14 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No.55 September 2010

Concluding Part

The Story of a Family

By Margaret Watters and Peter Leith The second half of the 17th century is an unknown time John, who succeeded him. Thomas appears now and for the Leiths. Very little history as such has come down again in records. He signs as a witness at the baptism of to us. The early information is in family quarrels and the James Cursiter and Marjorie Hays’ son Thomas in 1701. Leiths do not seem to be in court rccords at that time. Changing Times Church records had not started or have not survived ex- The town of Stromness at the beginning of the 18th cen- cept in Kirkwall. Orkney history books are not much help. tury was out to the west of the present town extending Most just skim over the period. The Leiths of Onston must from the kirk with it’s kirkyard past Warbeth Beach to have been quite poor at that time as Thomas Omand, who Breckness where in 1633 Bishop Graham had erected a had bought the King’s land of Savedale in 1666 took a mansion. This bit of coastline had been inhabited for a wadset right over John Leith’s 13½ settings in 1676 and long time. Past Breckness Mansion there is a field with still had it in 1684 when John settled his affairs. the remains of a chapel and graveyard. There are the In 1684 John Leith executed a charter granting his ruins of a broch on the other side and there have been 13½ settings of malt mealing udal land to his oldest son graves found there. Nearer the kirk there is an area of Thomas Leith reserving his own life rent. His wife is not disturbed ground which has always been called Munker- mentioned so she must have been already dead. He also ness. The name indicates memory of a monastery and made provision for the wadset rights of Thomas Omand also there have been underground passages uncovered in the property. Among the witnesses to the deed is Da- in the kirkyard by the gravediggers. vid Leith, son of John. One wonders how many of a fam- Across the bay and Eastwards along the shore in ily John had. David does not appear in history again. Cairston the Gordons lived in a mansion at the Bu and Malt Mailing Udal Land is the amount of malt due to the owned all the land round about there. The remains of a earldom for scat. A setting was about 28 lbs. The end of norse Castle there indicates that this was also an an- the 17th century was a grim time in Orkney history. The cient site. weather was very bad,1696 being on record as particu- The ancient grandeur was all very fine but times were larly unpleasant. Crops were poor or non-existant, but changing. Merchants began to appear on the scene. skat or taxes and rents had to be paid. Orkney belonged Trade, of course, was by the sea and Breckness, while to the king but was let out to tacksmen for a price. The all right for small boats was no use for trading ships. late 1600s are known as “Brand’s years” after the tacks- They went on to Hamnavoe which was then and still is man of the time. He was Alexander Brand and he was an excellent harbour. And so, in the Session Records of very brutal in his exactions of his dues. Actually he had the kirk a new name appears “Shoarsyd”, the forerunner paid an inflated price for the tack to begin with and was of the present Stromness. One after the other the mer- feeling hard done by. chants built houses there and soon, in 1700 there was Although tenants were very hard hit in other parts of agitation to move the kirk as well. A school was also be- Orkney and some landowners went bankrupt, the udal ing planned. owned Onston and also Clouston did not change hands Richard Johnston, he who was married to Marjorie and the heads of household remain the same. There are Cursetter, is often noticed in records of the time. no surviving documents in the family to give us any de- Also Duncan Grahame of Breckness and John Brown tails of what it was like to live at that time, which is a of Kirbister. These were the leading merchants but there pity. We can only guess. Dates are also hard to come by were more. but Thomas Leith must have married soon after the 1684 The disastrous weather of the decade round 1700 had deed was signed. His bride was Elizabeth Cursiter, a another far reaching effect. The small farm holdings daughter of Cursetter of Hutter in Kirbister, Stromness. could no longer support whole grown up families al- These Cursiters, were a branch of the Firth Cursitters, though there would be plenty of work. So it was then as it an old udal family. A daughter of the previous generation is now, move around and search for work. The new town had married Edward Omand of Onston. Another daugh- was the obvious place and many went there, settled and ter, Marjorie Cursiter, was married to Richard Johnston. became shop-keepers or tradesmen. Many rented small He was a Stromness merchant The oldest son of Thomas holdings from the Gordons in Cairston; and from Brown and Elizabeth was born in 1686 or thereabouts and called in Kirbister. We find Leiths in Cairston, Kirbuster andA Issue No. 55 September 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 15

F Outertown where Gordon was laird. Some were trades- their marriages all took place in Stromness Kirk. Elspeth men in new town. was first to marry, she married Nicol Robertson who was In the meantime Thomas Leith, the second oldest son of a merchant in Stromness. We shall hear more of him later. Thomas Leith and Elizabeth Cursiter, was farming Neth- Then in 1755 Euphan married Thomas Isbister from Har- er Onston and in 1723 married Margaret Clouston. Their ray and Janet married Robert Matches. There is no record family, recorded as baptised in Stenness, is Margaret of Marjory and John is known not to have survived. Wil- 1736, David 1741, and Isobel in 1744. A son James was liam, the only surviving son, married in 1765. His bride baptised in Stromness in 1752 and there was evidently was Isobel Smith, daughter of John Smith of Stromness. another son, Thomas. Thomas Leith appears frequently Although a udal owner owned his land completely, with in the Stenness Kirk records; as an elder and treasurer in no reference to the king, there were several taxes that 1735 and is still being recorded as an elder in 1755 but he had to be paid. SKAT, the old Norse land tax, CESS, which may not have still been at Nether Onston by this time. met the cost of the army and navy and TEINDS (the Scots Records show Thomas and Margaret still living in Sten- term for TITHES) which paid the minister of the parish ness in 1744 but in 1745 we find that his elder brother church, the amount of which was negotiated between the John decided to take his place at Nether Onston. heritors of the parish. Some of these dues were payable in Records do not show who lived in Nether Onston in the cash and some in labour but most were payable in kind. 1700s but we assume that it was Thomas Leith and his e.g. Malt, bere, butter, flesh, meat, oil, geese and poultry. wife Elizabeth Cursiter. There is no record of what family These termed Vicarage teinds were settled locally and they had but through various documents we can trace four. varied greatly from parish to parish. The minister and The eldest son was John, recorded as living in Cairston. the heritors did not always see eye to eye and in the 1750s Another son, Thomas lived and worked at Nether On- in Firth and Stenness things reached boiling point and ston. He was prominent in Church affairs. James, living ended in the courts in 1757. at Blackhall just along the road, appears as a witness in It is known as the Vicarage Case and throws some light a document. Peter, married to Isobel Velzian with family on life in Orkney at that time. The church minister of born in Stenness and then Stromness would seem to be the time, Mr William Nisbet, a man continually short of another son. A daughter Elspeth was married to Richard money, cast round for ways of increasing his income. He Clouston of the Netherbigging family and lived at Upper noticed that very few paid the butter teind in kind but Onston and latterly at Chesmire. always in cash. So, at the next heritors’ meeting he de- It is difficult to trace families in the early 18th cen- manded to be paid his butter teind in kind and that the tury. Records are few and only people who owned land cows on the farms be stented (assessed) accordingly. At are recorded with certainty. The kirk recorded baptisms that time the assessment was 8 pence for each calved cow, and marriages but where there are several entries of the 4 pence for each farrow cow and 2 pence for each young same name it is difficult to distinguish between different cow or quey. But Mr Nisbet wanted butter, and butter he families. Only the deaths of notable people were recorded had to have, so he appointed two men to go round the and, of course, many kirk records were lost or never were. farms to record the numbers of the cattle beasts. Now the Most families had family Bibles in which there was a sec- heritors started to worry. Things had been going along tion for recording family names and dates but these only quite nicely under Mr Nisbet and his predecessors but became common in the 19th century. this seemed about to change. Butter prices fluctuated, The father of Thomas and John, who was also named sometimes less but sometimes more. He’d obviously de- Thomas, had made a disposition in favour of John, named cided that he should be the one to profit. The heritors as his eldest son in 1710. Baptism records show John and were unwilling to change but he went to court, proved his his family still living in Stromness in 1734 and Stenness case and got a decree in his favour. Kirk records show that Thomas was still there in 1744 so The heritors decided that something had to be done. they must have decided on an exchange. Three of them, Hugh Isbister in Barnhouse, William Next we find Thomas in the Bu in Cairston, Stromness. Leith of Moa and David Isbister of Upper Onston, took The Bu was a manor place with an old established farm the matter back to court and, in doing so, gave us a re- and several small holdings. It was the home of the Gor- markable insight into the world of ordinary people in don family, one of the Stromness merchants and the fam- 18th century Orkney. Most of the tenants in Stenness ily owned most of Cairston at that time. gave evidence and, reading John Leith’s evidence, we The Stromness records show John Leith as living in learn a lot about him. or near Clouster in Cairston in the 1720s when he mar- On that day in court in 1757, he was 75 years of age. He ried Anna Spence. Anna’s father was John Spence, origi- paid his vicarage dues yearly. If he had butter he paid in nally from Birsay. John and Anna’s family were all born kind but if he didn’t he paid the value of it in money at in Cairston. Euphemia l724, Elspeth in 1727, William in the rate of two and a half pence for every mark owed. He 1729, Janet 1731 and twins John and Margery in1734. has paid like that for twelve years which is all the time he Stenness records at the same time show Thomas Spence has been in Nether Onston. So the move from Cairston to as occupier of Nether Onston and paying the taxes. He Nether Onston must have been in 1745. probably was married to a Leith girl and was probably a There is nothing further known about William Leith of brother of Anna. Moa, he doesn’t seem to appear in Stenness history again So John and Anna settled down at Nether Onston. We and there is no record of a wife or a family for him. Nisbet do not know if any of their family went with them but again won his case. A 16 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No.55 September 2010

FA meeting of heritors in Clestrain in Orphir (the house of b. 1813 who married William Towers, Catherine b.1815, the leading heritor Mr Honeyman) in1758 shows John Leith John b.1818 who married Elizabeth Seatter, Marjory to be a man of independent mind. The meeting was for the b.1819, William b. 1821 who married Margaret Ann Clou- heritors to fix a salary for a schoolmaster. He put his mark on ston and James b.1823. Of these only Margaret, John and that document but was then offered another paper to sign. He William survived. was not told what the paper was and so would not sign. Round about 1840 John Leith died and the farm was In 1766 John and his spouse Anna Spence execute a given up. John and William emigrated to USA and the disposition of the two meils one and a half settings malt widowed Margaret with her daughter bought a holding meiling udal land of Nether Onston to William Leith, a known as Old Hall in Kirbister in Stromness and settled wright in Stromness, noted as only lawful son now in life there. Margaret died in 1859 and is buried in Stenness and reserving his own liferent and the burden of an an- kirkyard. Margaret married William Towers and had one nuity to Anna Spence. One witness was Nicol Leith, son daughter Margaret who married John Bews and their de- of James Leith, tenant in Blackhall. James was possibly scendants still live at Old Hall. a brother of John. In 1768 the elders in Stenness Kirk William left Orkney after his father died and went to Session decided that John Leith is “unable to execute the Nova Scotia where he worked as a tailor. In 1848 he went to office of elder by reason of a very great old age,” and they the gold fields of California. He came back to Orkney again go on to elect a new elder. This is the last we hear of John. and in 1853 married Margaret Clouston of Howe. They set- He would have been in his late eighties. tled in Wisconsin where their descendants still live. Although John Leith had returned to Stenness from John Leith also went to USA. He married Elizabeth Set- Stromness there were several Leith families still in Cairston. ter, who was of Westray descent, in Shields in England in Chief among them was David at the Bu, son of Thomas and 1845 and they went to USA in 1850 and also settled in Margaret Clouston. Although only four children are record- Wisconsin where they are still represented. ed as being born to Thomas and Margaret there were al- Thomas and Margaret’s youngest son Harry born 1768 most certainly more. Thomas who married Margaret Baikie married Kathren Isbister in 1797 and lived for the most in 1787 and lived at Congesquoy and possibly William who part in Outer Town of Stromness. He is recorded in Stew- married Barbara Louttit could be sons too. an, Leagar and Streather but finally bought Hyacow and David and Margaret at the Bu had a large family of then Heatherbraes. Their family was David, Catherine, whom the eldest was David born 1787 who married Mary Harry, Katherine who married John Isbister and lived Clouston and had one daughter Catherine. He died in in Evie. Margaret who married Joseph Setter, Marjory, 1856 aged 69. Then came Margery in 1789 and James in Thomas who was twice married and succeeded his father 1790. Margaret born 1792 who married Thomas Leith in at Heatherbraes. They had a large family. The youngest, 1866 came next. Then in 1794 was Katherine who married David, married Christina Clouston and went to New Zea- Robert Taylor. Their daughter Katherine married John land where their descendants still live. Garrioch and lived at Ness in Stenness. In 1796 was born There are also descendants in Australia. Benjamin who lived and farmed at Burnside and married So back to Nether Onston, where it all began. As his Marjorie Leith. They had a large family. Benjamin died father, John, began to age, his only son William, who in 1877 age 79 and his widow Marjorie then went to Wis- was essentially a Stromness man, having been born and consin, USA where her daughter lived. She died there in brought up there, and where he had worked as a wright, 1889. Sybilla, born 1799, married James Louttit and went probably as a shipwright, had to move to Stenness to south where they had a family and there are descend- assist his father. He started as he meant to go on. His ants called Lugton living in Essex. Her brother Thomas first act was to payoff the wadset (bond) which Thomas married James’s sister Sybilla, with family John, Thomas, Omand held on Nether Onston. This had been going on Jean and Margaret. These Louttits were from Orphir. for many years. William had saved a bit while at work so Next was Ann, born 1803 of whom nothing is known. And he was able to pay off the debt and start his life at Nether finally the youngest was William who was a sea captain. Onston debt free. He married Margaret Robertson but died quite young. But he still had Stromness interests and of course there David and Marjorie lived to a good age. He died in 1828 were a lot of close Leith relatives living round the Bu. In age 85 and Marjorie died in 1840 age 70. They are buried 1764 he met and married Isobel Smith. She came of seafar- in Stenness. ing stock. Her father had been Captain John Smith, noted Thomas Leith, another son of Thomas and Margaret, in some documents as Capt. John Smith of New York. He lived and worked at Congesquoy just along the shore to the had married Isabel Sinclair in 1731 with a son John born east of the Bu. He was married to Margaret Baikie. Their 1731 and a daughter Isabel born in 1734. Isabel Sinclair family was James b.1758, Sibbla b.1761, John b. 1764, was a daughter of Magnus Sinclair, a member of a Sin- who married Margaret Clouston of Germiston,Margaret clair family substantial landowners in Stromness and with b.1766, Harry b.1768 who married Kathren Isbister, and interests in Graemsay. However by the 1750s Magnus Marjory b.1772. Sinclair and Capt. John Smith were both dead. John who married Margaret in 1813 would have been In 1754 John and Isabel inherited half a quoy of land about 50 years old at that time so there is obviously more from a Thomas Sinclair. Then in 1763 she alone, herbroth- to find out about him. They lived at Gyron, just bythe er being deceased, inherited the,” south half of Thomas standing stone at Deepdale. This holding, now part of Taylor’s quoy lying in the north end of the Shoarsyd of Howe, was about 5 acres. Their children were: Margaret Stromness" from Margaret Sinclair relict of John InnesA Issue No. 55 September 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 17

Flate fisherman in London. So Isabel Smith was not ex- ten up detailing business done from 1773 to 1800. All was actly empty handed when she married William Leith. paid up and settled and Nicol was retired. He was still Their first child was born in July 1765 and they called alive in 1810 but his son John died in 1808 leaving Chris- her Anna. She was followed by John in 1767 and William tine in charge of the business. in 1769. Peter was born in 1772 followed by Nicol in 1775. Isabel Smith died shortly after 1793 but William lived to James arrived in 1778 and Charles in 1782. An Isabella is be an old man and was still alive in 1810. noted in 1779 but is not on record. This was William and So now the next generation comes into the picture. Their Isabel’s family. Anna and John stayed at home and the story is better told as a lot of their letters to their father other boys all went to sea as we shall hear. have survived. William is on merchant ships. Nicol is on In 1770 a further legacy of land came Isabel’s way. There fishing vessels. Peter is a tradesman, mostly on ships. was a tenement of houses and kailyards which had be- James is serving his time on ships out of Shields. Charles longed to Hugh Sinclair. This would have been the houses is an apprentice to a firm of shipowners. in John Street, of which more later. Putting it altogether This was the time of the Napoleonic wars and no man this meant that Isabel and William Leith owned a holding was safe either on land or sea; the press gang were active stretching from the seashore to well up Brinkies Brae. everywhere. Nicol and William were pressed on warships. Another person who comes into the picture is Nicol Nicol first on HMS Lynx when in Longhope aboard a fish- Roberson who had married William’s sister Elspeth. He ing boat. William was also pressed but the name of the is described as a merchant in Stromness. A merchant in warship is not recorded. Later both served aboard HNS those days was not only a trader. He did or could provide Illustrious and saw service off Ferrol for some time. They all sorts of goods. He bought and sold cattle beasts. Ani- were quarter gunners. James was pressed aboard HMS mal food, knitting wool, house building material, in fact Leyden and saw service on several warships. He was at if you wanted something Nicol Robertson could suppiy it the battle of Trafalgar on HMS Polyphemus. and he’d also lend you the money to buy it! HMS Illustrious was posted to the East Indies in1810. Nicol and Elspeth had four of a family. Susan born 1759, While on the expedition that took Mauritius, an outbreak Janet in 1762, John in 1764 and Elizabeth in 1766. Elspeth of cholera caused a big loss of life. William died at this died in 1766 possibly on the birth of Elizabeth. Nicol did not time but Nicol survived and arrived home sometime later marry again but continued to appear in Leith’s affairs. having been discharged from the Navy. But life is never easy on a small holding of land, so Nicol James stayed at sea and was last heard of in 1820 when Robertson comes into the story again. A heritable bond he was on the ship “Grace” en route to Jamaica. He was for thirty eight pounds was drawn up with seven pounds not heard of again. twelve expenses. This would cost one pound eighteen shil- Peter remained at sea as a tradesman until his brother lings a year. Twelve pounds was already owed so it was John died in 1815 then came home to Nether Onston and time to put things in order. What had been a family ar- worked as a tradesman from there. He is recorded as re- rangement between William and his brother-in-law, Nicol, pairing the Bridge of Waithe which was of wooden con- now became a business arrangement with Nicol Robert- struction at the time. son, the business man. We see cows being bought, also seed Charles was an indentured apprentice and sailed on the corn, malt and bere meal. In1785 a horse was bought from “Freedom,” a trading ship. He died of scurvy in 1810. Alex Isbister in Clumley in Sandwick and then cash was Nicol survived the wars and arrived home after Peter. John provided to pay the tiends. Quite a lot of wool and tow was Robertson was dead but his wife Christine still carried on traded and in 1800 cash was given to son James who had the business which was mostly shipping. Nicol contined to gone south to serve his time at Shields. go to sea and made several trips on the whaling ship “True- But the other side of the business is just as interesting. love”. He had bought “Appiehouse” from the Honeyman es- Here we see what is produced and sold from Nether Onston. tate in 1812 but continued to rent it to the occupier, Thomas Some years there is bere meal, there is hay, simmons and Robertson. Nicol married Margaret Isbister of Upper Onson feathers. Then there is stock, a quoyack, (heifer) a cow., a sow, in 1820 and there were five of a family. Anne born 1820,Wil- but above all there are fat hens most years. Some cartage liam born 1821, Peter born 1822, Margaret born 1825 and seems to have been done as carriage of 1000 slates is noted. Charles born 1830. But time moves on, the family were growing up and mov- He used his prize money from his navy days to buy two ing on. John the eldest son stayed at home while William, small farms, Grivas for Margaret and Howe in Harray for Peter, and Nicol went to sea. With the family mostly out Charles. William had Nether Onston and Peter lived in earning their own living, life at Nether Onston was much Appiehouse. Nicol Latterly had a Naval pension and died easier. Nicol Robertson still in business in Stromness. in 1869 aged 94. Of his family, only Peter had descend- His only son John married Christine Johnston in 1795. ants who still occupy Appiehouse. Christine was from Birsay and daughter of James John- ston of Swanney, Birsay. John and Christine were born business people and soon Nicol found himself eased out of the business The brothers, principally Peter, demanded that the busi- ness must be brought up to date and paid off whatever was outstanding. A large and detailed account was writ- Margaret Watters L