Forfar Family News - New Year's 2021

Forfar Family News - New Year's 2021

A newsletter for descendants & relatives of
Sgr. David & Jean (Dalgity) Scott
who married at Forfar, Scotland in 1795, and were

stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia with the Royal Artillery in 1801.

Greetings to all, as we enter a new year, during a most unusual time. Here on Prince Edward Island, we have had great success dealing with COVID. With no hospitalizations or deaths so far, we hope that following public health measures will continue to produce good results. With many people facing other situations, I realized how easy it is to take for granted the ability to gather with family during the holidays, and know that this was simply not possible for many people this year. To all we send our best wishes for 2021.

2021 will mark the 220th anniversary of the arrival of the original Scott brothers (David Jr. and John) with their parents Sgr. David Scott and Jean Dalgity in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Royal Artillery sailed the small family to a new land and from that arrival, 10 generations later, the family story continues.

The future of the two brothers became defined by the transatlantic move, learning the ability to move forward following the tragic death of their father two years after the move. Like their mother who was widowed with three young children, both John and David would also face losses of spouses and both would remarry. John would be widowed twice and each time remarried. Both brothers after a Nova Scotian boyhood chose the US to establish themselves. David Scott Jr. would emigrate first to Dennysville, Maine marrying there in his early 20s before returning to Nova Scotia around 1826 and then moving to New York, followed by Steubenville Ohio, where the family is listed in the Ohio census of 1840. Eventually his family settled in Pittsburgh although two daughters had already settled and married in Ohio.

Meanwhile younger brother John Scott married at age 23 and lived in Ste. Croix, Nova Scotia outside Windsor where he had a family of five born before the death of his wife Elizabeth Dill. At age 39 he remarried and had two more sons before Catharine Ann DeWolf, his second wife, died in Wolfville, NS. At age 50 his youngest sons joined him and their older siblings in Boston where the majority of the family worked in the carriage building trade. At the age of 53 John married a 48 year old Boston widow, Sarah Jenkins at the Boston Society of the New Jerusalem, a Swedenborgian church. Sarah had faced her own losses including deaths of both a son and daughter as well as her first husband, yet she still has a family of five boys and four girls when she joined John in matrimony. This became John's longest lasting marriage at 23 years, with Sarah surviving John.

Family History News.
Veterans Affairs Canada, who were so helpful in providing a veterans headstone for the unmarked military grave of Sgr. David Scott, have now included his grave marker in their website listing for Fort Massey Cemetery in Halifax.

Family Challenges in the Past
While at the current moment we continue to deal with the reality of deadly diseases, a look backwards at family history reassures us that ultimately families do find a way to continue, and life does go on. An article that I wrote for the spring newsletter, speaks of family battles with TB in the past may be of interest in case you missed it last time.

Trip to Scotland 2021-2022

I have mentioned the good work that Clan Scott Society does in organizing Scottish reunions. I just completed writing the 35th biography for a series called Great Scott! A Series on Famous Scotts in the newsletter, The Stag & Thistle, as regional commissioner for Canada. Recently the organization went through a reorganization and revamped their website.

Celebrations of Sir Walter Scott's 250th birthday on August 15, 2021 and the 200th anniversary in August 2022 of King George IV's visit to Edinburgh, which was orchestrated by Sir Walter, means that events are being organized in Scotland under the banner Walter Scott - 250. Once dates are released, we will pass those along. Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter, will be a key site with staff involved with organizing events. For those wishing to keep in touch more directly with Clan Scott Society a membership in the organization is always a good idea. With international travel still a remote concept in most of our minds, it is hard to look too far ahead but for anyone interested in exploring ancestral areas in Scottish, combining some personal travel with a major Clan Scott event can be a great combination.

Walter Scott: The Man Behind the Monument
Meanwhile, armchair travel and armchair courses seems more possible right now. I recently completed a course through the University of Aberdeen on the life of Sir Walter Scott called Walter Scott: The Man Behind the Monument, which helps explore literature that shaped the heritage and national identity of the Scots. I highly recommend it. It remains a free course according to the website.

Edinburgh Hogmanay, a major three day Scottish event to celebrate the passage of the old year into a new year this year has adapted to challenges of gatherings with some spectacular online events including video coverage of a fleet of drones with lights coordinated by computers to create lighting acrobatics and messages in the sky. Coordinated to music, it is worth viewing as we wish all a Happy New Year.

Ancestral History Update -

Writing efforts continue to complete a family history, and genealogy of descendants. I look forward to making contact with as many descendants as possible to update their branch of the family tree. Meanwhile our shared family story of early generations is available under the current Family From Forfar title. We have a framework of the earliest generations in family tree format at FamilySearch.org which any one can register (free) and add or link material to the linked family tree. The growing genealogical material on FamilySearch.org can be navigated through this link. To maintain privacy only information on deceased individuals is shown in the public view.

Although a genealogy of all descendants is a work in progress, we know that Sgr. David and Jean Scott descendants included at least the following:

3 children
11 grandchildren
47 great-grandchildren
49 great-great-grandchildren
65 great-great-great-grandchildren
110 great-great-great-great-grandchildren
159 great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren (so far)
64 great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren (so far)
5 great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren (so far)

We hope that HomePort (IanScott.ca) will help connect descendants as we share a bit of family history. Scott material starts at Scott@HomePort. Please feel free to share these links with others.

New Facebook Group

Facebook is a great way to share pictures, learn of family history and current activities, thus we have created a closed Facebook group for sharing items just with other descendants and family members. I would like to add you to that group called Descendants and Family of Sgr. David & Jean Scott, and if we haven't found each other already, please send along a friend request to me, so we can stay connected and I can add you to the group. You can also connect through Instagram or LinkedIn, or directly by email.

As the great bard himself wrote:

Heap on more wood!-the wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will,
We’ll keep our Christmas merry still.

Sir Walter Scott, (1771-1832)

Sincerely, Ian Scott
Forfar Family News Index
Scott@HomePort
HomePort

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