Born - 4 April 1808 - Beath, Fife Scotland
Died - 25 January 1879 - Aberdour, Fife Scotland

John was born in Beath, a parish, in the district of Dunfermline containing the villages of Cowden-Beath, Kelty, and Oakfield. The below text is an extract is taken from the account written in April 1833 and revised in April 1836.

“At present there are three collieries in operation in the parish. In 1821 the population was 729 and in 1831 it was 921. About 400 of the populatoin lives in the villages of Kelty and Oakfield. The number of families is 180. The increase of population is owing to the additional number of hands employed at the collieries, and to a system of euing lately introduced. The average number of births for the last seven years was 15, of marriages 5, and of deaths 13 (based on the parish records, but not all births and deaths are registered.) During the last three years there have been 4 illegitimate births in the parish.

There are 5276 acres under cultivation. All kinds of produce are grown including potatoes, turnips, cabbages, etc. Hay is also grown. Cattle is grazed. There are no markets town in the parish, nor a post office. The parish church is the only place of public worship. The new church was built about 1835. Of the population nearly 200 are Burgher Seceders. Their number has greatly diminished within the last twenty years. The parochial school is the only one in the parish. It is attended by an average of 100 scholars. There are one inn and four public-houses in the parish, and their effects are notoriously injurious to the morals of the people. The fuel used in the parish is coal, of which there is great abundance at a reasonable price.“

Census records didn’t begin in Scotland until 1841 Therefore I have no records of John living with his parents or siblings. His birth records shows his parents were Andrew and Janet and his dad was working in Kelty (Although Kelty, as we know it, didn’t begin until around 1850). Church records also show that John had many siblings although I can not confirm the exact amount as not all were registered.

What I do know is that John’s brother Andrew was an Engineer and Proprietor of the Gas Work and stayed in Fife. He had a brother William who moved to Lothian and become a soldier for a while and his brother Robert stayed in Dunfermline with him wife and child and lived to 75. Out of his sister’s Martha lived in Auchtertool with her family, Janet lived to 78 spending her life in Dunfermline, Elspit Leitch married James Grieve had children and stayed in Fife. I know he had a fourth sister, Betty but no other records other than her birth certificate.

The next record I have of John is when he married Janet Paxton in Beath on 20th November 1828. There is a huge difference in old church records compared to the statutory records I have previously shown. This marriage record doesn’t state their occupations or who their parents were. Therefore you rely on their death records and their children’s birth certificates to confirm that you have the correct person.

It is a further 12 years, 1841, before the first census. By then John was an Agricultural Labourer working at Hillside Mansion Aberdour. I have a picture of the house he worked for below and the map of where it was. The census shows John and Janet had 7 children. Unfortunately 2 of their children, John and Agnes, had died by the time their children were christened in 1854 as Agnes was only 8 and John only 5 in 1854. The names must have been very important to them to rename the younger siblings the same.

I used the 1851 census below to confirm their births also.

John lost his first wife in 1854, Therefore in 1861 there was only himself, Ebeneezer, Agnes and John at home. He was no longer an Agricultural labourer but a Carter with 1 Horse. John remarried, another Janet in 1862 (8 years back then was a long time for a man to stay widowed). Janet Wilson was also a widow, she had 4 children of her own. They didn’t have any children together.

In 1871 John and Janet were still living in High Street Aberdour, John was 63 years old now and still working as a Carter. John was named in the 1878 Slater’s Directory of Scotland.

“CARRIER. To BURNTISLAND, John Leitch, three times a week

and

EATING HOUSES. John Leitch, High st”

John must have been known by all to be a carrier going back and forward 3 times a week and to run a eating house with his wife. John was 70 years old when he died, all records show he lived a full life.

What I also interesting is that my Great Di, Peter was born in 1910 when his dad, Thomas was 32. Peter was only 35 when his dad died. Thomas was born when his dad John was 29, and was only 28 years old himself when his dad died. Then when we go further back to when John was born his dad (also John) was already 41 and John was only 30 when he lost is dad. All these men lost their father’s at a young age and none of them even knew their grandfather! This is mainly because of the size of family they had and my direct ancestors are one of the younger in the family.

Son – John Leitch

Wife – Janet Paxton

Father – Andrew Leitch

Mother – Jannet Beveridge