Begbie - Galston/kilmarnock Ayrshire

[steiner]

I'm related to a family called Begbie who are mentioned in Burns poem The Ordination.
I also read in various publications about an Alison Begbie, the daughter of a farmer in the parish of Galston. I am trying to find out more about the Begbie who was the small farmer. Alison was courted by Burns about 1780/81 if I recall correctly - so the small farmer father would be on the go from about 1740 onwards. Anyone have any idea what his name was or anything else about the farm or any other family members? Thanks.

Andy

[Currie]

Hello Andy,

Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, published by the Burns Federation, Kilmarnock, in 1992, has a couple of pages to do with Alison Begbie.

The contributor, James Mackay, is of the opinion that Alison Begbie was in fact Elizabeth Gebbie who subsequently married a Hugh Brown. He thinks that "Eliza Gebbie" could easily have become garbled as "Ellison Begbie". http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&t ... 75l0.1.3.1

A small snippet:

“It has been remarked that Alison was a name unknown in Tarbolton parish (where Burns then resided). In fact, I have scoured the registers of all the neighbouring parishes without finding a single example of this girl's name before the early nineteenth century.
The four E letters are peppered with the phrases "my E" or "my dear E" so it seems to me that the lady had a name beginning with that letter. On this assumption I searched the Galston register of births for the period coeval with Burns. I found no one of the surname Begbie (as suggested by Isobel Begg), but I found several families named Gebbie—same six letters, but re-arranged. There were three brothers, all tenant-farmers. Thomas Gebbie, tenant of Pearsland near Galston village (answering Mrs Begg's description of the girl's father) had a daughter Elizabeth, born 22 July 1762.”

I’ll send you some more by PM.

All the best,
Alan

[steiner]

Thanks Alan - have replied to your PM.

Andy