In nineteenth century Scotland, a period for which there are fairly decent census records, it would appear that families were rather close-knit to all intents and purposes – at least so far as the Raitt families in Angus were concerned. We find various families living in the same streets in Arbroath and St Vigeans and the assumption is that they were probably related to a degree given that the name is not that common. We also find many Raitt families all living within a mile or so of each other just outside St Vigeans – most of them farmers or crofters and weavers. So we have Raitt families at Grange of Conon, East Grange of Conon, Mill of Conon etc and others at nearby Cotton of Colliston, Mill of Colliston, West Muir of Colliston, South Muir of Colliston, Burnside of Colliston, Woodside of Colliston, Swirlburn and so on. There are also some at next door Newgrange, Boysack and Tarry. (See under Raitts of Conon and Colliston page.) I have not yet worked out fully all the relationships, but I am getting there – but it is obvious that sons will have been given a patch of land near the family home to work, so these individuals will be brothers and cousins and in-laws. We find the same thing with the Lindsays (my mother’s side) around Lethnot and Navar, Tannadice and Menmuir.

As well these related Raitts living and working near to each other, there is another aspect to their closeness and this is the discovery, from the censuses, that quite a few families shared the same house. Sometimes the family members may have separate flats in the same tenement building in Glasgow or house in Arbroath, but in other instances they lived together in the same home. Of course, this would have been done for a number of reasons – economic/financial; disability/infirmity; caring for children or the elderly; or simply convenience or expediency. If you were possibly forced to leave your home and live elsewhere because you were no longer able to work because of age, retired, ill or widowed, then in those days you went to live with your family members no matter how crowded the place became.

So we find that in the 1841 census for 18 Hannah St, Arbroath in the household of my great great grandfather John Raitt (born 1805) is also his married sister Susan whose husband was away at sea. In the 1851 census at the same address not only is John and family living there, but also his wife’s mother (Margaret Dorward) and two of her brothers.

In the 1901 census living at 24 Millgate Loan, Arbroath in the household of David Raitt, a widower at 31, are his two young children David, 7 and Jessie, 4; his widowed mother Louisa aged 62; his married sister-in-law, Jessie, 29; and her three children (David’s nephew and nieces) James, 9, Louisa, 4, and Elizabeth, 2. David’s elder brother Samuel was presumably away at sea. But here we see a family pulling together in times of need. Louisa was acting as the housekeeper for her son and extended family; and Jessie was classed as a domestic servant, but in reality she, together with Louisa, would have been caring not only for her own children, but also those of her newly-widowed shoemaker brother-in-law David.

We find many other instances in Raitt families (and they are certainly not unique) of a widowed parent living with one of their children and their families; or unmarried middle-aged brothers and sisters living together; or nieces and nephews living with an uncle and his family; or grandchildren living with their grandparents. The families looked after their own  because money would have been tight and people would have had to work hard long hours and if they were agricultural labourers then they would have had to move around for work and would not have been able to take their families with them. Thus, as an example, we find in 1871 Alexander Rait is working at Grange of Conon as an agricultural labourer and has his wife and youngest daughter with him. However, in 1881 Alexander (this time spelled Raitt), 58 and married, is working as an agricultural labourer at Muir of Edzell. His wife, Ann Carrie, 53, (and helpfully listed as wife of Alexr Raitt, quarrier – which he was earlier) is living at 10 Swirlburn, St Vigeans with her granddaughter Jane Ann Raitt, aged six. Presumably Jane Ann’s parents (or at least mother, since Alexander and Ann appear to have only had three daughters, unless one of them married another Raitt) were away working elsewhere. In the 1891 census for Slade, Carmyllie Alexander Raitt is a widower, aged 67, and (back) working as a stone quarrier. Wife Ann has died in the meantime, but granddaughter Jane Ann is still living with him as his housekeeper.

Again, in the 1871 census for Cotton of Colliston, James Raitt, a widower of 80 and farmer of 14 acres, has his two unmarried daughters Marjory, 38; and Barbara, 36 living and working with him on the farm. They are still with him in 1881, but by 1891 James was dead and the two sisters are living together, still unmarried, in Kinnaird St, St Vigeans. Because they are both working, then niece Marjory Ritchie, 24 (daughter of James’s sister Jessie) is acting as a general servant, i.e looking after the home. This again seems quite common to have a relative acting as a “servant” (to use the census designation for helping out around the home.)  

So, no nuclear families of 2.4 children, no homelessness, no kids sleeping rough because they have been kicked out or run away from home as there exists today. Families valued their children because they offered another pair of hands to bring in a few more meagre pennies into the household through farm work,  weaving, housework or whatever. And children and grandchildren helped to take care of their elders when they were no longer able to work. And it is gratifying to learn that our Raitt ancestors extended the hospitality of their homes and resources for other family members and cared for each other so extensively so long ago.

Friday, 12 October 2012

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