FRASER

FRASER MAIN LINE

Parents; Thomas Fraser, b Inverness 25 January 1906, d Aberdeen 27 July 1980, m Margaret Ruth Barron b Aberdeen, 23 November 1913 d Aberdeen 23 September 1993.

Grandparents; Hugh Fraser, b Inverness 23 April 1868, d Addiewell, West Calder, 8 June 1916, m Janet (Jessie) Duff, Dennistoun, Glasgow, 17 October 1902 b Aberdeen 27 August 1868 d Aberdeen 25 October 1958.

Gt Grandparents; Thomas Fraser, b Inverness 28 October 1834, d Inverness 29 April 1902, m 26 December 1856 Mary Elder Inverness, baptised Inverness 9 July 1830, d Inverness 29 April 1902

Gt Gt Grandparents; Donald Fraser b between 1804 & 1811, d 13 February 1865 Lochend, m Catherine Fraser 13 September 1833 Inverness b about 1811, Inverness, d 26 January 1857, Mill of Tore, Inverness.

Gt Gt Gt Grandparents; Thomas Fraser b 1786, d 11 February 1855 Midtown, Lochend, m 1806/7 Margaret Fraser b about 1786 Inverness, Inverness.

Gt Gt Gt Gt Grandparents; Donald Fraser m Catherine Cameron.

Main Fraser Line

Donald Fraser; a weaver, m Catherine Cameron, Gt Gt Gt Gt Grandparents.

Next Generation

Thomas Fraser; Gt Gt Gt Grandfather, labour and farmer, b 1786 Torgormack, Kilmorack, d 11 February 1855, Midtown of Lochend, married 1806/7, Inverness, Inverness, Margaret Fraser b about 1786 Inverness, Inverness.

Next Generation

Donald Fraser; Gt Gt Grandfather, sawyer and labourer of Lochend Inverness, b between 1804 and 1811, his Death Certificate says 1811 but his father's death certificate and the IGI give dates nearer 1805, d Lochend Inverness 13 February 1865, married, in 13 September 1833 Catherine Fraser of Balchraggan, Parish of Abriachan,b about 1815, she died 26 January 1857, Mill of Torre, Dunain. The 1851 Census has some family at 70 Lochend, Inverness.

Her parents were Farquhar Fraser, he was at times a labourer and crofter b 1787 d 1870 Balchraggan, married on 4 January 1811, Inverness, Inverness, Catherine McDonald b 1801 Balchraggan d 1862 Inverness, in 1841 they were at 13 Abriachan Balchraggan. Farquhar's parents were Andrew Fraser and Catherine McDonald and Catherine McDonald's were Duncan McDonald and Janet McKenzie.

Donald's Fraser's siblings were, John about 1808, Ann 1821, Catherine about 1813 and William 1823.

Catherine Fraser's siblings were, John 1815, Duncan 1817, Andrew c 1820, Janet c 1822, Ann c 1823, Donald c 1829 and Neil 1835.

Next Generation

Thomas Fraser; Gt Grandfather, was born in Inverness, probably Lochend, 28 October 1834, he died at 4 Duff Street, Inverness 30 December, 1902. In 1865 he lived at 52 Tomnahurich Street, Inverness.

He married Mary Elder 26 December 1856 in Married in Free Church of Scotland's East Church, Inverness, 29 Dec 1856. She was baptised in Inverness 9 July 1830, d Inverness 29 April 1902 (both at 4 Duff Street).

Her parents were Hugh Elder, b Inverness 17 January 1805 and m 7 April 1827 Mary Fraser in Inverness. They had another daughter Margaret born Inverness 20 June 1832. Mary's grandparents were Alexander Elder born 1778, Inverness, he married Mary Fraser, 14 February 1803, Inverness. The grandparents may have had 7 other children, Alexander, Grizel, William, Margaret, Mary, Ann (she married a William Forbes and lived with her father and family, daughter Mary, at 49 Tomnahurrich Street, Inverness, in 1851, census, she was born 15 November 1819, Inverness and died 2 April 1895, in Cowgate Dundee) and James. Alexander's father was William Elder, born about 1742, he married Mary McDonald, they only seem to have had the one child.

Duff Street played a large part in the life of the family, died at number four, within months of each other in 1902. In 1906 my father was born at number eighteen, so at some point after marrying, Thomas's father hugh must have settled there with his wife jessie. Both houses are now demolished but the copyright photo from the Highland Council Archives gives a good idea what it was like, by the 1900s, were being replaced by slates, and gas street lighting came in. Click to enlarge this image.

A John Ahearn came across this site and emailed to say his family lived at 4 Duff Street, where my grandparents both died in 1902, till they moved in 1967. My father was born a few doors away at number 18, in 1906, so his grandfather would have known him. John also sent me a couple of photos of number four Duff Street. We visited in the early 60s, before it was demolished and it was so run down, dad was tickled by the thought that he was born in a byre.

Left 4 Duff Street

Right looking towards King Street

My grandfather John Ahearn and his family moved from 3 King St into 4 Duff St sometime around 1905 (?) and his family and the next generation, my family, lived there until 1967 (I was 14 then). The house was refurbished sometime after that and had various occupiers but sadly was demolished in the early 1980's. The picture you have of Duff St on your site is actually of lanes or 'Closes' running at right angles off Duff St and were called Fraser's Close, Chisholm's Close, Bisset's Close and some others which were demolished very early in the 20th century. No. 18 would have faced directly on to these Closes. In the foreground of my picture is 4 Duff Street around the late 1970's and looking down Duff Street it shows that the row where no. 18 would have been has all been demolished.
The picture on the right is looking in the opposite direction into King St. The old corner shop in no.2 Duff Street and the next door is 2A for the flat above. The shop was a grocer's and traded until about 1970 and I'd taken this picture not long after that. No. 16 was derelict when I was a kid in the early 60's and actually was used by squatters for quite a time. John Ahearn

Thomas Fraser's siblings; were James 16 Sept 1830, Hugh 13 June 1833, Donald 30 June 1839, who may have ended up working on the railways in Forfarshire. Grace 14 September 1841, Farquhar 13 September 1836, may have been a gamekeeper, John 14 February 1839 and William 5 August 1843, although the 1851 census has a William aged 2 amongst them, living at 27 Telford Road, Inverness, there are also a possible Ann b 1846, Margaret 1837 and Catherine b 1841, siblings, as well, all Inverness born. Donald and John's dates are too close together, so there seems to be an error somewhere. I have had one firm contact from an ancestor of John born 14 February 1839, at Lochend Inverness, he worked as an attendant in the Local Asylum but later became a Grieve. He married 13 September 1867, a Jessie MacLellan in Inverness Free Kirk, she was born in Knockbain in 1840 and died 13 April 1884.

Next Generation

Hugh Fraser; Grandfather, was born at 52 Tomnahurich Street, Inverness, 23 April 1868, he died at Brucehill, Addiewell, West Calder, Midlothian, 8 June 1916.

He married Janet (Jessie) Duff at 294 Castle Street, Dennistoun, Glasgow, 17 October 1902, on a special licence, sometime soon after his demob from the Black Watch, he rejoined the Black Watch for the Boer War. She was born, illegitimate, in Aberdeen, 27 August 1868 and died Aberdeen 25 October 1958. Her parents did live together and were Alexander Duff, Chelsea Out Pensioner, born 1814 in Midlothian, died Murrays Court, 22 Loch Street, Aberdeen 20 December 1872 and Janet (Jessie) Watson born Aberdeen 21 June 1826, died after 1902. They had one son Alexander born, illegitimate, in Aberdeen, 20 November 1863, died Abt. 14 May 1928, Aberdeen and is buried in Allenvale Cemetery Aberdeen in the same grave as his wife, Mary Ann Copeland and his sister. Janet (Jessie) Duff snr nee Watson's parents were Alexander Watson and Janet Paterson b Aberdeen married, 27 September 1829, Glasgow Lanark, possibly. Jessie snr's (Watsonsiblings were William 1828, George 1831, Robert 1833 all b Aberdeen.

Hugh's siblings were Alexander b 21 May 1859, Donaldina 5 September 1856 & Ann 8 October 1864, these are living at the same address, 15 Telford Street, Inverness, in the 1881 census, also in the IGI but possibly left home or deceased by 1881 (I've checked these all, individually, in the IGI which, although fallible, is more accurate than the census, therefore, I believe there is a high chance these dates are correct) Catherine 31 August 1857*, Mary Ann 14 August 1861, Margaret 14 August 1861 (twins?), Mary 25 September 1862, all the siblings are Inverness, Inverness. *Catherine married James Norrie (1858 - 1926) for more information go to the excellent Norrie Family site.

Next Generation

Thomas Fraser father, was born 25 January 1906, Inverness, died 27 July 1980, Aberdeen. He worked in a coalmine near West Calder, West Lothian and the Caledonian Hotel, Edinburgh in the 1920s,he was involved in the 1926 General Strike, from 1928 till he retired he worked for the Gas Board, first as a Stoker and then as a Boosterman and was a very active lay member (National Executive and Regional Chairman) of the GMB Union. During WWII he saw service with the RAF, from 1940, first on barrage balloons in London, the Forth Bridge and Clydebank and then from 1943-1945 he was an airframe mechanic in India, China, Ceylon.

He married Margaret Ruth Barron, 6 February 1937 at St Machars Cathedral, Aberdeen. She was born 23 November 1913, 42 Kintore Place, Rosemount, Aberdeen, died 23 September 1993, Aberdeen. She was a bakery assistant before marriage and ran then owned a paper shop on Broomhill Road, Aberdeen in the 1960/70s. She had five brothers, William R T, Jim, Charlie, Robert and Jack, and one sister Isabella (Tibbie), born 11 November 1914. During WWII she lived in Edinburgh.

Thomas Fraser had one sibling; Jessie Elder Fraser,see picture top left of the two children and their mum around 1908. Jessie was born 6 June 1904, Inverness, died 3 rd March 1981, Blackburn, West Lothian, she married a David Reston born 3 June 1902, he died 26 April 1968, Blackburn, West Lothian.

Next Generation

Then there's me, Graeme, see picture top right and also my brother Colin. The family stayed at 24 Allan Street, Aberdeen, in my late Gt uncle Alexander Duff's tenement flat, from 1928 to 1967. We had an outside toilet, all that time, try getting there, down two flights of stairs, in an Aberdeen winter!

Next Generation

My only son Brodie Davidson Fraser, born 10 February 1976, killed by a car, 30 November 1997, St Andrews Day, near Nottingham. The photo, bottom right, is of his memorial tree, at The National Trust for Scotland's, Castle Fraser.
Colin's family continues the Fraser line.

FULLER FAMILY TREE