Strathdon, Aberdeenshire Downies
I was contacted many years ago by a Downie descendant from New Zealand who had traced his ancestry back to Strathdon. Sadly, my correspondent, Bob McLeish, has passed away but his widow, Brenda, has taken up where Bob left off. I owe my interest in Downies outside my own family to Bob and Brenda as they made me realise that I could still experience the same 'buzz' from finding out about other people's relatives as I had done with my own ancestors.
I do not think that there is any connection between the Downies in Strathdon and my family but as always, you never know.
I have made the information I have found available through the world wide web so that others can make use of it.
I do not own the copyright on most of the information in these pages.
You must not copy this information other than for private research and expressly not for financial gain. If you do want to use it for other purposes, please contact me first.
"Strathdon" includes the Parish of Strathdon and two detached parts of the Parish of Tarland & Migvie, which became part of Strathdon in May 1891, shortly after the 1891 Census was taken.
The Census information currently available consists of references to Downies in Strathdon Parish and the detached part of Tarland and Migvie Parish in Strathdon (up to 1871, the detached section being listed with Strathdon in 1881 and 1891).
By 1891, there were only two households in Strathdon with a Downie as the head of the household: Bob McLeish's GG Grandmother Isabella Brown or Grant at Delnine and the Downie family farming Ettenbreck. Isabella died in December 1891 and her daughter Jane, who had been with her in the 1891 Census, stayed on with her illegitimate daughter Ann Stewart or Downie. Jane died on 13 June 1910 at Garchory, Corgarff, while her daughter may have lived on in Strathdon until her death at Haughton, Corgarff on 7 April 1933. The last of the Ettenbreck Downies, John, had died there on 29 August 1930 and with these two deaths there were no more Downies in Strathdon.
- Miscellaneous: Monumental Inscriptions; information from The Land of Lonach; Old Parish Register (two families only)
There is no index but I have included cross-reference links.
If you arrived here looking for information about Strathdon or about other families in Strathdon (McHardys feature strongly), here are five other sites which you will find full of information. All of them are based on good, solid research and family tradition.
Andrew McHardy's website had a wealth of information on it about Strathdon and the McHardys in particular. The site had transcriptions of the complete 1841 Census for the whole of Strathdon and was worth visiting even if you don't have a McHardy connection. Unfortunately, as with Deb O'Reilly's website, it has disappeared from the internet and I have not been able to contact Andrew. In the meantime, you can look back in time to visit the site with the help of the Wayback Machine. Some of the original information (focused mainly on McHardys) is now available at the McHardy of Ordachoy website.
Suzanne Walker's Strathdon Vital Records is building towards a complete transcription of the Old Parish Registers and Statutory Registers for Strathdon.
David Walker's Glen Nochty Pages provide a great deal of information about the Glen focusing on the family of Gustavus McPherson and Diana McHardy of Tolduquhill.
Sandra (McHardy) DeMartino's McHardy of Ordachoy Genealogy Site (new web address October 2009) provides a history of the family which farmed Ordachoy in Corgarff.
Deb O'Reilly's Family Ties & Genealogy website traced a Grassick family from Wardhead, Strathdon to the United States and included transcriptions of most districts of Strathdon for the 1861 Census. [unfortunately this site is no longer active (July 2008) but here is a link to the original, archived by the Wayback Machine]. Deb has a set of surname pages on Rootsweb including a page of Downies from Strathdon.
If you have any more information about anyone on these pages, please email me:
