Places of Significance: Bank Street, Prospect Terrace, and Holburn Street, Aberdeen

It was much more common, in previous generations, that births and marriages and other major events took place at home. Such was the case with Ella’s family as well. 

In Central Aberdeen, off of Bank Street, is a little close/alley way leading to number 26 ½ Bank Street on the right. It’s at this location, in the upstairs flat of that little cottage, that Ella’s maternal grandparents, John MacDonald Beattie and Ursilla Katherine Bruce lived. It was also at this home that Ella’s parents, George and Ursula ("Kate") (1), were married; and where her sister Ina was born.

Off of Bank Street, down this alley/close, on the right, is this little cottage.
Number 26 1/2 is on the top floor, the far right window - Sept 2006, Sept 2014.

(In this video, I said 28 1/2 Bank St, but it's really 26 1/2. Doh!)

Just around the corner from 26 ½ Bank Street is, 10A Prospect Terrace, the basement-level flat where Ella was born. At the time Ella’s family lived there, the home was nicknamed “Tornaveen”, which was inscribed in the transom window above the door to the upstairs flat (which has sometime since been removed).

Corner of Prospect Terrace and Bank Street
- Sept 2006, Sept 2014

Sept 2006, Sept 2014

Their basement flat was a modest home, with just 2 rooms (a bedroom and a living room), and an outhouse out back that they shared with the family who lived upstairs. There was no shower, but they would bathe when they’d visit Ella’s paternal grandparents (George and Charlesina Findlay) at their home on Ferrier Crescent for Saturday dinners.

Ella’s family had a close relationship with the family who lived upstairs from them, whom they rented the flat from - "We were almost like family." Mrs. Patterson, or “Ma Pat” as they called her, actually helped the doctor deliver Ella (she didn't have a background in midwifery, but she assisted), and Ella was named after Ma Pat’s daughter, also Ella.(2)

Ella, her older sister Ina, and Ma Pat, at their
home on Prospect Terrace - about 1938

Their family lived in that flat until 1938, when Ella was about 4 or 5 years old, then they moved at the urging of their doctor; Ella was often ill while living in that basement flat, perhaps due to the inherent dampness of the location. When the doctor came to the new flat, less than a mile away on the 3rd floor of 311 Holburn Street, and he had to climb all those stairs, he said, "My goodness, I told you to move, but not up to heaven!" He was an older man, and apparently didn't appreciate all of those stairs!

The home on Holburn Street was a tenement building, with two flats per floor of this building and a shared toilet on each level’s landing. There were 3 rooms: a living room to the left when which overlooked the back of the house; Ella was in a little bedroom off of that. There was a front bedroom that overlooked Holburn St, where Ina slept and where the family would often entertain friends and visitors as there was also a couch and chairs there. In the kitchen, which was in the middle, there was a little nook or cutout where the bed would go - big enough for a double bed, where her parents slept. As I mentioned, it was on the 3rd floor. And when no one was looking, Ella liked to slide with glee down the banister in the stairwell.

How did they do laundry? It was washed in a little building behind the house and hung up on clotheslines out back (if it was raining, the clothes would be hung on folding racks inside).

Their flat was on the 3rd/top floor of the end unit, the 3rd window from the left.

Not far from their home was the Ferryhill Library (Ella loved to read), Duthie Park, and the movie theater - all places that she and her family loved to frequent. Just a few buildings down the street (also on Holburn) was a newsstand where Ella would pick up papers for a daily paper route. This first job of hers was how she earned money to buy a bike.

Ella's family lived here until they emigrated in 1949, with a few months' stay with her paternal grandparents (George and Charlesina Findlay) at Ferrier Crescent while they were finalizing all of their preparations before moving overseas.

See also: Places of Significance: Aberdeen

Would love to add:

• A map that shows a pinpoint for each of these locations. Need to figure out how to make one of those!
• The photo of Ma Pat with her daughter Ella
• Ella thinks that one of Ina's sons (Ian?) drew a picture of the layout of the home on Bank St. Ella might have a copy of this filed away.

Notes:

1. See the marriage record of George and Ursula ("Kate") for record of their marriage on Bank Street (below).
2. Ella’s full first name is actually Isabella, which was not her parent’s intention. They had hoped to name her simply “Ella” after Ma Pat’s daughter, but when her father, George, went to the birth registrar, he was told that Ella was a nickname and not a proper name - it had to be Isabella. 

Sources: From video captured on location, September/October 2014; from a phone conversation recorded on 11 February 2015.

Marriage record of George and Ursula Findlay,
showing marriage location as 26 1/2 Bank St. (Click to enlarge.)

Places of Significance: Aberdeen

“It’s a beautiful city, because of the granite...when the sun comes out after it rains and shines on the mica in the granite. That’s how it got its name, ‘The Silver City by the Sea.’” And indeed, Ella’s hometown is beautiful, just as she describes.

Photo by KF - Sept 2006

Photo by KF - Sept 2006

Such stately buildings line the streets, creating an air of dignity and decorum. Much of the older/central part of the city was constructed from locally quarried granite in the 1700s and 1800s. And that stateliness is evident whether admiring the grand buildings on Union Street (such as the Central Library, St. Mark’s church, and His Majesty’s Theatre - referred to as “Education, Salvation and Damnation” by the locals) or the more humble tenement buildings.

The Central Library, St. Mark's Church, and His Majesty's Theatre (Photo Source) 

It’s so fun to visit Aberdeen with Ella, or to even have her describe it, as she remembers much of the city still. She can navigate through the streets in her mind, describing how one road turns to another, veers to the side, passes this or that landmark, until you get to your destination. It’s etched into her memory, obviously from walking and biking its streets so much as a youth. 

And what’s additionally so neat is that the the city's buildings are not that different today compared to the early 1900s, and perhaps even the mid to late 1800s, thanks to the durability of the granite. It was during those time periods that there was a surge in construction of buildings and public parks, thanks in part to technological advancements in granite working. (Source)

What this means is that the same buildings that were built a century or more ago are still standing, the exteriors virtually unchanged. It gives you a sense of history, a place in time. We can walk through the city and feel a connection to the past. After all, Aberdeen is not just Ella’s hometown, but the ancestral roots are deep there: at least 4 generations back on her mother’s side, and at least 3 generations back on her father’s. Our ancestors walked down those same streets and admired those same buildings and bridges and parks.

When Ella returns to Aberdeen, one thing that strikes her as a big difference between now and when she was young is the traffic. As a girl, her impression was that the only people who had cars were lawyers and doctors (who made house calls). Most Aberdonians took public transportation (buses or trams - many of the tram tracks have since been removed). Ella’s father would ride his bike to his job at the shipyards, and they also all did a lot of walking. “It was just fun to walk together.” Ella said, describing how she and her friends liked to walk home from school together, weather and time permitting.

What were favorite places to frequent or places of significance for Ella and her family? Here's a handful:

• 40 Merkland Road East - Where her paternal grandparents, George and Charlesina lived at one time, and where her father, George, was born.
• 26 ½ Bank St - Where her maternal grandparents, John McDonald Beattie and Ursilla Katharine Bruce lived; where her parents, George and Ursula ("Kate"), were married; and where her sister Ina was born.
• 10A Prospect Terrace - Where Ella was born. They lived here until Ella was about 5 years old.
• 311 Holburn Street - Where Ella’s family lived until they emigrated in 1949.
• Duthie Park - A beautiful public park where they would go to walk, enjoy outdoor concerts and picnics.
• The River Dee - Where her family was baptized.
• 4 Ferrier Crescent - The street that her paternal grandparents, George and Charlesina, lived on for many years in their later lives. This is the home where Ella and her family would visit them, especially for family dinners on Saturday nights.
• Ferryhill Library - Ella loved to read!
• The building downtown where the small branch of the church met. On George Street (now a pedestrian street), just off of Union Street in central Aberdeen. At the time of our visit, their rented space was above a Gap clothing store.
• The Aberdeen Harbour - Where Ella’s father worked as a shipwright.
• Allenvale Cemetery by the River Dee - Burial place of Ella's maternal grandparents, John McDonald Beattie and Ursilla Katharine Bruce Beattie.
• The Regent Cinema movie theater, on Justice Mill Lane, near Holburn Street- Where she would watch the Mickey Mouse Club on Saturday mornings. Later renamed to Odeon; currently it's a fitness center.

The Regent Cinema
Ella would watch the Mickey Mouse Club here on Saturday mornings. 
Image Source

Something Ella often says is that she’s grateful she was a little older (aged 15) when her family emigrated, rather than several years earlier, before WWII, like they had originally hoped. As a result, she’s able to remember and appreciate so many details of her homeland and hometown. We’re all grateful for that too!

Sources: 

• From a phone conversation with Ella on 8 Dec 2014. Unfortunately, the recording froze and was not captured (Argh!), though notes were taken.
• See also: A Brief History of Aberdeen, Scotland

John McDonald Beattie (1860-1936) - According to His Daughter, Kate

John McDonald and
Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie

In July 2017, cousin ES shared with me the Life History of George and Kate Findlay, a document featuring an oral history recorded and transcribed by George and Kate’s grandson, NS, and some sections composed by Kate herself. It has such a wealth of information, and George and Kate’s granddaughter BR said, “It sounds just like Grandma used to talk.” 

Some of the information included in this life history are details of Kate’s parents (Ella's maternal grandparents), John McDonald Beattie (1860-1936) and Ursilla (pronounced "yer-SILL-a) Katherine Bruce Beattie (1862-1937).

As we are in the process of having a gravestone placed on John and Ursilla’s currently unmarked grave in Allenvale Cemetery, Aberdeen, Scotland, I thought I’d include excerpts from George and Kate’s history here. 

This is John McDonald and Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie, according to their only child, Ursula (pronounced "ER-sill-a) Katherine Bruce Beattie Findlay, known to most as Kate. 

Kate described her parents as having "lived a happy married life together… . They never had too much money but love abided in their home." What a tender tribute!

Also see the blog post about John's wife, Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie, here (https://greatflyingscots.blogspot.com/2017/02/meet-ursilla-katherine-bruce-beattie.html). 

And please note: I’ve added clarifying details to Kate's narrative in brackets.

..........

My father [John McDonald Beattie] was born in Aberdeen, Scotland of humble parentage. His mother [Elizabeth Beattie] was not married and had to work for her living at a Jute works [flax mill]. Her folks [Adam and Janet Petrie Beattie] looked after the baby while she was at work. 

His mother [Elizabeth Beattie] had gone with this man [John McDonald] and she became pregnant and then she found out he was a married man. He came from Grantown and that’s down by Leith. He must have been doing a job up there in Aberdeen. She proved it through the courts. 

Of his childhood I know nothing until he reached the year of 10. [This date might be slightly off as his mother passed when he was 9 years old, and he was living at the Aberdeen Institute for the Deaf and Dumb just after he turned 10. See the footnote 1 for more details.](1)

This was a turning point in his life as one day while playing near the fire in the kitchen a large pot, which was hanging [with chains] over the fire with boiling water in it, fell on him and the shock took away his hearing also speech…I don’t know if it was the pot or the water that struck him. He didn’t have any marks on his face but he was totally deaf and I only once heard him speak and the only time I ever him angry. He never lost his temper but this time he did. He swore and that was the only word I ever heard my father say. 

But my father, after his accident, his mother was a [flax] mill worker, and I suppose she couldn’t look after him but she could have done better than she did….The family being poor could not look after him or educate him as they put him into a school for the deaf.  But in doing so they seem to have deserted him completely as from that day till he was sixteen years of age they never visited him. So in his pride he in turn did not go visit them the remainder of his life.(2)

[The home that he was put in is] still there but I don’t know what it’s used for now but it was a small

John McDonald and
Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie

home.(3) He never said he was cruelly used. He said that he stayed there until he was 16 but she never came to see him. She never sent a card at Christmas time or took him out at vacation time and so he wouldn’t go and see her. I got that same pride. So I never went to see his folks. I’ve done their genealogy but I’ve never seen them. 

He took up the trade of Boiler making.(4) 

In Aberdeen there was an excellent Deaf and Dumb Institute … on Rose Street in Aberdeen (5) ... so in the evenings he went there and met others like himself and played draughts or cards or billiards. On Sundays going to service at the church attached to the Institute. He met my mother there. She was just on a visit to Aberdeen on her way back home to Shetland Islands. 

[The Deaf and Dumb Institute is] … a very nice building with three floors and as you went in the door there was the office. It was kept up mostly by donations from wealthy families all around. Workplaces used to have a work day that they donated. The big houses, the families like Lady Birnie, were very good to the deaf. 

On the bottom floor as you walked along the passage there was a great big dance hall and there was a stage and a kitchen. They used to have parties and the Christmas parties with a great big Christmas tree. 

There were dances once a month and the floor was wooden and it always was kept polished so that they could dance beautifully. When they danced the floor bounced and the music was felt with their feet and they could keep up with it and dance and some of them were real good dancers.

Upstairs was a small church that was very pretty and very nice and they always had a good service and the singing was all done by the hands. Next to that a big kitchen and that was where they had classes for the women. Sewing, baking, and all that kind of stuff. 

Upstairs again was a big, real nice room for the men. It had billiard tables and all kinds of games. The other room was a reading room and there the best of magazines. We could borrow a book from the library. The children of the families all knew each other and were good pals and went to the picnics and parties. Very few that are married, that both of them are deaf and dumb that have deaf children. In those days measles caused deafness mostly and diphtheria and scarlet fever or an accident like my father and my mother. It’s very seldom that they are born deaf.

[My mother’s] family were not pleased at [my parent’s] courtship as my father came of working people, however, they saw that they were suitably married and then washed their hands of my mother. She was 38 years of age when she married; their first baby was born when she was 40 and the baby died before birth. Then two years later I was born to them. 

She and my dad lived a happy married life together….They never had too much money but love abided in their home. 

My father in disposition was of a happy nature. Kindly and loving. To my knowledge he had a smooth, uneventful life just doing day by day normal things of life….He was a good man, a gentle person. He had a sense of humor, that’s where I get mine. He would tease my mother….He lived till he was 76 years of age. 

In that time I tried to find out about his people but could find nothing and even I went to the Edinburgh Registrar Office but I couldn’t find anything. He was known by the name of John McDonald Beattie. His mother was Elizabeth Beattie so she had registered him in her own name. 

However in July of 1954 a dear friend of mine in Edinburgh, Scotland wanted to know if she could do anything for me. So I wrote her asking if her son who was on vacation in Edinburgh could go to the Registrar Office and see if he could get information on my father’s mother as I knew nothing of his father I couldn’t ask about him. Well in September 1954 his reply came back and the reply was that he had discovered a statement which said that the Elizabeth Beattie had proved the parentage of her child John McDonald Beattie to one named John McDonald. 

[In January 1864, a little over 3 years after John was born, his mother Elizabeth had the birth entry corrected.] "In an action relating to the paternity of a child named John McDonald Beattie born on or about 31 October 1860, at the instance [?] of Poor Elizabeth Beattie, Millworker, [?] St. Andrew Street, Aberdeen, against John McDonald, Boilermaker, Kirkpatricksland, [?] Street, …. the Sheriff of Edinburghshire on the 10th of December 1863, found that the said child was the Illegitimate child of the parties afore[?]."(6)

..........

John passed away on 8 May 1936, when he was 75 years old, of chronic endocarditis, chronic bronchitis, and a peptic ulcer, at his home at 26 1/2 Bank Street, Aberdeen. He and Ursilla (who passed away the following year) are buried in Allenvale Cemetery in Aberdeen.(7)

..........

Notes and Sources:

1. Per statutory death records, Elizabeth Beattie passed away on 7 July 1869, when John was 9 years old. Perhaps he lived with Elizabeth’s parents after that? Or were they already living with them? In any case, Elizabeth’s parents, Adam and Janet Petrie Beattie soon passed also, on 25 Mar 1869 and 26 October 1869, respectively. 
2. Through email correspondence with Aberdeen University, which keeps some records on the Aberdeen Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, I learned the following on 13 Oct 2017: “I have checked through the minute book of the Aberdeen Institute for the Deaf and Dumb (MS 3428/2) and found a reference to a John Beattie: “November 28th 1870 - John Beattie, an orphan illegitimate sent by St Nicholas Parochial Board joined the institution Thursday 24th November.” It’s heartbreaking to think that, per Kate’s understanding of his childhood, that his family never visited or wrote letters and had abandoned him, but in reality, they had all passed away. However, I'm wondering where John lived or who he lived with between the time his grandmother died (26 October 1869) and he was admitted to the Aberdeen Institute for the Deaf and Dumb on 28 November 1870.
3. I wonder, where was this building, that was an orphanage/home for deaf children?
4. Still to do: Research more about the ironworker trade and the Aberdeen Iron Foundry (location, examples of work, etc.)
5. I also wonder whether the building on Rose street that housed the Aberdeen Institute for the Deaf and Dumb is still there?
6. Wow, did John's mother, Elizabeth have guts! It was 3 years after John's birth that she had his birth entry corrected to include John's father's name. But we're so glad she did! She must have been a strong woman, despite the apparent ridicule she received, insulting her by calling her "poor Elizabeth."
7. Read more about John McDonald and Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie's final resting spot here: https://greatflyingscots.blogspot.com/2017/05/john-mcdonald-and-ursilla-katherine.html