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| Robert Bruce and Wilhilmina Inkster |
According to census records, by 1841 at age 5, Wilhilmina was living with her father (who was age 25) at High Street, in Tain. Her mother, Margaret, we assume passed away before this time - she's not listed in the census.(2) By 1851 Wilhilmina was living at 89 Commercial Street Lerwick, when she was 16 years old, supposedly with her aunt Elizabeth Walker (her father's sister?).(3) She must have gone to live with her aunt sometime after her mother passed away.
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| The Manor House in Burravoe, South Yell, Shetland, where Robert and Wilhilmina lived |
When she was 20 years old, Wilhilmina married Robert Bruce (1827-1865) on 1 May 1855 at the United Free Church of Scotland in Lerwick, on the main island of Shetland. He was 27 years old. Together, they had six children in their ten years of marriage, and for at least part of their marriage they lived in the Manor House in Burravoe on the island of Yell, Shetland, where he was a laird.
However, during their brief marriage, Robert also had 6 children with 5 other women (including one born just 2 months after Wilhilmina and Robert were married).
Of Wilhimina and Robert’s six children, it appears that she outlived 4 of them, and one passed away just a year after she did:
- Robert Bruce (1857-1892; 35 years old. Passed away en route to Australia.)
- William Bruce (1859-1860; 1 year old. Passed away from convulsions.)
- William Alfred Bruce (1860-1897; 37 years old. Died in Australia.)
- Ursilla Katherine Bruce (1862-1937; 74 years old. Deaf since childhood. This is Ella’s grandmother.)
- David Bruce (1864-Unknown, but at least 1881 as he’s listed in the Edinburgh census for that year.)
- Mary Margaret Robina Bruce (1865-1866; born one month before her father passed away; died just about 2 weeks shy of being 1 year old.)
Robert passed away in 1865, when Wilhilmina was 30 years old.(4) Five of their six children were alive at the time (with the youngest, Mary Margaret Robina being born a month before Robert’s death.
After Robert's death, Wilhilmina had another daughter (her seventh child) - Wilhelmina Johann Inkster. The father is unknown,(5) and it’s unknown how long she lived.
Notes:
When Wilhilmina was aged 34, she married for a second time to 22-year old Duncan Campbell (1847-bef 1896; a slater/roof tiler by profession) on 24 February 1870 in Lerwick. Can we assume that her four or five living children joined the household with Duncan (Robert, William Alfred, Ursilla Katherine, David...and perhaps Wilhelmina Johann, if she were still living)?
Together, Wilhilmina and Duncan had one son, Alexander Campbell, born 25 November 1870 (her eighth child). According to the 1871 Census, they were living on Commercial Street in Lerwick. In 1881, they were at 1 Crooked Lane, Lerwick, and in 1891, at 3 Crooked Lane. (6) (See below for videos of Commercial St and Crooked Lane.)
It's unclear when Duncan passed away, but apparently sometime before 1896, before Wilhilmina. She passed away on 28 December 1896 on Crooked Lane when she was 61 years old. (7)
Together, Wilhilmina and Duncan had one son, Alexander Campbell, born 25 November 1870 (her eighth child). According to the 1871 Census, they were living on Commercial Street in Lerwick. In 1881, they were at 1 Crooked Lane, Lerwick, and in 1891, at 3 Crooked Lane. (6) (See below for videos of Commercial St and Crooked Lane.)
It's unclear when Duncan passed away, but apparently sometime before 1896, before Wilhilmina. She passed away on 28 December 1896 on Crooked Lane when she was 61 years old. (7)
On our trip to Shetland in September 2014, we strolled along Commercial Street, and happened upon Crooked Lane as well, which is just off of Commercial Street, not far from Market Cross. Many of the buildings along Commercial Street seem to be original. Along Crooked Lane, however, it looked as though many had crumbled or been demolished, and there were either empty lots or newer homes that had been built. It was still intriguing, however, to walk through the quite narrow alley from Commercial Street, up Crooked Lane, imagining what life might have been like 150 years ago for these ancestors.
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| Market Cross, Commercial St, Lerwick - Sept 2014 |
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| Ella and cousin R cruising Commercial St, Lerwick. The narrow passage to Crooked Lane is up on the right, just out of view in this photo - Sept 2014 |
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| Crooked Lane, Lerwick. A quite narrow passageway up steep steps - Sept 2014 |
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| Crooked Lane, looking down toward Commercial St and the harbor. (Date unknown - Image Source) |
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Above are the facts that we can glean from available records. But as I’ve been compiling this biographical info, I yearn to know more! It seems as though life was filled with a lot of heartache for Wilhilmina - death, uncertainty, infidelity…all of which seemed a lot more common in that time period compared with today. That being said, I wonder what her outlook on life was like. Perhaps orphaned after her mother’s death, living with her aunt (a grocer), marries a laird (was such a leap in social class common?), lives in a very small community with her husband having children with five other women concurrently with her (not to mention women he might have had relations with that didn’t get pregnant), the deaths of several of her children, a child of her own out of wedlock, then marries a slater who is 12 years younger than herself after her first husband’s death (a step down in social class - did the Bruce family disown her?), and eventually buried in an unmarked grave.
What brought her joy in life? What sustained her through the hard times?
As far as I can tell, the only one of her 8 children whose lineage has continued is her oldest daughter’s, Ursilla Katherine Bruce (1862-1937), Ella’s grandmother, and the child who was deaf.(8)
When Ursilla was young, I imagine that Wilhilmina might have worried about and wondered what type of future her daughter would have with such a handicap and whether she would lead a meaningful life. But she did! Ursilla went on to marry (her husband also being deaf - John MacDonald Beattie, 1860-1936), have one child of her own (Ella’s mother, Ursula Katherine, who went by "Kate"), who had 2 children (Ella and her sister), and between those sisters, their posterity is over 100 strong (between Ella and her sister’s children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren)!
I hope that Wilhilmina smiles down from heaven on us, seeing that conditions and relationships improve with each generation. Believing that family relationships endure beyond death, I look forward to meeting Wilhilmina some day and I can’t wait to ask her to fill in the blanks!
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Does Anyone Know...
- How might Robert and Wilhilmina have met?
- Who is the father of Wilhilmina's 7th child?
- I initially thought that Wilhilmina's parents weren't married as I haven't found any record of that yet, except I discovered that on the marriage registry entry for her and Duncan, it lists her parents as William Inkster and Margaret Inkster (M.S. Graham), confirming they were married. Anyone have any more info on this?
- Any additional sources we can reference here?
Notes:
- There are many spelling variations in different records: Wilhelmina, Williamina, Inster, and more!
- Source: http://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I9210&tree=ID1. Also see census scan for 1841, included below.
- Shetland Family History lists the aunt's name as Elizabeth Walker, while familysearch.org lists it as Elizabeth Inkster (no record of a marriage in the latter source). (Source: http://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I9210&tree=ID1)
- Robert apparently was “found dead in his bedroom.” (Source: http://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I9209&tree=ID1)
- In fact, it looks like Wilhelmina Johann Inkster’s birth certificate was registered by a neighbor. Why? Interestingly, this daughter was born at 89 Commercial St, Lerwick, the same address at which Wilhilmina lived with her aunt before she married Robert. Did she move back with her aunt after Robert’s death?
- Source: http://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I10400&tree=ID1
- Source: http://www.jghalcrow.co.uk/bdm/deaths/pdf/Deaths_1897_ST.pdf
- It’s unknown whether Ursilla was born with that condition or there was some sort of illness or accident that brought it on during her childhood.
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| 1841 Census for Tain that Lists Williamina Inkster with Her father William Inkster (Click to Enlarge) |
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| Marriage Register Listing Wilhilmina Bruce Marrying Duncan Campbell (Click to Enlarge) |
