The Three Brothers and Other Relations By Sandra Cairncross May 2012 Preface This account arose out of a(n extended) letter which I wrote for my father on the occasion of his 75th birthday in March 2012. I had it printed and bound and presented it to him as a keepsake of our shared Cairncross history. Growing up, I became aware of some famous namesakes – the economist, Sir Alex Kirkland Cairncross, and his daughter, Frances, also an economist, John Cairncross the spy, Cairncross the jewellers in Perth, and, from America, William O. Cairncross, the TV producer: exciting and somewhat exotic, but also unconnected from my branch. From time to time I increased my awareness of the general Cairncross history, treasuring a photocopy of Cairncross, by G.T.R . Cairncross, which my father gave me along with the History of a Forfarshire Family by AF Cairncross. This interest re-awoke a few years later, with the launch, by Ian Cairncross of The Cairncross Family Website, hosting many family trees from many different Cairncrosses. I found mine and saw I was descended from a Robert Cairncross born in 1792 who married a Margaret Ogilvie in 1819. Where did they come from? What did they do? I knew from the current family tree was that Robert died of apoplexy in Dundee in 1859, aged 67. Robert and Margaret had three sons – the three brothers referred to by Anne King. One was another Robert Cairncross, my or Robert the Dockgate Man, as I came to call him. Another was
County (1841) CAIRNCROSS Isabella F 35 Hand Loom Sacking Weaver Angus CAIRNCROSS John M 30 Joiner BORRIE Elizabeth F 12 Hand Loom Sacking Weaver Angus Figure 5 Jean Rollo in the 1841 Census Elizabeth Borrie is the natural daughter of Robert and Jean’s daughter Jean Cairncross (b. 1809), also known as Jane. She went on to marry her cousin James the Sailmaker (see Chapter 4) The lives of Robert Cairncross (b.1792) and his siblings are explored in the Chapter 3. Chapter 2: Back in Time – Grandfather Robert (b. 1769) In the previous chapter we traced the antecedents of The Brothers, back to Fife where their father Robert was born in 1792 and their paternal grandfather, also called Robert, was born in 1769. Their grandfather was a wright/joiner and married Jean Rollo, also from Fife. Robert senior and Jean moved to Dundee when Robert junior was a child. The story of the latter is told in the next chapter, Putting Down Roots. In this chapter we explore the background of the grandfather of The Three Brothers, Robert Cairncross, born in Logie in 1769, starting with his younger sister Mary. A Family in Fife As we saw in Chapter 1, in 1769 a son, Robert Cairncross, was born to Patrick Cairncross and Isabele Henderson, who had married on the 14th Dec 1765. In addition to Robert, Scotland’s People suggests Patrick and Isabele had three other children, if we accept that Patrick and Peter are commonly interchanged, and that Carncross is a common of Cairncross. Parent Names Frame No. S e x City/ County GROS Data 1 MARY PATRICK CAIRNCROSS/ISABEL HENDERSON FR163 F /FIFE 445/00 0010 0157 2 PETER CAIRNCROSS/ISABELL HENDERSON FR144 M /FIFE 445/00 0010 0138 3 PATRICK CAIRNCROSS/ISABEL HENDERSON FR154 M /FIFE 445/00 0010 0148 4 JEAN PETER CARNCROSS/ F /FIFE 445/00 0010 0167