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I am looking for information about a distant ancestor Christian Cranna. I am not certain of the spelling of her surname as it was transcribed from a gaelic word meaning a rocky place. Variants in contemporary documents include Crano and Crannow.
The name comes from a small area of Aberdeenshire but descendants could now be anywhere.
Christian was born on the 15th July 1782 in Methlick, Aberdeenshire. Her father was Alex Cranna probably born in 1742 and her mother's maiden name was Jaffray.
She became the partner of my great, great, great grandfather Thomas Hardie (I don't believe that they were ever legally married) sometime before 1806. They had at least five children; George b 1806, William b 1808, Alexander b 1815, Isabel b 1819 and James b 1823. The family lived in or near Daviot, Aberdeenshire where Christian died on 10th Sept 1869.
Any information would be gratefully received
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Hi ,
I did a free search on Scotlandspeople with the first name Christian and the name jaffray for a parent born in Aberdeen.. between the years 1700 and 1787 came up with one match....but unfortunately I do not have any credits to get the details. I am not stating that it is the correct one.
Regards Vera
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Alexander Crana
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
residence: Aber, Scotland
parents: John Crana
record title: Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
name: Alexander Crana
gender: Male
baptism/christening date: 16 Jul 1742
baptism/christening place: TARVES,ABERDEEN,SCOTLAND
father's name: John Crana
indexing project (batch) number: C11243-2
system origin: Scotland-ODM
source film number:
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Thomas Hardie
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
birth: 01 Oct 1740 — Edinburgh Parish, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
residence: Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
parents: George Hardie, Elizabeth Gray
Thomas Hardie
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
birth: 06 Oct 1740 — Edinburgh Parish, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
residence: Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
parents: Henry Hardie, Christian Landale
Thomas Hardie
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
birth: 09 Jul 1744
residence: Cranston, Midlothian, Scotland
parents: Alexander Hardie, Barbara Hunter
Thomas Hardie
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
birth: 10 Jun 1744 — Saint Cuthberts, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
residence: Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
parents: Thomas Hardie, Agnes Williamson
Thomas Hardie
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
birth: 01 Oct 1740 — EDINBURGH PARISH, EDINBURGH, MIDLOTHIAN, SCOTLAND
residence: Mlot, Scotland
parents: George Hardie, Elizabeth Gray
Thomas Hardie
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
birth: 06 Oct 1740 — EDINBURGH PARISH, EDINBURGH, MIDLOTHIAN, SCOTLAND
residence: Mlot, Scotland
parents: Henry Hardie, Christian Landale
Thomas Hardie
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
residence: Mlot, Scotland
parents: Alexander Hardie, Barbara Hunter
Thomas Hardie
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
birth: 13 Oct 1744
residence: Nair, Scotland
parents: James Hardie, Mary Geddes
Thomas Hardie
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
birth: 10 Jun 1744 — SAINT CUTHBERTS, EDINBURGH, MIDLOTHIAN, SCOTLAND
residence: Mlot, Scotland
parents: Thomas Hardie, Agnes Williamson
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Not sure what you are looking for as you seem to have a lot of info already?
1841 Scotland Census
about Christian Hardy
Name: Christian Hardy
Age: 55
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1786
Gender: Female
Where born: Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Civil parish: Daviot
County: Aberdeenshire
Address: Loan End
Parish Number: 187
Household Members: Name Age
Thos Hardy 65 Farmer
Christian Hardy 55
Isabel Hardy 20
James Hardy 15
1851 Scotland Census
about Christian Hardie
Name: Christian Hardie
Age: 69
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1782
Relationship: Mother
Gender: Female
Where born: Methlie, Aberdeenshire
Parish Number: 187
Civil parish: Daviot
County: Aberdeenshire
Address: Loanhead Of Tetinnin
ED: 1
Page: 2 (click to see others on page)
Household schedule number: 4
Line: 2
Roll: CSSCT1851_44
Household Members: Name Age
James Hardie 26 Farmer
Christian Hardie 69
Jane Kemp 14
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1861 Scotland Census
about James Hardie
Name: James Hardie
Age: 36
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1825
Relationship: Head
Spouse's name : Susan Hardie
Mother's Name: Christina Hardie
Gender: Male
Where born: Daviot, Aberdeenshire
Registration Number: 187
Registration district: Daviot
Civil parish: Daviot
County: Aberdeenshire
Address: Lonhead Pitinnan
Occupation: Crofter Of 20 Acres
ED: 1
Household schedule number: 32
Line: 20
Roll: CSSCT1861_28
Household Members: Name Age
James Hardie 36
Susan Hardie 26
Barbra Stephen Hardie 3
Alxr Hardie 11 MO
Christina Hardie 79 Mother
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JOHN CRANA
Pedigree
Male
Family
Event(s):
Marriages:
Spouse: ELIZ. JOHNSTON
Family
Marriage:
30 MAR 1740 Tarves, Aberdeen, Scotland
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Christian's brother?
ADAM CRANNA
Pedigree
Male
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening:
27 MAR 1785 Methlick, Aberdeen, Scotland
Parents:
Father: ALEXANDER CRANNA
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Witnesses to Adam's christening were Robert and William Jaffray.
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Christian's sister?
same witnesses as for Adam's christening..
ELIZABETH CRANNA
Pedigree
Female
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening:
16 MAY 1779 Methlick, Aberdeen, Scotland
Parents:
Father: ALEXANDER CRANNA
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Thanks everybody. Your information has filled in several gaps. The Cranna family's place of origin, Tarves, is especially useful.
Val, Adam and Elizabeth were Christian's brother and sister. There were also two older sisters Margaret and Jean born in 1775 and 1777 but I don't know what became of them.
The census information is interesting especially the discrepencies in spelling. My family has always used the Scottish spelling Hardie and I can only surmise that Hardy was recorded by English census officials. The ages given don't match either. Isabel was born Feb 13th 1819 so would have been 21 when the 1841 census was carried out. Similarly James was born 11th Nov 1823 so would have been 16 not fifteen. Possibly they were illiterate and didn't know their own their own dates of birth or the spelling of their surname. Nevertheless the rest of the information tallies and this must be my family.
Now I am aware of the variant spellings I can probably find more information myself so thanks again everyone for their help.
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My biggest remaining puzzle is the relationship between Christian Cranna and Thomas Hardie. They lived together for many years and had five children but I can't find any trace of a legal marriage in the old parish records. Given the puritanical nature of Scottish society in a small highland village at that time it seems unlikely that they simply lived in sin particularly as the children appear in later census records as Hardies.
One possibility is that they didn't follow the established Episcoalian or Presbyterian religion and thereore would not have been married in church and the marriage would not appear in the OPR. Could they have been Quakers or Catholics?
I know that Christian Cranna's father Alexander Cranna (b 1742) was married to a member of the Jaffray family. Unfortunately I don't know her Christian name.
Websites of descendants of the Aberdeenshire Jaffrays now in America and Canada suggest that at least some branches of this family were Quakers. I know that there is a Quaker Historical Society and that Quaker meeting records are held in the Scottish National Archives. But I live in China so can't physically check these. Does anybody know if they are accessible online and if so where?
The other possibility is that the Hardie family were still Catholics at the end of the 18th century. A family legend has it that the Hardie's were originally a branch of the Clan Farqhueson and that most of the male members died fighting for Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Catholic faith at Culloden. If this is true then the survivors must have converted to Protestantism sometime later, but when?
Two questions arise. Firstly are there any records of who fought in the Young Pretender's army at Culloden and secondly are there any records of conversions to Protestantism in the aftermath of the 45?
Thanks in advance for any help with these queries.
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In some cases, marriages and births (or census) cannot be found due to the fact the original records just can't be deciphered and so the information will not be available on Familysearch or even Scotlandspeople.
Not to say the record does not exist ... but is merely unreadable.
I have viewed many early Scottish parish records ... some of which are partly or almost totally obliterated.
Might be worth keeping this in mind regarding the query over the missing marriage record for Christian and Thomas.
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From scotlandspeople - this explains why many early marriages cannot be found:
Irregular Marriages
Bear in mind that 'irregular' marriages, by exchange of promises before witnesses, by betrothal and consummation, or by cohabitation and repute, were forms of marriage recognised by Scots Law, yet may have taken place without any official record of the event.
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Neil, remember that ages of all adults on the 1841 census were supposed to be "rounded down" to multiples of 5.
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Thanks for the replies. They leave two questions
1) Is there any way of tracing when such an "irregular marriage" took place?
2) Is there any way of determining from the online version when a parish record has been omitted as illegible. Bear in mind that I live in China and so can't visit the archives myself to check.
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Hi Neil,
1) I don't think there is any way of tracing an irregular marriage that far back. If any of the children had been born after civil registration started, the date and place of marriage would be on the birth reg. Have you looked at the Catholic records on scotlandspeople? But, I don't think children of a Catholic or even a mixed marriage would have been baptised in another church.
2) As Christian was baptised in Methlick, that is probably where she married. If you use this site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/
CountyAberdeen.htm#PageTitle
it gives the IGI batch numbers for parishes in Aberdeenshire. Clicking on batch number and then clicking on Submit Query brings up all the marriages for the relevant period . If you then find a marriage for about the right date for Christian to have married and find that marriage on scotlandspeople and view the entry you will see a whole page of the church register and maybe you will find an illegible one. It could be a long search though, as she could have married anytime between 1798 and 1806!
Also, in the 1861 census she gives her POB as Fyvie not Methlick so maybe you would need to search there as well.
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