Frasers Of Fife: More Trees! Four, Five and Six

It happened again!! Another tree! (and another, then another)

This time it was kismet. Remember "P.H." the suspected owner of a Family Tree who was so active on RootsWeb back in the last century?

Well, "P.H." found me! She does have a tree and she is NOT in the States as I suspected, but at the epicenter, if you will, in Fife, Scotland! The heart of the family, the birthplace of all the descendants of Duncan Fraser and Isobel Burness. She had been trying to find living descendants of the people on the tree. It was a long, slow process; she was doing it at a time when the internet was in it's infancy. She managed to find someone in Canada and they had kept up a dialog for a time. Canada, you say? Well, howdy neighbor!

P.H. gave me her name, I started looking. Gotta love Google! I found her easily on Facebook (the clue was in her middle name, but I will withhold that for privacy's sake) A quick message and we were on our way. Turns out she was not in possession of the Tree, her cousin who lives in France is the proud owner of Number Five. He was awarded the prize when the family sold the Great Aunt's home in Arbroath, Scotland. Descendants from the Gilbert Fraser/Mary Cargill union. I was able to get a photo of P.H's tree, but not of Tree number Five.

Here is Tree Four: 

Probably the best of the bunch! It looks new!

So, now we have FIVE! Five trees that have survived for more than 140 years. One in the US, two in Scotland, one in England and now one in France. This is getting exciting!

A year or so went by. I was busy working on other things genealogy related (and not) when I got a message - in my SPAM - that I didn't see right away - from Blogger Contact Form.

 "Frasers of Fife. I too have a copy of the Tree which supposedly cost 500 

GBP to compile in 1880. My grandfather and his brother were descendants of 

Duncan Fraser and Mary Buckley."

Whoop! Whoop! Now we have SIX! 

I replied immediately, apologizing for my tardiness in responding, explaining the note had landed in my Spam originally. You'll never guess where number Six is... Australia! Seems the current owner of number Six inherited it from his father. They are descendants of the James Fraser and Mary Buckley union. James immigrated to Australia in 1858 as a young man of 22 and met and married Mary Buckley, whose family had emigrated from England, in 1879. 

Here's the tree: 

Same one! A little rough, but it has traveled, like mine, across the ocean from it's original home.

So, to date, the Tree count is:

• First Tree - Chicago, USA  - Alexander Fraser/Elizabeth Chalmers branch
• Second Tree - England - Gilbert Fraser/Mary Cargill branch
• Third Tree - Scotland - Margaret Fraser/George Mackie branch
• Fourth Tree - Scotland - Hugh Fraser/Isabella Gibb branch
• Fifth Tree - France - Jessie Fraser/David Wightman Cargill branch
• Sixth Tree - Australia - James Fraser/Mary Buckley branch

Each branch shows up on the blue/green colored portion of the tree, with heavy representation (currently) on the right hand side. Let's hope there are more trees out there waiting to be discovered!

Origin location of known trees

Until next time .......

read the other posts here:

Documenting the Family Tree - Documenting the Family Tree - Continued - And Then There Were Three!

©2022 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Frasers Of Fife: Generation Four | Isabella Gibb and George Braid

1880 John Fraser Family Tree

32. Isabella Gibb (John Gibb Jr - 8, Margaret - 2, Duncan - 1) born July 12th 1854



married December 25th 1877


George Braid birth not recorded


child of this union:


i. George Braid b. September 30th 1878



note: this family was most likely still living when the Tree was made so no further information was recorded - there may have been more children born to the couple after 1880

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

©2017 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net

©1880 John Fraser - Scotland

All Rights Reserved

Frasers of Fife: Generation Three | Helen Fraser and George Galloway

1880 John Fraser Family Tree

9. Helen Fraser (William - 3, Duncan -1) born 1791 at Fife


married October 18th 1814


George Galloway born October 12th 1790



children of this union:


      i. Agnes Galloway b. October 14th 1816 d. June 1836

      ii. Isabella Galloway b. March 25th 1823 d. March 6th 1839

33. iii. James Galloway b. November 25th 1827 married Catherine McKenzie


Helen died November 19th 1846
George died April 3 1851

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

Frasers of Fife: Generation Three | Agnes Fraser and Charles Stewart

1880 John Fraser Family Tree

15. Agnes Fraser (William - 3, Duncan - 1) born February 25th 1814

married at Markinch March 11th 1840

Charles Stewart birth unknown - farmer in Tasmania


Emigrated to Tasmania 1841


children of this union, all Tasmanian:

i. William Stewart born August 26th 1842

ii. Fergus Stewart born August 2nd 1844

iii. Charles Stewart born September 11th 1846

iv. John Stewart born August 26th 1848

v. James Stewart born August 10th 1850

vi. Duncan Stewart born October 25th 1852

vii. George Stewart born September 10th 1854

viii. Agnes Stewart born August 29th 1856

ix. Isaac Wright Stewart born April 17th 1859


Agnes died in Tasmania May 1st 1880 aged 66
Charles death unknown

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

Frasers of Fife: Generation Two | James Fraser and Mary MacLaren

1880 John Fraser Family Tree

6. James Fraser (Duncan - 1) born Kinglassie 1777, a Mechanic at Prinlaws

married at Duntocher January 17th 1800

Mary MacLaren birth unknown


Children of the union:


      i. Duncan Fraser born at Duntocher 1801, a Mechanic,  died at Leslie 1839, aged 38 years - a bachelor

      ii. Mary Fraser born 1803, died at Leslie December 1871 aged 68 - a spinster

24. iii. John Fraser born 1805, married Agnes Stenhouse

      iv. Isabella Fraser born 1807, died at Leslie July 1873, aged 67 - a spinster

      v. Jean Fraser born 1810, died March 1879, married August 1854, R. Thomson born Kinglassie, died 1874 - no issue

25. vi. James Fraser born May 10th 1815, married Jane Tod

26. vii. William Fraser born 1816, married Ann Nisbet



James died at Leslie, December 13th 1853, aged 76 years
Mary died March 28 1850, aged 74 years

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

Frasers of Fife: Generation Two | John Fraser and Ann Johnstone

4. John Fraser (Duncan - 1) born at Saline September 23rd 1770. A mechanic at Carlisle.

married at Carlisle 1803

Ann Johnstone birth unknown

Children of the union:

     i. John Fraser b. 1805 married Mary Sanderson. d. 1875 at Newcastle on Tyne ~no issue. A Stone mason.

      ii. Duncan Fraser b. 1807  Stone mason. Enlisted into  30th regiment at Bermuda. Died a bachelor aged about 33 years.

      iii. William Fraser  d. 1818 aged 9 years

      iv. Alexander Fraser d. 1818 aged 7 years

16.  v.  Hugh Fraser  b. December 25th 1813 married Ann Amelia Cleminston

      vi. Burns Fraser  d. 1818 aged  3 years

      vii. Margaret Fraser d. 1818 aged 1 year



John died June 1st 1842 aged 72
Ann died 1834

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

editor's note: As I entered this information I was struck by the fact that four of this couple's young children all died in 1818. A quick internet search revealed there were outbreaks of Typhoid Fever and Tuberculosis throughout Scotland that year.

Finding Faulkner: Part One | The Backstory

It started, as good quests always do, with a family tale. 

As a child we were told stories of our maternal ancestors but heard very little of our paternal side. There were a few allusions of family ties to famous historical figures that, as children, we boasted about in the schoolyard. Genealogy was the weird hobby that my grandmother pursued. 

Later, when I had a child of my own I really started to get curious about my heritage. Quizzing my grandfather was not an option. He was not a talker and did not care for family history. (Or anything in the past, actually.) My father had pieced together what he could, talking to his various cousins. The Faulkner family was not a close family, whereas on my maternal side, there were reunions, holiday meals, weddings, family vacations, etc. I never really gave it a second thought, it was what it was.

I contented myself with working on my maternal line. My grandmother was over the moon that I had been bitten by the genealogy bug and would supply me regularly with packets of family info; all badly typed, accompanied with handwritten notes that I'm still convinced are written in cypher. I dutifully entered it all into my Family Tree Maker program on my Windows 3.1 boat anchor and spent my days writing (yes! writing) to distant relatives for information.

Time passed. Children grew. Grandparents died. Life moved ever forward. 

Then my dad died. 

On Father's Day.  

In the days leading up to the funeral my mother was a whirlwind of activity. Pulling out boxes of family memorabilia I was never aware existed. Old family photos, correspondance my dad had kept with various cousins, and a folder marked "Operation Grandpa".

Operation Grandpa? 

The time was not right to question this odd file, we were planning a wake. A magnificent wake. A party to end all parties. Just the way my dad would have wanted it. A grand party with him at the center. And it was wonderful, and he would have loved it.

Several weeks later my mom presented me with 2 large boxes filled with photos, documents, notes, letters, etc. "Operation Grandpa" was there too.

Seems my dad was trying to find out more about his Faulkner lineage, about his own grandfather and where he came from. He had check lists, correspondence, photocopied pages of  books. A small family tree that he was able to put together. He had sent away for coat of arms, family crest and name origin information. (This was prior to the internet!). It seemed he believed our Faulkner was of Scottish descent.

And then, there it was, in a notation written in my mother's hand:

 "His ancestor came to the Colony of New York from Scotland as a young man." 

Game on.

Isobel Burness: "Of The Same Stock As Burns The Poet" (52 Ancestors #6)

It all started with the death of my father and the discovery of a hand drawn Family Tree from 1880 that my mom found stuck behind the furnace. It was labeled IRONS FAMILY TREE in my dad's handwriting. It was rolled up in a mailing tube, cracked and brittle. I was afraid to unroll it.

Backtrack a few years. My dad was doing some research on his mother's side of the family, the Irons family, and had inherited a few bits of information from his uncle, who spent his retirement doing genealogy. We knew of the family cemetery plot in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, and one Saturday we all drove into the city to visit. I  immediately experienced a hushed sense of awe at the number of family members resting there. And an urgent need to discover who they were when they were alive.

Life got in the way and my desire waned. I put it aside to pursue other things.

Then my dad died. He was buried in the family plot in Graceland Cemetery surrounded by his ancestors. It was, still is, sobering. People, my people, who walked the streets of Chicago over 150 years ago. Who lived through the Great Fire. Who immigrated to America for a better life. Who were among the early pioneers of a tiny little frontier town called Chicago.

Out came the box filled with research he had been conducting (that I was not aware of) the letters from his uncle, stacks of old, old family photos. the Family Tree. My dad was an only child and a pack rat, so lucky for me he had everything his mother had saved from her family.

My curiosity was ignited anew.

Isobel Burness,who 

"Tradition said was of the same stock as that of Burns the Poet"

One afternoon, when curiosity got the best of me, I cautiously unrolled the Family Tree. It was not the Irons Family Tree at all - it was the Fraser Family tree dated 1880. The earliest entries were for Duncan Fraser and Isobel Burness, who "Tradition said was of the same stock as that of Burns the Poet". What? Who were these people? I needed to find out!

I dug in to try to discover who Isobel was. I started a public tree on Ancestry to do some fishing. I added her to WikiTree. I searched and searched to the best of my online ability. A trip to Scotland was not in my realm of possibility any time soon.

From the Family Tree I learned only a few key bits of information. Isobel Burness or Burns might have been born about 21 June 1748. She married Duncan Fraser in 1763 (was she really only 15?) and she died 15 Jan 1806 at Leslie, Scotland. She would have been 57 years old. The ONLY record I have been able to discover for myself is the baptism record noted on the Family Tree. It is still unclear 135 years later whether this is, in fact the correct Isobel.

So the mystery continues. Who was Isobel Burness or Burns? Was she "of the same stock" as the poet? Who were her parents? Did I and the author of this Tree find the correct baptism record? Did she really get married at 15? How did the Tree author conclude when Isobel died? And where? Where is her grave?

All my answers lie so far away. In both chronological time and physical distance. I hope to someday have more answers to this mysterious matriarch of my Fraser family branch.

And one more thing .... how did this mysterious Family Tree, authored in Scotland in 1880 by John Fraser, make it's way to America and wind up behind the furnace at my father's house?

I love a good mystery, don't you?