Another Thomas Roberton

Today I managed to extend the Roberton branch another generation. Using IGI records, I found that the earliest Thomas Roberton I had was born on 7th February 1776 in Linton, Roxburghshire, Scotland, and that his parents are yet another Thomas Roberton and Katherine Hogg.

That still keeps us in the eighteenth century but it's a different part of Scotland. I wonder if I can fill out any more details about his life.

Which William?

Although my main focuses of research are the four branches leading from my grandparents, occasionally it is interesting to look at the other branches too.

Thomas Roberton (1841 - 1898) married Helen McIntosh in 1874. Helen's parents were Lauchlan McIntosh and Henrietta Hardie. This was proven by details from Helen and Thomas' marriage certificate. From further documentation, my father discovered that Henrietta's father was a William Hardie. My father took this information from the 1841 census which states William's birth year as 1801. Further investigation provided his parents, George Hardie and Henrietta Burnett.

Extensive research by David Peters (a descendant of Henrietta B) has proven that Henrietta Burnett's father was a black slave called Ong Tong who was christened by his owner and hence given the surname, Burnett. He married three times and Henrietta was one of several children.

When I contacted David, we found that we had discrepancies when it came to William Hardie's descendants. We both had the same William Hardie. That was definite. I decided to look back at my father's research.

When my father first found William Hardie, he took his date of birth from the 1841 census, 1801. My own investigations have further found 1851 and 1861 census which stated his birth year as 1798. Using these census, a map of the Angus and Perth area in Scotland, and IGI records, I discovered that my father had linked Henrietta Hardie to the wrong William. I also found her mother to be Elisabeth Walker.

Tracing my family back to Ong Tong would have been an interesting find but it appears that as far as I can trace so far, my ancestors were white and from Scotland, Yorkshire and Lancashire.

It just goes to show that the more information you have, the easier it is to patch together the past, and that it is imperative to double check everything.

Thomas Roberton and Euphemia Hall

This is as far back as my father managed to get for the Robertons and I've had no success in tracing back further either.

We have no birth or death dates for Thomas or Euphemia. What we do know is that they married in 1799 in Eastwood, Renfrewshire, Scotland. They had four sons - James, John, Archibold and Thomas. I can surmise that Euphemia's father was called Hall but have no proof. I cannot trace Thomas's parentage.

These are my great great great grandparents.

The next Thomas Roberton, my great great grandfather

Thomas seemed to be a popular name in the Roberton family. This Thomas, my great great grandfather was born in 1804 in Eastwood, Renfrewshire, Scotland. My father wrote this about him.

The record of my grandfather's birth shows that his parents were Thomas and Janet Roberton but I have been unable to obtain any further information at this time.

The IGI shows a Thomas Roberton/Janet Taylor were married 6 December 1825 at the parish of Eastwood.

They were both stated to be deceased on the certificate of their son's second marriage on 5 June 1874 but on the certificate for his first marriage only Janet Roberton is stated to be deceased. This means that Thomas Roberton my great grandfather died between 19th July 1870 and 5th June 1874.

In a 1851 census for the Parish of Eastwood, the head of the house is shown as Thomas Roberton, a widower aged 45, with two sons and 2 daughters. The youngest son is a Thomas aged 10 and this age makes it possible that the son was my grandfather who was born in 1841. If this is true it would mean that the head of the house was my great grandfather and that my great grandmother, Janet Taylor, was dead at that time.

The names of the children (Margaret, Euphemia, Charles, Thomas) seemed to connect with the future members of my family.

The IGI at Huddersfield included the following entries for the parish of Eastwood:

30 May	1799	Roberton Thomas	Euphemia Hall	HM
13 October	1799	Roberton James	Thomas Roberton/ Euphemia Hall	MB
15 March	1801	Roberton John	Thomas Roberton/ Euphemia Hall	MB
26 September	1802	Roberton Archibold	Thomas Roberton/ Euphemia Hall	MB
1 December	1804	Roberton Thomas	Thomas Roberton/ Euphemia Hall	MB

The date of birth of the youngest son relates closely with the 45 quoted as the age of the house in the 1851 census. In which case the Thomas Roberton and Euphemia Hall married on 30th May 1799 would have been my great great grandparents.

Thomas Roberton

Thomas was my great grandfather. I have no photographs of him. He was born in 1841 in Pollockshaws, Glasgow, Scotland. My father's notes included the following entry about Thomas.

I started with no knowledge whatsoever of my grandfather. I do not remember my father talking about him nor have I any photos of him.

The only source of information originally available to me was my father's birth certificate. This provided several items of interest:-

- my grandfather's name was Thomas Roberton and he was a blacksmith.

- my grandparents were married on 5 June 1874 in the parish of Meigle.

Their marriage certificate provided the following information:-

- Thomas Roberton's parents were,

       Thomas Roberton, clerk, deceased

       Janet Roberton, ms Taylor, deceased

- Thomas Roberton was a widower at the time of his marriage to Helen McIntosh. (Subsequently I obtained the certificate for his first marriage which was on 19th July to Agnes Abercrombie).

- The witnesses were James McIntosh and Annie McIntosh. Anne McIntosh appears in the 1881 census as sister in law to Thomas Roberton but this is the first time James McIntosh appears. Is he a brother in law?

- Thomas Roberton was a blacksmith and Helen McIntosh was a domestic servant.

- Thomas Roberton's usual address was recorded as 17 Levenbank Terrace, Jamestown.

From the IGI at Huddersfield I obtained the information that Thomas Roberton was born on 4 March 1841 at Renfrew/Eastwood and that his parents were Thomas and Janet (ms Taylor) Roberton.

This date of birth is in conflict with the age quoted in his two marriage certificates.

- In the certificate of his first marriage on 19th July 1870 his age is given as 25, but if he was born in 1841 he would have been 29 by this date.

- In the certificate for his second marriage on 5th June 1874 his age is given as 30 but if he was born in 1841 he would have been 33.

The 1881 census showed his living at 55 Levenbank Terrace, Jamestown in the parish of Bonhill, Dunbartonshire. His birthplacewas recorded as Renfrewshire, Pollockshaws. His age was quoted as 38 years but again if he was born in 1941 he would have been 40 at the time of the census. Also quoted in the census as living at the same address were:-

- Helen Roberton, wife, age 30, born Forfarshire, New Tyle

- Thomas, son, 5

- Henrietta, daughter, 4

- James L, son                  1

- Charles, son, x days (my father)

- Anne McIntosh,  sister-in-law

Levenbank Terrace was one of three terraces built by the owners of the textile mills as homes for their workers. When I was at primary school in Jamestown the three terraces had become almost representative of three different levels of class. Milton Terrace was at the lower level followed by Napierston Terrace while the 'better people' lived in Levenbank Terrace.

In the Alexandria cemetery the gravestone for the familly plot carries the following inscription:-

                 "In Memory of

                  Thomas Roberton

                  Died 31st July 1898 aged 57 years

                  His Wife

                  Helen McIntosh

                  Died 30th April 1927 aged 77 years

                  Their Daughter

                  Henrietta 

                  Wife of Hugh Paton

                  Died 12th February 1904 aged 27 years

                  Janet

                  2nd daughter of above

                  Thomas and Helen Roberton

                  Died 19th February 1966 aged 82 years

                  John Roberton

                  Died 4th June 1968 aged 81 years"

In a search of the 1851 census for the parish of Eastwood I found an entry for a Roberton with the head of the house a Thomas Roberton, a widower aged 45, with 2 sons and 2 daughters. The youngest son was a Thomas aged 10. This ties up with the age my grandfather would have been in 1851.

My grandfather had eight children (four sons and four daughters) and died on 31 July 1898 at the age of 57 years. He is buried in Alexandria cemetary.

His wife, Helen (nee McIntosh) lived a further 29 years after his death.

My paternal grandfather, Charles Roberton

My grandparents all died before I was born so any impression I have of them has always been based on the stories my parents told me.

This is my father's father, Charles Roberton. He was born in Jamestown, Dunbartonshire, Scotland in 1881. This is what my father wrote about him.

My father was  born on 25th March 1881 in Jamestown in the parish of Bonhill, Dunbartonshire. His parents were Thomas and Helen Roberton and he was the fourth child and third son of a family of eight.

He was educated at Jamestown school and I can remember him telling me that when he was about eleven or twelve years old he worked what was called 'half and half'. That is, he worked part of the day and went to school for the remainder of the time.

About 1907/08 he emigrated to America and stayed there for fourteen years mainly around the Detroit area, although I believe he also had a spell working as a fireman on the Trans Canadian railway.

A search of the Detroit City Directories showed the following entries for a Roberton, Chas:-

1911                                                             Boards                       875 Congress

1914             Watchman                                      "                           37 Hamtramck

1915              Machinist          Pd & Co                  "                           241 Concord

1916                   "                    "                                                   251 Meldrum

1918             Autoworker                                 Resides                      91 Avalon,
                                                                                                      Highland Park

I have a small document holder of my fathers which contains two documents (a) an Employee Pass dated 1918 for the Ford Motor Company with his photograph attached to it and (b) a Registration Certificate in my father's name with the address 94 Avalon and the date 12 Sept 1918 on it. These two documents tied my father to the directory entry for 1918 ayt 94 Avalon.

His eldest brother, Thomas also emigrated and did in fact remain permanently in America. The fact that Thomas was in Detroit at the same time as my father is confirmned by an entry from the Detroit City Directories for 1914 which records a Thomas J Roberton, a plumber, with a house at 37 Hamtramck. This is the same address as a Chas Roberton was boarding at in 1914.

My father became a naturalised American citizen on 25th September 1917. He returned to Scotland for what was to be a visit, my my mother, got married and never returned to his adopted country. His American citizenship did in fact cause a minor problem during the second world war as he had to technically register as a foreign citizen.

He did not pass an apprenticeship as all his brothers had, but obtained a position in 1922 as a labourer in what had been a large estate on the banks of Loch Lomond at Balloch. The estate had been owned by 'the Browns of Balloch' but was later taken over by the Glasgow Corporation and run as a public park. During the thirty odd years he worked there he became an excellent gardener and our own garden was ever the envy of all our neighbours.

He was not a talkative man except when discussing his garden. Our cottage was situated at a crossroads near to the back entrance of the park and the road continued up the hill to a succession of farms. On a summer evening, my father would walk up the hill to a gate about half a mile away. There he would fill his clay pipe with a strong tobacco called Thick Black, light up, and leaning on the gate spend a contemplative half hour staring down to the vale below until it was nearly dark,then he would slowly saunter back home.