Born - 13th November 1796, Dysart, Fife
Died - 20th January 1862, Crossgates, Fife

Thomas was the second of six children to James Rattray, a Clerk at Fordell Colliery and his wife Helen White. Thomas had one brother, William, and 4 sisters. From the siblings I found the following information.

Helen was born first in 1794 in Dysart, she married Hugh Russell on 14th November 1829 in Dalgetty. They had 4 children together. In her older years she was living in Dalgetty with one of her daughter’s and died aged 69.

Janet was born after Thomas, the first to be born after they moved to Dalgetty. I believe it was the clerks job as at Colliery that would have prompted the move from Dysart to Dalgetty. Unfortunately Janet died before her first birthday.

Thomas’s brother William was born 4 years after him. I have many records for him as he became a feuar (one who held land). He married in 1833 to Isabel Henderson. The statutory records below show a series of events throughout his life.

In 1841 William is a publican in Wester Village, Aberdour. In the 1851 census, he becomes a spirit dealer and they had servant!! (You will recall in previous stories this ancestral line has many spirit merchants through out the generations). William’s wife Isabel died aged 57 in Trafalgar Cottage in Aberdour. In 1858, the following year, William married Betsy Campbell – 25 years his junior and by the 1861 census he was an Innkeeper. The Inn was the Woodside Inn, which is still there today!! William and Betsy were married for 25 years, William died in 1883, a retired publican, and Betsy lived for almost 30 years more, never marrying again. She also carried on living in the same house. Pictures of the Woodside Inn & the house they lived in, Seaside place, are below. Betsy buried William next to his first wife in St Fillan’s Churchyard, Aberdour.

His sister Margaret was born in 1803. Margaret married Joseph Cowan on 22nd January 1825. She died only 10 years later on the 31st March in Dalgetty. Her daughter married and become a farmer’s wife leaving a substantial estate. In the 1841 census Joseph is widowed and John Walker is living with him.

Mary was the last born in 1807, she married John Walker in 1832 however by 1841 he had passed and she married again, this time to James Ferguson who was a shoemaker. They lived in Dunfermline. Mary lived until 1871 and her death certificate was signed by her nephew, James Cowan who was her sister Margaret’s Son. As Mary’s eldest was living with Margaret’s widow for a while I would say they were a close family who looked after one another.

Thomas, my direct ancestor married Dorothy Muir in 1821, they had a daughter Montgomery (named after Dorothy’s mother) on 11th January 1822 and Thomas Muir Rattray in January 1823. I have no record of Dorothy’s death however Thomas marries Janet Walker 10 months later and their is no further records for Dorothy. Thomas and Janet’s marriage certificate is detailed below.

Thomas and Janet had many children in the first 20 years old marriage. There story is detailed in James page.

• James 1824-1882
• Andrew 1827-1883
• Thomas 1829-1894
• William 1831-1853
• Alexander 1834-1871
• Euphemia 1838-1876
• John 1839-1877
• Helen 1842-1917
• Janet 1844

Thomas was a Coalminer. He was a coalminer when he was married, he was a coalminer when his kids were born, he was a coalminer when he died. Fordell is only 1.5 miles from Crossgates, on the road to Aberdour. He had family all around him. Fordell was one of the earlier coal mines and in his time coalminer’s earned a good wage (they earned it). It was a hard life and a life that many of Thomas’ children followed, generations followed for the next 150 years.

Wife – Janet Young Walker

Son – James Rattray