Rae Worcester

I am looking for Peter Peddie b.? d.? who married Helen Bruce, daughter of David Bruce and Helen Frazer. Helen was born 1788 in Forteviot, Perthshire. Peter and Helen's children were all born Forteviot, the first in 1808, so the marriage was possibly c.1807, also in Forteviot.

I have searched the OPR's BDM's,Rootsweb (trees) and the IGI for info on Peter Peddie, but have found nothing on him. He is not recorded in the 1841 Census, but Helen is shown living with her daughter, Mary, in Forteviot. Helen may well have been a Widow by then, but the 1841 Census didn't make provision for details of marital status etc. as was done in the later Census, so I can only guess. Peter is not recorded in any of the Census.

Peter and Helen had 6 children...

• Helen.... b.1808
• John..... b.1810..d.1887
• Mary..... b.1812..d.1902.. m.1856 Peter Davidson
• Janet.... b.1814
• Alexander.b.1816..d.1888..m.1843 Betty Jackson
• David.....b.1819

Mary married Peter Davidson in Forteviot, and they both died there, but Alexander broke the connection of remaining in that area and married Betty Jackson in Inchture (her birthplace). They had 9 children - the first was born in Auchtermuchly, Fifeshire, several were born in Abernathy and Dunbarney, and the last was born in Kettins, Angus. Alexander died in Dundee.

In the Forteviot Churchyard there is an obelisk showing the following names:

• Helen Bruce (wife of Peter Peddie)
• Mary Peddie (wife of Peter Davidson daughter of Helen)
• Peter Davidson
• Ann Gowans (daughter of Mary Peddie)
• Robert Barron Laing (husband of Ann Gowans).

Ann Gowans was the illegitimate daughter of Mary Peddie and Thomas Forrester Gowans (my ggrandfather). Ann was born in 1851 in Forteviot, as was Thomas F Gowans. I don't know why they didn't marry and it is not as though Thomas did a runner, because he remained in the village for the next 4 years before emigrating to Australia. In records Ann's surname is always shown as Gowans. It would seem that Mary and Ann were accepted by the Gowans family - apart from both marrying and remaining in the village, they are buried in a plot next to the parents of Thomas, John Gowans and Ann Moriss.

Hopefully someone can help me find Peter Peddie