The post on the Kelso Dispensary re-activated contact with a researcher of all Agnes FAIRBAIRNs of around that time, and Fiona has provided some snippets from family correspondence which are being worked through and should shed some light on the relationships between the Mellerstain Mill and Girnick Smailholm FAIRBAIRNs.
This has led to an update to the patriarchs page to clarify that the James and Margaret (TAIT) of Girnick (Smailholm) are a separate family to that of James and Margaret (TAIT) of Haddington, despite what several trees out on the net seem to think.
Those interested in the details and my conclusions should examine the marriage or Rachel FAIRBAIRN to George Wilson PEATTIE in Edinburgh St Cuthberts in 1849 which shows her as the 3rd surviving daughter of the late James FAIRBAIRN of Haddington, candlemaker and tobacconist, which is rather a drastic occupation and location change from a farmer in Smailholm, and would no doubt come as a bit of a surprise to two of Elspeth, Margaret, Helen or Isabel, all of whom survived beyond 1849, and would be Rachel's elder sisters if she belonged to the Smailholm family.
That and the fact that it is unlikely the family would have two Margaret's when the first is found to have survived and married.
I believe Margaret of Haddington, to be the deceased sister of Rachel as Catherine and Marion are both to be found in the 1851 census.
Does anyone know who the Haddington James is? Not yet researched. In addition to these 4 daughters, there was also an 1829 Robert.
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