Meet Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie (1862-1937)



Ursilla Katherine Bruce and
John McDonald Beattie
Ursilla Katherine Bruce (pronounced Yer-SILL-a, sometimes spelled as Ursula), daughter of Robert Bruce and Wilhilmina Inkster, was born in Burravoe on the Island of Yell, Shetland, on 19 Feb 1862. She was the 4th of their 6 children,(1) and was born at the Manor House, her family’s residence in Burravoe. She is Ella’s maternal grandmother.

Ursilla was deaf since childhood. Whether at birth or because of an accident or illness, we're unsure. The details from family oral history are not certain, but the family story goes that Ursilla was born healthy, but Robert came home drunk one night and kicked Ursilla’s cradle, permanently damaging the infant baby’s hearing. However, according to school admittance records when she was 8, she was born deaf, though wasn't completely so - she "evince[d] sensations from loud noises." We may never know what really happened!

The Manor House in Burravoe,
where Ursilla was born

Ursilla’s father Robert passed away when she was 3 years old (in 1865), and her mother remarried when Ursilla was 7 years old, to Duncan Campbell (1847 - bef 1896) in 1870.

From a Bruce Family Register: Ursilla Katherine Bruce was
born at Burravoe on 19 February 1862, and was baptized at 
Burravoe [date?] October 1862 by [?] James Barclay
(Click to Enlarge)


Sometime in 1870 (at age 8 1/2), Ursilla was admitted to the Donaldson’s School in West Coates, Edinburgh, a residential and day school for children who were deaf or had communication difficulties.(2) She lived here and attended school until 1876, about age 14, where students studied such subjects as English, writing, and arithmetic; assisted with sweeping schoolrooms and passageways; and started and ended each day in the chapel singing a psalm, listening to a passage from the Old and New Testaments, and ending in prayer. (3) Meanwhile, her mother Wilhilmina and stepfather Duncan were living in Lerwick on the main island of Shetland with her 3 living brothers (according to the 1871 census and the Donaldson's School admission registry.)

The former Donaldson's School, in West Coates, Edinburgh

Admission Register to Donaldson's School
for Ursula Katherine Bruce
(Click to Enlarge)






As of the 1881 census (at about age 18 or 19), Ursilla was back in Shetland, living with her mother at 1 Crooked Lane, Lerwick.(4) At the 1891 census, she and her mother were then next door at 3 Crooked Lane, Lerwick. She was aged 28 or 29 at that time.

 Ursilla was trained as a dressmaker, and she also worked as domestic servant.(5)

On 15 June 1900, she married John McDonald Beattie in Edinburgh, at Hope Park Hall.(6) She was 37; he was 39. At some point after they were married, they settled in Aberdeen, John’s hometown. John was an ironworker by profession.(7)

 John was deaf as well, and according to family oral history he become so when he was playing as a child, maybe about 9 years old Ella speculates, when he was accidentally knocked down or kicked. Ella remembers being told that her grandmother Ursilla never really learned how to speak, though her grandfather John could understand and talk somewhat, and could communicate better verbally. Both Ursilla and John would communicate with each other using sign language.

Ursilla with her only child, daughter
"Kate." Image Source: Life History of
George and Katherine Findlay
When Ursilla was 42 and John 43, they had their only child, Ursula Katherine Bruce Beattie (pronounced ER-sill-a, but she went by Kate), born at 35 Broomhill Road, Aberdeen, on 31 October 1904. This is Ella’s mother.(8)
Ursilla and John's home later in their lives:
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.


 Being an older couple, and having only one child, Ella imagines they were very protective of their daughter. In fact, Ella recounts a family story that sometime when Kate was about 4 years old, a doctor who made a housecall noticed that young Kate wasn’t talking yet, though she would communicate using sign language. “You’ve got to let this child out,” said the doctor, so that the child could be exposed to more language and learn to talk. Ella says that they reluctantly let her go and “she never had any trouble [after that.] She always had plenty to say!” She never forgot the sign language - Ella remembers seeing her mother use it to communicate with other deaf people in the community.


John and Ursilla Beattie

Ursilla and John apparently lived in several homes throughout their lives. Did they ever live in Edinburgh, which is why they were married there? Their daughter Kate was born at 35 Broomhill Road - can we assume she was born at home? According to the 1911 census, they were living at 274 Hardgate. And Ella remembers them living at 26 1/2 Bank Street, with her mother and father (George and Kate Findlay) living with them and her sister Ina being born there.

 Ursilla passed away on 11 Feb 1937 at the home of her daughter Kate at 10A Prospect Terrace, Aberdeen, just 2 weeks shy of her 75th birthday. The cause of her death was "carcinoma of uterus," a type of uterine cancer.(9) She was survived by her daughter Kate and son-in-law George Findlay, and granddaughters Ina and Ella; her husband John had passed away the year before in 1936. She’s buried in Allenvale Cemetery in Aberdeen.(10)

 Ella was only 3 years old when her grandmother Ursilla passed away, so she doesn’t have many memories of her, but remembers some details that her older sister Ina (who was 5 ½ years older) would share.

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If I could ask Ursilla any questions, what would they be? Oh, I’d start with asking about Shetland. She’s the last in a long line of ancestors that herald from there. Where did she live after her mother Wilhilmina died (in 1896; Ursilla was 34)? Did she ever go back after she was married (after 1900, at age 37)? Her mother and all of her siblings (five blood siblings and two half siblings) seem to have passed away by 1897. What was the relationship between her mother and the rest of her father Robert Bruce’s family, especially after Robert had died? Where did she receive her dressmaker training? Did she make her wedding dress? Where did she meet her husband John? Did she feel isolated not being able to communicate with most around her, or did she have the support of close friends (all of her immediate family had passed away; her husband John was an only child from an illegitimate father and an orphan from age 9 when his mother passed away, so no in-laws either)? What did she draw strength from? What made her smile?
26 1/2 Bank Street, Aberdeen - Filmed September 2014
(Note that in the video I kept saying 28 1/2 Bank Street. Doh!)
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Notes and Questions:

  1. Ursilla’s mother, Wilhilmina Inkster, had 2 additional children with 2 different fathers; Ursilla's father, Robert Bruce, had 13 children with 7 different women.
  2. More information about Donaldson’s School can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donaldson's_School
  3. Donaldson's School records are archived at the National Library of Scotland. I was able to able to request scans of relevant records. 
  4. Was her stepfather, Duncan Campbell living with them as well? He’s not listed on the census info on here after 1871? (Source: http://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I10400&tree=ID1) His death date is also unknown? Her younger half brother Alexander Campbell was listed as living with Ursilla and her mother in 1881. (Source: http://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I10401&tree=ID1)
  5. Source (under Notes): http://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I9215&tree=ID1. Where might she have received her dressmaker training?
  6. Source: http://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I9215&tree=ID1. Is this the same as what was renamed Queen's Hall in Edinburgh? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen's_Hall,_Edinburgh) Also mentions that they were “Married by W. J. Harwell, witnesses; Jane E. Bolt, William Low.” I wonder why they were married in Edinburgh? But first, how did they meet? Ella thought they might have met at Donaldson’s School, however, according to Donaldson’s records, there’s no record of him being a student there, nor at the other only deaf school in Edinburgh. In fact, according to this source http://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I145512&tree=ID1, he was placed in an orphanage at age 9, which would have been in 1869 or 1870, around the same time that Ursilla was at Donaldson’s. Additionally, they married while in their late 30s; does it make sense that they would have met as children and then married later? Which orphanage was he at? Are there records for this?
  7. John McDonald Beattie's profession as an ironworker is listed on several documents, including the 1911 census, the birth register for their daughter Ursula Katherine Bruce Beattie ("Kate"), and the marriage certificate for their daughter Ursula Katherine Bruce Beattie to their son-in-law George Findlay.
  8. Were Ursilla and John living at 35 Broomhill Road, and daughter Kate was born at home?
  9. See a scan of the death register, below.
  10. Burial place confirmed via email on 5 Oct 2016 by a Bereavement Services Registrar in the Bereavement Services Office, Marischal College, Aberdeen: Allenvale Cemetery, Section 2, Lair 278 (same as husband John).


Would love to find:

  • Orphanage records for John Beattie (in Aberdeen?)
  • Census records for Ursilla and John - for John before they got married then for both of them after they married (Found: 1911 Census, when Ursilla was 49, John 50, and daughter Ursula ("Kate") was 6.)
  • Marriage record for Ursilla and John
  • Trade guild/craft registry for ironworkers that would include John Beattie

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Ursilla is Ella's maternal grandmother


1911 Census - John MD. Beattie and Ursilla K. Beattie
(Click to Enlarge)
Death Register for Ursilla Katherine Beattie
(Click to Enlarge)

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Meet Charlesina Smith Love Findlay (1883-1960)

George and Charlesina Findlay
(about 1914)
Charlesina Smith Love Findlay, Ella’s grandmother, was born at 57 Jute Street in Aberdeen on the 14th of August 1883, as the 3rd of 7 children to Alexander and Caroline Smith Love. She was actually a twin!(1)(2)  And all 7 of the Love children were daughters. Her father, Alexander, was a fancy box maker (which Ella was told meant chocolate boxes); her mother, Caroline, worked in the same industry for some time as well.(3)

 When she was 19, she married George Findlay on 31 December 1902 in Aberdeen - at 40 Blackfriars Street, which was her home. He was 23. Elizabeth Love, her older sister, and John Findlay, his older brother, were the witnesses.

 Charlesina and George had 11 children together (5 boys, 6 girls). Ella’s father, George was the oldest - Charlesina had him when she was 19 - and their youngest child was born when she was 41.(4) However, 4 of their children (2 boys, 2 girls) died at ages 2 years or younger, with 7 of the children growing to adulthood (3 boys, 4 girls). Four of their adult children served in WWII(5); and 3 of their children emigrated from Scotland (2 to the United States and 1 to New Zealand).

Five days after their marriage, their first child, George, was born, on 4 January 1903 at 41 Blackfriars Street, Aberdeen. At some point they moved to another home, living there until 1911, and later they moved to 40 Merkland Road East in Aberdeen.(6)

The home that Ella remembers visiting her grandparents at is located at 4 Ferrier Crescent, in the Woodside area of Aberdeen. Ella speaks fondly of frequent Saturdays spent at the home of her “dear sweet grandmother,” where they would enjoy eating and visiting together while her father, grandfather, and uncles would attend the local football games. After the games, the men would head to a pub, but Ella’s father would hang back with the women - he didn’t drink alcohol.

 Those Saturdays were so special: “We had Grandma to ourselves!” Ella likes to tell. On Sundays, the rest of the family - aunts, uncles, and cousins - would usually congregate at their home, but because of church commitments on Sundays, Ella’s family would go the day before.

 I imagine that Charlesina’s days were busy, filled with taking care of house and home and looking after the needs of her husband and children.

 And it seems like Charlesina would have been well acquainted with hard work and with grief, but Ella remembers her as being steady, loving, and “couthie” (agreeable, lovable).
Charlesina is Ella's paternal grandmother
When Ella’s father, George, left in December 1948 en route to America, Ella, her sister Ina (7), and their mother Kate moved in with their grandparents Charlesina and George at their home at 4 Ferrier Crescent. They lived there until May 1949 when Ella and Kate emigrated themselves; Ina stayed until the following October when she joined her parents and sister in Arizona.(8)

 Charlesina came to the train station to say goodbye to her dear granddaughter Ella and daughter-in-law Kate in May 1949. Ella recalls that she was keeping her emotions composed as she was saying goodbye to friends and family that day on the train platform, until...her grandmother Charlesina was the last person that Ella hugged before boarding the train - at that point the tears really started to flow! That was the last time they would ever see each other.(9)

 Charlesina passed away on 5 Jan 1960 at 76 years old. According to the death register, she died at Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen from thrombosis, general [illegible], and broncheopneumonia. She was survived by her husband George (he died about 5 years later) and all 7 children who had grown to adulthood. After her cremation, her ashes were scattered at the Garden of Remembrance surrounding the Hall of Remembrance at Kaimhill Road in Aberdeen.(10)
George and Charlesina - 1927

George and Charlesina - 1956

57 Jute Street, Aberdeen - Where Charlesina was Born

Ralph and Ella at the Garden of Rest at the Kaimhill Funeral
Home, Aberdeen. This is where the ashes of both Charlesina
and husband George Findlay were scattered - May 2017

Charlesina's Parents: Alexander Love and Caroline Smith Love
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 Dear family: Have any additional memories or details I can add here? Email me directly or submit through the Contact Form at the bottom of this page. Also, see the section of Questions, below, to see if you might have more pieces to our puzzle.

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Notes:
  1. Ella remembers visiting with Grandmother Charlesina’s twin, “Auntie Annie” (Annie White Love Sharp, 1883-1950), who lived just up the street from Ella’s family when they lived on Holburn Street in Aberdeen.
  2. Twins run in our family! Ella’s grandmother Charlesina Smith Love Findlay had a twin (sister Annie White Love Sharp, 1883-1950)); Ella gave birth to twins herself (son BM and daughter BR); and Ella’s granddaughter AG gave birth to twin girls HG and GG. Are there twins further back on Charlesina’s line as well?
  3. The occupations of Charlesina's parents, Alexander and Caroline, are listed on the parish marriage entry for their wedding. Both were fancy box makers.
  4. Their children, in order: 1 - George Findlay; 2 - Jane Love Findlay (passed away at 6 weeks old); 3 - Dorothy Findlay (died at almost 14 mos old); 4 - Alexander Love Findlay; 5 - Caroline Smith Findlay; 6 - Ethel Findlay; 7 - Walter Findlay (passed away at just over 25 mos old); 8 - Elizabeth Love Findlay; 9 - James Webster Findlay (died at almost 6 weeks old); 10 - John Heatherwick Findlay; 11 - Marjorie Love Findlay
  5. Read more about George and Charlesina’s children who served World War II, here: http://greatflyingscots.blogspot.com/2014/05/at-home-and-abroad-family-members.html
  6. The 1911 census lists their residence as ... is it 37 South Constitution Street in Aberdeen? See below as it's hard to make out. Looks like it was a 2-room flat. The marriage record for their son George Findlay to Ursula Katherine Bruce (Ella’s parents) in 1927 lists their address as 40 Merkland Rd. Also see this blog post for photos and videos of that location: http://greatflyingscots.blogspot.com/search?q=merkland+road
  7. Ella’s sister’s full maiden name was Charlesina Findlay, named after her grandmother, but she always went by “Ina.”
  9. Read more about the goodbyes at the Aberdeen train station here, and see a video of Ella explaining the significance too: http://greatflyingscots.blogspot.com/2015/11/places-of-significance-aberdeen-train.html
  10. Per an email received on 14 Sept 2016 from a support assistant for cremations at Marischal College, Aberdeen, confirming that Charlesina’s ashes were scattered at the Garden of Remembrance at Kaimhill Road, Aberdeen. More information about the location here: http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/community_life_leisure/bereavement_services/dfc_hall_of_remem.asp

 Questions:
  • Do we know what part of Aberdeen Charlesina's family lived in when she was growing up?
  • How would her family describe her appearance? Stature? Personality? Any additional stories to share?
  • Was their first son, George, born just 5 days after they were married? Marriage date: 31 Dec 1902. George Findlay junior’s birth date: 4 Jan 1903. No judgement, just checking my facts and confirming dates. :D
  • How long did they live at each of their residences?
  • Confirm her death date - some websites list it at 7 Dec 1959, but the death register says 5 January 1960?
  • Can anyone make out the 3 causes listed for her death, on the death register? Thrombosis, general [illegible], and broncheopneumonia.
Birth entry for Charlesina Smith Love.
Click to enlarge- see line 1294 (her twin sister is on line 1295)

Marriage entry for George Findlay and Charlesina Smith Love.
Click to enlarge - see line 25.
1911 Census
Click to enlarge - see line 141

Death entry for Charlesina Smith Love Findlay.
Click to enlarge - see line 30

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Our Own Castle: Eilean Donan

Eilean Donan - Image Source

Bertha Clarice Copeland Inglish, Ralph’s maternal grandmother, would often get a dreamy look in her eye as she’d say, “You know, we have a castle in Scotland? The MacRae Castle!”

I imagine that Bertha had grown up being told stories of her Scottish ancestors. Her mother was a McRae(1)—Mary Ann McRae (1853-1899)—and it was Bertha’s great grandfather (Ralph’s 3rd great grandfather)—Hugh Bain McRae (1761-1853)—who had immigrated from Scotland to America.(2)



Bertha Clarice Copeland Inglish and her mother Mary Ann McRae Copeland
(Ralph's grandmother and great grandmother)

Grandmother Bertha couldn’t say where “their” castle was located, so Ralph and Ella started doing a little more research. They initially came up empty handed: there are no castles in Scotland named “The MacRae Castle.”

However, when Ralph and Ella were on their first trip back to Scotland (in the late 1990’s), they asked around and finally found someone who had more information: It’s the Eilean Donan Castle (pronounced “EEE-lan DAWN-an”), perched on an island where three lochs meet in the western Highlands. With its prominent location and stunning backdrop, it has become one of the most widely recognized castles in all of Scotland.


Eilean Donan, located in the western Highlands

Eilean Donan means "island of Donnán” (Donnán was a Celtic saint), and the first fortified castle was erected here about the mid-13th century. The castle later got the nickname of the “MacRae Castle” because the MacRae clan became constables to it in 1509, ensuring the safety of the MacKenzie clan, who were the lairds, and protecting and maintaining the surrounding areas.(3)

In 1719 much of the castle was destroyed in a Jacobite uprising, and it was in this state for 200 years until purchased by Lieutenant Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap, a descendant of the last MacRae constables. He spent 20 years (from 1911 to 1932) painstakingly restoring it to its former glory.
Eilean Donan in ruins, before fully restored in 1932. Image Source.

What’s interesting to note is that the castle as we see it now was not in this state until 1932. The castle that Grandmother Bertha was told about what likely the version of it in ruins, as her ancestors had immigrated in the 1800s. Wouldn’t she really think it was dreamy if she saw it now!

Also interesting: Robert the Bruce is believed to have sheltered at Eilean Donan during the winter of 1306 to 1307— our family lines cross (he is Ella’s 20th great grandfather)!(4)

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Ralph shares the story of his grandmother, Bertha Clarice Copeland Inglish, and the Eilean Donan Castle.
Filmed 24 November 2020 (Min 3:34)

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I know that many of our family have made a pilgrimage to this site. Have a photo you'd like share? Let me know! I'd love to add it.

McRae descendants return - 2008

KF and sister AG - 2008
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Sources:

Notes:
  1. Note that our family line spells their surname as “McRae” while the clan is “MacRae.” Did our ancestors ever spell it as the latter variation?
  2. We’re still trying to determine when Hugh Bain McRae (1761-1853) immigrated to the United States. I’d love to know why and how too! A journey of that distance at that time in history doesn’t sound like a comfortable one. Did he come when he was 8 years old, with his parents, Malcolm M. McRae (1743-1834) and Isabel Bain (1745-1817)? Some info seems to suggest that.

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