#52Ancestorsin52Weeks John Forfar - 1764 - ? Social - Textile
Week 20/52
John FORFAR
– 1764 - ? (by 1842)
Ahnentafel
Number 112
Context
for discovery:
This
biography was written as part of the 52 ancestors in 52 weeks exercise devised
by Amy Johnson Crow. You can join in too
here. The theme for this month is Social and this week is textile.
Amy says:
Week 20's theme is "Textile." Clothing, quilts, weaving -- there are so many ways to talk about textiles in our family history! Be creative with this week's theme!
In Week 15 I
wrote a biography of my 3rd great-grandfather Robert Forfar.
He was baptised on 6 November 1817 and his parents identified as John
Forfar and Isabella Rae. His father was
deceased by the time Robert married in 1842.
John,
Robert’s father, was my 4th great-grandfather. He has been variously described as a
manufacturer and woollen manufacturer on his children’s marriage certificates.
Timeline
dates written in red on the right hand side of the test are sourced from
Rosemary Bigwood’s The Scottish family tree detective: Tracing your ancestors
in Scotland[i]
Map showing the places where John Forfar lived in his lifetime
Childhood
1760-1820 George III
1761 Second Secession: formation of the Relief Church
Birth
Date/Place:
A John Forfar was recorded as being born to James Forfar and Isabel Gallaway at Bannockburn on 17 June 1764.[ii] John’s parents were married 22 May 1757.[iii]
According to James Mackison's history of the Forfar family in Bannockburn found on a RootsChat forum, James was a weaver who acquired a block of land to build a house in Bannockburn in 1762 and retired to Balquhidderock in 1808.
Baptism
Date/Place:
John was one
of eight children that I have been able to find in Scotland’s People.
1. Janet born 1758[iv]
2. Thomas born 1760[v]
3. James born 8th August 1762
witnessed by congregation in Bannockburn[vi]
4. John born 1764
5. Isabel born 29 June 1766 at
Bannockburn witnessed by Congregation at Bannockburn[vii]
6. Robert born 13th March 1768
at Balquhidderock witnessed by Congregation[viii]
7. Margaret born 22 July 1770 at
Balquhidderock witnessed by Congregation[ix]
8. William born 22nd November
1772 at Bannockburn[x]
Bannockburn
and Balquhidderock
Bannockburn
is part of the parish of St Ninians. It
is probably most famous for the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 between the army
of the King of Scots Robert the Bruce and the army of King Edward II of
England.
According to
the Statistical Account of Scotland from 1796 these are the pertinent facts:
“The most considerable manufacture is carried on at Bannockburn. Of late cotton-cloth, and for a long time, all the tartan used by the army, has been manufactured at this village…..Price of Labour – a weaver 14d per day;….mason 20d per day….in the year 1755 the population returned to Dr Webster, amounted to 6,491. In 1792, it amounted to 7,079. It is beyond a doubt , that the population of the parish is increasing… Manufacturers and others – The education and manners of our manufacturers so nearly resemble the education and manners of our farmers, that a description of the latter in a great measure supersedes the necessity of describing the former.”[xi]
Balquhidderock
is just north of Bannockburn as you can see in the map below. It is known locally as Bluebell Wood.[xii] There are some who argue that this is in fact
the site of the original battle.[xiii]
1782 bad harvests and
famine in the Highlands
1789 French Revolution
1790-1840 rapid growth of
textile industries
1793 -1815 French
Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
[xiv]
Married Life
Marriage
Dates/Places:
John Forfar
married Isabel Rae 5th December 1801[xv]
Children’s
Birth Dates/Places:
1. Helen registered 2 July 1804[xvi]
witnesses Relief Residence Bannockburn. Married Thomas DOUGAL(L) 14 October
1827[xvii],
builder. Helen died 23 July 1887,
father John Forfar, manufacturer (deceased) and Isabella Forfar M.S. Rae
(deceased)[xviii]
2. Jean birth registered 15 May 1806[xix]
witnesses Relief Residence Bannockburn.
Married Robert ARCHIBALD, farmer 1831[xx]
died 1892.[xxi]
3. Isabella birth registered 23 May 1808[xxii],
witnesses Relief Residence Bannockburn.
Married James MUNRO/DONALDSON in 1834[xxiii],
weaver and died 1886[xxiv],
aged 77, father John Forfar, Manufacturer (deceased) and Isabella Forfar m.s.
Rae (deceased)
4. Alexander birth registered 24 May
1812[xxv]
witnesses Relief Residence Bannockburn.
Died 1877[xxvi],
woollen weaver, married to Jane/Jean STIRLING in 1845[xxvii],
father John Forfar (woollen manufacturer -deceased) and mother Isabella Forfar
M.S. Rae (deceased)
5. Robert was baptized on 6 November 1817[xxviii], and married Lucy Swait on 30 January 1842[xxix]. Stonemason.
Unable to find death.
Religion
You may have noticed in the birth
registrations above for John’s children that the witnesses were noted as “Relief”. At
first, I thought this was something to do with the family being on relief as in poor laws. However, Smout advises that:
“ the Church of Scotland…split badly in the eighteenth century. In 1740 the General Assembly expelled four ministers led by Ebenezer Erskine, the minister of Stirling, who had formed the most implacable opposition to the Patronage Act. ….The secession of 1740 ultimately resulted in the emergence not of one but four dissenting Presbyterian churches, the Old Licht Burgehers and the New Licht Burghers, the Old Licht Anti-Burghers and the New Licht Anti-Burghers….A second secession from the Church of Scotland in 1752 produced yet another body, the Relief Church, led by Thomas Gillespie of Dunfermline. It had little in common with the churches of the first secession, being much more liberal in outlook and influenced by English non-conformists.”[xxx]
You can read
about the history of St Ninians United Free Church here. And the history
of Stirling’s churches here. I thought it interesting to note that while
it was a small congregation (74 in 1792), ‘they were strong enough to have the
need for their new ‘hymnbook’, the first Scottish Presbyterian hymnbook ever to
be compiled, reprinted in Stirling in 1804.
1820-1830 George IV
1820-1840 Decline in handloom
weaving; distress of weavers
l [xxxi]
Commercial
Directories
The first evidence of John Forfar as a manufacturer appears in the Glasgow Directory in 1820.[xxxii]
Jim Mackison says that John operated as a carpet manufacturer but retained interests in Bannockburn. Jim says that "amazingly the ruins of part of the carpet factory owned by the Forfar family at Carpet Close are still standing." He also says that "the Forfars built property described as "at the Bridge of Bannockburn" on the north side of the valley on the road called "The Path". I understand much of Jim's research was through Sasine records which I haven't tackled/found yet.
There is a magnificent document published by the government providing an illustrated appraisal of the Bannockburn Conservation Area. There are many photos and maps in it which I think show the areas that Jim talks about. You can find it here https://bit.ly/3lQvPMh
Woollen Trade
I was not able to find terribly much of use online unsurprisingly. I would like to get hold of Norman Murray's book on weavers perhaps via Interlibrary loan as it seems quite expensive to purchase and no copies seem available in Australia. But what I managed to learn from an article on Electric Scotland was this:
" The date at which carpet-weaving was begun in Scotland cannot be stated exactly, but it is certain that the trade was of limited extent until an enterprising firm in Kilmarnock took it up in 1777, and laid the foundation of the celebrity which that town has since enjoyed for its carpets Kilmarnock was not long in rivalling Kidderminster, and forty years ago had nearly a thousand looms employed in weaving Brussels, Venetian, and Scotch carpets. The average annual value of the carpets made in Kilmarnock during the past forty or fifty years has been over L.100,000. Though Kilmarnock has occupied the foremost place in the trade, a considerable quantity of carpeting is manufactured in other Scotch towns—chiefly Glasgow, Paisley, Bannockburn, Aberdeen, and Ayr. The manufacture had been introduced and had flourished for a time in a number of towns in which it is now unknown. Edinburgh, for instance, early possessed a carpet factory, and one firm in the city is identified with an important improvement in the manufacture. Now, with the exception of a small factory at Canonmills, the trade is extinct in the city itself, having been transplanted to the neighbouring village of Lasswade about thirty years ago.
In 1825 it was estimated that there were between 1000 and 1200 carpet weavers in Scotland, and of these about 800 were in Kilmarnock. Each weaver produced about six yards of carpet a-day, and was paid at the rate of 3id. to 4i-d. a-yard. The selling prices of the goods ranged from 2s. 9d. to 3s. 9d. a-yard. A considerable quantity was exported to the United States, and the other markets beyond Scotland were London and Dublin. In 1840, 900 looms were employed in the carpet trade, and the wages of the weavers were from 11s. to 18s. a-week. "https://electricscotland.com/history/industrial/industry9.htm
Bankruptcy
 |
| 17 May 1827 Edinburgh Gazette, p. 142 |
 |
| 19 May 1827 The Scotsman page 8 |
John is
listed again in the 1828[xxxiii]
& 1830 Glasgow Post Office Directories.
There is a
John Forfar listed in the Edinburgh Post Office Directory for 1825 and 1830-31[xxxiv],
teacher and also records for his diary[xxxv],
held at the National Library of Scotland but at this stage, I think it unlikely
to be our John Forfar.
I found
trial papers relating to Charles Cairns, John Burden and John Forfar in the
High Court of Justiciary Trial Papers via the Scottish Indexes website. [xxxvi]
However the price of ordering a copy of the Precognition, Trial Papers and
Trial Minutes is £45 and a bit beyond my budget at the
moment. Maybe a Christmas present???? I could not find any account of the trial in British
Newspapers Archive or information about the other accused people. The crime took place at Bridgegate Street
Glasgow and the trial was set for 12 January 1831. John was accused of “Reset of theft” which I
understand to mean receiving stolen goods.
1830-1837 William IV
1831-33 Cholera epidemic
1837-1901 Victoria
1845 Poor Law Act: setting
up of Parochial Boards
Senior
Years
It is difficult to be certain what happened to John Forfar in his senior years. I am unable to find him in census records and suspect he died before the 1851 Census. I have written to the Stirling Archives to see if they may be able to shed any more light on his life.
Date and
place of Death
Unknown –
best conclusion at this stage is a death for a John Forfar in Uxbridge in
1844. I will order the certificate and
see if it is ours.
John is
recorded as being deceased on his son Robert’s marriage certificate to Lucy Swait
in 1845. There was a John Forfar in the
Asylum where Lucy worked as a laundress before she married Robert. That John was an upholsterer so could be our
John. I will report more once the certificate has been ordered and received. I could also see if a researcher in London
would be willing to go to the London Metropolitan Archives and explore the
records of the Hanwell Asylum for me to see when John Forfar was admitted etc.[xxxvii]
Other
options are Glasgow & West of Scotland FHS which has its own database which
shows a John Forfar dying in Glasgow but no record of the year.
Buried
?
Conclusion
My grateful thanks to other researchers I have met who are also researching the Forfars - particularly Sue Van Dijk who copied me in on notes from Jim Mackison of Newcastle upon Tyne found on rootschat (https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=43513.18)
and David Chalmers descended from Helen Forfar and Thomas Dougall who sent me photos of Bannockburn and the mill workers and shared his memories of the sounds of the last hand looms in Bannockburn.
Music
Anyone who watched Outlander may remember this scene which I thought might be relevant - it's not carpets of course, but it is about the work of weavers.
.
[i]
Bigwood, Rosemary The Scottish family tree detective: Tracing your ancestors
in Scotland, Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 2006
[ii] 17/06/1764
FORFAR, John (Old Parish Registers Births 488/30 398 St Ninians) Page 398 of
592 National Records of Scotland Image generated 22 May 2022 02: 51 Scotland’s
People
[iii]
22/05/1757 GALLOWAY, ISABEL (Old Parish Registers Marriages 469/ 30 105 Airth)
Page 105 of 357 National Records of Scotland. Image generated 22 May 2022 02:56
Scotland’s People
[iv] Scotland’s People Index FORFAR Janet Parents James
Forfar and Isabel Gallaway 01/10/1758 Parish 488 Ref 30/301 St Ninians
[v] Scotland’s
People Index FORFAR THOMAS Parents James Forfar and Isabel Gallaway 07/07/1760
Parish 488 Ref 30/327 St Ninians
[vi]
08/08/1762 FORFAR, JAMES (Old Parish Registers Births 488/ 30 365 St Ninians)
Page 365 of 592 National Records of Scotland. Image generated 22 May 2022 03:04
Scotland’s People
[vii]
29/06/1766 FORFAR, Isabel (Old Parish Registers Births 488/30 431 St Ninians)
Page 431 of 592 National Records of Scotland. Image generated 22 May 2022 02:59
Scotland’s People
[viii]
13/03/1768 FORFAR, ROBERT (Old Parish Registers Births 488/30 451 St Ninians)
Page 451 0f 592 National Records of Scotland Image generated 22 May 2022 03:00
Scotland’s People
[ix]
22/07/1770 FORFAR, MARGARET (Old Parish Registers Births 488/ 30 476 St
Ninians) Page 476 of 592 National Records of Scotland. Image generated 22 May
2022 03:02. Scotland’s People
[x]
22/11/1772 FORFAR, WILLIAM (Old Parish Registers Births 488/ 30 503 St Ninians)
Page 503 of 592 National Records of Scotland.
Image generated 22 May 2022 03:01 Scotland’s People
[xiii]
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12154547.is-this-the-site-of-bruce-victory-bannockburn-was-fought-at-balquhidderock-says-historian-hired-by-stirling-council/
[xiv]
National Library of Scotland Stirlingshire, Sheet XVII Ordnance Survey Six
-inch 1st edition date: 1860,
Publication date: 1865 https://maps.nls.uk/view/228780970
[xv] 05/12/1801
FORFAR, JOHN (Old Parish Registers Marriages 488/50/389 St Ninians) Page 389 of
423 Scotland’s People accessed 18 May 2022
[xvi]
02/07/1804 FORFAR, HELEN (OLD Parish Registers Births 488/ 40 156 St Ninians)
Page 156 of 278 National Records of Scotland. Image generated 22 May 2022 04:16
[xvii]
14/10/1827 FORFAR, HELEN (Old Parish Registers Marriages 488/ 60 238 St
Ninians) Page 238 of 420 National Records of Scotland. Image generated 22 May
2022 03:24
[xviii]
1887 FORFAR, HELEN (Statutory registers Deaths 488/2 35) National Records of
Scotland. Image generated 22 May 2022 03:31
[xix] Statistical
Accounts of Scotland 1791-1845, St Ninians, County of Stirling, OSA, Vol.
XVIII, 1796 https://stataccscot.edina.ac.uk/static/statacc/dist/viewer/osa-vol18-Parish_record_for_St_Ninians_in_the_county_of_Stirling_in_volume_18_of_account_1/
[xx]
Scotland’s People index FORFAR, Jean Spouse Robert Archibald 27/11/1831 Parish 488
Ref 60/254 St Ninians
[xxi]
Scotland’s People Index ARCHIBALD JANE aged 87 Mother’s Maiden Name RAE Ref
479/403 Falkirk
[xxii]
23/05/1808 FORFAR, ISABELLA (Old Parish Registers Births 488/ 40 185 St Ninians)
Page 185 of 278 National Records of Scotland. Image generated 22 May 2022
Scotland’s People
[xxiii]
15/05/1806 FORFAR, JEAN (Old Parish Registers Births 488/ 40 166 St Ninians)
Page 166 of 278 National Records of Scotland. Image generated 22 May 2022 04:22
Scotland’s People
[xxiv]
1886 DONALDSON, ISABELLA (Statutory registers Deaths 490/105) National Records
of Scotland. Image generated 22 May 2022 03:44
[xxv]
24/05/1812 FORFAR, ALEXANDER (Old Parish Registers Births 488/. 40 226 St
Ninians) Page 226 of 278. National Records of Scotland. Image generated 22 May
2022 04:29 Scotland’s People
[xxvi]
1877 FORFAR, ALEXANDER (Statutory registers Deaths 488/2 30) National Records
of Scotland. Image generated 22 May 2022 03:52 Scotland’s People
[xxvii]
Scotland’s People index FORFAR ALEXANDER
Spouse Jean Stirling 23/11/1845 Parish 488 Ref 60/329 St Ninians
[xxviii]
06/11/1817 FORFAR, ROBERT (Old Parish Registers Births 488/ 40 265St Ninians)
Page 265 of 278. National Records of Scotland. Image generated 22 May 2022
03:54 Scotland’s People
[xxix]
Scotland’s People index FORFAR Isabella Rae Spouse James Munro/Donaldson
08/09/1834 Parish 358 Ref 20 60 Glendevon
[xxx]
Smout, T.C. A History of the Scottish People 1560-1830, William Collins
Sons & Co Ltd, London, 1987, p.217
[xxxi]
Hirschman, Elizabeth Caldwell and Yates, Donald N., When Scotland was Jewish,
McFarland & Co., Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, and London, 2007, p119
[xxxii]
[Glasgow, 1820] The Glasgow Directory: Twenty-second edition. M’FEAT, W., Glasgow. Printed by W. Lang, for
W. M’Feat, Stationer and Librarian, 105, Trongate, accessed through
Ancestry.com and online here https://deriv.nls.uk/dcn6/8327/83279212.6.pdf
[xxxiii]
[Glasgow, 1828] Glasgow Post-Office Directory, for 1828-29 First publication,
1828, ANON., Glasgow. Printed by John Graham and Co. Melville Place from
Ancestry.com
[xxxiv]
[Edinburgh, 1830] The Post Office Annual Directory for 1830-31; Twenty-fifth
publication., 1830, ANON., Edinburgh. Printed for the letter-carriers of the
General Post Office. Ballantyne & Co. Printers from Ancestry.com
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