James Valentine of Ellon (17??-1837)

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 was a common surname 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, or Isabella, Conon at Ellon.

Isabella 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 Isabella had issue including:

1 ANDREW VALENTINE (1794-1862), baptized at Old Machar on 25 December 1794. He was a brickmaker. He married Mary Clownes, and was at Spittal Back Cottage, Old Machar in 1861. He died of heart disease on 21 July 1862 - his son James, of 49 Ann Street, Aberdeen, was the informant. Their issue included:

1.1 JAMES VALENTINE (1821-1885), born in Old Machar on 25 August 1821.. At school he excelled at English. He married Jane Christie at Old Machar on 2 December 1842. He began life as a weaver, but became a self-taught journalist, working at first for a Free Church paper, the Banner. He also taught himself shorthand, and was one of the first stenographers in Aberdeen.

In 1861 he was a newspaper reporter, living with his wife Jane at Ann Street, Aberdeen. He was on the staff of the Aberdeen Press and Journal for a period of twenty years, and was subsequently Clerk to the Police Board and after 1875 registrar of Oldmachar. In 1871 the family were at 10 Loanhead Terrace and in 1881 at 11 North Silver Street.

James was a keen singer, and was leader of the choir at the Free North Church, and later at the University Chapel. He was one of the first chairmen of the Aberdeen Choral Union, and wrote "An Elementary Text Book of Vocal Music" in collaboration with Baillie Walker. He fell ill with a heart condition in the spring of 1885 and went to upper Deeside for a change of air. He experienced no relief, and returned to Aberdeen, where he died on 26 August. Their children included:

1.1.1 JANET VALENTINE (1843-??), baptized in Old Machar on 12 February 1843.

1.1.2 JAMES VALENTINE (1845-1901), baptized on 11 March 1845. He graduated from Aberdeen University in 1866, and became an assistant to George Robb, the depute town clerk. In the 1871 census he was a clerk living at home, and in 1881 was depute town clerk, having succeeded to the post the previous year on George Robb's death, "possessing an aptitude for the work and a vast amount of local knowledge." However in 1891 he was in hospital. He took up journalism and had "a somewhat varied career". He was an inmate at Peterculter Convalescent Hospital in 1901. and died from a sharp attack of pneumonia on 17 October 1901.

1.1.3 ALEXANDER CHRISTOPHER VALENTINE (1848?-??), born on 1 January 1848 at Old Machar.

1.1.4 MARY MADELINE VALENTINE (1853-??), born on 31 August 1853.

1.1.5 WILLIAMINA VALENTINE (1856-??)

1.1.6 EMMA ELIZABETH VALENTINE (1858-??)

1.1.7 ANDREW VALENTINE (1863?-??). In 1881 he was an insurance clerk.

1.1.8 GEORGE D VALENTINE (1866-??)

1.2 JEAN VALENTINE (1825?-??), born in Old Machar. She was a flax mill worker, living at home in 1861.

1.3 MARGARET VALENTINE (1828?-??), born in Old Machar. She was a flax mill worker, living at home in 1861.

1.4 ISABELLA VALENTINE (1829?-??), born in Old Machar. She was a flax mill worker, living at home in 1861.

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

3 JAMES VALENTINE (1801-18??), baptized at Ellon on 4 March 1801. In 1851 he was a brick and tile maker living with his family at 42 Don Street, Old Machar.

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

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

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

7 WILLIAM VALENTINE (1810-1874), see below.

WILLIAM VALENTINE (1810-1874) 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, though his death certificate describes him as a crofter. He died at Dudwick, Ellon, on 10 July 1874 after six days of diarrhoea. Margaret survived him, dying in 1892. In 1881 she was at Ardganty in Ellon. They had issue:

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

2 CATHERINE MAIR VALENTINE (1839-1916), baptized at Ellon on 25 June 1839. She married John Bartlett Ferguson on 28 November 1863 at Ellon.

John had been born on 19 June 1839 at Gamrie in Banffshire. In 1851 he weas living at home, at Carnewhing, Tyrie, Buchan. At the time of his marriage, he was a farm servant.

In 1871. the couple were at Westingshill, New Deer, In 1881, Catherine and the six youngest children were at 72 Elgin Lane, Aberdour, while John was away, working for Alexander Milne at House of Hill, Rathen. In 1891, the family was still at Aberdour, without John, but with George (described as an invalid) and Elizabeth (described as an unemployed domestic servant) and with four grandchildren: John P (5), George J (4), Catherine C (2) and Alexander B (5 months). The four grandchildren were all born in Aberdour. In 1901, John and Catherine were living at 52 High Street, New Aberdour with a 14-year-old grandson, George Irvine. John died on 13 May 1908, and Catherine died at New Pitsligo in 1916, "aged 74". She and John had seven children:

2.1 CATHERINE FERGUSON (1863-1943), born on 28 December 1863 in New Pitsligo. In 1881 she was working as a dairymaid for George Taylor at Hellenamore, Aberdour. In 1893 she married James Craib, a cattleman from Gamrie in Banffshire and in 1901 they were living at 22 High Street, Aberdour. Catherine died of cancer on 29 November 1943.

In 1901, Catherine's children, James' stepchildren, lived with them. They were:

2.1.1 CATHERINE MAIR VALENTINE FERGUSON (1889-19??), born illegitimately at Aberdour on 12 February 1889.

2.1.2 GEORGE GORDON FERGUSON (1892-19??), aged 8 in 1901 and born at Aberlour.

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 (1870-1914), born on 13 May 1870 at 66 Low Street, New Pitsligo. He died on 9 September 1914 at 61 Cotton Street, Aberdeen.

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") (1842-1908), born at Ellon on 13 April 1842. In 1871 he was working as a farm servant for Robert Copland at Mill of Ardlethan in Ellon.

He joined the Metropolitan Police on 13 January 1873, with warrant number 56418, and served at the Naval Dockyard at Chatham in Kent. (The Metropolitan Police were responsible for English naval dockyards.) He rose to the rank of Sergeant, and is said to have been 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.

He retired on 17 January 1898. In 1901 he was living at 24 Huntly Street, Aberdeen, with his brother James' widow, Forbes, née Peter. He was buried on 7 May 1908 at Allenvale Cemetery, Aberdeen.

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. in the 1851 census, he was working as one of five farm labourers for William Gall at Auchlenchries, Cruden, Ellon. 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 and 1891, he is recorded at Kennerty House, Peterculter, managing 225 acres and employing six men and two women.

He died on 16 October 1895 at 41 Dee Street, Aberdeen, 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, dying in Aberdeen in 1929.

James and Forbes Valentine had three children:

1 JAMES VALENTINE (1862-1944), 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. Ten years later, he was living with his parents at Kennerty in Peterculter. He was the informant of his father's death in 1895, and described himself as "son and inmate". In 1901 he was a soapmaker's clerk, living at home with his mother. Later in life, he was a commercial bookkeeper. When his mother died in 1929, he was living at 68 Holburn Street. This was still his address when he died aged 81, on 27 July 1944, in Aberdeen's Royal Infirmary. (The informant of his death was Christina Hunter, of the same address, "intimate friend").

2 ALEXANDER VALENTINE (1866-??), born at Garvock on 6 April 1866. In 1891 he emigrated to Hilo, Hawaii, and was granted citizenship when the islands were annexed by the United States. He was a farm overseer in a sugar plantation. He married a cousin, Margaret Davidson, known as Maggie. She was some 15 years younger than him, aged 53 in 1936. 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 had one son:

2.1 ALEXANDER DAVIDSON VALENTINE (1913-2000), known as Boy. He was born on 29 July 1913 at Wainaku, Hilo, Hawaii, and suffered from a club foot. He was a macadamia nut broker. Late in life, on 2 September 1970, he married Ada Beatrice Stevens, née Wendell at Honolulu. She was from California, and had been married twice before. Alexander died at Honolulu on 21 September 2000. Beatrice died in Calfornia in 2005, and was buried with Alexander at Makawao, Maui County, Hawaii.

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 and at one stage with "Uncle Chatham". Just before her 29th birthday, on 16 July 1901, she married George McBain Farquharson Davie at St Machar's, Aberdeen. George also came to live in the house at 24 Huntly Street, and both their children were born here. The couple moved out in 1905 to 108 Union Grove, and then to their lifetime home at 100 Irvine Place.

Fobbie was described as "a kind, clever, funny woman of enormous patience, to whom everyone ran when in trouble". She was widowed in 1950, and died of cerebral atherosclerosis at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary on 17 October 1962.

This page was last modified on 27 December 2021 by Hector Davie.
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