Christian Urquhart (1794 - 1866)

Born 19 Jul 1794 in Dingwall, Ross-shire, Scotland

Ancestors

Wife of John Fraser — married 20 Mar 1818 in Dingwall, Ross-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died 11 Jun 1866 at age 71 in Dingwall, Ross-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom

Biography

Christian Urquhart has Scottish Ancestors.

Christian Urquhart was born in Scotland.

Christian Urquhart is a member of Clan Urquhart.

This profile is part of the Urquhart Name Study.

Christian Urquhart was born in Dingwall in 1794. She was the daughter of John Urquhart and Anne McDonald.^[1]

On 20 March 1818, at the age of 25, John married Christian Urquhart in Dingwall, Rosshire, Scotland. They had eight children together and only one died in childhood. Their sixth child was James William Fraser, our ancestor. He was born in 1833 when Christy was 39.

The family regularly attended the Parish Church of St. Clement's at the foot of the Church Street where most of them are now buried.

Rev. Hector Bethune writes of 1837: “ The parish is exceedingly beautiful…The town itself presents little of interest. It consists of a main street about one and a half miles long, running nearly from east to west. The houses are in general of two stories high. The church and the jail both have steeples. The parish is occasionally visited with the usual epidemics of the country – small-pox and measles, typhus and scarlett fever. In 1831, the population was 2,139. The number of insane 2; the number of fatuous 6; of blind 1; of deaf and dumb 1…The people generally are simple, industrious, and temperate in their habits, rather cheerful in their dispositions, and affable in their manners and address. Although by no means filthy in their appearance, they are far from remarkable for cleanliness in their dwellings. There are dunghills in front of the houses…The staple articles of food among the peasantry are potatoes and herring which with oatmeal form the subsistence of the lower classes…Butcher meat being a luxury which they cannot afford….They are shrewd and observant, sagacious in the management of their affairs, and not altogether destitute of that thoughtful and imaginative cast of mind characteristic of highlanders….The mail coach passes and repasses daily through the town. Weekly steamboats from Edinburgh call at Invergordon fourteen miles away…No library. School fees such that most can afford them and Kirk pays fees for 20 destitute children…Light is still a desiradatum. Many people are extremely poor and in want of regular employment.”

In 1841 when John was 48, the census shows them living at an Alms House in Dingwall.

John Fraser, age 45, saddler, born Scotland

Christian Fraser, age 40, born Ross-shire

Angus Fraser, age 20, journeyman saddler, born Ross-shire

John Fraser, age 15, apprentice saddler, born Ross-shire

James Fraser, age 8, born Ross-shire

Christian Fraser, age 5, born Ross-shire

David Fraser, age 1, born Ross-shire,

Roderick Finlayson (15)-apprentice saddler and Christian Mcleod (15) servant

Many parishes in Scotland operated small and informal poorhouse establishments variously known as almshouses, parish homes, parochial houses, or parish lodging houses. Parish accommodation was more likely to be arranged as small apartments or cottages. The inmates ('persons of good character') could live with as much freedom as in their own homes, often with their own furniture, and buying and cooking their own food. Dingwall had a parochial poorhouse located at the junction of the High Street and Hill Street, as shown on this 1867 Ordnance Survey map.

In 1843, Dingwall gained full recognition as County Town.

The 1851 Dingwall, Ross-shire census shows them at an address on High Street

John Fraser, 53, saddler (employing Uren Merknein), born in Petty, Inverness-shire

Christy Fraser, 50, saddler's wife, born in Dingwall, Ross-shire

Christy Fraser, 15, scholar, Dingwall, Ross-shire

John Fraser, 25, journeyman saddler, Ross-shire

David Fraser, 10, scholar, Dingwall, Ross-shire

Christy Mcleod (20) household servant, Roderick Finlayson (31) journeyman saddler

John Cameron (18) apprentice saddler

The 1861 Dingwall, Ross-shire census shows them living on High Street-

John Fraser, 64, head, harness maker, Petty, Inverness-shire

Christina Fraser, 63, wife, Dingwall, Ross-shire

John Fraser, 36, son, harness maker, Dingwall, Ross-shire; Betsy Urquhart 15 domestic servant

David Fraser, 21, son, harness maker, Dingwall, Ross-shire.

The railway arrived in Dingwall from Inverness in 1862. That was the year that David immigrated to Canada where his brother James had immigrated in 1857.

On 11 June 1866, Christina Fraser died at the age of 72.^[2]

The 1871 Dingwall, Ross-shire census shows John living with his son John Fraser (44) a harness maker; daughter Christina Fraser (30) who married in 1873; grandson James Fraser (15) and grand-daughter Jessie Fraser (13) as well as Jessie Humphrey (18), domestic servant, at an address on Camerons Close. John was listed as being 76 with an occupation of Saddler & Harness Maker Employing 1 Man & 2 Boys. (The grandchildren were born in Crieff, Perthshire Their father was Angus Fraser)

John Fraser died at the age of 79 on 15 November 1872. He and his wife Christy were buried in St. Clement's Churchyard (Church of Scotland), Dingwall, Rosshire, Scotland.

Sources

1. ↑ Scotlands People. (2019). National Records of Scotland. Parish Baptism Registers.; Name: Christian d/o John Urquhart & Anne McDonald ; Baptism; 21st Jul 1794 ;Place: Dingwall ; Ref: 062/10 /156. [online] Available at: Accessed 28 Sep. 2019. Document in the personal files of David Urquhart.
2. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2SM-CKVK : 28 September 2018), Christina Urquhart Fraser, ; Burial, Dingwall, , Highland, Scotland, Saint Clements Churchyard; citing record ID 157089051, Find a Grave,

See Also:

• Find A Grave, database and images  : accessed 28 January 2020), memorial page for Christina Urquhart Fraser (1794–1866), Find A Grave: Memorial #157089051, citing Saint Clements Churchyard, Dingwall , Highland, Scotland ; Maintained by Memorium (contributor 47853990) .