Smeakin(s)

[Olde Crone]

I have made no progress with this part of my tree since 2008.

Thomas SMEAKIN, miller of Berwick (adult in 1770, dead before 1855) "married"(not found) Helen Dickson.

They had a daughter, Helen Smeakin, born about 1770 (not found) in Berwick.

Helen Smeakin(c1770) married (not found) John Nisbett.

Helen Nisbett nee Smeakin, obligingly died in 1855 in Nigg, Scotland and is buried as Helen Smeechm with other members of her Nisbett family.

Her very informative death cert states:

Age 85, born Berwick but lived in Nigg 49 years. Cod - decay of nature. Widow of John Nisbett, overseer, salmon fisher. Her father Thomas Smeakin, miller, deceased. Mother Helen m.s. Dickson decd. Family - daughter iIsabella 54, Margaret 50, Helen died 1807 aged 11, Helen 48. Informant Isabella Forbes, daughter.

The name Smeakin does not exist except in this family! I have tried Meakin to no avail and any other spelling I can think of, no results.

I suspect Helen Smeakin was illegitimate and possibly born Helen Dickson - but there are just too many to be able to narrow anything down.

Any thoughts will be appreciated. I simply cannot get anywhere with this. Thanks in advance!

OC

[Phoenix]

So, Isabella and Margaret Nisbett were not born in Nigg.

Millers are allegedly notorious for not staying in one place, so she could have lived in Berwick (or within five miles thereabouts) as a two year old.

As for a salmon fisher, would that just be rivers around Nigg, or are they caught at sea?

[Phoenix]

There is a surname Smeekem in Tweedmouth (Eleanor aged 85 bur 1814)

[kiterunner]

Helen probably wouldn't have been Helen Nisbett nee Smeakin, because Scottish women usually kept their maiden names. Not that that will be any help, I realise.

[Olde Crone]

Ooh, thankyou Phoenix. The Helen born in 1807 was always recorded as "Elender" which ought to be Eleanor but isn't.

Salmon fishers could be either river or sea, I have both in my tree, but once in Nigg that would probably be sea fishing.

OC

[Phoenix]

There is also the burial of a Thomas Smeaham in Tweedmouth husbandman from Spittal aged 80 in 1810. NB Spittal appears to be a place, not a hospital

[Phoenix]

NB This is find my past, and there are images.

[Olde Crone]

Miller isn't a million miles from husbandman is it. This sounds promising. Oh please let him have left a will!

OC

[Phoenix]

This chap:

Reference: PROB 11/991/63
Description: Will of Henry Smeeken otherwise Smeetken
Date: 08 September 1773

Was a Londoner. A very brief will leaves everything to wife Sarah, but also his German books and wearing apparel to John Shutz.

Given the variety of spellings, do you suppose the roots of the name are Dutch or German?

[merleyone]

Maybe the widow of Thomas was the woman, Eleanor Smeakem, 85, buried in the parish of Tweedmouth on 9/6/1814, abode Spittal.


merleyone

[Olde Crone]

Phoenix

Yes I have wondered about the German link but really not sure how to do anything with that until I can get a bit further back. I have just found Joiners Marriage index and there are quite a few possible alternative spellings which I need to investigate!

So annoying - my daughter lived a few miles from Berwick and was married there in 2006. I hadn't uncovered this branch at that time, otherwise I could have spent days in the records office.

The Thomas and Ellen burials you found look promising but of course, Ellen could be Thomas' sister. Her age worries me slightly as she would have been 40 ish when her daughter was born. Perfectly possible I know, but if she is an only child, a bit odd.

OC

[Phoenix]

Totally agree about the ages. However, if she wasn't born in the area and any surviving children weren't born there either, then you could probably discount her age by anything up to ten years. Unfortunately, you could probably lop 5 years off her daughter's age too.

I don't think I've ever found anyone aged -0 or -5 years at burial who was that age or older.

[Olde Crone]

Well, isn't this research stuff a funny old game?! I have often thought you have to go sideways at it and today is no exception.

I was googling, more or less idly, when I came upon a little site about Nigg. A name jumped out at me, nothing to do with the subject of this thread, but investigation solved the mystery of an unusual middle name in the wider family.

I was entering this info into my tree and some other incidental info which involved John Nisbett, husband of Helen Smeakin. D OH! He was born in Spittal! I know this proves nothing really, but it is an amazing coincidence, if that's what it is. It also tells me that I need to look in the United Presbyterian records, rather than main stream churches.I

I feel as if I am inching forwards at last. Well backwards maybe.

OC