James Valentine of Ellon (17??-18??)

According to family legend, the Valentine family are descended from one of a group of Spanish smugglers, who were surprised by excise officers while landing brandy at the Bullers of Buchan, three miles north of Cruden Bay. The smugglers managed to make their getaway, but left a young boy behind them, who became the founder of the Valentine family of Aberdeenshire. However, Valentine is a common name in Kincardineshire during the eighteenth century, although the origin of the name remains unresearched, and there were Valentines in Aberdeenshire as long ago as 1400.

JAMES VALENTINE (17??-1837) was probably born in the 1760's. On 16 February 1794, he married Isabel Conon at Ellon.

Isabel was nearly 28. She had been baptized on 16 March 1766 at Ellon. Her parents were Andrew Conon and Barbara Milne, who had been married at Ellon on 13 June 1762.
James died on 7 June 1837 at Ellon. He and Isabel had issue including:

1 JOHN VALENTINE (1796-18??), baptized at Ellon on 21 November 1796.

2 JAMES VALENTINE (1801-18??), baptized at Ellon on 4 March 1801.

3 ISOBEL VALENTINE (1803-18??), baptized at Ellon on 14 February 1803.

4 GEORGE VALENTINE (1805-18??), baptized at Ellon on 8 February 1805.

5 ALEXANDER VALENTINE (1806-18??), baptized at Ellon on 26 December 1806. He probably married Jane Clark and had issue in Ellon.

6 WILLIAM VALENTINE (1810-18??), see below.

WILLIAM VALENTINE (1810-18??) was born at Ellon on 15 September 1810 and baptized on 30 September. On 19 December 1835, he married Margaret Matthew at Ellon. He is said to have been factor at Udny Castle. They had issue:

1 JAMES VALENTINE (1837-1895), see below.

2 CATHERINE MAIR VALENTINE (1839-18??), baptized at Ellon on 25 June 1839. She married John Bartlett Ferguson on 28 November 1863 at Ellon. He was a farm servant. In 1881, she and the six youngest children were at 72 Elgin Lane, Aberdour, while John was away, working for Alexander Milne at House of Hill, Rathen. Their children were:

2.1 CATHERINE FERGUSON (1863-??), born on 28 December 1863 in New Pitsligo. In 1881 she was working as a dairymaid for George Taylor at Hellenamore, Aberdour.

2.2 ELIZABETH ANN FERGUSON (1866-??), born on 19 January 1866 in Old Deer.

2.3 WILLIAM VALENTINE FERGUSON (1868-??), born on 6 March 1868 in New Pitsligo.

2.4 JOHN BARTLET FERGUSON (1870-??), born on 13 May 1870 in New Pitsligo.

2.5 GEORGE HOWIE FERGUSON (1872-??), born on 10 February 1872 in Ellon.

2.6 JAMES LEITH IRONSIDE FERGUSON (1874-??), born on 11 February 1874 in Hadda, Methlick.

2.7 ALEXANDER FERGUSON (1876?-??), born in Aberdour, and aged 4 in 1881.

3 GEORGE VALENTINE ("UNCLE CHATHAM") (1842-??), born at Ellon on 13 April 1842. He lived in Chatham in Kent, and was a detective. In 1881 and 1891 he was at the Naval Dockyard, Chatham. He is said to have had exceedingly regular habits, dropping everything in order to go to bed at eleven every night. He is also said to have researched the Valentine family tree.

4 ELSPET VALENTINE (1845-??), baptized at Ellon on 7 June 1845.

JAMES VALENTINE (1837-1895) was born in Ellon on 2 August 1837 and baptized on 16 August. On 26 December 1861, he married Forbes Peter at Garvock. In the 1861 census, he and she are shown as ploughman and domestic servant at Kennerty in Peterculter. On his marriage certificate, however, he is described as working as an agricultural labourer at Dudwick in Ellon. The family were tenants at Peterculter in 1872. In 1881, he is recorded at Kennerty House, Peterculter, managing 225 acres and employing six men and two women.

He died in 1895, aged 58. He had contracted multiple sclerosis, and his death certificate states that he had had this condition for four years. However the immediate cause of his death was "exhaustion". He had gone out in wet weather to mend a bridge on his farm. He did this as an example to the men working under him. As a result of this, he contracted pneumonia, and died. His widow, Forbes, survived him for many years.

James and Forbes Valentine had three children:

1 JAMES VALENTINE (1862-??), born at Ellon on 18 November 1862. He remained unmarried. He was very swarthy in appearance, giving rise to the belief that he was a throwback to his Spanish roots. In 1881, he was a grocery warehouseman, lodging at 81 George Street, Aberdeen.

2 ALEXANDER VALENTINE (1866-??), born at Garvock on 6 April 1866. He married a cousin, Margaret (?Peter), known as Maggie. It is said that she was determined to marry Alexander. ("Do not fear. I mean to have him.") (She was still alive in 1979, when Forbes Leslie visited her.) They emigrated to Hawaii, and grew sugar in a plantation. They had one son:

2.1 ALEXANDER VALENTINE (1913-2000), known as Boy. He was born on 29 July 1913, and suffered from a club foot. He was a macadamia nut broker. He died at Honolulu on 21 September 2000.

3 FORBES JANE VALENTINE (1872-1962), known as Fobbie, born on 24 July 1872 at Peterculter. She worked in Aberdeen as a dressmaker, living with her widowed mother. Just before her 29th birthday, on 16 July 1901, she married George McBain Farquharson Davie at St Machar's, Aberdeen. She died in 1962.

This page was last modified on 15 April 2009 by Hector Davie.
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