No Longer Unmarked - The Beatties’ Final Resting Place

In Loving Memory
(Photo taken by the mason)

Almost a year after finding the unmarked grave of Ella’s maternal grandparents, John McDonald Beattie (1860-1936) and Ursilla (pronounced “Yer-SILL-a”) Katherine Bruce Beattie (1862-1937), in Aberdeen, Scotland, we received word from the mason last week that we finally have a gravestone in place. Hooray!

This grave had been unmarked for over 80 years, and through this blog, we became acquainted with our dear cousins in New Zealand (in 2015), who introduced us to other dear cousins in Aberdeen (in 2017), who happened to have the original receipts that proved our family’s ownership of the plot.

While visiting Aberdeen last May, we found the plot through the help of a couple gravediggers who were referencing tattered maps that were stored in a drawer in a small, unmanned cemetery office (there were no digital maps or maps posted in the cemetery itself). We had to get additional approvals from Aberdeen City to move ahead. I received quotes from multiple masons, vetted them based on recommendations from local cousins, the local genealogical society, and the bereavement/burials division of Aberdeen City.

Until We Meet Again
(Photo taken by the mason)

John McDonald Beattie with wife
Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie

There would be stretches of time in the past year where I wasn't sure how exactly this process would play out, so I would focus instead on taking a little step each day: Consult family members for their feedback on the research; talk to a mason local to me to get their perspective on this project; consult a professional genealogist about inscriptions that are meaningful and helpful; reach out to genealogical societies for advice; converse with friends about the status of the project and get their take as well.

As we would forge ahead on this project, I would sometimes get overwhelmed, wanting to make sure that everything was perfect and done correctly, feeling at a disadvantage trying to manage this from the other side of the world, feeling regret that the grave has been unmarked for 80+ years. But I took comfort in something that a local Bay Area mason told me: There has never been a better time to tackle a project like this. When we look at how easily we can communicate over email, Skype, send digital photos back and forth, research and fact-check with historical documents online in searchable databases, connect virtually with cousins - so much of this wasn't as easy even 5 years ago. Now was the right time.

This stone is intended to be a Rosetta stone of sorts, not just including the names and birth and death dates of John and Ursilla, but also the names of their parents, their marriage date, and their only child’s name. We want future generations to come back to this spot, and to realize exactly how their ancestors fit into the family tree.

And this stone will act as a testament that John and Ursilla’s lives mattered and that their memory lives on - despite their poverty (an orphaned iron worker and a domestic servant/dressmaker), their handicaps (they were both deaf since childhood), and their initially small posterity (they had only 1 child, who then had just 2 children. But the generations have really grown since then.)

A huge THANK YOU to all the family members who collaborated on this project - through sharing ideas as well as financial contributions. It's been quite the journey over the past year, working together to see this to completion.

One of my favorite parts of the stone is the final line, "Until We Meet Again." Indeed, if we believe in an after life, then until we meet the Beatties again, and until we meet with each other again in this life. It represents such hope and love.

.…..….

See also:

1. John McDonald and Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie - Final Resting Spot: https://greatflyingscots.blogspot.com/2017/05/john-mcdonald-and-ursilla-katherine.html
2. John McDonald Beattie (1860-1936) - According to His Daughter, Kate: http://greatflyingscots.blogspot.com/2018/04/john-mcdonald-beattie-according-to-his.html
3. Meet Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie (1862-1937): https://greatflyingscots.blogspot.com/2017/02/meet-ursilla-katherine-bruce-beattie.html
4. Williamina/Wilhilmina/Wilhelmina - A Rose by Any Other Name...: https://greatflyingscots.blogspot.com/search/label/Wilhilmina%20Inkster%20%281835-1896%29

Trailing Clouds of Glory - Highlights from Ralph’s Flying Experiences

A 1946 Luscombe 8 Silvaire

As mentioned in a previous blog post (1), sometimes it seems as though Ralph was truly born “trailing clouds of glory” (2), that he came down to earth and into his mother's arms via a helicopter rather than a stork. Hah! After all, many of the professions he’s had have been related to flying in some way.

But where did his interest in flying first begin and then grow into a lifelong passion, filling up 10 flight logbooks with 10,000-12,000 hours over the past 60 years? 

As an answer to that question, Ralph has shared the following experiences with us.(3) This is how the story begins...

An Aeronca 7AC Champ, the same type of plane
that Ralph would eventually teach
his own students in.

Beginnings

As a young boy living in Lomita, California, in the early 1940s, one of Ralph’s favorite activities was lying on the grass in his front yard and watching the planes fly overhead. The army airfield in Torrance was close by (then called the Lomita Air Field)(4) and was used for training during WWII, so there was no shortage of this airborne spectacle of Lockheed P-38 Lightning pilots flying over their house on their final approach. Ralph traces his initial interest in flying to this time. 

Later, now 12 years old and living in Mesa, Arizona, in 1946, Ralph loved to ride his bike to the Mesa Airport that was just a half mile from his family’s farm.(5) There, he would sit and watch the airplanes coming and going. 

Mesa Airport (along with the nearby and
similarly named Mesa Airpark) (Image Source)

This was one of two airfields in Mesa at the time, but this one was unique: It was started by two local veterans soon after World War II, and it was located at the site of a former city dump. The junk had been hauled away, the ground leveled and packed down, but the runway was left unpaved.

The two veterans-turned-flight-school owners were teaching flying in four small, fixed-wing airplanes: An Aeronca 7AC Champ, an Ercoupe, a Luscombe 8 Silvaire, and a Taylorcraft.

One day while Ralph was watching the planes on the sidelines, one of the owners, Owen Straddling, came up to him and said, “Hey kid, want a ride?” Yeah! Of course he did! “Pick up a tub of glass off of the airport and we’ll take you for a ride.” This runway was previously a city dump and was littered with broken glass and sharp corners that were cutting the tires of the airplanes. So he said, “Go pick up a tub of glass.”

Ralph recalls:

So I ran home and got one of Mom’s washtubs, set it down, and I got a coffee can and a screwdriver, and I was dodging airplanes! I’d run out, dig up pieces of glass, fill up the can, go dump it. And then when the tub got full, he said, “Ok! Let’s go!”

An Ercoupe

He continues: 

Owen Stradling took us [Ralph and his cousin, Don Johnson] up [in the Taylorcraft] and we were strapped in the seat together beside him. And I think now, how did we get in? We were just 12 years old at the time, just young kids. So we sat there and he flew us around Mesa and we came back in and I said, “Man! That’s for me. I’ve got to figure out how to do it.” And I asked him, “Can I pick up another tub of glass?” And he said, “Yeah, knock yourself out.” So I got a ride in the Ercoupe, the Aeronca, and the Luscombe by picking up glass on the airport.

And so it begins!

..........

Notes and Sources: 

1. Blog post featuring an article by Cathy Free of the Deseret News, detailing some of Ralph's flying experiences: https://greatflyingscots.blogspot.com/2014/05/they-skys-limit.html.
2. An allusion to the poem Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood by William Wordsworth (1770-1850), which can be read online here: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/ode-intimations-immortality-recollections-early-childhood.
3. From an interview with Ralph and Ella on 9 February 2014, recorded at their home.
4. The Lomita Flight strip in Torrance, California, was completed in March 1943 and was used by the United States Army during WWII and was used as an emergency landing field for training flights. It was closed for that purpose after the war, and it was later renamed Zamperini Field on 7 December 1941. More information here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamperini_Field) and here (http://www.militarymuseum.org/Lomita.html).
5. More info about the Mesa Airport (not to be confused with the Mesa Airpark), here: http://www.airfields-freeman.com/AZ/Airfields_AZ_Phoenix_NE.htm 

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

Got Ancestor Photos?

Hello cousins far and wide!

George Findlay in WWI - Back Row, 5th from Right

I've been working to organize the handful of ancestor photos that I have (many of which have been posted here on the blog), and I thought I'd inquire to see what photos other family members might have as well.

Maybe you have some ancestor photos on display at your home? Or in a photo album? Or in an envelope tucked away in a drawer? Or in a shoe box on a closet shelf?

Caroline Smith Love Rogers -
Sister to Charlesina Smith Love Findlay

If you don't mind scanning or taking a digital photo of them (even on your smartphone), I'd love to expand our collective family's "album" and make it available to anyone who's interested.

Feel free to reach out to me via the contact form at the bottom of this page if you have something to share! And likewise, send me a note through the same form if you'd like a higher resolution version of any photo posted to the blog.

Thank you! - KF