Lumphanan

The Howe of Cromar is a quite distinct oval, but other districts of Mar are less geographically distinguishable. From west to east, these include Braemar, Cromar, Midmar, and “Mar the most easterly portion.” On the heat map of Cromar-Robb habitation in Aberdeenshire, no place is more active than the village of Lumphanan and environs. Technically, it lies just adjacent to the Howe of Cromar, on the other side of Craglich Hill at the easternmost extent of the Howe. So as a practical matter, Lumphanan straddles the border between Cromar and Midmar. Of the origin of the name Lumphanan, Alexander Smith says:

In ancient writings the name of this parish is spelled Lanfanan, Lonfanan, Lonfannan, Lunfanan, and now it is spelled Lumphanan, which is undoubtedly an English corruption of the name. It may have been Lan, Lon, or Lun, but, assuming it to have been Lunfanan, in Gaelic, Lan-fionan, it would signify —Lan, an enclosure, or fertile spot, fion, fair or white, and an, water; that is, “the enclosure by the fair stream.”

A New History of Aberdeenshire, Alexander Smith (Ed), 1875

Kings and battles

Lumphanan’s place in Scottish history was secured in 1057, when the Battle of Lumphanan was fought on August 15 between Macbeth, King of Alba, and Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, who would prevail and eventually become King Malcolm III. The Peel of Lumphanan, a fortified earthwork, is the legendary location of this battle, and Macbeth’s Stone, about a thousand feet south-west of the site, is the legendary stone upon which Macbeth was beheaded.

Cromars and Robbs in Lumphanan

Fast-forward a few centuries, and it is in Lumphanan that Peter Cromar and Janet Bonar, my sixth great-grandparents, live in 1733. It is where John Cromar and Ann Cromar, my fourth great-grandparents, wed in 1789, then live in Lumphanan’s Marywell ferm-toun. Christian Berry is born here in 1808 and marries the elder Charles Robb, whose line may have originated in north and east of Lumphanan in Auchterless, to become my third great-grandparents, and they choose Christian’s home town to live and die in.

Another set of third great-grandparents, George Cromar and Ann Meston, are married here in 1822, live in Lumphanan’s Miltown of Auchlossan, and pass away here. Charles Robb the younger is born in Lumphanan in 1835, becomes my second great-grandparent with Ann Spence, and they reside here in 1867. We know this because the birth of Chrisitana Berry Robb, their daughter and my great-grandmother, is recorded in Lumphanan on September 2 of that year.

Charles Robb and Ann Spence

Although her father Charles had spent his entire childhood and early adulthood around the village, he found an out-of-town sweetheart in Ann. She was a farmer’s daughter of Howmuir, a ferm-toun in the orbit of Strathdon. Her father George Spence’s household was quite far north and west of Cromar, 16 miles away from Charles at the far east of Cromar. That’s a 5½ hour one-way walk, so it’s anyone’s guess how the couple may have crossed paths. Between Lumphanan and Strathdon, logical places of courtship might include Tarland, Leochel-Cushnie, or Logie Coldstone.

Scottish custom mandated a wedding in the bride’s parish, so on July 29, 1865, they tied the knot in Strathdon, possibly at the Strathdon Parish Church. The newlyweds settled a few miles south of Lumphanan in Kincardine O’Neil for a couple of years, and it was here that Ann Robb was born on February 2, 1866. All too common in those times was a high rate of infant mortality, and this was Ann’s sad fate. Whether her death precipitated a move to Lumphanan, perhaps to be near family, or employment opportunities became available for Charles, remains unclear.

Deeside Railway

But Lumphanan at that time happened to host a new station on the Deeside Railway , the royal railway that conveyed Queen Victoria to Ballater near her Highland home of Balmoral Castle. This station had opened in 1859, and it’s possible Charles may have secured employment with the railway as early as 1867. 1881 Census records confirm his occupation as a platelayer.

Whatever the cause and effect, we see Christiana arrive soon after the move. She spends time as a toddler in Lumphanan playing with her sister Mary Ann, born February 5, 1869, before the family is relocated in 1871 to Glenmuick. Their new home is located south and across the river from Ballater, the terminus for the Deeside Railway. It is very likely an occupational relocation.

Growing a family in Glenmuick

In Glenmuick, Christiana, who went by the nickname “Teenie,” became the big sister to two brothers: Charles (named for his father and grandfather) arrived in 1875, and Alexander (named for his uncle) in 1877. In the 1881 Census, when Teenie was 14, the household included a boarder, Thomas Taylor of Banff, who worked for the railway as a station agent. We don’t have much more official information about Teenie in the 12 year span between 1881 and 1893, but we do know at some point in that time frame she began to court Theodore James Cromar.

Enter Theodore

It’s possible this couple’s families had awareness of each other back in the ’60’s in Kincardine O’Neil. John Cromar and Ann George lived in Kincardine O’Neil on Turnpike Road in 1861 as a childless couple. If they didn’t move to Aberdeen until just before John was hired at the granite works in 1868, there’s a period where the Robbs would have been neighbors—these villages are tiny enough that everyone knows everyone—starting at least around 1866.

Even if they didn’t intersect directly, there were many Cromars and Robbs floating around the Howe of Cromar and environs, so we can certainly conclude that some Cromars and Robbs knew each other personally, though any claim would rely on circumstantial evidence at best.

Courtship by rail?

We know for certain that Thuddie Cromar had enlisted in the military in 1886 at 17, and Teenie would have been about 18. At this point, he may have been living in Waterside and apprenticing or being employed outright as a stonemason. Records prove he was doing so in 1891, just before he emigrated to America.

Our new research into the Robb’s relationship to the railways may provide a few clues about their courtship: the Deeside Railway certainly solves the central problem facing a long-distance relationship. The rail line had stops at Ballater, Dinnet, and Aboyne, among others, and this could transform a foot journey of 3 hours into an automated trip of minutes.

A fateful decision

This was a turbulent and poorly documented time for Thuddie and Teenie. We know that Thuddie, recently decommissioned from the militia and minted as a full-fledged stonemason, was facing uncertain economic options in 1891. But as a single man with no family to support and no other apparent expenses incurred, his was not a compellingly desperate situation. He could ride out the financial storm and anticipate better times, or, like some of his brother stonemasons, seek seasonal work in America. But he chose to emigrate permanently.

A tempting theory as to why can be teased out of the eccentricities of Scottish marriage law. Unlike English law, there were religious and civil flavors of marriage, and even “regular” and “irregular” forms of the latter. Also, marriages at the age of 16 were allowed without parental consent (and still are!), so youthful wedlock was not uncommon. One utterly unprovable but plausible scenario could be that Thuddie and Teenie had entered into an undocumented “irregular” civil arrangement by mutual agreement sometime prior to 1891, and planned their emigration already committed as man and wife. Thuddie would use his savings, possibly the extra income earned as a militiaman, and secure himself in the New World, while Teenie would follow when the couple could scrape together her fare.

A deeper commitment in the New World

They wouldn’t exactly need a union to hatch such a scheme, but such a plan makes more sense for a couple with a deeper commitment than simple young adult infatuation. We’ll see, of course, that they get married in America after Teenie’s voyage, but it’s pretty likely that straight-laced American marriage law would not have recognized an eccentric Scottish arrangement, if in fact any existed in this case. Any proof would need more research.

But speculation aside, what we do know is that Thuddie emigrated in spring of ’91, and Teenie did not emigrate until spring or early summer of ’93—a two year time span. She arrived at a brand new Ellis Island facility, one that was to burn down in 1897, and be rebuilt.

1 | The new facility at Ellis Island. Image extracted from page 087 of King’s Handbook of New York City …, by Moses King. Original held and digitized by the British Library | Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
2 | First Ellis Island Immigration Station in New York Harbor. Opened January 2, 1892. Completely destroyed by fire on 15 June 1897. | Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Thus concludes the Scottish portion of their adventures, so we’ll find out more about Thuddie and Teenie in a future post.