Dear Colin,
Thank you for giving me your email address. It is great to hear from another Shepherd descendant.
This family is all fairly new to me, so I have a lot of thoughts and questions going around in my head. As well as trying to build an accurate and well researched family tree, I am curious to find out what life was like in the early 1800s in Fife as well as being curious about what my ancestors and their relatives looked like. Not knowing about this family growing up has meant that any family stories that existed were not passed on to my father’s family. I know that life would have been hard and leaving would have been the best option for many young couples.
Interestingly there is a discussion on TV right now about the future of coal mining in New Zealand.
What I know is that my 3GGPs are Edward Shepherd and Janet Barrie. I haven’t been able to find a record of their marriage, but it possibly took place in Dunning around 1834 as their daughter Mary was born there in 1835 although her baptism was subsequently recorded at Dunfermline. I am curious as to why many people seemed to have come from Perthshire to work in the coal mines. On my mother’s side of the family, I also have an ancestor who was born in the vicinity of Dunning but in her case, she went to Port Glasgow. In each case official records seem to be rather scarce.
Mary went on to marry John Edie in 1854 and their eldest child John was born at Newcastle, New South Wales in 1856. John is possibly my 2GGF but there is a chance that I descend from his sister Janet Barrie Edie. I need to do some more work on this.
George Shepherd and Elizabeth Strang may also have had a daughter Charlotte who was born about 1819. Charlotte and her daughter also named Charlotte emigrated to Victoria in 1857. Charlotte married John McGee at Dunfermline in 1853 but it is unclear who her daughter’s father was. The 1851 census for Carnock, Fife has 7-year-old Charlot Buchan born Kinross living in the household of Elizabeth Wilson who is identified as a grand-daughter.
I still have a lot of gaps. I can see that on your line Elizabeth Wilson married James Ritchie and that there was another sibling named George.
I am keen to do some more work on this as I find the time so any additional information would be appreciated.
Regards,
Christine J Tregonning
719A East Coast Rd
Browns Bay
North Shore
Auckland 0630
NEW ZEALAND
Telephone: +64 9 478-2362
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