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We know from his death certificate that John Shirran, the father of Alexander Shirran, was in turn the son of James Shirran, farmer, and Christian Black [GROS Statutory Deaths 1890 196/00 0024]. James was living in the parish of Strichen at the time of his marriage to Christian on 18th July 1805, which took place in the parish of New Deer [GROS Marriage 1805 OPR 255 000 0020 0517z] - suggesting that they must have lived close to the boundary between the two parishes. Approach-road from the A950 to Craigculter, from Google Streetview Craigculter seen from the main road, from Google Streetview John, the eldest child of James and Christian, was baptised on 17th June 1806 [GROS Baptism 1806 OPR 241 000 0020 0177z], The record of his baptism says that at that time his parents were living at Craigculter - a farmtoun which lies up a long farm-track which connects directly to the main road (now the A950) about a mile and a half south-east of New Pitsligo, in the parish of Strichen - and the witnesses were Peter Cline and George Biddie of Upper Hill of New Deer. I can find no Upper Hill near the actual town of New Deer, but Upper and Over are often interchangeable in north-eastern Scottish place-names and there is an Overhill in the parish of New Deer, about a mile west of Craigculter. [The Fraserburgh General Register of Poor for 1885 apparently (I've not seen it myself) states that John was born at Craigellie in the parish of Strichan but in my opinion his baptismal record is more likely to be correct, since it was written shortly after his birth - especially as the witnesses at his baptism probably came from a place which was only a mile west of Craigculter, but nine miles from Craigellie. Nowhere in the parish of New Deer can be much less than nine miles from Craigellie.] A George Shirran erected a tombstone which is described thus in a list of Tyrie memorial inscriptions: "George Shirran in Muirstone in memory of his father James Shirran d 10 May 1840 aged 63, his mother Christian Black d 20 June 1851 aged 73". James therefore had been born between 11th May 1776 and 10th May 1777, and Christian between 21st June 1777 and 20th June Muirstone is a farm a mile and a quarter sou'-sou'-east of the village of Tyrie and Alexander, son of John and grandson of James, was born there, which strongly suggests that this is the right James Shirran, that the George Shirran who erected the headstone was the brother of John and uncle of Alexander, and that at some point after June 1806 the family had moved from Strichen to Tyrie. George (see below) was born in Strichan circa 1814 so the family were probably still at Craigculter at that point. However, John's brother Alexander had a son James born at Muirstone circa 1815/16 so if the families moved to Muirstone together they must have moved circa 1815.
John, the eldest child of James and Christian, was baptised on 17th June 1806 [GROS Baptism 1806 OPR 241 000 0020 0177z], The record of his baptism says that at that time his parents were living at Craigculter - a farmtoun which lies up a long farm-track which connects directly to the main road (now the A950) about a mile and a half south-east of New Pitsligo, in the parish of Strichen - and the witnesses were Peter Cline and George Biddie of Upper Hill of New Deer. I can find no Upper Hill near the actual town of New Deer, but Upper and Over are often interchangeable in north-eastern Scottish place-names and there is an Overhill in the parish of New Deer, about a mile west of Craigculter.
[The Fraserburgh General Register of Poor for 1885 apparently (I've not seen it myself) states that John was born at Craigellie in the parish of Strichan but in my opinion his baptismal record is more likely to be correct, since it was written shortly after his birth - especially as the witnesses at his baptism probably came from a place which was only a mile west of Craigculter, but nine miles from Craigellie. Nowhere in the parish of New Deer can be much less than nine miles from Craigellie.]
A George Shirran erected a tombstone which is described thus in a list of Tyrie memorial inscriptions: "George Shirran in Muirstone in memory of his father James Shirran d 10 May 1840 aged 63, his mother Christian Black d 20 June 1851 aged 73". James therefore had been born between 11th May 1776 and 10th May 1777, and Christian between 21st June 1777 and 20th June
Muirstone is a farm a mile and a quarter sou'-sou'-east of the village of Tyrie and Alexander, son of John and grandson of James, was born there, which strongly suggests that this is the right James Shirran, that the George Shirran who erected the headstone was the brother of John and uncle of Alexander, and that at some point after June 1806 the family had moved from Strichen to Tyrie. George (see below) was born in Strichan circa 1814 so the family were probably still at Craigculter at that point. However, John's brother Alexander had a son James born at Muirstone circa 1815/16 so if the families moved to Muirstone together they must have moved circa 1815.
Although we are now getting back to generations who were not only born but also died before formal registration began in Scotland it is possible, using those Old Parish Records which have been made available electronically, to get back at least one generation before James. Parish records [OPR Baptisms 225 000 0020 0273Z] show the christening of a James Shirran, son of John Shirran and Nancy Ironside, in the parish of New Deer on 13th July 1777 (there was also a James Sheron christened in 1777 in Aberdour, but that's improbably far south). It is unlikely that his baptism was delayed by more than a couple of months, so he was probably born in the first half of May 1777.
James's baptismal record says: "Anno 1777 // July 13th // John Shirran in Mains of Whitehill had a son brought forth by his wife Nancy Ironside bap-tized named James Shirran witnesses Alex'r Shirran and Robert Ironside both there." Mains of Whitehill is a farmtoun about a mile and a half sou'sou'west of Craigculter. We know from the writings of the folk-collectors Grieg and Duncan that in later life John Shirran lived at Sandbrigs which is a small farmhouse only about a third of a mile from Mains of Whitehill, so it may be that the family lived at Sandbrigs all along and and it was considered to be part of the larger farm.
John and Nancy had several children: confusingly the mother's name is given variously as Nancy, Ann and Agnes but since they are all surnamed Ironside and married to a John Shirran at Whitehill they are presumably all the same woman. John and Nancy and their children are covered on their own page here.
Either James or his father John was the author of the famous Bothy Ballad The Buchan Turnpike: more information about this can be found on the page about James's father .
The Scottish Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages shows that there were at least the following children of James Shirran and Christian Black:
John Shirran was baptised on 17th June 1806 [GROS Baptism 1806 OPR 241 000 0020 0177z], at which point he was probably a few weeks old, and went on to marry (in one sense or another) Margaret Gray and father a large family which included my great-great-grandfather Alexander, and of which fuller details are given on a separate page.
George Shirran, the commissioner of gravestones, is slightly harder to pinpoint, because there are two George Shirrans in the Tyrie area and the right general age-bracket. To separate them we have to start at the far end. The one who died in 1860 in Muirstone, Tyrie [GROS Statutory Deaths 1860 248 00 0003Z] with a date of birth circa 1814 had a father named James Shirran: the mother's name is not given, but we know from the gravestone which he erected to his parents that there was a George Shirran who was the son of James Shirran and Christian Black, and was living at Muirstone on or after 1851. The one who died in 1904 at Montsollie, Strichen [GROS Statutory Deaths 1904 241/00 0023] with a date of birth circa 1816 had parents named Alexander Shirran and Ann Bennett.
So, we know that George Shirran the son of James and Christian was the George who died in 1860. Therefore, the one who appears in the 1861 census as a ploughman at Kirktown Tyrie [Census 1861 248 00 001 000 2 006Z] must be the other one, the son of Alexander and Ann. He was unmarried in 1861 - although at the time of his death in 1904 he was the widower of a Margaret Smith.
The death certificate for George the son of James and Christian describes him as married: frustratingly the name of his wife is not given but we know he must have married on or prior to 1860.
What must be the same George (under the surname Shirrane) married an Elspet Lovie on 25th May 1845, both of the parish of Tyrie [OPR Marriages 248 000 0040 0167Z]. To add to the confusion there were two Elspet Shirrans - the other one had the maiden surname Hall, was married to a James Shirran and lost a four-year-old daughter, also Elspet, to measles in 1857 [GROS Statutory Deaths 1857 248 00 0009Z].
With this information, we can identify the two different Georges in the census. The census of 6th June 1841 lists two George Shirranes in the Tyrie area, both said to be twenty-five - which if correct gives them a date of birth between 7th June 1815 and 6th June 1816. One was at Kirktown Tyrie [Census 1841 248/00 002/00 015] and one at Muirstone [Census 1841 248/00 001/00 001], so the latter must be the correct one.
The census of 30th March 1851 shows George aged thirty-six, giving him a birthday between 31st March 1814 and 30th March 1815, living with his wife Elspet aged twenty-six and a two-year-old son James who must have been born in 1848 or 1849. They had at least one other child, George, who must have been elsewhere - see below. They were living at Muirstone: George was said to have been born in Strichen and his wife and son in Tyrie. He was a farmer of forty-five acres employing three labourers one of whom, nineteen-year-old Jamie Bone from Fraserburgh, lived with the family. On the same page of the census - so probably very close to them physically - we find seventy-two-year-old widow and head of house Christan Shirran, her unmarried twenty-eight-year-old daughter Barbara and eight-year-old granddaughter Christan Mitchell, and in another neighbouring household George's brother John Shirran and his family.
George Shirran, farmer, died at Muirstone on 28th July 1860, aged just forty-six [GROS Statutory Deaths 1860 248 00 0003Z]. The cause of death was strychnine poisoning: there is no indication as to whether this was murder, suicide or an industrial accident.
Failure of his farm does not seem to have been a factor, for the Aberdeen Journal of 3rd and 10th October 1860 carried an advertisement offering the farm at Muirston on the estate of Tyrie, "presently occupied by Widow George Shirran", to let for nineteen years from Martinmas, and described it as "containing about 71½ Acres ... The Land is in excellent condition. The incoming Tenant will receive about 28 Acres of Oats and Fodder at the Fiars Prices, and 12 Acres of Turnips at valuation." George's holding had increased considerably since the 1851 census.
If he was suicidal or recklessly careless, family financial problems might have been a factor. The Aberdeen Journal of 12th September 1860 advertised "a meeting of the creditors of the Deceased GEORGE SHIRRAN, Muirstone of Tyrie" was to be held at 2pm on the 14th at the Saltoun Arms Hotel in Fraserburgh - but at 12 noon there was a similar meering for the creditors of James Shirran, also of Muirstone but not listed as deceased. 62 Frithside Street Elspet survived until 1884, dying at 2am on 5th September at 62 Frithside Street, Fraserburgh. She was sixty, giving her a birthdate in 1823 or 1824. This is definitely the right Elspet because she is described as the widow of George Shirran, farmer, and her parents were George and Jane Lovie: her mother's maiden name seems to have been Lovie as well. She had been working as a midwife. The cause of her death is given as diarrhoea lasting sixteen days - so probably either bowel cancer, Cröhn's disease or a serious gut infection - and the fact of it was registered by her brother John of Hillhead, Tyrie. Knowing that the Elspet was a midwife and had a brother John Lovie, we can identify her and her children in the census. In 1851, her eldest son George aged five (so born in 1845 or 1846) was with his mother's parents at Hillhead [Census 1851 248 00 001 000 2 001Z], which is two thirds of a mile north-east of Muirstone. We do not know, of course, whether he was living there, or simply visiting his grandparents on the night of the census. In 1861, less than a year after her husband's death, what is probably Elspet - a widow aged thirty-five, born in Tyrie - appears as a dairymaid at a place called Witchhill in the Fraserburgh area. She was sharing accommodation with nineteen-year-old James Henderson, a gardener and domestic servant [Census 1861 196 00 006 000 2 006Z]. The children, meanwhile, were staying at Hillhead - a farm of a hundred acres - along with a John Lovie who must be Elspet's brother, since they are listed as his nephews and nieces [Census 1861 248 00 001 0010]. With them were John and Elspet's father George, now a widower, John and Elspet's sister Jean and a servant named Emma Lamb. The children of George and Elspet Shirran were all born at Tyrie and were as follows: George, aged fifteen and so born in 1845 or 1846. James, aged twelve and so born in 1848 or 1849. Jean, aged eight and so born in 1852 or 1853. Christian, aged five and so born in 1855 or 1856. In 1871 Elspet and her unmarried eighteen-year-old daughter Jane (clearly Jean by another name) were living at 2 Back Street, Fraserburgh [Census 1871 196 00 002 000 2 028Z]. Elspet was working as a midwife and Jane as a domestic servant. In 1881 Elspet was still working as a midwife and was living alone (or as alone as one can be in a house full of different families) in two rooms at 62 Frithside Street, the place where she was to die three and a half years later. Elspet's and George's son James was to emigrate to the US, and died in Chicago in 1903 after passing on the Shirran name.
Elspet survived until 1884, dying at 2am on 5th September at 62 Frithside Street, Fraserburgh. She was sixty, giving her a birthdate in 1823 or 1824. This is definitely the right Elspet because she is described as the widow of George Shirran, farmer, and her parents were George and Jane Lovie: her mother's maiden name seems to have been Lovie as well. She had been working as a midwife. The cause of her death is given as diarrhoea lasting sixteen days - so probably either bowel cancer, Cröhn's disease or a serious gut infection - and the fact of it was registered by her brother John of Hillhead, Tyrie.
Knowing that the Elspet was a midwife and had a brother John Lovie, we can identify her and her children in the census. In 1851, her eldest son George aged five (so born in 1845 or 1846) was with his mother's parents at Hillhead [Census 1851 248 00 001 000 2 001Z], which is two thirds of a mile north-east of Muirstone. We do not know, of course, whether he was living there, or simply visiting his grandparents on the night of the census.
In 1861, less than a year after her husband's death, what is probably Elspet - a widow aged thirty-five, born in Tyrie - appears as a dairymaid at a place called Witchhill in the Fraserburgh area. She was sharing accommodation with nineteen-year-old James Henderson, a gardener and domestic servant [Census 1861 196 00 006 000 2 006Z].
The children, meanwhile, were staying at Hillhead - a farm of a hundred acres - along with a John Lovie who must be Elspet's brother, since they are listed as his nephews and nieces [Census 1861 248 00 001 0010]. With them were John and Elspet's father George, now a widower, John and Elspet's sister Jean and a servant named Emma Lamb. The children of George and Elspet Shirran were all born at Tyrie and were as follows:
George, aged fifteen and so born in 1845 or 1846. James, aged twelve and so born in 1848 or 1849. Jean, aged eight and so born in 1852 or 1853. Christian, aged five and so born in 1855 or 1856.
In 1871 Elspet and her unmarried eighteen-year-old daughter Jane (clearly Jean by another name) were living at 2 Back Street, Fraserburgh [Census 1871 196 00 002 000 2 028Z]. Elspet was working as a midwife and Jane as a domestic servant. In 1881 Elspet was still working as a midwife and was living alone (or as alone as one can be in a house full of different families) in two rooms at 62 Frithside Street, the place where she was to die three and a half years later.
Elspet's and George's son James was to emigrate to the US, and died in Chicago in 1903 after passing on the Shirran name.
