4th Great Grandfather
8th Generation
Born - 1826 in Shannon, Co Clare, Ireland
Died - 20 July 1887 - Old Deer, Aberdeenshire, ScotlandPeter is the first person in my family tree not to be born in Scotland (20 ancestors into this story to find someone not born on Scottish soil) He was born in Ireland almost 200 years ago – in Shannon, County Clare.
Both Peter’s parent’s were Irish.
His siblings include Bridget (I think she is later known as Elizabeth), Rose, Helen, Anthony and Bernard. They were all born in Ireland although all in different areas.
Bernard was the youngest born in 1840
The Great Famine (The potato famine) took place in Ireland from 1845-1851. County Clare suffered grievously, with the rate of excess mortality in Clare in these years being in the top quarter of the 32 counties. Between 1845 and 1855, at least 2.1 million people left Ireland. The 1851 census shows us that County Clare had more evictions than any other county. This could be the reason why Peter’s family left Ireland.
In 1851 Peter was 25 years old and living in Rayne, Aberdeen. He is a visitor on this census along with his sister Elizabeth Gorman (already widowed) and Peter Gorman. They are recorded as beggars. Gorman was the sponsor at the baptism of Peter’s son William confirming my records were correct.
Peter married Mary Flood in May 1852 in Tomintoul, Banffshire, Scotland. Although I have no record of this Peter and Mary’s children were all baptised in the Roman Catholic church and records state this was when they were married.
In 1861 Peter was living apart from his wife and children. He was living in Victoria Lodging House in Aberdeen. They were also living in a lodging house nearby therefore I think they were separated due to poverty not choice. Peter has his occupation as an Umbrella Maker.
Umbrella maker at work below
In the 1800’s an umbrella weighed around 10 lbs as its frame consisted of wooden rods and whalebone. Even Wellington (the victor of Waterloo) owned an umbrella. An Englishman, Samuel Fox from Sheffield invented the steel frame in 1852 which reduced the weight however I’m unsure if this would have made it to Aberdeen that quickly
Interestingly Umbrella makers are associated with Traveler’s and Gypsies. Was Peter a Gypsy? Irish – yes, Roman Catholic – yes, No fixed abode – yes. Maybe he was a gypsy or maybe he had fell on hard times after the Irish Famine and was doing what he could to survive.
We do know that Peter was close to his siblings, he lived with his eldest sister when he first came over from Ireland and he was the informant for his brother Anthony when he died in 1865. Although Antony was only 31 when he died he had already lost both his children and wife 5 years previous. Was this the lasting effects of the famine taking it’s toll on what was supposed to be a new life?
His Sister Rose married John Rouke, she outlived her husband and died in Nazareth House, Aberdeen at 61. Nazareth house was a poor house that provided shelter for the poor and desolate.
Helen was his other sister, she was a hawker and a pedlar in different censuses (Both gypsy occupations). She and her husband both died in 1902. Her death certificate also shows the closeness of the family. Above you can see Helen was present at her sister’s death and it was her sister’s daughter (Rosie Rouke) that signed her death certificate as her own daughter.
Barny was born around 1840 in Ireland however other than coming over with the family I have found no further records.
Peter was 57 when he died – cause of death “Fracture of skull in consequence of being knocked down by spring cart”.
Due to the nature of his death there was an inquest into what happened and further details were released, shown on the corrected entry below. You will see that not only do I not have a birth certificate for Peter I don’t think his family really knew what age he was either!
This information did indeed call for more digging. I found out that incident took place at the Aikey Fair and Horse Sale. This was an annual fair held on Aikey Brae near Old Deer, Aberdeenshire. The fair dates back to 1661, and coincides with the feast day of St Droston, the patron saint of the parish. With its origins in horse trading, through the years the fair developed into a popular attraction with side shows and other events.
The fair attracted visitors from all over the North East and it became a regular meeting place for Scotland’s Travelling Folk. Aikey Brae was in fact a Traveller’s site. The pictures below are taken in 1911. These photos were taken 25 years AFTER Peter lived here however I think it’s a good reminder of the world that Peter lived in.
Wife – Mary Flood
Marie's Genealogy 