The Extended Family of Fowler’s & Sinclair’s
Having attended a recent Funeral in Aberdeen, I was handed a Genealogy Tree for the Fowler Family and this Links to the Wood & Masson Families & also Guyan. The Families Linked around the Doonies, Portlethen, Fittie, & Torry and had long associations with Piloting, the Fishing & Shipbuilding Industries. A great grandfather David Wood – known as ‘Daedie‘ a name for the Head of the Family was reputed to have crafted all the Rowing Dingy’s & Pleasure Craft used on the Dee for Casual Hire Boatyards post-War. I remember him sitting outside the Boatyard Buildings on the Dee Strand smoking his pipe. My own full name is Edward Masson Fowler and my father was Alexander Wood Fowler son of John Wood Fowler from the ‘Doonies’. The Family tree mentions addresses at 10 & 21 South Square for the 1881 Census and some of these names appear other Lists. The Tree goes back to William Foular, 1756 from the Nigg Area. Born in 1941 – I grew up in Castle Terrace and the whole Harbour area was my Playground and my mother always pointed to Homes in the old Fishing Village Community of Fittie saying I had relatives who lived there. Her ashes were scattered on the Sea Beach in front of Auld Fittie. She grew up in the Shiprow & Clarence Street, Fittie
Yer page marked Family Names, when I opened it couldn’t believe it my Family name was there Guyan from Fittie. I traced them back to the mid 1700‘s My G-G Grandfather John Smith Noble, died in the great Storm off the Aberdeen Coast on Wednesday 28th April, 1880
Through my own Research of the Fisherfolk I have come across many of the same family names and I have connections with the Masson Family – most likely originating in the Portlethen area. You’ll probably find quite a few names scattered over my Webpages that have relevance to yourself. In addition there’s a lot of stuff out there on Portlethen, Fittie and of course Torry! I think if you were to investigate further you will find all kinds of interesting connections. I hope you’ll continue to dig backwards – but don’t forget to record your own life & family. I have no doubt your mother was extremely proud of her heritage – and rightly so. All the names you mention were hard-working souls who had a tough life and sometimes dangerous existence. All the best, Colin A Milne.
Sinclair – Of course, many new Branches of the Sinclair Family were established by younger sons who remained in Scotland or left the Country to begin a new life, including ‘natural’ sons who carried the name but were denied any legitimacy because they were born outside of marriage. Also, many Farmers working on the Estates owned by the Sinclair’s took their Landowner’s name for their children, a common occurrence in Feudal Scotland. In consequence, it is impossible to be sure who of the many Sinclair’s around the world are descendants of the 1st William de St Clair of Roslin.
Mother was illegitimate and to spare the shame of my Grandmothers Family she was born & initially brought up in what she called ‘Cooscadden‘ in Glasgow. On a visit to Glasgow I bought a Map and searched vainly for the Borough, District – Cou, Koo, etc and seemed to be failing when it suddenly leapt off the page at me – Cowscadden (The Scottish Coo!) in the tall Tenement heights of Central Glasgow then full of Poor Families and now a very fashionable part of the Town with steep Hills and adequate Economic Hotels converted from former large but really Grand Tenements. Her mother eventually married a Glaswegian ‘Barra‘ Man (John Mitchell Christie) despite her past shame and new daughter Frances. Such was the age then and nothing changes with Procreation it seems.
Bert Sinclair was an inveterate Gambler & Bookmaker in Rosemount and had lived in a Tenement in old Queen Street at the end of Lodge Walk but made Mogin’s a’ money on his Illegal Betting as Banker with the ‘Crown & Anchor’ Gamblers on Sunday morning Sessions at Murcar Dunes – my brutish old man was his Bodyguard. (Some Bodyguard – I clean KO’d him with a single punch when I was just 16-yrs old – but then I fully anticipated a prompt & vengeful death for my impetuousness, but fate was kind to the brave but skinny wee 9-stone Warrior following my pretentious Stag-like challenge to his Omnipotent Status as Head of the Herd. My fearful fisticuff but unvengeful Father died of Bowel Cancer aged only 49-yrs). Bert used his Gambling proceeds to buy a Grand Hoose in Nigg, above Torry – easier life for some then eh.
Bert, Alec, John, Archie & wife Jane, Annie, Magdalene / Frances Sinclair
21st April 1943 (Wednesday)
Jane Mary Falconer Benzies Sinclair aged 38-yrs nee Stewart wife of Cpl Archibald Sinclair and also known as ‘Jeannie‘ was Strafed by 13 or 15mm Gunfire from a German Bomber, a Dornier 217E Enemy Aircraft returning to Nazi Occupied Stavanger, Norway while she was walking to Shelters in Powis Circle, she died of her Stomach wound(s) at Foresterhill Hospital on 22nd April 1943. She was living with her Sister-in-law Magdalene Christie at 6-Powis Circle while her husband Archie was a Corporal in the Army. The Attack was the worst of 34 separate German Air Raids on Aberdeen City. She was buried at Trinity Cemetery in Aberdeen. They had 2-sons, Stanley, Archie & a daughter, Bella. Husband Archibald was later promoted to Sergeant. The 19-yr-old Jane married 20-yr-old Archibald Wilson Sinclair. Jane was listed at staying at 101 Commerce Street Aberdeen, and Archibald at 122 Park Street in Aberdeen. Jane worked as a Fish Worker & Archibald as a Fish Buyer. Marital Accommodation in Aberdeen was then in very short Supply and Jane was staying with her Sister-in-law Magdelene (nee Sinclair) at the time of her death..
Four Generations ~ Great Grandmother Sinclair with daughter Magdalene (in her 40’s) right her Daughter Frances (aged 24) left and her eldest Jack Fowler (aged 4) on 6th October 1940. Sandy aged 3-yrs was absent.
Christie
John Mitchell Christie – (Pronounced Christ-ee) a Glaswegian from the Gorbal’s Barra’land and a very fly ‘Barra’ Man; took a fancy to Magdelene Sinclair and returned to Aberdeen with her and produced his own Family of 9 survivors – Kathy’s twin brother died. The entire Family and parents lived in various addresses in Aberdeen, Shiprow, Clarence Street, Sandilands Drive included, before finally ending up in 6-Powis Circle part of the old Powis Estate. They were all Girls except for uncle Roy who was born at the same time as my mothers own 1st born Jack. Both Uncle and his Nephew were exactly the same age Mother & Daughter fell pregnant in the same year. ‘Jake‘ Christie as he was known was an inveterate Gambler, opportunist Trader and went so mad with drink that his party piece was to smash through doors with the ‘heid‘. It must have been fabricated in Govan.
Frances Sinclair, Meg, Doreen (Wi the droopy Drawers), Kathy (Katy Clocky wi’ the Dirty Dockie), Sarah, Bella, Annie, and lastly Roy the only son born at the same time as his nephew Jack Fowler.
Fowler’s
John Wood Fowler was my paternal Grandfather who hailed from the ‘Doonies‘ (Downies) a clifftop Village overlooking Cammachmore Bay and he had 9 children with his Wife Lily from Portlethen – all boys except 2 girls and one infant death. – Nothing else to do but go to bed it seems. Although from a White Fisher Community he preferred the Land and was a keen gardener at his new Tenement home on Grampian Road, then complete with internal bathroom in Torry (unheard of in former slum Tenements). Although naturally right-handed he practised with a Riveting Hammer till he could hit anything fair & square with a ‘Southpaw Swing’ thus securing an advantage Wage as a left-handed Riveter a necessary adjunct for Shipbuilding & awkward corners.
Lily, Alexander, Alfred, David, Andrew, Robert, George, Ella.
Downies (Doonies)
This is a small Fishing Village situated in the South-east corner of the Parish, on the Estate of Clashfarquhar, formerly owned by the Thomsons of Banchory, but now by the University of Aberdeen. Dr Morison, in his Account of the Parish in 1792, states that only one Yawl fished from the Village in that year. There were now 6-Boats, Employing 27-Hands, engaged in the Haddock Fishing, which is the only Industry the inhabitants engage in. The Coast in the neighbourhood is particularly Rocky, and many a Vessel has been Wrecked in the vicinity. In 1639, when Aberdeen was besieged by William Keith the 7th Earl Marischal, many of the Citizens sought shelter among the rocks along the Coast, where they suffered much Privation.
Wood’s
White Fisherfolk from Portlethen who were drawn to Torry to work in the Fish Industry which boomed with the advent of Steam Trawlers. There own earlier survival was hard enough setting out to Sea in open Sailing-boats and living off the Ocean’s bounty or Shoreland shellfish and salt blasted heathland.
Fisherfolk Wood’s
The present Wood Family can be traced back in the 18th & 19thC to the small fishing Villages & Communities of the Kincardineshire Parishes of Fetteresso (8.75 x 5.25 miles in size with a population of 5541 in 1881) and Banchory-Devenick (3 x 5 miles with 8801 people in 1881). These Parishes are located along the treacherous 10-mile Coastline between Stonehaven & Aberdeen. This Coast, facing across the cold & turbulent North Sea (then called the ‘German’ Sea) to Norway, consists of steep, almost perpendicular Cliffs, with the occasional Sheltered Coves. It was in the Fishing Villages & Hamlets built on top of these Cliffs of the North East Fringe that the Wood’s & Masson’s struggled to survive on what they could take from the Sea. In the 18thC most boats were owned by the ‘Laird‘- appointed Skipper who held the Fishing-Boats directly from the Proprietor. The Fishermen also had to help with digging Peats and bringing in the Harvest. In addition to paying Rent for his Boat, the Skipper had to lay aside a ‘boat’s deal‘ from every catch, and during the year had to provide the Proprietor with a 100 haddocks, 3 large cod. Each Fisherman also had to provide the ‘Laird‘ with a life-saving pint of Fish oil – harvested from Halibut & Cod Livers such as the Norse Vikings did before them.
Fishermen tended to marry young women from a similar background, brought up in a Fishing Village. Not surprisingly in such small Communities, many of these Families were already related before they were married. Local Historian & Fish Processing Expert J J Waterman records in his Study of Aberdeen and the Fishing Industry in the 1870s that Masson & Wood were typical surnames of Fisherfolk in the Villages along the Coast; Christie, Leiper & Johnstone were other common surnames. The men ‘White Fishermen‘ fished from midnight till dawn. ‘White‘ Fishing was done with baited lines from which hung ‘sneeeds‘, lines of twine finer than the line itself, which were hooked. The complete line was divided into strings each with 100 to 120 separately baited hooks. An ordinary line contained 8, 9 or 10 strings so the number of hooks to be baited could be fairly numerous. The women, who had been up since 3 or 4am carrying peats or collecting bait from the Rocks (usually consisting of mussels & limpets), shelled the molluscs & baited the lines. Mussels were prolific in Montrose, where they grew in quantities in the Fresh & Saltwater of the Basin.
When the Boats returned the women would take the catch to Aberdeen Fish Market (Castle St, Fisher Row, and later Market Street in baskets on their backs, then return home to continue with their everyday household affairs. A Fisherman after all his expenses was lucky if he made £10 annually. Most Fishermen could not afford to have their children educated, and with large families to support, the children were also worked hard. The girls started gathering bait at the age of 10 and by the age of 12, they were usually placed in ‘service’ as ‘domestic servants‘ for the Lairds. The boys were already at Sea with their Elders. While researching the Family, Susan Buyers (daughter of James Thomson & Margaret Wood) came across many cases of young children from babies to toddlers who died due to household accidents such as scalding. The implication being that they were often left in the care of older brothers & sisters, while their Parents were working.) The Fishing Communities of Stranathro (today known as Muchalls), Portlethen, Downies, Findon, Cove, Cookney, Newtonmill, Skateraw, and Cowie, South of Aberdeen, are all more or less alike both in situation & appearance, small Villages of up to 40 or 50 houses, with 4 or 5 dominant Family names.
The “Isabella” Tragedy
Further up the Coast towards Portlethen, the small Fishing Village of Downies (Doonies) was home to other relations the Woods. Moses Wood Sr, and his wife Isabella (married in 1818) had a daughter, also called Isabella who, in 1859, married James Wood. On the same day as the Loss of ‘The Brothers of Skateraw‘, James Wood’s Fishing Yawl, the “Isabella“, was also swamped in the ‘Great Storm‘ and the entire Crew drowned. Another of the Crew, George Wood, had only been married a fortnight. The Crew of the “Isabella” were: Moses Wood, Sr, married and his 2 sons James Wood & Moses Wood Jr (both unmarried); James Wood, married, leaving a family of 7); James Wood, unmarried & George Wood, married, both nephews of Moses Wood Sr. Their bodies were never recovered. Another Wood, not mentioned in the Newspaper Article was John Wood, husband of Mary (Christie) and father of 10 children, including Helen Wood (later to marry her 1st cousin John Christie) who were subsequently brought up by the extended Christie/Wood/Leiper/Masson Families. Helen & George, for example, were brought up by George Wood and his wife Isabella (Leiper).
The week after the Tragedy, on Wednesday 28 April 1880, a Memorial Meeting was held at 1pm in the Douglas Hotel and a Relief Fund set up for the Families of the Drowned Fishermen from Skateraw, Downies & Footdee. The Fund was organised by Robert W Duff of Fetteresso Castle, Stonehaven, who launched the Fund with a £20 donation.
According to Family tradition, after witnessing the loss of her husband, one of the great-great-grandmothers left her children with relatives and went home to bed, which she never left, dying shortly afterwards of a broken heart. Perhaps another Victim of the ‘Great Storm‘ was Isabella Wood’s son, 20-year old James, another nephew of Moses, who died of Phthisis Pulmonalis (Tuberculosis) on 5th October 1880 just 5 months after his father was lost at Sea.
Masson: The Masson‘s (French for Mason) were Portlethen Fisherfolk people and Edward Masson was married to Lily Fowler. The Portlethen Church Cemetery is full of Wood’s & Masson’s and a twa-three Fowlers.
Doric Columns 