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Irvings of Dumfries - Friars Vennel

Replies: 1

Re: Irvings of Dumfries - Friars Vennel

Posted: 18 Feb 2015 8:38AM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi Alasdair,

I spotted your plea for info quite by chance whilst searching for marriage info relating to the eldest brother of my great grandmother. (I notice that your query is 5 years old so what I have to offer may be irrelevant) However, here goes:

My great great (maternal) grandparents were John & Ann Dunkeld who grew up in and around the villages of Keir and Dunscore just to the north of Dumfries. (John was born in 1796 and Ann 1808) They had 10 children of whom my great grandmother, Mary, was their 7th, born 1843. She went on to marry a soldier of the Perthshire Volunteers, John Yeoman. (I guessed he must have come from that area, especially as the name Dunkeld is a town in Perthshire. However, I discovered, to my surprise, that he was born in Dover! At the end of his military career he settled with his family, also 10 in number, in Thanet. Their 4th child, Fanny, was my grandmother. Which is how I came to live in Canterbury today.

Sorry, I seem to be going off course. Great grandmother Mary Dunkeld's eldest brother was William, born in 1828, was the first to leave home, to work for a solicitor in Edinburgh, at age 23. (Must have been bright) Census of 1851 refers. Then, something happened around 1860 to split the family. The father, John, had left the family home to rent a property in Carlisle, the eldest son, William, joins him from Edinburgh as the Head of the Household, and Mary leaves the family also to be housekeeper for her father and brother.

This arrangement appears not to last very long. The father, John, died a couple of years later. Mary met her soldier whose unit is posted back from India to be based first in Glasgow and then Edinburgh, where the first child Annie is born. Meanwhile, William meets a girl named Allison Irving and they are married on the 18th January 1869 at the Grey Horse Inn, Dumfries. (Church of Scotland rules apply).

William is a 'General Dealer' and a batchelor. (In fact, he was a widower!) Allison's address is given as The Grey Horse Inn, Dumfries. Allison's parents are given as David Irving, Innkeeper, and Mary Irving, nee Walker, both deceased. The witnesses are David and Elizabeth Irving, presumably children.

I hope that may have been useful to you. If there's anything I can add, let me know via robin.eyers@btinternet.com

Robin

SubjectAuthorDate Posted
alasdair_13 13 Jan 2010 3:44PM GMT 
Robin Eyers 18 Feb 2015 3:38PM GMT 
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