Based on DNA matches, I have decided that my ancestor Ellen White might be Helen, born ca 1835 at Dull, Perthshire, daughter of John White (sometimes John Whyte) jnr, 1808-1869, a gamekeeper; and his wife Helen Mackean.
John White jnr’s parents were John White snr ca 1770-1840, also a gamekeeper and Joanna Morton. John snr married twice, his second wife was Joan Scott. This is John White snr’s death notice: “Died, at Arniston, on 24 Feb, at a very advanced age, John White, head-keeper in the Dundas family for 21 years, and much respected by all the gentlemen of the hunt“ (The Atlas, Sat 4 April 1840, p6). The Dundas family owned Arniston House/Lodge at Borthwick, Midlothian.
For many decades, all I knew about my great-great grandmother, Ellen White, was that she was a domestic servant who gave birth to an illegitimate daughter in August 1866 at Edinburgh. She seemed to disappear after 1866 (her daughter was a boarder with different families in 1871 and 1881), and I could not confirm her birth before 1866. A single DNA match provided the crucial lead to finding my Ellen White.
My brother, my relevant first cousin and I all have a predicted distant cousin match with Richard, whose ancestors include James Aitken and Elizabeth White 1830-1904. That in itself is not convincing, but in 1881 at Glasgow, James and Elizabeth Aitken had a boarder called Esther Comrie aged 14 born Stockbridge, Edinburghshire.
I nearly fell off my chair with excitement when I realised this. There surely was only one person called Esther Comrie at that time, as Comrie is a rare surname and Esther is a relatively unusual forename. She is my illegitimate great-grandmother, daughter of Ellen White.
But wait, there is more! This Elizabeth Aitken (nee White) was a widow when she married James Aitken in 1871. Her first husband was Alexander Comrie, widowed grocer aged 60 when in April 1867 he married Elisabeth White, an unmarried lady’s maid aged 36 of Arniston Lodge, parents John White, gamekeeper, and Joan Scott, both dead. No children were born to this marriage. Alex Comrie, who died in 1870, was the uncle of Esther Comrie’s birth father, John Comrie 1844-1924, merchant.
So if I am right with my hypothesis, Elizabeth Aitken is Esther Comrie’s biological great-aunt, and her first husband Alex Comrie was Esther’s biological great-uncle. I therefore could not have hoped for a more relevant DNA match than Richard, who is Elizabeth’s descendant. He is likely my 4th cousin once removed.
Elizabeth White Aitken’s father and several brothers were gamekeepers at Arniston Lodge. John White jnr (father of Ellen born 1835) is Elizabeth’s much older half-brother. It was one of those delightful “Eureka!” moments that make genealogy so worthwhile, when I realised that this White family had an Ellen who fitted my Ellen, even though she was a bit older than I had expected (ie aged 30 when illegitimate daughter Esther was born in 1866).
To further support my assumption, I then discovered that my two siblings and I plus my two relevant cousins have DNA matches with several other descendants of this White family of gamekeepers, and one of them also matches Richard.
Just to backtrack a little – Helen White was living with her parents John and Helen, in the 1841 census at Fowlis Wester, Perthshire aged 6 when father John was a servant; and the 1851 census at Lynedoch, Methven, Perthshire aged 16 when father John was a gamekeeper.
In 1861 she may have been the Helen White 25, born Perthshire, Scotland, at Rufford Abbey, Nottinghamshire, England, working as a kitchen maid, one of 9 servants of Henry Savile 40, head, unmarried, landed proprietor, born London. Her father John Whyte’s prestigious occupation as head gamekeeper for the Earl of Mansfield, whose seat was at Scone, Perthshire, may have enabled her to obtain such a position.
Esther named her father John Comrie, a merchant, when she married in Australia. She was always called Esther Comrie, except her birth was registered as Esther White. I suspect she may not have known she was illegitimate. John Comrie seems to have paid for her living expenses. Someone must have paid for her to be a boarder in 1871 and 1881.
Ellen may have died not long after Esther was born, because Ellen seems to disappear from the records. I believe Helen White 32, single, who died from pneumonia at the Poor House, Colinton, Midlothian, in January 1874 is my Ellen. Her parents were not recorded, which means there is no proof either way. She may have been in the Poor House in the April 1871 census, recorded by only her initials.
The Comries had a tradition of being grocers and merchants. We cannot know why John Comrie did not marry Ellen White. If she came from a family of gamekeepers, she should not have been beneath his dignity, even if she was a servant. Maybe she was too rural for for his sensibilities? Perhaps her age was the sticking point – she was about ten years older than him. He was not married when Esther was born, and when he did marry, he and his wife had no children.
I discuss my Comrie family research in another blog posted 24 Oct 2021, called ARE MY SCOTTISH COMRIE ANCESTORS MY BIOLOGICAL ANCESTORS?