| Notes |
- PRIVATE
- Extensive searching through the Old Parish Records has not yet found a birth certificate for Janet Mills.
Janet's marriage records have her name spelt as both "Mill" (without an "S"), and "Miln".
A cause of great confusion has been that her first name was recorded as "Jess" Lundie in the 1841 Scotland Census, and Janet in her death notice..
A record has been found:
Baptismal record March 23 1777:
«i»James Milln and Helen Rodger in Arthurstone had a child baptised named Jean Mill.
«/i»If this is indeed our Jesse/Jessie/Jane/Janet/ Jean, did she lie about her age all her life? It would have made her 6 years older than her husband and having died at age 96.
Her death notice says:
«i»Janet Lundie Widow of John Lundie, teacher of general school
1873 November Tenth, {Sham Pell} 40 Maule Street, St Vigeans. Perths.
Father James Mills {pendicler}
Mother Helen Mills M.N. Rodger
Signed by Will H Lundie. Son. Teacher. Auchterar[der]
«/i»George Black's "Surnames of Scotland" states the following:
MILL. A corruption for ease of pronunciation of MILN or MILNE, q.v., the form still in use provincially.
Pen`di`cler
n.«tab»1.«tab»An inferior tenant; one who rents a pendicle or croft.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Pendicler
Among the records of the Town Clerk's office in Arbroath is noted the interment of Janet Mills Lundie , widow of a teacher, died November 1873, aged 91.
Source: letter from Nora Stone to Ian Thompson which refers to "John Lundie's Printed Book"
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Janet Mills' parents have been recorded by her son on her death certificate, but they have been very difficult to trace. All we know is that her father was a "pendicler" or crofter i.e. a man who rented a small holding. She gave her birth place as Coupar Angus in later census but she spent the rest of her long life after her marriage in the St Vigeans/ Arbroath area. To date her birth certificate has not been found. There are several people with the name of Janet Mill, but none so far with the right combination of parents.
The first record I have found is the Banns for John Lundie and Janet, read in both the adjacent communities of St Vigeans and Arbroath. These records illustrate a problem with looking for records of Janet for her last name, if written in an unclear hand, can look like "Mill", "Mills" and often, "Miln". John Lundie and Janet Mills were married on 29 November «b»1811«/b» in either Arbroath or St Vigeans.
The next record is the «b»1841 Scotland Census«/b» which records John and "Jesse" living in Maule Street, Arbroath with six children:
Helen [transcribed as Hellen], James, Margaret, Ann, Alexander and George.
Jesse is likely a transcription error for Janet as no "Jesse" can be found in the records.
Missing from this record are three children:
David Lundie who was drowned while young (family lore - no record yet found); Jessie; and William Hannah.
Daughter Jessie did not marry until 1858 and has not yet been found in the 1841 Census.
William Hannah is also not found in the 1841 census. The only record for a William Lundie is a 20yr old Canvas H L W i.e. Hand loom weaver- weaver of cloth on a home-based loom. There is a story in the family that young William Hannah was encouraged to become a teacher by a Dr Marshall and that he had been a cobbler. Perhaps this story had become corrupted over time and he started out as a weaver, not cobbler? It is still uncertain if this is indeed our ancestor or not.
However, Janet's husband was listed a Schoolmaster in 1841 which confirms the family belief that he was a teacher.
The next record of Janet is the most telling, in my observation. In the «b»1851 Scotland Census«/b» she is recorded living in (presumably) the same house at 40 Maule Street in the parish of St Vigeans. John Lundie, her husband, had died the previous year in 1850. The significant matter is that she is living with five of her children, four of whom were in their 30s. This is so unusual, and as later census material shows, most of them married even later, that one is lead to conclude that Janet must have had some very strong influence over her children. If she was an excessively dominating mother, that information is lost in time, but, it is interesting to note that not one of her children named a child after her, also a rather unusual at that time.
By 1851 Anne had married (1846), William Hannah had married (1849) and possibly both the younger sons, Alex and George Watson, had left for America.
No record has been found for Janet in the «b»1861 Scotland Census«/b» to date. However I strongly suspect a transcription or recording error was made in this census for someone born in her year of birth (1783 making her 78 years old) called "Margt" is listed as living with her daughter, also called Margaret [transcribed as "Margt"] and her granddaughter, Jessie Lamb at 40 Maule Street. This person was born in "Cupar-Bugus" according to the transcriber - this should be Coupar Angus. I cannot trace any "Margaret Lundie" born in this year, nor at Coupar Angus, so I have to conclude that an error was made. The names are so dis-similar that one wonders how this could be. Perhaps Janet was hard of hearing, and when asked her name thought she was being asked the name of her daughter? The record of whoever this person was, gives her as the Head of the household; occupation as housekeeper; and Margaret as her daughter. Who else could it be but Janet, as they are living in the family home?
By 1861 there had been quite a few changes in the family:
Daughter Helen at age 42 had married 26-year-old Andrew Gemlie.
Son James had married Anne Honeyman and had 4 children.
Jessie had married William Wallis in 1858 when she was 38 years old. William was 56.
William Hannah and his wife, Mary Tasker, had moved to Auchterarder and had 6 children.
Anne and David Lamb had 6 children.
It is not known where Alexander and George Watson were, but in North America somewhere. This the time when the American west was "wild" and being the settled, war was wages with various Indian tribes, and the American Civil War broke out. It is not surprising that records of the lives and deaths of some people are lost.
The «b»1871 Scotland Census«/b» records that Janet was living with her daughter Margaret, who had married William Soutar a widower, two years earlier in 1869, at the age of 52. William was a market gardener in St Vigeans, and later in Arbroath, and apparently quite a successful one, for he employed 2 people to help him, and left a good estate when he died two years later in 1873. At this stage Janet was 92 years old. In 1871 they were living together in William's home at 64 Rossie Street in Arbroath.
In 1871 Janet's other children were
«u»Helen «/u»and Andrew Gemlie have not been located in 1871 but may have been in Edinburgh where Andrew was a headmaster ten years later.
«u»James«/u», who was a book seller and stationer in Dundee, had died in 1868 leaving his wife (Anne Honeyman) to carry on the business and raise their 7 children alone.
Daughter «u»Jessie«/u» and her husband William Wallis cannot be found in the 1871 Census either but they were probably in Dundee as she died there in 1877.
Son «u»William Hannah«/u» and wife were living with 8 of their 9 children in Auchterarder, where William was a teacher in the Sheddon Trust School. Their oldest child, John Lundie was at university in Edinburgh.
Daughter «u»Ann«/u» had married David Lamb but they cannot be found in the 1871 Census, nor any other, yet. Poor Ann had lost 3 children, possibly all to scarlet fever, in the year 1858. They seem to have lived in Arbroath.
There are no certain records for either of her sons, «u»Alexander«/u» and «u»George Watson«/u», who went to North America so we do not know where they were in 1871.
Janet died in November of «b»1873«/b», in St Vigeans, only 7 months after the death of her son-in-law, William Soutar. The address given is interesting as it is reported to be "40 Haule St" which is probably a transcription error for "40 Maule St" the old family home, not the home of her daughter's husband. Did they move back to the old home after William Soutar died, rather than stay in his home, 64 Rossie Street in Arbroath? The death certificate was signed by her son, William Hannah Lundie. The cause of death was given as "age and debility, and her age given as 91 years old. The death certificate supplies the names of her parents.
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Abt 1777 - 1873 (96 years)
