Gatherer History

PETER [190] b. c1670, d.1710. (see note 1)

JAMES [187] b.1699 at Drainie. (see note 2)
1724: at Drainie, m. Jean Naughtie [188] (b.1701 at Forgue).

JAMES [185] b.1732 at Drainie. (see note 3)
1768: m. Elizabeth Munro [186] at Kilbarchan.

JOHN [183] b.1783 at Houston and Killellan. (see note 4)
1807: m.Helen George [184] at Keith.

ALEXANDER [181] b.1816 at Keith, d.1858 at Rothiemay. (see note 5)
1841: m. Margaret Giles [182] at Rothiemay.

JAMES [155] b.1841 at Rothiemay. (see note 6)
1863: m.Isabella Mitchell [156] at Grange.

LACHLAN [018] b.1886 in Huntly.
1911: m. Jessie Alexander [019] at Ythanwells.

1 I have not yet found Peter's birth, but the following occurrences in the OPRs (Old Parish Records) place the family in Drainie in the county of Elgin during the 17th century, and Peter was probably among them (some of the records are torn and some are faded).

1644		Patrick Gatherer (sic) in Covesea had a lawful daughter
1647		Patrick Gadderar in Covesea had a son named Alexander.
1649		William Gadderar had a natural daughter named Mary.
1672		Thomas Gadderar in Plowland had a child named John
1674		Thomas Gadderar was witness to a baptism of John Dean's 'bastard child' named Isabel.
1675		Thomas Gadderar at the Windmilne had a son baptized William.
1677		Thomas Gadderar at the Windmilne had a son named William.
1677		Alexander Gatherer (sic) in Covesea had a daughter named Elspeth.
1680		Thomas Gadderar at the Newmilne had a daughter named Janet.
1681		Thomas Gatherer had a son named John.
1682		William Gatherer had a daughter (name faded).
1683		Alexander Gatherer at the Windmilne had a son named William.
1684		Alexander Gatherer in Kinneder had a daughter named Janet (it was here that Janet Gatherer was charged with child murder in 1679).
1684		Thomas Gatherer in Windmilne had a daughter (no name entered).
1686		Thomas Gatherer at Windmilne had a daughter named Isabel. The witnesses were Alexander Gatherer and Thomas Gatherer in Covesea.
1687		William Gatherer in Littlemilne had a son named William.
1688		Thomas Gatherer at Windmilne had a son named Alexander.
1689		Robert Gatherer at Windmilne had a son named James.
1690		Thomas Gatherer at Windmilne had a son named Alexander.
1690		John Gatherer at Littlemilne was baptized. The witness was 'Thomas Gatherer brother to the said John in place of father'.
1691		Alexander Gatherer at Windmilne had a daughter named Isabel. The witness was 'Thomas Gaderar his brother'.

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2 This James was the father of James (1732). He lived in Covesea, a village near Lossiemouth in the parish of Drainie. He had a younger sister called Joan born in 1703. His father, Peter Gederer (elder) died in 1710 at Covesea and was buried in Ogston. These Gederers were respectable enough folk, as we know from parish records of marriages and deaths. Examples:

13/11/1715		James Gadderer and Margaret Young were "matrimonially contracted and consigned their pledges viz 30 shillings and a plaid consenting to the forefaulting thereof if they had a penny wedding, fiddling, dancing and they were maried Nov. 29th and got up their pledges."
11/08/1703		"James Riach in Giles and Christian Gaderer in Covesea were matrimonially contracted and he consigned for himself and her of...money to the value of three pounds Scots, consenting that the same be forfeited if he had a penny wedding, fidling, dancing, drunkenness, plays, or any irregularities thereat, contrar to acts of parliament and assemblys, was married Aug. 17th and forfeited their pledges by having a penny wedding." (At a penny wedding, or penny-bridal, the guests contributed to the cost of the feast. It was frowned upon because it tended to be too wild.)

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3 James Gaderer had an older brother, George (b.1726), who settled in Elgin, probably as a writer (a lawyer), and an older sister, Elspeth (b.1725); this name recurs throughout the 18th century. In 1720 (16th May), a James Gadderer in Covesea "three days agoe... gone out of his father's house and being found the next day at the shoar lying dead among water and buried at Hogstoun (Ogston)". This James cannot be the father of JG (b.1732) but could have been an older brother or uncle. Parents did sometimes name a child after a dead sibling. Covesea (locally pronounced Caw-sea) was a small village in the parish of Drainie (or Drainy), on the coast of the Moray Firth, north of Elgin and west of Lossiemouth.
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4 In the 19th century there occurs a series of Gatherers in the Paisley district. I do not know anything about the provenance of this family. Seeing John's birth at Houston and Killellan, I was dubious whether he was in our direct line, but the marriage of James (1732) to Elizabeth Munro confirmed that he was; and John's marriage to Helen George at Keith in 1807 provided further confirmation that there was a connection between the families. In 1775 James and Elizabeth had a son called Alexander - John's elder brother - baptized at Kilbarchan.
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5 John and Helen had a son George in 1813 and a son Francis Alexander in 1823, both born in Keith. They also had a daughter Margaret (b.1813 in Keith). In 1851 Margaret became a nun in Glasgow, taking the name Sister Mary Margaret in the Order of St Francis. She died on 18th April, 1885 aged 75, in the convent in Charlotte Street, Glasgow. Alexander (b.1816) married Margaret Giles at Rothiemay in 1841, and their son James was born that year. In the same year another Alexander Gatherer married a Margaret Jales (sic) at Forgue! I have no knowledge of these persons. James Gatherer married Isabella Mitchell at Grange in 1863, and the certificate records that James's father, Alexander, an agricultural labourer, was deceased. In searching for Alexander's death I came upon the death of an Alexander Gatherer who died in George Street, Edinburgh in 1861. He was registered as a pauper, formerly French Polisher. His father was Robert Gatherer and his mother was Agnes Common (nothing of whom is known to me) and he died of 'organic disease of the stomach'. Our Alexander died in 1858 at Rothiemay at the age of 42 (though this age is given as 39 on the death certificate). He and Margaret had eight or nine children, whose names and dates I am now researching.
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6 On the marriage certificate James's occupation is given as Farm Servant, and Isabella's as Domestic Servant. She signed the certificate with a cross; this is likely to mean that she was illiterate. In the Census for 1891 the following information is given:

I presume that James and Isabella had sons and daughters who had left home by 1891. Some may have died; some may have been born after 1891.
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The Gatherers - A History

The Direct Line

NOTES