Category: MacDuff Scotland

What I Learned Transcribing Alexander Tocher’s 1844 Scottish Will

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A probable distant relative contacted me recently, saying that she had come across the will of our common ancestor Alexander Tocher (1754-1844) on the Scotland’s People website. She found it too difficult to transcribe, so I cheerfully offered to try. Little did I know what would be involved! 

The handwriting is quite clear since the document was written by a court clerk, nevertheless, numerous words were hard to decipher. The unfamiliar terminology related to Scottish inheritance laws and land ownership proved the biggest challenge, and some complex sentences seemed to go on forever.

Still, I hoped this document would reveal more details about Alexander and his family. I already knew something about the Tochers, based on an outline of the family’s history compiled by an unidentified family member many years ago and verified by my own research, including a visit to the Tocher grave in Scotland.  

My husband and I beside the Tocher family monument in Doune Cemetery, Macduff.

The monument reads: “Erected by the family in memory of their mother Jane Tocher, wife of James Smith, sometime schoolmaster in Macduff, d. 28 Feb. 1838 aged 35. Also her daus. Elizabeth aged 3 and Mary aged 2 and their son Alexander d. Toronto, Canada 18 Sept. 1855 aged 32. Also Alexander Tocher for 67 years schoolmaster in Macduff d. 10 Feb. 1844 aged 89 and his [second] wife Ann Haslopp d. 3 Jan. 1850 aged 83. The above James Smith late tutor Knox College, Toronto, Canada d. there 3 Jan 1867 aged 66.”

Parish records show that Alexander was born in Grange Parish, Banffshire, Scotland, where his father was a miller at Paithnick.1 After graduating from the University of Aberdeen in 1779,2 Alexander became a teacher in MacDuff, a market town with a harbour on the Firth of Moray. He taught there for 67 years.3 Alexander married Elizabeth Stephen in 17984 and they had three daughters, Margaret, Elizabeth and Jane. After his wife died in 1805, he married Ann Haslopp. He died on February 10, 1844, age 89.5  By that time, Jane (1803-1838, my great-great-grandmother), had died6 and his son-in-law was probably considering moving the family to Canada.

What Was in Alexander’s Will?

Some of my ancestors left quite personal wills, affirming their faith in God or expressing regrets for things they had done in life. Not so Alexander. This document is an inventory of his moveable property and a Disposition and Deed of Settlement from the Banff Sheriff’s Court. 

The first section of the document was housekeeping: it noted the date of his death and the value of his moveable property, and it noted that his daughter Elizabeth was the executor of the will. (According to the 1841 census of Scotland, the unmarried Elizabeth lived with him and his wife on Duff Street in Macduff.)

The inventory of Alexander’s moveable property indicated that he probably lived quite comfortably. Among his possessions were a portable writing desk, a dozen silver spoons, an eight-day clock, two feather beds, and two tea kettles, four pots and an oven. His most valuable possession was a branded cow with no horns. The total value of the inventory was 33 pounds, 12 shillings and eight pence.

Alexander mentioned his two sons-in-law in his will. He noted that he had loaned 200 pounds at four percent interest to Margaret’s husband, merchant Alexander Carny. It had not yet been repaid, and he directed his executor to forgive 180 pounds. Similarly, he had loaned 170 pounds to Jane’s husband, teacher James Smith, and he directed that debt be discharged.  

Other than this, Alexander’s will did not mention family members, probably because Scotland had clear rules about who was to inherit. Heritable property (land and buildings) was to go the eldest son, while wives and all children had equal rights to moveable property. 

This excerpt of Alexander’s will reads: “I hereby bind and oblige myself and my foresaids to infeuff? and ? the said Elizabeth Tocher and her foresaids upon their own charges and expenses and that by two several? infeffments and manners of holding, one thereof to be holden of me and my foresaids in free ? for payment of a penny Scots in ….. ”

image source: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Alexander’s Property in Macduff

The most extensive part of the will concerned his real estate: four tiny pieces of land in the town of Macduff. He had acquired them at different times, perhaps with the intention of consolidating them and building a house. He left these lots in Elizabeth’s hands.  

The fact that he had any land was a surprise. The vast majority of Scots were tenants.

According to the Statistical Accounts of Scotland, 1834-1845, the Earl of Fife held almost half the land in Gamrie, the parish in which Macduff was located. In fact, the system of land ownership in Scotland was still a feudal one. Technically, Alexander was not a landowner, but a feuar: a vassal who paid annual dues for the right to use the land. 

After transcribing five of the will’s six pages – including lots of question marks and blank spaces — I gave up, but by then I had learned a lot about my ancestors’ lives in 19th century Scotland.

Sources

  1. Scotland, “Search Old Parish Registers (OPR) Births/Christenings (1553-1854),” database, ScotlandsPeople,www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk : accessed 24 March, 2012, entry for Alexander Tocher, baptism, 28 July, 1754, Grange Parish Banff.)
  2. Peter John Anderson, Officers and Graduates of University and King’s College Aberdeen, 1495-1855; Aberdeen: Printed for New Spalding Club, 1893;  https://archive.org/stream/officersgraduate00univuoft#page/254/mode/2up, accessed Nov. 19, 2017.
  3. Monument Inscription, Doune Kirkyard, Macduff. Viewed personally, 1 June, 2012.
  4. Scotland, “Search Old Parish Registers (OPR) Marriages,” database, ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk : accessed 15 February 2015, entry for Alexander Tocher, 17 November, 1798, Gamrie and MacDuff.) 
  5. Scotland, “Search Wills and Testments, 1513-1925,” database, ScotlandsPeople  (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk : accessed Nov. 19, 2017, entry for Alexander Tocher, 8 January, 1845.
  6. Monument Inscription, Doune Kirkyard.

See also:

Janice Hamilton. “My Tocher Family,” Writing Up the Ancestors, Feb. 13, 2015,    https://www.writinguptheancestors.ca/2015/02/my-tocher-family.html

Notes: The following sources provide background on Scottish wills and testaments:

National Records of Scotland, Scotland’s People (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) Guides — Wills and Testaments, accessed Nov. 19, 2017, https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/wills-and-testaments#Background%20information

Chris Paton, Discover Scottish Land Records, Unlock the Past; Milton, Ontario: Global Genealogy, 2014. 

James Avon Smith, Toronto Architect

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James Avon Smith jr.

When I first came across a photograph of my great-great uncle James Avon Smith (1832-1918), the family resemblance between him and his brother (my great-grandfather) was clear. Their eyes were similar and so were the receding hairlines, while both men had bushy facial hair in keeping with men’s fashions of the day. Where James’ talent as an architect and artist came from, however, is not so evident. His own father and grandfather were teachers and his brother, John Murray Smith, was a banker. James’ career stood out on its own, and his influence can still be seen in Toronto today.

One of the most important buildings he designed was Knox College, a High Victorian Gothic style building completed in 1875 on Spadina Crescent.1 Over the years it has been used as a seminary, military hospital and medical research laboratory, and it is now undergoing a major renovation to add a new wing onto the original Presbyterian seminary.

As of September 2017, Knox College will house the University of Toronto’s faculty of landscape, architecture and design.2  

Born on April 22, 1832, James Avon Smith was the fifth of the seven surviving children of James Avon Smith senior and Jane Tocher.3 His father was assistant schoolmaster in MacDuff, Banffshire, Scotland. His grandfather, Alexander Tocher, was schoolmaster at Macduff for 67 years. His mother died in 1838, when James was just six, shortly after the birth of my great-grandfather, John Murray Smith.

According to family lore, James Avon Smith senior left Scotland in 1848 with three of the children, including son James, sailing aboard the Marmion. The rest of the family followed a few years later, settling in Toronto where James senior taught classics at Toronto Academy and Knox College. 

James junior apprenticed with architect William Thomas and briefly worked in partnership with John Bailey. He was in solo practice between 1860 and 1870, then formed a partnership with a former student, John Gemmell. They worked together for more than 40 years.

Smith designed nearly 100 churches in the Toronto area. Among the ecclesiastical projects he undertook with John Gemmell were Berkeley Street Wesleyan Methodist Church, Zion Congregational Church and College Street Presbyterian Church. Other projects they designed included the National Club on Bay Street (1874), the Don Brewery on River Street and the Noble Block on Queen Street West (1888).4

Many of the buildings he designed have been torn down to make way for more modern structures, but the city of Toronto has recognized several as heritage properties. Among them is his own family home at 84 Woodlawn Avenue East, which is still known as the James Avon Smith House.5James purchased the property in 1874 and designed the Gothic Revival style house a few years later. At first he rented it out, but it was his family home from 1886 to 1896. He then moved to 81 Woodlawn, a semi-detached house he also designed. 

Besides being a sought-after architect, James was also an artist. He was an active member of the Ontario Society of Artists and a charter member of the Royal Canadian Academy, serving as treasurer and secretary-treasurer of the latter organization for many years.6

While his professional life is well documented, there are few surviving details of his family life. Ontario records show that in 1861, he married his first wife, Lydia Elliott, and their daughter, Amy Pontifex Smith, was born two years later. Lydia died in 1879 and James married her sister, Fanny Elizabeth Elliot. A year after Fanny died in 1917, James married for a third time, to Rosa Brooks.7 He died a month later, on May 16, 1918. Daughter Amy P. Smith married Herbert Simmers in 1896. They had no children, and she died in Toronto in 1953. 

James is buried with his father, his brother Alexander, his aunt Elizabeth Tocher and both his first and second wives in an unmarked plot (section H, lot 145) in the Necropolis Cemetery in downtown Toronto.

Photo credits:

James Smith, digital image # 10010417 ca 1890, Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, Archives of Ontario Visual Database, copyright Queen’s Printer for Ontario. 

Knox College, Toronto Heritage Preservation Services

See also: 

“John Murray Smith and the Giant Bible,” Writing Up the Ancestors, March 9, 2016, https://www.writinguptheancestors.ca/2016/03/john-murray-smith-and-giant-bible_9.html “

James Avon Smith of MacDuff, Banffshire,” Writing Up the Ancestors, April 18, 2014, https://www.writinguptheancestors.ca/2014/04/james-avon-smith-of-macduff-banffshire.html

“My Tocher Family,” Writing Up the Ancestors, Feb. 13, 2015, https://www.writinguptheancestors.ca/2015/02/my-tocher-family.html

“Annie Louise Smith: One of the First Women to Graduate from McGill University,” Writing Up the Ancestors, Feb. 12, 2016, https://www.writinguptheancestors.ca/2016/02/annie-louise-smith-one-of-first-women.html

Notes and Sources 

  1. I Spadina Crescent. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Spadina_Crescent. Accessed May 18, 2017.
  2. This article includes spectacular photos of the building. Alex Bozikovik, “Merging the Past with the Future” The Globe and Mail, May 5, 2017,  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/architecture/spectacular-new-home-of-u-of-ts-daniels-faculty-merges-past-andfuture/article34906578/?utm_source=Shared+Article+Sent+to+User&utm_medium=E-mail:+Newsletters+/+E-Blasts+/+etc.&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links.
  3. “Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950,” database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XY64-Y8F : 8 December 2014), James Smith, 22 Apr 1832; citing , reference ; FHL microfilm 990,994.
  4. This is a complete list of the buildings James Avon Smith designed. “James Avon Smith (1832-1918)”, Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, http://dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/1313, accessed May 18, 2017.
  5. City of Toronto Council and Committees. City of Toronto bylaw no. 86-1999, to designate the property at 84 Woodlawn Ave. East (the James Avon Smith House) as being of architectural and historical value or interest. Enacted March 4, 1999.  http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/bylaws/1999/law0086.htm. Accessed May 18, 2017.
  6. “James Avon Smith Toronto Architect” (obituary), American Art News, Vol. 16 No. 34, June 15 1918, p. 7. Rhymes with Fyfe,http://rhymeswithfyfe.blogspot.ca/2015/05/james-avon-smith-toronto-architect.html, accessed May 18, 2017.
  7. “Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1785-1934” database Ancestry.ca(http://www.ancestry.ca, accessed July 19, 2017), entry for James Smith, 1918, Simcoe, Ontario, citing Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Series: MS932; Reel: 465, Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Rosa Brooks was born in Essex, England around 1863. She appeared as a child in the 1871 census, which showed that her father was a miller. The 1891 census found her working as a servant for an elderly woman in Norfolk, England. That census added that she was an amanuensis, which means that she acted as a kind of secretary or literary or artistic assistant. She and James were married on 6 April, 1918 in Barrie, Ontario.