Family of John and Mary Croll Smith of Fordoun

Alexander and Jane Milne	Adam and Ann Garvie	John Smith and Mary Croll Robbie
		James Smith	Mary Ann and William Greig	John Smith	William Milne Smith	Margaret Garvie Smith and George Bowman Hay	David Smith and Eliza Short	Alexander Smith	Adam Smith	Isabella Janet Smith	Elizabeth Jane and Alexander Douglas

John was born in Glenbervie in 1844, the youngest of two children. His natural mother, Ann Garvie, died when he was only 3 years old. His father, Adam, remarried a Mary Caie when John was about 5.

John married Mary Croll Robbie on 8 December 1871 at Marykirk, Mary’s home town.

"He was, it would appear, for his entire working life, a railway worker, firstly porter and then signalman and pointsman, at Fordoun station. This would account, then, for him being away from the family home quite a lot, such that he was not present at the birth of his several children, as reported on their birth certificates.

In later years, John and Mary moved to 3, Church Street, Laurencekirk, the “lang toun”, where both of them were to pass away. The photo below is of both John and his wife, Mary Croll Robbie, outside their house, with their son David, and his wife Eliza and one of their children, possibly John, who died in infancy.

Church Street is at the south end, on the right hand side as you come into the village. Both John and Mary are buried in Laurencekirk, along with two of their children.

2. Snippets of information gleaned from Grandpa’s scrapbook have proved invaluable in piecing together the family tree for later generations.

John and Mary had 10 children other than David (see below): James (1872), Mary Ann (1874), John (1875), William Milne (1878), Margaret Garvie (1880), Alexander and Adam, twins (1883), Isabella Janet (1886), Elizabeth Jane (1889) and Jane.

Of these children, nothing is known about the adult lives of James, John, William Milne, Alexander, Isabella Janet or Elizabeth Jane or Jane. It is believed that several, if not all, of these Smiths went to Canada to prospect for gold, although no documentary evidence has been found to prove this.

Mary Ann Smith on 15 June 1894 married a William Greig. They lived at Mill of Benholm, running a farm and had at least one son, Jack. By 1923, the Greigs had moved to Johnshaven, where A.D.S. Smith camped in July that year “in Uncle Greig’s field”. Mary Ann and Jack Greig are shown in the photo below, copied from A.D.S. Smith’s scrapbook.

Margaret Garvie Smith married George Bowman Hay on 3 January 1902 at Fordoun Station. Together, Margaret and George had two children that have been traced: Bella E Hay and David. Little is know of these two other than the information on the postcards Bella sent to A.D.S. Smith, signing them Cousin Bella or “BEH” and which the latter kept in his scrapbook. It is believed that Bella and her family lived at Glenfarg and Path of Condie, south of Perth, which is where postcards from BEH to ADS Smith were sent in both 1913 and 1922.

Adam Smith married Barbara Lawrie on 5 June 1908 at the Windsor Restaurant on St John Street in Perth. The couple lived at 105 Scott Street, Perth. On 23 April 1909, less than a year after his marriage, Adam died in Perth of heart disease. He “dropped dead at side of Town’s lade, near root of Balhousie, Perth”. He is buried with his parents in Laurencekirk. A picture from Sandra shows a couple which was taken in a studio on Scott Street Perth ("Unknown G" below) which I believe might be Adam and Barbara Smith.

William Greig and Mary Ann Smith