Fleming Descendants - the Biggers in Australia

Dave McCartney and Isabella Fleming (previous post) moved with their 10 year old daughter Marion to Cessnock, Sydney in 1910.  Marion was musical and played violin in the Sydney Philharmonic,

She married Frederick C Biggers who was a clerk, a mine worker, a journalist and a writer. In 1929 he was on the staff of the Burwood Courier. He also wrote and performed in musical plays eg the Matrimonial Tangle which was staged in 1933.

They lived in Cessnock, New South Wales and had one daughter Joan Isobel. She was a ballerina (I was told) but tried tragically young aged 19.

Fred and Marion

The Biggers' house in Cessnock, New South Wales

Joan Biggers 1934-1953

Friday 26 November 1948

The Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder

 

Photos kindly sent by Kathy Wright, a friend of the family in Australia.

A Footballer in the Family

Isabella Fleming, the sister of my husband's grandfather Hugh, married David Thompson McCartney (1875-1950) of Auchinleck in 1899 and they had one daughter Marion McFedries McCartney. Mother-in-law used to talk about the McCartneys, although she could barely have known them.

David was the son of Irish parents Charles McCartney and Susanna Thompson, born 1875 in Cronberry, near Cumnock, and as Dave McCartney, he was a professional footballer for 20 years and played briefly for Celtic and for Glossop, Watford and Northampton with one season for Chelsea.  His brother William played 2 seasons for Barnsley.

When he retired, the family emigrated to Australia on the Samaris arriving November 1910. He went back to mining at Aberdare South Colliery.

Their only daughter Marion, born about 1900, was musical and played violin in the Sydney Philharmonic.

Watford FC Archives - look under M for Dave's football career

Chelsea player profile

1948 newspaper article  interview with Dave in the Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder, 22 June 1948.  His brother William was over from Scotland at the time.


Obituary in the The Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder 10 Jan 1950.



Thanks to Rhonda in Dumfries for information.

Fleming line from Beith

I've traced my mother-in-law's ancestors to Beith in north Ayrshire in the late 18th century. It's a typical tale of families supporting each other, adapting to circumstances: moving where there is work, early deaths and second marriages and families.

Online tree here Follow the blue markers for the direct line.

Robert Fleming married Margaret Anderson in Beith on 23 August 1805

I think Robert was the one born 25 May 1783 in Beith to Robert Fleming and Margaret Barbour making him 22 at the time of his marriage

Margaret Anderson (1786 -1862) is the daughter of John Anderson and Mary Dunlop born 14 October 1786 in Beith making her 18 at the time of the marriage. Her family farmed at Foreside in Beith parish.

Robert Fleming (1783) and Margaret Anderson have 10 recorded children born in Beith between 1806 and 1826.

We are descended from Samuel Fleming born 2 December 1818 who married Elizabeth Shemons on 3 Jan 1839. Elizabeth was born in Ireland about 1819 and her parents are Hugh Shemons and Elizabeth Jellie; this information from her 1864 death certificate as given by her son.

In the 1841 census Samuel, Elizabeth and baby Janet are at 60 Main St, Beith. He is a cotton handloom weaver.

His grandmother Margaret Barbour is, I believe, still alive in 1841 and recorded at 99 Bunswynd, Beith as Widow Fleming; not much to go on, but her daughter-in-law and 5 grandchildren are present:

Widow Fleming     80 = Margaret Barbour born possibly 1756 (Ages in 1841 are rounded down, so 80 = 80 - 84, assuming the person knows their year of birth!)
Mrs.  Highslop     50 stocking maker  = ?may be daughter Mary
Mary Highslop     15 =?  Cotton Hand Loom Weaver
Mrs. Robt Fleming     50 = Margaret Anderson b1786 Cotton Hand Loom Weaver
Robert Fleming     30 = Robert b 1809 Cotton Hand Loom Weaver
Margt Fleming     25 = Margaret b 1814 Cotton Hand Loom Weaver
Andrew Fleming     20 = Andrew Fleming b 1816 Cotton Hand Loom Weaver
William Fleming     15 = brother b 1823 Cotton Hand Loom Weaver
Thos Fleming     15 = brother b 1826 Cotton Hand Loom Weaver

Margaret Anderson is living in Bunswynd with son William a cattle driver in 1851 and 1861 and dies there in 1862. Her parents names are confirmed as John Anderson and Mary Dunlop.

Samuel Fleming dies somewhere between 1844 and 1847
1844 is the birthdate of his 3rd child Robert (great grandfather) and 1847 is when his widow remarries.

In 1851 census his widow Elizabeth Shemons, with her 3 children Janet, Elizabeth and Robert, is in Auchinleck with new husband coal miner George Rae, an older widower,  and baby Hugh Rae born in New Cumnock in 1850

In 1861 census they are at Kilgrammie in the parish of Dailly with daughter Catherine Rae born in Old Cumnock in 1853.

Elizabeth Shemons dies in 1864 in Dalry aged only 45 of cancer of the uterus. Son Robert Fleming signed the death certificate as Robert Rae. Widower George Rae gets married for a third time to Margaret Bole.

Samuel and Elizabeth's son Robert Fleming (1844-1920) a coal miner marries Marion McFedries(1842-1917) in Dailly later in 1864*. She is the daughter of David McFedries and Isabella McJannet. They name their first child after Robert's stepfather George Rae.
They live in Dailly, then Galston, New Cumnock and settle in Cumnock about 1883 and have eight  children all of whom survived to adulthood (1911 census).
Robert's older sister Elizabeth Fleming and husband David Murdoch and children go out to Australia in 1889 on the Cuzco. Other family members remain in the area.

Grandfather Hugh Fleming was born at Kilgrammie in Dailly in 9 February 1875. He was a coal miner. He married Elizabeth Stillie in 1895 in Cumnock. They had 3 children 2 of whom died before 1900. And Elizabeth herself died in 1900 of tubercular peritonitis aged 35. In 1901 widower Hugh married his cousin Mary Cowan Wilson the daughter of Isabella McFedries and William Wilson. They had seven more children five of whom survived into adulthood including
Isabella McFedries Fleming b 1903 who married David McMeekin.

Mary Cowan Wilson (Mrs Hugh Fleming)

Bel (Isabella McFedries Fleming (1903-1995)  her niece Mina Fleming (1929-1994)  and her mother  Mary Cowan Wilson (1874-1957) taken early fifties in Cumnock

In 1914 Robert and Marion Fleming celebrated their Golden Wedding with a party at their home 6 Glengyron Row.  This is the invitation they sent to their son Hugh which was kept by Hugh's daughter Bel McMeekin who must have attended the party on 7 October 1914 aged 11, just 2 months after the outbreak of World War One.

another David Sievwright

I was contacted yesterday by a Sievwright researcher from Australia asking about David Sievwright who he thought was his ancestor. I could see immediately he wasn't since it was the David Sievwright who went to New Zealand.
The only info he had was the notion that David Sievwright was Scottish, he had a wife Lilly Auld and their children Lilly, Jane and Charles born 1865, 1867 and 1868 respectively.
I found the birth of Jane with mother's name Lillias.
Then I found the marriage in 1863 which also gave a date of birth for Lillias of 18 AUG 1834. Wondering if she too was from Scotland I had a look on the IGI and yes indeed she was born in New Monkland to Lillias Russell and William Auld.
I did parent searches on the IGI for more children of David Sievwright and Lillias Auld and found younger children William, David, Margaret and Elizabeth.
Following Scottish naming patterns, the first child, a daughter, was named Lillias after Lillias Auld's mother Lilias Russell, the next daughter Jane should be mother of David and the first son Charles should be David's father,second son William after Lillias's father.
So we are looking for a David Sievwright son of Charles and Jean. Yes there is one born 1829 in Marykirk, Kincardineshire to Charles Sivewright and Jean Duthie.
Meanwhile in Australia the researcher has come up with a David Sievwright transported to Western Australia (where he is) in 1856 on the William Hammond. Lots of information on the convicts on this site
The ship sailed from Plymouth in January 1856 with 250 prisoners. They landed at Fremantle, Western Australia 86 days later.
David Sievwright was tried and sentenced to 10 years for robbery at Aberdeen on 14 April 1853. he was 23 at the time of the trial which fits perfectly with the birth I found. He was unmarried with no children. His occupation was gardener. There is also a physical description, round face, light brown hair, hazel eyes, pock marked face, deep scar near left eye and anchors and blue marks on both arms. Fantastic!
Meanwhile back to his family in Scotland. I couldn't find them in the census but tried again using a wildcard S*vright and they turned up on ancestry site in 1841 under Suvewright and in Aberdeen which ties in with the trial: Charles and Jean, William, David age 10 a combmaker, Jean, Margaret, Andrew & Elizabeth. In 1851 it's just David 21 still a comb maker and sister Margaret. Combmaker doesn't tie in with gardener but, apart from this, I think it fits.
Unfortunately I can't tie them in with my Sievwrights but they were from Aberdeenshire too so there is probably an older connection.