at some point prior to 8th February 1888 he joined 3rd Battalion The Black Watch, a part-time Militia unit. On 27th March 1888 he enlisted in the Royal Artillery as a Driver. He spent four and a half months training at the RA Depot at Newcastle-on-Tyne, before transferring to The Black Watch proper. His habits were said to be temperate and his conduct very good. A detailed chronology of his army service is available, although his army career was a good deal less impressive than his brother George's. As a Private in 2nd Battalion The Black Watch he spent fifteen months in Belfast, before being transferred to 1st Battalion and sent to Gibraltar, where he overlapped with his brother George for three years. From Gibraltar he went to Mauritius by way of Cairo and stayed for fifteen months, leaving the island en route to Cape Town in August 1893 a few days after his brother George and his young family had arrived there. Unfortunately it was in Mauritius that the "temperate" Alexander was to contract primary syphilis, which he had treated by a civilian physician. The lesion recurred six months after his arrival in Cape Town - a bad sign, showing that the infection was much more serious than the one which his brother George had suffered in 1886, and he was treated with mercury accordingly. He was discharged from the regular army three and a half months later, on 2nd July 1895. He was meant to complete twelve years' service by remaining with the Army Reserve until March 1900, but he appears to have simply disappeared as soon as he left the regular army, and was considered to have "Reysined from absence". He seems never to have returned to Britain. His Military History summarises his postings thus: 27th March 1888 - 5th March 1890 Home 6th March 1890 - 27th January 1893 Gibraltar 28th Janaury 1893 - 3rd March 1893 Egypt 4th March 1893 - 27th August 1894 Mauritius 28th August 1894 - 1st July 1895 Cape Town S.A. 2nd July 1895 - 26th March 1900 Army Reserve - except that he never seems to have made himself available to the reserves. Perhaps his syphilis flared up and rendered him too sick to attend; perhaps he simply drifted off into the vastness of South Africa and forgot the army. He served for seven years and his good conduct was repeatedly praised and rewarded with money, yet he remained a Private throughout - which suggests that he was either rather passive and vague, crippled with dyslexia (since promotion required a minimum standard of literacy) or not over-burdened in the brains department. That his next of kin is given in his army records as "Father Alexander Hillgreness" argues for dyslexia - either in himself or in the army clerk who wrote it down. [ACS medical history table; ACS Military History summary as at 1900; ACS description of recruit on enlistment; ACS Medical History form; ACS Short Service attestation 1880; ACS Statement of Services on discharge in 1900 #1; ACS Statement of Services on discharge in 1900 #2] Charles Forbes Shirran, born 21st February 1869 at Smiston (aka Smithton) [GROS Statutory Births 1869 173/00 0014] Charles Forbes was born the younger of twins at Smiston (see above) at 10am on 21st February 1869, his father being present. The twins and the younger, surviving James were living on the family croft at Hill of Greeness in April 1881, along with their parents and their elder brother William, a Chelsea Pensioner. The three younger boys were scholars and the twins were twelve. [Census 1881 223/00 005/00 005] Kirk near Bogton, less than a mile from Auldtown Hill: Charles and Bessie were probably married here, if they had a ceremony © Anne Burgess at Geograph On 5th March 1892 Charles Forbes Shirran, who was then a farm servant living at Eastside, Forglen, married Bessie Finnie, a domestic servant aged twenty-one, the daughter of James Finnie, general labourer, and Elspet Finnie née Tough and born, according to the 1901 census, in Marnoch. They were married at the place where Bessie was living, called Auldtownhill - nowadays written as Auldtown Hill - which is about four miles west of Turriff or three of Forglen. They went on to have at least three sons (note that on the registry entries for all of them, their mother is referred to as Betsy rather than Bessie). Charles James Shirran was born on 27th October 1892 at Auldtownhill, his father being described as a farm servant. David Alexander Shirran was born at 93 High Street, New Pitsligo on 17th January 1894, at which point his father was described as a general labourer. George Milne Shirran was born on 7th February 1896 at 75 High Street, New Pitsligo, the father again being called a general labourer. [GROS Statutory Marriages 1892 154/00 0002; GROS Statutory Births 1892 154/00 0015; GROS Statutory Births 1894 227/B0 0004; GROS Statutory Births 1896 227/0B 0012] No Scottish record seems to exist for Charles Forbes' death, but as at the 1901 census (which refers to his wife as Bessie) he had gone up in the world slightly. He and Bessie/Betsy and their three boys were living near the army base at Nigg, at 137 Union Grove, in the Ruthrieston district of Aberdeen and the quoad sacra parish of Holburn, where Charles was working as a railway porter. [Census 1901 168/02 030/0B 012] I can find no record of the family in Scotland in the 1911 census, so they had probably emigrated by this point. The Montana Find a Grave Index lists a Charles F Shirran with the right birthdate (21st February 1869 ) as dying on 27th July 1959 and being buried in Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana, U.S.A.. According to a family tree posted on ancestry.co.uk, a Charles James Shirran born 27st October 1892 married Delia Theresa O'Donnell (1894-1969) on 5th July 1922, and died in Greybull, Wyoming, U.S.A. on 30th June 1959 - less than four weeks before his father. A U.S. Headstone Application for Military Veterans calles him Charles Jim Shirran and says that he was buried in Billings, Montana like his father so he was probably away from home when he died in Wyoming, and evidently he was a soldier. Delia O'Donnell had been born in Billings where her father-in-law and her husband were to be buried, so the family were probably resident in Billings prior to July 1922 and Charles Senior remained there. The 1930 United States Federal Census Record shows Charles James and Delia (under the variant spelling Sherron) resident in Shepherd, Yellowstone County, Montana with four children, Charles, George, Betty and David born respectively circa 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1929, and says that the father, Charles James Shirran, arrived in the U.S. in 1903 which must be the date when the whole family moved to the U.S.A.. I have no record of what happened to David Alexander Shirran or to his mother after the family arrived in the U.S.A., but U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards and Soldier Naturalization show that George Milne Shirran was drafted in 1917/18 to fight for the U.S. in the First World War and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1918, when he was at or attached to the MacArthur military base, court number 3126. When he was drafted he was living in Big Horn, Wyoming. Greybull is on the Bighorn River and about fifteen miles from the Bighorn National Forest, so it may well be that George actually lived in Greybull and that his elder brother Charles was visiting him when he died. James Shirran, born 30th May 1870 at Logie Newton [GROS Statutory Births 1870 249/0B 0032] Burnside of Idoch © Anne Burgess at Geograph James was born at 7:30pm on 30th May 1870 at Logie Newton, his father probably being present. The twins and the younger, surviving James were living on the family croft at Hill of Greeness in April 1881, along with their parents and their elder brother William, a Chelsea Pensioner. The three younger boys were scholars, and James was ten. According to A Vision of Britain Through Time: Gazetteer entries for Auchterless there were five schools in the parish of Auchterless at that time: separate schools for boys and girls in each of Badenscoth and Kirkton of Auchterless, and a fifth school, gender mix unspecified, at Backhill to the east of the parish: living at Greeness, the boys probably went to the school at Backhill. [Census 1881 223/00 005/00 005] On 5th April 1891 James II was twenty years old and was working as a farm servant on a farm belonging to William Thomson at Burnside: since this is on the same page of the census as Balquindachy, presumably Burnside of Idoch is meant, about a mile south-west of the farm at Haremoss where George Shirran was working in 1881. [Census 1891 223/0B 005/00 015] The Fife Arms Hotel, Turriff, © stevezero at Virtual Tourist On 15th July 1893, by Church of Scotland rites at the Fife Arms Hotel in Turriff, James married Jane Currie, a domestic servant aged twenty. James at this time was a farm servant living at Brown Hill, Monquhitter (probably the Brown Hill which is about two and a half miles south-east of Kirktown of Auchterless); Jane was living in Watt's Close, Turriff and was the daughter of Alexander Currie, an agricultural labourer, and Mary Currie née Daniell. [GROS Statutory Marriages 1893 247/00 0007] The couple went on to have at least five children. A daughter, Mary Daniell Shirran, was born at 8:45am on 21st July 1894 at Watt's Close, Turriff. Her father, who was present, is described as an agricultural labourer, and her parents' wedding is correctly stated as 15th July 1893. [GROS Statutory Births 1894 247/00 0061] A son, James Shirran, was born at 8pm on 18th October 1895 at 35 Market Street, Turriff. His father is described as a farm servant, and his parents' wedding is again stated as 15th July 1893. [GROS Statutory Births 1895 247/00 0094] A second son, William Shirran, was born at 5am on 18th February 1898 at 238 George Street in the St Nicholas district of Aberdeen. James, who was again present at the birth, was at this time a carter, and the parents' wedding is again given as July 1893. [GROS Statutory Births 1898 168/01 0110] The family appear in the 1901 census, living at Hill Street (house number unclear) in the Quod Sacra parish of Gilcomston and the Burgh Ward of Rosemount in Aberdeen. Jane is referred to in the census as Jeannie. James is a railway porter and the two older children, Mary and James, are scholars. [168/02 007/0A 049] A second daughter, Jane Shirran, was born prematurely at 9am on 4th April 1905, and lived for just two hours. At this time James was still a railway porter and the family were living at 9 Hill Street, in the St Machar district of Aberdeen. Jane's birth certificate states that her parents married on 26th May 1894, suggesting that they may have had a formal church wedding as soon as they could afford it, ten months after they married in the Fife Arms. [GROS Statutory Births 1905 168/02 0188; GROS Statutory Deaths 1905 168/02 0405] We have found no further record of either James or Jane in Scotland, England or Wales, but what appears to be the same family shows up in the U.S.A. some time prior to a point in 1908 when a third daughter, Maggie Shirran, was born in Montana. The U.S. Federal Census for 1920 says that young William, who had been five at the time, had come to the U.S. in 1903, although we know his parents were still in Scotland in 1905 when their daughter Jane was born. It looks as though William, and perhaps young James and Mary as well, came to the U.S. with their uncle Charles Forbes Shirran and his family, leaving their parents to follow on later. By 1910 the U.S. census shows the whole family, James Senior and his children Mary, James, William and Maggie living under the variant surname Sheron in School District 24, Yellowstone, Montana - the same county area where Charles Forbes Shirran and his family had ended up. James Senior is now described as a widower, so Jane/Jeannie had died some time between 1908 and 1910. It's possible she died in childbirth. The Montana Death Index shows a James Shirran born about 1867 and dying in Yellowstone on 8th June 1951. The Montana Find a Grave Index says that he died on the 12th. A U.S. World War I Draft Registration Card for a James Shirran with the right 1895 birthdate to be James Junior shows him still living in Yellowstone County, Montana in 1917 or 1918. The U.S. Social Security Death Index Record shows James Shirran born 18th October 1895 and dying in February 1967 in Woodbury, Gloucester, New Jersey. The New Jersey Deaths and Burials index pinpoints his death to 21st February 1967 and gives him a middle initial "C". His brother William is likewise shown with the middle initial "C", so it probably stood for "Currie". There is better information relating to a William Shirran born 18th February 1898 and living in the U.S.. A U.S. World War I Draft Registration Card for 1917-1918 refers to him as William Curry Shirran, with a birth date four days out. In the 1920 census, under the variant surname Sherin, he was living in "Reservation, Yellowstone, Montana" - since there seems to be no town of that name, presumably a Native American reservation is meant. In the 1930 census, still single, he was living in School District 17, Yellowstone, Montana. The U.S. Social Security Death Index Record shows William Shirran dying in June 1976 in Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana - the exact same town where his uncle Charles and cousin Charles had lived. The Montana Death Index pins his death down to 30th June 1976. A photograph of his gravestone in the Sunset Memorial Gardens shows that he shares his grave with a Josephine, born in 1902, date of death hard to read but possibly 1965 or 1985. Family trees posted on ancestry.co.uk say that in 1934, still in Billings, William married Henrietta Josephine Young (1901-1965) and that they had a child Billie Jo who lived only a few months, from November 1934 to 22nd January 1935. The U.S. City directories confirm that William and Josphine were living together in Billings in 1965. An obituary published in The Billings Gazette for 1st July 1976 records: William (Scotty) Shirran, 78, of 516 Sandy Lane, died Wednesday morning in Deaconess Hospital after a five-year illness. He was born Feb. 17, 1896 in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Shirran. The family came to Billings when he was five and he attended school here. In his earlier years, he was a cowboy and later worked for the Billings Livestock Commission Co. Mr. Shirran worked as a laborer for Hardy Construction Co., retiring in 1966. He married Ruth Ledo March 15, 1968, in Billings. Survivors include the widow; a stepdaughter, Mrs. Lucille Melvin of San Diego, Calif.; four step grandchildren, and six step great-grandchildren. Services are tentatively set for Friday afternoon at Smith's Funeral Home. Burial will be in Sunset Memorial Gardens Several members of Alexander and Jessie's family - Jessie herself, William, Charles Forbes and the boys' partners and children - settled in New Pitsligo. This planned new town was started in 1787 around a hamlet called Cyaak, and the town is still locally so known. Its attraction was probably the fact that rents there were cheap. New Pitsligo High Street © Anne Burgess at Geograph They seem to have shunted up and down the High Street, never settling yet never going far. We have Annie Souter, prior to her marriage to William, living first at 146 and then 141 High Street. We have William at 126 High Street prior to his marriage, and then the couple living successively at numbers 136, 122 and 42. We have Charles Forbes and his wife Bessie at numbers 93 and 75, although they had moved away by 1901, and Jessie Shirran arriving some time after 1901 and dying at 32 High Street. Harveyna Amelia was living at 33 High Street when she registered William's death. That the mysterious James Shirran formerly known as Brown was a member of the Alexander Shirran/Jessie Tawse branch of the Shirrans is suggested by the fact that he was born at Coulterfanny, a mile west of Muirstone where Alexander Shirran was born, and that his family lived in the same group of New Pitsligo houses as Alexander's sons. His son James died at 124 High Streetin 1894, next door to 122 where William and Annie were living in 1901. His children Agnes and William Walker were born in 1895/1896 at 121 High Street, opposite 122. His daughter Elsie Jane was born in 1898 at 125 High Street, opposite 126 where William had been living at the time of his marriage in 1886.
In the census of 2nd April 1871, an Adam Shirran, born circa 1853, is seen to be living as a farm servant at a farm called Uppermill in Auchterless in the household of John and Christian Shirran and their nephew, also John Shirran, born circa 1845. [Census 1871 173/00 002/00 014] This must be the Uppermill which is just east of North Pitglassie, and some two and a half miles slightly west of due north of Kirkton of Auchterless. John Shirran the elder, who was born circa 1800, owned a 206-acre arable farm: he and his wife were both born at Fyvie.
A discussion on Rootschat turned up an Adam Shirran, baker, born about 1853 in Scotland, sailing from Glasgow on a ship called India and arriving in New York on 24th June 1872, along with Alex Shirran, a baker aged thirty and John Shirran, a weaver aged twenty-six - cousins or uncles of Adam's, presumably, and probably the same John Shirran the younger who was on the farm at Uppermill. The age fits at this point, and this pretty-well has to be the right Adam.
The 1880 US census shows a John Shirrain (wrongly transcribed as Sheirain), a servant born in Scotland circa 1845 and an Adam Shirran (wrongly transcribed as Shinan), carpenter, born in Scotland circa 1855, both living in Cincinnati, John in Ward 1 Precinct C and Adam not specified. [FamilySearch; FamilySearch] An Adam C Scherran, carpenter, appears in Cincinnati Ward 16, Precinct D, Hamilton, Ohio in the 1900 US census, boarding with a family called Donelly and claiming to have been born in Scotland in February 1857 and to have immigrated in 1870. [FamilySearch] Cincinnati in 1913, from Old Pictures An Adam Shirran, born in Scotland the son of Alex Shirran and Jessie Tasse [sic], married a thirty-eight-year-old, Ohio-born divorcée named Donnie Pruitt in Hamilton, Ohio on 16th September 1902. If this is our man then either the registrar made a mistake or Adam was lying about his age, because he's recorded as having been born in 1861, eight years younger than his real age - but the Scottish records do not show an Adam Shirran born in 1861, or any Jessie Tasse at all, so it looks like this probably is our boy. [FamilySearch] It seems likely that this is the same Adam all the way through - Adam Shirran, son of Alexander Shirran and Jessie Tawse, born in 1853, went to work for relatives at Uppermill including a John Shirran born circa 1845; Adam Shirran, born in 1853, sails from Scotland to New York in 1872 alongside John Shirran born circa 1845; Adam Shirran is in Hamilton, Ohio in 1880 along with John Shirrain born circa 1845; Adam C Scherran is in Hamilton, Ohio in 1900; Adam Shirran, born in Scotland the son of Alex Shirrran and Jessie "Tasse" marries in Hamilton, Ohio in 1902. But either he was progressively shaving years off his age; or he had an abysmal memory for figures; or he didn't care about accuracy in dating to a tolerance of several years; or he had a Doric accent so impenetrable that the census-taker and registrar were just guessing at what he'd said. He was born in 1853 and was still admitting to being born in 1853 when he arrived in the US in 1872, but in 1880 he was said to have been born in 1855, in 1900 he was said to have been born in 1857 and in 1902 he was said to have been born in 1861! The fact that Adam C Scherran claimed to have been born in February ties in with the baptism record which places Adam Shirran's birth in February 1853, and makes it more likely they are the same person. William Shirran, born 1st September 1855 at Shandscross [GROS Statutory Births 1855 247/00 0081] William was born at the Tawse family home at Shandscross at 9:45pm on 1st September 1855, his father being present. [GROS Statutory Births 1855 247/00 0081] After a brief army career with the Gordon Highlanders in Afghanistan he was wounded and permanently lamed at the battle of Charasiab in October 1879, and became a Chelsea Pensioner. Extensive records exist for him and he is therefore covered on his own page. Jessie Shirran, born 12th October 1857, probably at Shandscross Jessie, her parents' only daughter, was living with her mother and her siblings Adam, William and James at Shandscross on 7th April 1861, at which point she was four. She died of diphtheria at Shandscross at 5:50am on 13th March 1866, aged eight years and five months, her father being present. [Census 1861 247/00 004/00 011; GROS Statutory Deaths 1866 247/00 0012] There is no GROS record of her birth. The registry entry for her death says she was eight years and five months old on 13th March 1866, giving her a birthdate roughly in October 1857, but the census says she was four as at 7th April 1861, which would mean she was born between 8th April 1856 and 7th April 1857. The death register is probably the more accurate, because it makes some effort to be precise, and also we know the same census of 1861 rounded her brother William's age up by five months. I am told that there is a birth record, probably a parish record, which I haven't seen but which gives an exact date and confirms her birth fell in October 1857. [parish record] James Shirran, born 3rd October 1860, probably at Shandscross James was living with his mother and his siblings Adam, William and Jessie at Shandscross on 7th April 1861, at which point he was about six months old, which should give him a date of birth in September or October 1860. He died of diphtheria at Shandscross at 1pm on 22nd March 1866, aged five years. His father was not present when he died, probably because he was working in the fields. [Census 1861 247/00 004/00 011; GROS Statutory Deaths 1866 247/00 0013] There is no GROS record of his birth. I am told that there is a birth record, probably a parish record, which I haven't seen but which gives an exact date in October 1860. [parish record] Robert Shirran, born 27th June 1863 at Shandscross and registered under the variant spelling Shirron [GROS Statutory Births 1863 247/00 0076] The fate of Robert is uncertain. He was born Robert Shirron at the Tawse family home at Shandscross at 4pm on 27th June 1863, his father not being present - presumably because he was at work. He appears aged seven in the census of 2nd April 1871, living with both parents and his siblings George, Alexander, Charles and James (mark II) at Logie Newton and entered under the variant spelling Sherran. [Census 1871 249/0B 002/00 006] There seems to be no further reference to him in Scotland. It seems likely (but, because English death certificates don't include parentage, not certain) that he is the Robert Sherran who died aged nineteen in the September quarter of 1882 and is registered in the Hartley Wintney district in Hampshire. [Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales: deaths in September quarter 1882, Hartley Wintney Vol. 2c Page 102] His death certificate shows him to have been a Lance Corporal in the 93rd Regiment of Foot (since 1881 the Sutherland bit of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders), who died on 8th August 1882 at North Camp, Farnborough of tubercular meningitis, apoplexy and congestion after an illness of ten days, certified by Sergeant Major Owen Owen. The death was recorded by someone called Frank Loftus, resident at North Camp, who was present when Robert died. George Shirran, born 27th August 1866 at Bogside, Auchterless [GROS Statutory Births 1866 173/00 0063] George was born at Bogside near Kirktown of Auchterless at 10am on 27th August 1866, his father probably being present. He enlisted with The Black Watch in November 1883 and had a long and complex career as both a soldier and an inspector for the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, before dying in July 1945: he was also the father of Kazini Elisa Maria Dorgi Khangsarpa of Sikkim. His story is dealt with in detail in a separate section. Alexander Cowie Shirran, born 21st February 1869 at Smiston (aka Smithton) [GROS Statutory Births 1869 173/00 0013] Track to Netherthird, looking south: Smiston would have been in roughly the same direction as Netherthird Farm, and about 200 yards further on © JThomas at Geograph Alexander Cowie was born the elder of twins at Smiston (a.k.a. Smithton), a now-vanished cottage or smallholding which was in the middle of a triangle bounded by Woodtown, Netherthird and Crofts of Netherthird (then Crofts of Oldwood), south-east of Kirkton of Auchterless, at 5am on 21st February 1869, his father being present. The twins and the younger, surviving James were living on the family croft at Hill of Greeness in April 1881, along with their parents and their elder brother William, a Chelsea Pensioner. The three younger boys were scholars and the twins were twelve. According to A Vision of Britain Through Time: Gazetteer entries for Auchterless there were five schools in the parish of Auchterless at that time: separate schools for boys and girls in each of Badenscoth and Kirkton of Auchterless, and a fifth school, gender mix unspecified, at Backhill to the east of the parish: living at Greeness, the boys probably went to the school at Backhill. [Census 1881 223/00 005/00 005] According to his army records Alexander initially became a farm servant, like most of his family, but at some point prior to 8th February 1888 he joined 3rd Battalion The Black Watch, a part-time Militia unit. On 27th March 1888 he enlisted in the Royal Artillery as a Driver. He spent four and a half months training at the RA Depot at Newcastle-on-Tyne, before transferring to The Black Watch proper. His habits were said to be temperate and his conduct very good. A detailed chronology of his army service is available, although his army career was a good deal less impressive than his brother George's. As a Private in 2nd Battalion The Black Watch he spent fifteen months in Belfast, before being transferred to 1st Battalion and sent to Gibraltar, where he overlapped with his brother George for three years. From Gibraltar he went to Mauritius by way of Cairo and stayed for fifteen months, leaving the island en route to Cape Town in August 1893 a few days after his brother George and his young family had arrived there. Unfortunately it was in Mauritius that the "temperate" Alexander was to contract primary syphilis, which he had treated by a civilian physician. The lesion recurred six months after his arrival in Cape Town - a bad sign, showing that the infection was much more serious than the one which his brother George had suffered in 1886, and he was treated with mercury accordingly. He was discharged from the regular army three and a half months later, on 2nd July 1895. He was meant to complete twelve years' service by remaining with the Army Reserve until March 1900, but he appears to have simply disappeared as soon as he left the regular army, and was considered to have "Reysined from absence". He seems never to have returned to Britain. His Military History summarises his postings thus: 27th March 1888 - 5th March 1890 Home 6th March 1890 - 27th January 1893 Gibraltar 28th Janaury 1893 - 3rd March 1893 Egypt 4th March 1893 - 27th August 1894 Mauritius 28th August 1894 - 1st July 1895 Cape Town S.A. 2nd July 1895 - 26th March 1900 Army Reserve - except that he never seems to have made himself available to the reserves. Perhaps his syphilis flared up and rendered him too sick to attend; perhaps he simply drifted off into the vastness of South Africa and forgot the army. He served for seven years and his good conduct was repeatedly praised and rewarded with money, yet he remained a Private throughout - which suggests that he was either rather passive and vague, crippled with dyslexia (since promotion required a minimum standard of literacy) or not over-burdened in the brains department. That his next of kin is given in his army records as "Father Alexander Hillgreness" argues for dyslexia - either in himself or in the army clerk who wrote it down. [ACS medical history table; ACS Military History summary as at 1900; ACS description of recruit on enlistment; ACS Medical History form; ACS Short Service attestation 1880; ACS Statement of Services on discharge in 1900 #1; ACS Statement of Services on discharge in 1900 #2] Charles Forbes Shirran, born 21st February 1869 at Smiston (aka Smithton) [GROS Statutory Births 1869 173/00 0014] Charles Forbes was born the younger of twins at Smiston (see above) at 10am on 21st February 1869, his father being present. The twins and the younger, surviving James were living on the family croft at Hill of Greeness in April 1881, along with their parents and their elder brother William, a Chelsea Pensioner. The three younger boys were scholars and the twins were twelve. [Census 1881 223/00 005/00 005] Kirk near Bogton, less than a mile from Auldtown Hill: Charles and Bessie were probably married here, if they had a ceremony © Anne Burgess at Geograph On 5th March 1892 Charles Forbes Shirran, who was then a farm servant living at Eastside, Forglen, married Bessie Finnie, a domestic servant aged twenty-one, the daughter of James Finnie, general labourer, and Elspet Finnie née Tough and born, according to the 1901 census, in Marnoch. They were married at the place where Bessie was living, called Auldtownhill - nowadays written as Auldtown Hill - which is about four miles west of Turriff or three of Forglen. They went on to have at least three sons (note that on the registry entries for all of them, their mother is referred to as Betsy rather than Bessie). Charles James Shirran was born on 27th October 1892 at Auldtownhill, his father being described as a farm servant. David Alexander Shirran was born at 93 High Street, New Pitsligo on 17th January 1894, at which point his father was described as a general labourer. George Milne Shirran was born on 7th February 1896 at 75 High Street, New Pitsligo, the father again being called a general labourer. [GROS Statutory Marriages 1892 154/00 0002; GROS Statutory Births 1892 154/00 0015; GROS Statutory Births 1894 227/B0 0004; GROS Statutory Births 1896 227/0B 0012] No Scottish record seems to exist for Charles Forbes' death, but as at the 1901 census (which refers to his wife as Bessie) he had gone up in the world slightly. He and Bessie/Betsy and their three boys were living near the army base at Nigg, at 137 Union Grove, in the Ruthrieston district of Aberdeen and the quoad sacra parish of Holburn, where Charles was working as a railway porter. [Census 1901 168/02 030/0B 012] I can find no record of the family in Scotland in the 1911 census, so they had probably emigrated by this point. The Montana Find a Grave Index lists a Charles F Shirran with the right birthdate (21st February 1869 ) as dying on 27th July 1959 and being buried in Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana, U.S.A.. According to a family tree posted on ancestry.co.uk, a Charles James Shirran born 27st October 1892 married Delia Theresa O'Donnell (1894-1969) on 5th July 1922, and died in Greybull, Wyoming, U.S.A. on 30th June 1959 - less than four weeks before his father. A U.S. Headstone Application for Military Veterans calles him Charles Jim Shirran and says that he was buried in Billings, Montana like his father so he was probably away from home when he died in Wyoming, and evidently he was a soldier. Delia O'Donnell had been born in Billings where her father-in-law and her husband were to be buried, so the family were probably resident in Billings prior to July 1922 and Charles Senior remained there. The 1930 United States Federal Census Record shows Charles James and Delia (under the variant spelling Sherron) resident in Shepherd, Yellowstone County, Montana with four children, Charles, George, Betty and David born respectively circa 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1929, and says that the father, Charles James Shirran, arrived in the U.S. in 1903 which must be the date when the whole family moved to the U.S.A.. I have no record of what happened to David Alexander Shirran or to his mother after the family arrived in the U.S.A., but U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards and Soldier Naturalization show that George Milne Shirran was drafted in 1917/18 to fight for the U.S. in the First World War and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1918, when he was at or attached to the MacArthur military base, court number 3126. When he was drafted he was living in Big Horn, Wyoming. Greybull is on the Bighorn River and about fifteen miles from the Bighorn National Forest, so it may well be that George actually lived in Greybull and that his elder brother Charles was visiting him when he died. James Shirran, born 30th May 1870 at Logie Newton [GROS Statutory Births 1870 249/0B 0032] Burnside of Idoch © Anne Burgess at Geograph James was born at 7:30pm on 30th May 1870 at Logie Newton, his father probably being present. The twins and the younger, surviving James were living on the family croft at Hill of Greeness in April 1881, along with their parents and their elder brother William, a Chelsea Pensioner. The three younger boys were scholars, and James was ten. According to A Vision of Britain Through Time: Gazetteer entries for Auchterless there were five schools in the parish of Auchterless at that time: separate schools for boys and girls in each of Badenscoth and Kirkton of Auchterless, and a fifth school, gender mix unspecified, at Backhill to the east of the parish: living at Greeness, the boys probably went to the school at Backhill. [Census 1881 223/00 005/00 005] On 5th April 1891 James II was twenty years old and was working as a farm servant on a farm belonging to William Thomson at Burnside: since this is on the same page of the census as Balquindachy, presumably Burnside of Idoch is meant, about a mile south-west of the farm at Haremoss where George Shirran was working in 1881. [Census 1891 223/0B 005/00 015] The Fife Arms Hotel, Turriff, © stevezero at Virtual Tourist On 15th July 1893, by Church of Scotland rites at the Fife Arms Hotel in Turriff, James married Jane Currie, a domestic servant aged twenty. James at this time was a farm servant living at Brown Hill, Monquhitter (probably the Brown Hill which is about two and a half miles south-east of Kirktown of Auchterless); Jane was living in Watt's Close, Turriff and was the daughter of Alexander Currie, an agricultural labourer, and Mary Currie née Daniell. [GROS Statutory Marriages 1893 247/00 0007] The couple went on to have at least five children. A daughter, Mary Daniell Shirran, was born at 8:45am on 21st July 1894 at Watt's Close, Turriff. Her father, who was present, is described as an agricultural labourer, and her parents' wedding is correctly stated as 15th July 1893. [GROS Statutory Births 1894 247/00 0061] A son, James Shirran, was born at 8pm on 18th October 1895 at 35 Market Street, Turriff. His father is described as a farm servant, and his parents' wedding is again stated as 15th July 1893. [GROS Statutory Births 1895 247/00 0094] A second son, William Shirran, was born at 5am on 18th February 1898 at 238 George Street in the St Nicholas district of Aberdeen. James, who was again present at the birth, was at this time a carter, and the parents' wedding is again given as July 1893. [GROS Statutory Births 1898 168/01 0110] The family appear in the 1901 census, living at Hill Street (house number unclear) in the Quod Sacra parish of Gilcomston and the Burgh Ward of Rosemount in Aberdeen. Jane is referred to in the census as Jeannie. James is a railway porter and the two older children, Mary and James, are scholars. [168/02 007/0A 049] A second daughter, Jane Shirran, was born prematurely at 9am on 4th April 1905, and lived for just two hours. At this time James was still a railway porter and the family were living at 9 Hill Street, in the St Machar district of Aberdeen. Jane's birth certificate states that her parents married on 26th May 1894, suggesting that they may have had a formal church wedding as soon as they could afford it, ten months after they married in the Fife Arms. [GROS Statutory Births 1905 168/02 0188; GROS Statutory Deaths 1905 168/02 0405] We have found no further record of either James or Jane in Scotland, England or Wales, but what appears to be the same family shows up in the U.S.A. some time prior to a point in 1908 when a third daughter, Maggie Shirran, was born in Montana. The U.S. Federal Census for 1920 says that young William, who had been five at the time, had come to the U.S. in 1903, although we know his parents were still in Scotland in 1905 when their daughter Jane was born. It looks as though William, and perhaps young James and Mary as well, came to the U.S. with their uncle Charles Forbes Shirran and his family, leaving their parents to follow on later. By 1910 the U.S. census shows the whole family, James Senior and his children Mary, James, William and Maggie living under the variant surname Sheron in School District 24, Yellowstone, Montana - the same county area where Charles Forbes Shirran and his family had ended up. James Senior is now described as a widower, so Jane/Jeannie had died some time between 1908 and 1910. It's possible she died in childbirth. The Montana Death Index shows a James Shirran born about 1867 and dying in Yellowstone on 8th June 1951. The Montana Find a Grave Index says that he died on the 12th. A U.S. World War I Draft Registration Card for a James Shirran with the right 1895 birthdate to be James Junior shows him still living in Yellowstone County, Montana in 1917 or 1918. The U.S. Social Security Death Index Record shows James Shirran born 18th October 1895 and dying in February 1967 in Woodbury, Gloucester, New Jersey. The New Jersey Deaths and Burials index pinpoints his death to 21st February 1967 and gives him a middle initial "C". His brother William is likewise shown with the middle initial "C", so it probably stood for "Currie". There is better information relating to a William Shirran born 18th February 1898 and living in the U.S.. A U.S. World War I Draft Registration Card for 1917-1918 refers to him as William Curry Shirran, with a birth date four days out. In the 1920 census, under the variant surname Sherin, he was living in "Reservation, Yellowstone, Montana" - since there seems to be no town of that name, presumably a Native American reservation is meant. In the 1930 census, still single, he was living in School District 17, Yellowstone, Montana. The U.S. Social Security Death Index Record shows William Shirran dying in June 1976 in Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana - the exact same town where his uncle Charles and cousin Charles had lived. The Montana Death Index pins his death down to 30th June 1976. A photograph of his gravestone in the Sunset Memorial Gardens shows that he shares his grave with a Josephine, born in 1902, date of death hard to read but possibly 1965 or 1985. Family trees posted on ancestry.co.uk say that in 1934, still in Billings, William married Henrietta Josephine Young (1901-1965) and that they had a child Billie Jo who lived only a few months, from November 1934 to 22nd January 1935. The U.S. City directories confirm that William and Josphine were living together in Billings in 1965. An obituary published in The Billings Gazette for 1st July 1976 records: William (Scotty) Shirran, 78, of 516 Sandy Lane, died Wednesday morning in Deaconess Hospital after a five-year illness. He was born Feb. 17, 1896 in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Shirran. The family came to Billings when he was five and he attended school here. In his earlier years, he was a cowboy and later worked for the Billings Livestock Commission Co. Mr. Shirran worked as a laborer for Hardy Construction Co., retiring in 1966. He married Ruth Ledo March 15, 1968, in Billings. Survivors include the widow; a stepdaughter, Mrs. Lucille Melvin of San Diego, Calif.; four step grandchildren, and six step great-grandchildren. Services are tentatively set for Friday afternoon at Smith's Funeral Home. Burial will be in Sunset Memorial Gardens Several members of Alexander and Jessie's family - Jessie herself, William, Charles Forbes and the boys' partners and children - settled in New Pitsligo. This planned new town was started in 1787 around a hamlet called Cyaak, and the town is still locally so known. Its attraction was probably the fact that rents there were cheap. New Pitsligo High Street © Anne Burgess at Geograph They seem to have shunted up and down the High Street, never settling yet never going far. We have Annie Souter, prior to her marriage to William, living first at 146 and then 141 High Street. We have William at 126 High Street prior to his marriage, and then the couple living successively at numbers 136, 122 and 42. We have Charles Forbes and his wife Bessie at numbers 93 and 75, although they had moved away by 1901, and Jessie Shirran arriving some time after 1901 and dying at 32 High Street. Harveyna Amelia was living at 33 High Street when she registered William's death. That the mysterious James Shirran formerly known as Brown was a member of the Alexander Shirran/Jessie Tawse branch of the Shirrans is suggested by the fact that he was born at Coulterfanny, a mile west of Muirstone where Alexander Shirran was born, and that his family lived in the same group of New Pitsligo houses as Alexander's sons. His son James died at 124 High Streetin 1894, next door to 122 where William and Annie were living in 1901. His children Agnes and William Walker were born in 1895/1896 at 121 High Street, opposite 122. His daughter Elsie Jane was born in 1898 at 125 High Street, opposite 126 where William had been living at the time of his marriage in 1886.
An Adam Shirran, born in Scotland the son of Alex Shirran and Jessie Tasse [sic], married a thirty-eight-year-old, Ohio-born divorcée named Donnie Pruitt in Hamilton, Ohio on 16th September 1902. If this is our man then either the registrar made a mistake or Adam was lying about his age, because he's recorded as having been born in 1861, eight years younger than his real age - but the Scottish records do not show an Adam Shirran born in 1861, or any Jessie Tasse at all, so it looks like this probably is our boy. [FamilySearch]
It seems likely that this is the same Adam all the way through - Adam Shirran, son of Alexander Shirran and Jessie Tawse, born in 1853, went to work for relatives at Uppermill including a John Shirran born circa 1845; Adam Shirran, born in 1853, sails from Scotland to New York in 1872 alongside John Shirran born circa 1845; Adam Shirran is in Hamilton, Ohio in 1880 along with John Shirrain born circa 1845; Adam C Scherran is in Hamilton, Ohio in 1900; Adam Shirran, born in Scotland the son of Alex Shirrran and Jessie "Tasse" marries in Hamilton, Ohio in 1902. But either he was progressively shaving years off his age; or he had an abysmal memory for figures; or he didn't care about accuracy in dating to a tolerance of several years; or he had a Doric accent so impenetrable that the census-taker and registrar were just guessing at what he'd said. He was born in 1853 and was still admitting to being born in 1853 when he arrived in the US in 1872, but in 1880 he was said to have been born in 1855, in 1900 he was said to have been born in 1857 and in 1902 he was said to have been born in 1861!
The fact that Adam C Scherran claimed to have been born in February ties in with the baptism record which places Adam Shirran's birth in February 1853, and makes it more likely they are the same person.
William Shirran, born 1st September 1855 at Shandscross [GROS Statutory Births 1855 247/00 0081]
William was born at the Tawse family home at Shandscross at 9:45pm on 1st September 1855, his father being present. [GROS Statutory Births 1855 247/00 0081] After a brief army career with the Gordon Highlanders in Afghanistan he was wounded and permanently lamed at the battle of Charasiab in October 1879, and became a Chelsea Pensioner. Extensive records exist for him and he is therefore covered on his own page.
Jessie Shirran, born 12th October 1857, probably at Shandscross
Jessie, her parents' only daughter, was living with her mother and her siblings Adam, William and James at Shandscross on 7th April 1861, at which point she was four. She died of diphtheria at Shandscross at 5:50am on 13th March 1866, aged eight years and five months, her father being present. [Census 1861 247/00 004/00 011; GROS Statutory Deaths 1866 247/00 0012]
There is no GROS record of her birth. The registry entry for her death says she was eight years and five months old on 13th March 1866, giving her a birthdate roughly in October 1857, but the census says she was four as at 7th April 1861, which would mean she was born between 8th April 1856 and 7th April 1857. The death register is probably the more accurate, because it makes some effort to be precise, and also we know the same census of 1861 rounded her brother William's age up by five months. I am told that there is a birth record, probably a parish record, which I haven't seen but which gives an exact date and confirms her birth fell in October 1857. [parish record]
James Shirran, born 3rd October 1860, probably at Shandscross
James was living with his mother and his siblings Adam, William and Jessie at Shandscross on 7th April 1861, at which point he was about six months old, which should give him a date of birth in September or October 1860. He died of diphtheria at Shandscross at 1pm on 22nd March 1866, aged five years. His father was not present when he died, probably because he was working in the fields. [Census 1861 247/00 004/00 011; GROS Statutory Deaths 1866 247/00 0013]
There is no GROS record of his birth. I am told that there is a birth record, probably a parish record, which I haven't seen but which gives an exact date in October 1860. [parish record]
Robert Shirran, born 27th June 1863 at Shandscross and registered under the variant spelling Shirron [GROS Statutory Births 1863 247/00 0076]
The fate of Robert is uncertain. He was born Robert Shirron at the Tawse family home at Shandscross at 4pm on 27th June 1863, his father not being present - presumably because he was at work. He appears aged seven in the census of 2nd April 1871, living with both parents and his siblings George, Alexander, Charles and James (mark II) at Logie Newton and entered under the variant spelling Sherran. [Census 1871 249/0B 002/00 006] There seems to be no further reference to him in Scotland.
It seems likely (but, because English death certificates don't include parentage, not certain) that he is the Robert Sherran who died aged nineteen in the September quarter of 1882 and is registered in the Hartley Wintney district in Hampshire. [Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales: deaths in September quarter 1882, Hartley Wintney Vol. 2c Page 102] His death certificate shows him to have been a Lance Corporal in the 93rd Regiment of Foot (since 1881 the Sutherland bit of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders), who died on 8th August 1882 at North Camp, Farnborough of tubercular meningitis, apoplexy and congestion after an illness of ten days, certified by Sergeant Major Owen Owen. The death was recorded by someone called Frank Loftus, resident at North Camp, who was present when Robert died.
George Shirran, born 27th August 1866 at Bogside, Auchterless [GROS Statutory Births 1866 173/00 0063]
George was born at Bogside near Kirktown of Auchterless at 10am on 27th August 1866, his father probably being present. He enlisted with The Black Watch in November 1883 and had a long and complex career as both a soldier and an inspector for the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, before dying in July 1945: he was also the father of Kazini Elisa Maria Dorgi Khangsarpa of Sikkim. His story is dealt with in detail in a separate section.
Alexander Cowie Shirran, born 21st February 1869 at Smiston (aka Smithton) [GROS Statutory Births 1869 173/00 0013]
Alexander Cowie was born the elder of twins at Smiston (a.k.a. Smithton), a now-vanished cottage or smallholding which was in the middle of a triangle bounded by Woodtown, Netherthird and Crofts of Netherthird (then Crofts of Oldwood), south-east of Kirkton of Auchterless, at 5am on 21st February 1869, his father being present.
The twins and the younger, surviving James were living on the family croft at Hill of Greeness in April 1881, along with their parents and their elder brother William, a Chelsea Pensioner. The three younger boys were scholars and the twins were twelve. According to A Vision of Britain Through Time: Gazetteer entries for Auchterless there were five schools in the parish of Auchterless at that time: separate schools for boys and girls in each of Badenscoth and Kirkton of Auchterless, and a fifth school, gender mix unspecified, at Backhill to the east of the parish: living at Greeness, the boys probably went to the school at Backhill. [Census 1881 223/00 005/00 005]
According to his army records Alexander initially became a farm servant, like most of his family, but at some point prior to 8th February 1888 he joined 3rd Battalion The Black Watch, a part-time Militia unit. On 27th March 1888 he enlisted in the Royal Artillery as a Driver. He spent four and a half months training at the RA Depot at Newcastle-on-Tyne, before transferring to The Black Watch proper. His habits were said to be temperate and his conduct very good.
A detailed chronology of his army service is available, although his army career was a good deal less impressive than his brother George's. As a Private in 2nd Battalion The Black Watch he spent fifteen months in Belfast, before being transferred to 1st Battalion and sent to Gibraltar, where he overlapped with his brother George for three years. From Gibraltar he went to Mauritius by way of Cairo and stayed for fifteen months, leaving the island en route to Cape Town in August 1893 a few days after his brother George and his young family had arrived there.
Unfortunately it was in Mauritius that the "temperate" Alexander was to contract primary syphilis, which he had treated by a civilian physician. The lesion recurred six months after his arrival in Cape Town - a bad sign, showing that the infection was much more serious than the one which his brother George had suffered in 1886, and he was treated with mercury accordingly. He was discharged from the regular army three and a half months later, on 2nd July 1895. He was meant to complete twelve years' service by remaining with the Army Reserve until March 1900, but he appears to have simply disappeared as soon as he left the regular army, and was considered to have "Reysined from absence". He seems never to have returned to Britain.
His Military History summarises his postings thus:
27th March 1888 - 5th March 1890 Home 6th March 1890 - 27th January 1893 Gibraltar 28th Janaury 1893 - 3rd March 1893 Egypt 4th March 1893 - 27th August 1894 Mauritius 28th August 1894 - 1st July 1895 Cape Town S.A. 2nd July 1895 - 26th March 1900 Army Reserve
- except that he never seems to have made himself available to the reserves. Perhaps his syphilis flared up and rendered him too sick to attend; perhaps he simply drifted off into the vastness of South Africa and forgot the army. He served for seven years and his good conduct was repeatedly praised and rewarded with money, yet he remained a Private throughout - which suggests that he was either rather passive and vague, crippled with dyslexia (since promotion required a minimum standard of literacy) or not over-burdened in the brains department. That his next of kin is given in his army records as "Father Alexander Hillgreness" argues for dyslexia - either in himself or in the army clerk who wrote it down.
[ACS medical history table; ACS Military History summary as at 1900; ACS description of recruit on enlistment; ACS Medical History form; ACS Short Service attestation 1880; ACS Statement of Services on discharge in 1900 #1; ACS Statement of Services on discharge in 1900 #2]
Charles Forbes Shirran, born 21st February 1869 at Smiston (aka Smithton) [GROS Statutory Births 1869 173/00 0014]
Charles Forbes was born the younger of twins at Smiston (see above) at 10am on 21st February 1869, his father being present.
The twins and the younger, surviving James were living on the family croft at Hill of Greeness in April 1881, along with their parents and their elder brother William, a Chelsea Pensioner. The three younger boys were scholars and the twins were twelve. [Census 1881 223/00 005/00 005] Kirk near Bogton, less than a mile from Auldtown Hill: Charles and Bessie were probably married here, if they had a ceremony © Anne Burgess at Geograph On 5th March 1892 Charles Forbes Shirran, who was then a farm servant living at Eastside, Forglen, married Bessie Finnie, a domestic servant aged twenty-one, the daughter of James Finnie, general labourer, and Elspet Finnie née Tough and born, according to the 1901 census, in Marnoch. They were married at the place where Bessie was living, called Auldtownhill - nowadays written as Auldtown Hill - which is about four miles west of Turriff or three of Forglen. They went on to have at least three sons (note that on the registry entries for all of them, their mother is referred to as Betsy rather than Bessie). Charles James Shirran was born on 27th October 1892 at Auldtownhill, his father being described as a farm servant. David Alexander Shirran was born at 93 High Street, New Pitsligo on 17th January 1894, at which point his father was described as a general labourer. George Milne Shirran was born on 7th February 1896 at 75 High Street, New Pitsligo, the father again being called a general labourer. [GROS Statutory Marriages 1892 154/00 0002; GROS Statutory Births 1892 154/00 0015; GROS Statutory Births 1894 227/B0 0004; GROS Statutory Births 1896 227/0B 0012] No Scottish record seems to exist for Charles Forbes' death, but as at the 1901 census (which refers to his wife as Bessie) he had gone up in the world slightly. He and Bessie/Betsy and their three boys were living near the army base at Nigg, at 137 Union Grove, in the Ruthrieston district of Aberdeen and the quoad sacra parish of Holburn, where Charles was working as a railway porter. [Census 1901 168/02 030/0B 012] I can find no record of the family in Scotland in the 1911 census, so they had probably emigrated by this point. The Montana Find a Grave Index lists a Charles F Shirran with the right birthdate (21st February 1869 ) as dying on 27th July 1959 and being buried in Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana, U.S.A.. According to a family tree posted on ancestry.co.uk, a Charles James Shirran born 27st October 1892 married Delia Theresa O'Donnell (1894-1969) on 5th July 1922, and died in Greybull, Wyoming, U.S.A. on 30th June 1959 - less than four weeks before his father. A U.S. Headstone Application for Military Veterans calles him Charles Jim Shirran and says that he was buried in Billings, Montana like his father so he was probably away from home when he died in Wyoming, and evidently he was a soldier. Delia O'Donnell had been born in Billings where her father-in-law and her husband were to be buried, so the family were probably resident in Billings prior to July 1922 and Charles Senior remained there. The 1930 United States Federal Census Record shows Charles James and Delia (under the variant spelling Sherron) resident in Shepherd, Yellowstone County, Montana with four children, Charles, George, Betty and David born respectively circa 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1929, and says that the father, Charles James Shirran, arrived in the U.S. in 1903 which must be the date when the whole family moved to the U.S.A.. I have no record of what happened to David Alexander Shirran or to his mother after the family arrived in the U.S.A., but U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards and Soldier Naturalization show that George Milne Shirran was drafted in 1917/18 to fight for the U.S. in the First World War and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1918, when he was at or attached to the MacArthur military base, court number 3126. When he was drafted he was living in Big Horn, Wyoming. Greybull is on the Bighorn River and about fifteen miles from the Bighorn National Forest, so it may well be that George actually lived in Greybull and that his elder brother Charles was visiting him when he died. James Shirran, born 30th May 1870 at Logie Newton [GROS Statutory Births 1870 249/0B 0032] Burnside of Idoch © Anne Burgess at Geograph James was born at 7:30pm on 30th May 1870 at Logie Newton, his father probably being present. The twins and the younger, surviving James were living on the family croft at Hill of Greeness in April 1881, along with their parents and their elder brother William, a Chelsea Pensioner. The three younger boys were scholars, and James was ten. According to A Vision of Britain Through Time: Gazetteer entries for Auchterless there were five schools in the parish of Auchterless at that time: separate schools for boys and girls in each of Badenscoth and Kirkton of Auchterless, and a fifth school, gender mix unspecified, at Backhill to the east of the parish: living at Greeness, the boys probably went to the school at Backhill. [Census 1881 223/00 005/00 005] On 5th April 1891 James II was twenty years old and was working as a farm servant on a farm belonging to William Thomson at Burnside: since this is on the same page of the census as Balquindachy, presumably Burnside of Idoch is meant, about a mile south-west of the farm at Haremoss where George Shirran was working in 1881. [Census 1891 223/0B 005/00 015] The Fife Arms Hotel, Turriff, © stevezero at Virtual Tourist On 15th July 1893, by Church of Scotland rites at the Fife Arms Hotel in Turriff, James married Jane Currie, a domestic servant aged twenty. James at this time was a farm servant living at Brown Hill, Monquhitter (probably the Brown Hill which is about two and a half miles south-east of Kirktown of Auchterless); Jane was living in Watt's Close, Turriff and was the daughter of Alexander Currie, an agricultural labourer, and Mary Currie née Daniell. [GROS Statutory Marriages 1893 247/00 0007] The couple went on to have at least five children. A daughter, Mary Daniell Shirran, was born at 8:45am on 21st July 1894 at Watt's Close, Turriff. Her father, who was present, is described as an agricultural labourer, and her parents' wedding is correctly stated as 15th July 1893. [GROS Statutory Births 1894 247/00 0061] A son, James Shirran, was born at 8pm on 18th October 1895 at 35 Market Street, Turriff. His father is described as a farm servant, and his parents' wedding is again stated as 15th July 1893. [GROS Statutory Births 1895 247/00 0094] A second son, William Shirran, was born at 5am on 18th February 1898 at 238 George Street in the St Nicholas district of Aberdeen. James, who was again present at the birth, was at this time a carter, and the parents' wedding is again given as July 1893. [GROS Statutory Births 1898 168/01 0110] The family appear in the 1901 census, living at Hill Street (house number unclear) in the Quod Sacra parish of Gilcomston and the Burgh Ward of Rosemount in Aberdeen. Jane is referred to in the census as Jeannie. James is a railway porter and the two older children, Mary and James, are scholars. [168/02 007/0A 049] A second daughter, Jane Shirran, was born prematurely at 9am on 4th April 1905, and lived for just two hours. At this time James was still a railway porter and the family were living at 9 Hill Street, in the St Machar district of Aberdeen. Jane's birth certificate states that her parents married on 26th May 1894, suggesting that they may have had a formal church wedding as soon as they could afford it, ten months after they married in the Fife Arms. [GROS Statutory Births 1905 168/02 0188; GROS Statutory Deaths 1905 168/02 0405] We have found no further record of either James or Jane in Scotland, England or Wales, but what appears to be the same family shows up in the U.S.A. some time prior to a point in 1908 when a third daughter, Maggie Shirran, was born in Montana. The U.S. Federal Census for 1920 says that young William, who had been five at the time, had come to the U.S. in 1903, although we know his parents were still in Scotland in 1905 when their daughter Jane was born. It looks as though William, and perhaps young James and Mary as well, came to the U.S. with their uncle Charles Forbes Shirran and his family, leaving their parents to follow on later. By 1910 the U.S. census shows the whole family, James Senior and his children Mary, James, William and Maggie living under the variant surname Sheron in School District 24, Yellowstone, Montana - the same county area where Charles Forbes Shirran and his family had ended up. James Senior is now described as a widower, so Jane/Jeannie had died some time between 1908 and 1910. It's possible she died in childbirth. The Montana Death Index shows a James Shirran born about 1867 and dying in Yellowstone on 8th June 1951. The Montana Find a Grave Index says that he died on the 12th. A U.S. World War I Draft Registration Card for a James Shirran with the right 1895 birthdate to be James Junior shows him still living in Yellowstone County, Montana in 1917 or 1918. The U.S. Social Security Death Index Record shows James Shirran born 18th October 1895 and dying in February 1967 in Woodbury, Gloucester, New Jersey. The New Jersey Deaths and Burials index pinpoints his death to 21st February 1967 and gives him a middle initial "C". His brother William is likewise shown with the middle initial "C", so it probably stood for "Currie". There is better information relating to a William Shirran born 18th February 1898 and living in the U.S.. A U.S. World War I Draft Registration Card for 1917-1918 refers to him as William Curry Shirran, with a birth date four days out. In the 1920 census, under the variant surname Sherin, he was living in "Reservation, Yellowstone, Montana" - since there seems to be no town of that name, presumably a Native American reservation is meant. In the 1930 census, still single, he was living in School District 17, Yellowstone, Montana. The U.S. Social Security Death Index Record shows William Shirran dying in June 1976 in Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana - the exact same town where his uncle Charles and cousin Charles had lived. The Montana Death Index pins his death down to 30th June 1976. A photograph of his gravestone in the Sunset Memorial Gardens shows that he shares his grave with a Josephine, born in 1902, date of death hard to read but possibly 1965 or 1985. Family trees posted on ancestry.co.uk say that in 1934, still in Billings, William married Henrietta Josephine Young (1901-1965) and that they had a child Billie Jo who lived only a few months, from November 1934 to 22nd January 1935. The U.S. City directories confirm that William and Josphine were living together in Billings in 1965. An obituary published in The Billings Gazette for 1st July 1976 records: William (Scotty) Shirran, 78, of 516 Sandy Lane, died Wednesday morning in Deaconess Hospital after a five-year illness. He was born Feb. 17, 1896 in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Shirran. The family came to Billings when he was five and he attended school here. In his earlier years, he was a cowboy and later worked for the Billings Livestock Commission Co. Mr. Shirran worked as a laborer for Hardy Construction Co., retiring in 1966. He married Ruth Ledo March 15, 1968, in Billings. Survivors include the widow; a stepdaughter, Mrs. Lucille Melvin of San Diego, Calif.; four step grandchildren, and six step great-grandchildren. Services are tentatively set for Friday afternoon at Smith's Funeral Home. Burial will be in Sunset Memorial Gardens Several members of Alexander and Jessie's family - Jessie herself, William, Charles Forbes and the boys' partners and children - settled in New Pitsligo. This planned new town was started in 1787 around a hamlet called Cyaak, and the town is still locally so known. Its attraction was probably the fact that rents there were cheap. New Pitsligo High Street © Anne Burgess at Geograph They seem to have shunted up and down the High Street, never settling yet never going far. We have Annie Souter, prior to her marriage to William, living first at 146 and then 141 High Street. We have William at 126 High Street prior to his marriage, and then the couple living successively at numbers 136, 122 and 42. We have Charles Forbes and his wife Bessie at numbers 93 and 75, although they had moved away by 1901, and Jessie Shirran arriving some time after 1901 and dying at 32 High Street. Harveyna Amelia was living at 33 High Street when she registered William's death. That the mysterious James Shirran formerly known as Brown was a member of the Alexander Shirran/Jessie Tawse branch of the Shirrans is suggested by the fact that he was born at Coulterfanny, a mile west of Muirstone where Alexander Shirran was born, and that his family lived in the same group of New Pitsligo houses as Alexander's sons. His son James died at 124 High Streetin 1894, next door to 122 where William and Annie were living in 1901. His children Agnes and William Walker were born in 1895/1896 at 121 High Street, opposite 122. His daughter Elsie Jane was born in 1898 at 125 High Street, opposite 126 where William had been living at the time of his marriage in 1886.
On 5th March 1892 Charles Forbes Shirran, who was then a farm servant living at Eastside, Forglen, married Bessie Finnie, a domestic servant aged twenty-one, the daughter of James Finnie, general labourer, and Elspet Finnie née Tough and born, according to the 1901 census, in Marnoch. They were married at the place where Bessie was living, called Auldtownhill - nowadays written as Auldtown Hill - which is about four miles west of Turriff or three of Forglen.
They went on to have at least three sons (note that on the registry entries for all of them, their mother is referred to as Betsy rather than Bessie). Charles James Shirran was born on 27th October 1892 at Auldtownhill, his father being described as a farm servant. David Alexander Shirran was born at 93 High Street, New Pitsligo on 17th January 1894, at which point his father was described as a general labourer. George Milne Shirran was born on 7th February 1896 at 75 High Street, New Pitsligo, the father again being called a general labourer. [GROS Statutory Marriages 1892 154/00 0002; GROS Statutory Births 1892 154/00 0015; GROS Statutory Births 1894 227/B0 0004; GROS Statutory Births 1896 227/0B 0012]
No Scottish record seems to exist for Charles Forbes' death, but as at the 1901 census (which refers to his wife as Bessie) he had gone up in the world slightly. He and Bessie/Betsy and their three boys were living near the army base at Nigg, at 137 Union Grove, in the Ruthrieston district of Aberdeen and the quoad sacra parish of Holburn, where Charles was working as a railway porter. [Census 1901 168/02 030/0B 012]
I can find no record of the family in Scotland in the 1911 census, so they had probably emigrated by this point. The Montana Find a Grave Index lists a Charles F Shirran with the right birthdate (21st February 1869 ) as dying on 27th July 1959 and being buried in Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana, U.S.A..
According to a family tree posted on ancestry.co.uk, a Charles James Shirran born 27st October 1892 married Delia Theresa O'Donnell (1894-1969) on 5th July 1922, and died in Greybull, Wyoming, U.S.A. on 30th June 1959 - less than four weeks before his father. A U.S. Headstone Application for Military Veterans calles him Charles Jim Shirran and says that he was buried in Billings, Montana like his father so he was probably away from home when he died in Wyoming, and evidently he was a soldier.
Delia O'Donnell had been born in Billings where her father-in-law and her husband were to be buried, so the family were probably resident in Billings prior to July 1922 and Charles Senior remained there. The 1930 United States Federal Census Record shows Charles James and Delia (under the variant spelling Sherron) resident in Shepherd, Yellowstone County, Montana with four children, Charles, George, Betty and David born respectively circa 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1929, and says that the father, Charles James Shirran, arrived in the U.S. in 1903 which must be the date when the whole family moved to the U.S.A..
I have no record of what happened to David Alexander Shirran or to his mother after the family arrived in the U.S.A., but U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards and Soldier Naturalization show that George Milne Shirran was drafted in 1917/18 to fight for the U.S. in the First World War and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1918, when he was at or attached to the MacArthur military base, court number 3126. When he was drafted he was living in Big Horn, Wyoming. Greybull is on the Bighorn River and about fifteen miles from the Bighorn National Forest, so it may well be that George actually lived in Greybull and that his elder brother Charles was visiting him when he died.
James Shirran, born 30th May 1870 at Logie Newton [GROS Statutory Births 1870 249/0B 0032]
James was born at 7:30pm on 30th May 1870 at Logie Newton, his father probably being present. The twins and the younger, surviving James were living on the family croft at Hill of Greeness in April 1881, along with their parents and their elder brother William, a Chelsea Pensioner. The three younger boys were scholars, and James was ten. According to A Vision of Britain Through Time: Gazetteer entries for Auchterless there were five schools in the parish of Auchterless at that time: separate schools for boys and girls in each of Badenscoth and Kirkton of Auchterless, and a fifth school, gender mix unspecified, at Backhill to the east of the parish: living at Greeness, the boys probably went to the school at Backhill. [Census 1881 223/00 005/00 005]
On 5th April 1891 James II was twenty years old and was working as a farm servant on a farm belonging to William Thomson at Burnside: since this is on the same page of the census as Balquindachy, presumably Burnside of Idoch is meant, about a mile south-west of the farm at Haremoss where George Shirran was working in 1881. [Census 1891 223/0B 005/00 015]
On 15th July 1893, by Church of Scotland rites at the Fife Arms Hotel in Turriff, James married Jane Currie, a domestic servant aged twenty. James at this time was a farm servant living at Brown Hill, Monquhitter (probably the Brown Hill which is about two and a half miles south-east of Kirktown of Auchterless); Jane was living in Watt's Close, Turriff and was the daughter of Alexander Currie, an agricultural labourer, and Mary Currie née Daniell. [GROS Statutory Marriages 1893 247/00 0007] The couple went on to have at least five children.
A daughter, Mary Daniell Shirran, was born at 8:45am on 21st July 1894 at Watt's Close, Turriff. Her father, who was present, is described as an agricultural labourer, and her parents' wedding is correctly stated as 15th July 1893. [GROS Statutory Births 1894 247/00 0061]
A son, James Shirran, was born at 8pm on 18th October 1895 at 35 Market Street, Turriff. His father is described as a farm servant, and his parents' wedding is again stated as 15th July 1893. [GROS Statutory Births 1895 247/00 0094]
A second son, William Shirran, was born at 5am on 18th February 1898 at 238 George Street in the St Nicholas district of Aberdeen. James, who was again present at the birth, was at this time a carter, and the parents' wedding is again given as July 1893. [GROS Statutory Births 1898 168/01 0110]
The family appear in the 1901 census, living at Hill Street (house number unclear) in the Quod Sacra parish of Gilcomston and the Burgh Ward of Rosemount in Aberdeen. Jane is referred to in the census as Jeannie. James is a railway porter and the two older children, Mary and James, are scholars. [168/02 007/0A 049]
A second daughter, Jane Shirran, was born prematurely at 9am on 4th April 1905, and lived for just two hours. At this time James was still a railway porter and the family were living at 9 Hill Street, in the St Machar district of Aberdeen. Jane's birth certificate states that her parents married on 26th May 1894, suggesting that they may have had a formal church wedding as soon as they could afford it, ten months after they married in the Fife Arms. [GROS Statutory Births 1905 168/02 0188; GROS Statutory Deaths 1905 168/02 0405]
We have found no further record of either James or Jane in Scotland, England or Wales, but what appears to be the same family shows up in the U.S.A. some time prior to a point in 1908 when a third daughter, Maggie Shirran, was born in Montana. The U.S. Federal Census for 1920 says that young William, who had been five at the time, had come to the U.S. in 1903, although we know his parents were still in Scotland in 1905 when their daughter Jane was born. It looks as though William, and perhaps young James and Mary as well, came to the U.S. with their uncle Charles Forbes Shirran and his family, leaving their parents to follow on later.
By 1910 the U.S. census shows the whole family, James Senior and his children Mary, James, William and Maggie living under the variant surname Sheron in School District 24, Yellowstone, Montana - the same county area where Charles Forbes Shirran and his family had ended up. James Senior is now described as a widower, so Jane/Jeannie had died some time between 1908 and 1910. It's possible she died in childbirth. The Montana Death Index shows a James Shirran born about 1867 and dying in Yellowstone on 8th June 1951. The Montana Find a Grave Index says that he died on the 12th.
A U.S. World War I Draft Registration Card for a James Shirran with the right 1895 birthdate to be James Junior shows him still living in Yellowstone County, Montana in 1917 or 1918. The U.S. Social Security Death Index Record shows James Shirran born 18th October 1895 and dying in February 1967 in Woodbury, Gloucester, New Jersey. The New Jersey Deaths and Burials index pinpoints his death to 21st February 1967 and gives him a middle initial "C". His brother William is likewise shown with the middle initial "C", so it probably stood for "Currie".
There is better information relating to a William Shirran born 18th February 1898 and living in the U.S.. A U.S. World War I Draft Registration Card for 1917-1918 refers to him as William Curry Shirran, with a birth date four days out. In the 1920 census, under the variant surname Sherin, he was living in "Reservation, Yellowstone, Montana" - since there seems to be no town of that name, presumably a Native American reservation is meant. In the 1930 census, still single, he was living in School District 17, Yellowstone, Montana.
The U.S. Social Security Death Index Record shows William Shirran dying in June 1976 in Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana - the exact same town where his uncle Charles and cousin Charles had lived. The Montana Death Index pins his death down to 30th June 1976. A photograph of his gravestone in the Sunset Memorial Gardens shows that he shares his grave with a Josephine, born in 1902, date of death hard to read but possibly 1965 or 1985.
Family trees posted on ancestry.co.uk say that in 1934, still in Billings, William married Henrietta Josephine Young (1901-1965) and that they had a child Billie Jo who lived only a few months, from November 1934 to 22nd January 1935. The U.S. City directories confirm that William and Josphine were living together in Billings in 1965.
An obituary published in The Billings Gazette for 1st July 1976 records:
William (Scotty) Shirran, 78, of 516 Sandy Lane, died Wednesday morning in Deaconess Hospital after a five-year illness.
He was born Feb. 17, 1896 in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Shirran. The family came to Billings when he was five and he attended school here.
In his earlier years, he was a cowboy and later worked for the Billings Livestock Commission Co.
Mr. Shirran worked as a laborer for Hardy Construction Co., retiring in 1966.
He married Ruth Ledo March 15, 1968, in Billings.
Survivors include the widow; a stepdaughter, Mrs. Lucille Melvin of San Diego, Calif.; four step grandchildren, and six step great-grandchildren.
Services are tentatively set for Friday afternoon at Smith's Funeral Home.
Burial will be in Sunset Memorial Gardens
Several members of Alexander and Jessie's family - Jessie herself, William, Charles Forbes and the boys' partners and children - settled in New Pitsligo. This planned new town was started in 1787 around a hamlet called Cyaak, and the town is still locally so known. Its attraction was probably the fact that rents there were cheap. New Pitsligo High Street © Anne Burgess at Geograph They seem to have shunted up and down the High Street, never settling yet never going far. We have Annie Souter, prior to her marriage to William, living first at 146 and then 141 High Street. We have William at 126 High Street prior to his marriage, and then the couple living successively at numbers 136, 122 and 42. We have Charles Forbes and his wife Bessie at numbers 93 and 75, although they had moved away by 1901, and Jessie Shirran arriving some time after 1901 and dying at 32 High Street. Harveyna Amelia was living at 33 High Street when she registered William's death. That the mysterious James Shirran formerly known as Brown was a member of the Alexander Shirran/Jessie Tawse branch of the Shirrans is suggested by the fact that he was born at Coulterfanny, a mile west of Muirstone where Alexander Shirran was born, and that his family lived in the same group of New Pitsligo houses as Alexander's sons. His son James died at 124 High Streetin 1894, next door to 122 where William and Annie were living in 1901. His children Agnes and William Walker were born in 1895/1896 at 121 High Street, opposite 122. His daughter Elsie Jane was born in 1898 at 125 High Street, opposite 126 where William had been living at the time of his marriage in 1886.
They seem to have shunted up and down the High Street, never settling yet never going far. We have Annie Souter, prior to her marriage to William, living first at 146 and then 141 High Street. We have William at 126 High Street prior to his marriage, and then the couple living successively at numbers 136, 122 and 42. We have Charles Forbes and his wife Bessie at numbers 93 and 75, although they had moved away by 1901, and Jessie Shirran arriving some time after 1901 and dying at 32 High Street. Harveyna Amelia was living at 33 High Street when she registered William's death.
That the mysterious James Shirran formerly known as Brown was a member of the Alexander Shirran/Jessie Tawse branch of the Shirrans is suggested by the fact that he was born at Coulterfanny, a mile west of Muirstone where Alexander Shirran was born, and that his family lived in the same group of New Pitsligo houses as Alexander's sons. His son James died at 124 High Streetin 1894, next door to 122 where William and Annie were living in 1901. His children Agnes and William Walker were born in 1895/1896 at 121 High Street, opposite 122. His daughter Elsie Jane was born in 1898 at 125 High Street, opposite 126 where William had been living at the time of his marriage in 1886.
