The Folk from the Wind Wound Isle > Barbara, John and Peter
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Before moving on to the Australian part of our story, I am going to tell you the little I know about Barbara, John and Peter, the three Robertson siblings who did not come to Australia.
BARBARA ROBERTSON (1839-1862)
Born either at Scalloway on 30 November 1839 (Shetland Records) or at Hellister on 12 December 1839 (Parochial register held in Edinburgh), the second child of Arthur Robertson and Margaret Henderson. 1 She would have been named after her paternal grandmother Barbara Manson, as was the custom with the second daughter.
We know very little about Barbara. At the time of the 1861 census, she was living with her Uncle John Robertson at Strombridge and died there on 26 February 1862 (SR). Her death was registered by her brother John. A remembrance notice for Barbara and her brother John incorrectly gives the date of her death as 6 March 1861. l have a photocopy of this notice, which is from an unidentified newspaper; it is undated.
Remembrance notice for John and Barbara Robertson >
Tradition says Barbara died of tuberculosis (TB), a common ailment in cold damp Shetland. In one of the tracts called 'My Grandmother's Prayer' by Frances Saunders, the following is written:
Her passing was uncommonly triumphant. “Oh look” she exclaimed with her latest breath, “I see Jesus, He has come to take me home. No doubts were entertained as to her eternal Safety. 2
JOHN ROBERTSON (1843-1865)
Born at Hellister, Shetland, on 28 September 1843, the second son and fourth child of Arthur Robertson and Margaret Henderson. Recorded as being at Jackville in the 1861 census.
Stories about John and his exploits have come down through several sections of the family. John Collins McCue wrote in 1993:
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John was the fourth child and second son, whose wife was the daughter of Adie. John led a rumbunctious life - was wealthy before he was 20 - mainly from pirating against French smugglers? He took his turn ‘on the whalers’ and normal fishing. When the American civil war erupted he turned his skills to gun running to support the English cause. He ran the blockade of Boston Harbour and was captured and sent back to England twice ‘in irons’. He ventured a third run and was captured again. This time he succum[b]ed to Pneumonia and TB. He had a premonition and left his violin with Agnes [his sister]. A member of the clan has it. I hold a death notice placed in a local paper [in Australia] - a joint notice of the death of Barbara and John with the date of their passing.
This is the same notice l have a copy of, and gives John’s date of death as 8 June 1865. I have not been able to verify John’s date or place of death and wonder if, like the date of death given for Barbara in the obituary, the date of death for John could also be incorrect.
Lottie Dickins said, “John had a boat of his own and went pirating off the Scottish and English coast against the French. Made money and had an honourable pardon by the [British] government.“ Yet another story tells us he was imprisoned in America and he may have died there. Lottie understood John had married a woman called Adie, adding that she too died of TB, and there were no children.
Adie was Arthur Robertson’s shipmate and bosom pal. John Collins McCue again:
Adie in fact, was a robust energetic wharfside brawler - the life-long friend and partner of G[reat] Grandfather Robertson. He was a member of the Tynvald [Tingwall] - the area where the R’s lived - farmed - fished and crofted. Part of their circuit took in the port of Archangel [in Russia]. Here we will pull down the blind. Coming home they discovered that the ‘lessee'[?] had fenced off the hinterland which cut off their oat fields. etc. G was so incensed that he “socked” him down. This operation entailed [?] the socks were pulled off, a rock the size of a big man’s hand inserted and swung with access to the farewell of activity [?]. For this assault GF was fined. He decided to emigrate. Adie vanished to other climates. His name occurs 7/8 times in the family out here [i.e.: Australia]. 6
John Robertson >
Some credibility for this story comes from the fact that Arthur Robertson’s youngest son was named William Adie Robertson. William was the only child to get a second name and there is no earlier use of the name Adie in the family as far as l have been able to discover. in generations after William Adie, the name Adie was used exclusively for females. In Shetland, Adie, which is derived from Adam, can be either a family name or a given name and we do not know which it was in this case. The SFHS and I have searched the records to confirm a connection with the
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Adie family but so far none has been found. The best we have come up with in the right time period is a William Adie, merchant of Delting, son of Thomas Adie. This fits in with Margaret and Arthur’s youngest son being named William Adie, but it is only surmise at this stage.
John McCue writes that John and his wife intended to join the rest of the family in Australia but died before he could do so. And John’s violin? Because Agnes did not play she is said to have handed it on to their younger brother Arthur.
PETER ROBERTSON (1845-?)
Born Hellister, Shetland, 15 December 1845, the third son and fifth surviving child of Arthur Robertson and Margaret Henderson. Recorded as being at Jackville in the 1861 census. After this Peter’s life is a mystery. He may have moved to the Scottish mainland according to both Lottie Dickins and John McCue, ‘apprenticed to a baker. His wife - no children - went back to her people when he died quite young’. 7
On the other hand Marjorie Mathieson tells me that when she was first married, neighbours of hers who came from Shetland (probably in the early 1900s), told her that Peter Robertson was the baker and ran the Post Office in Lerwick at the time these neighbours left Lerwick. And another relation, Rob Robertson, has provided the approximate date of death for Peter as being 1925. However Thelma Watt of the SFHS has not been able to find any trace of Peter in the Shetland records after 1861.
Peter's whereabouts must have been unknown to his siblings, as Gertie Grace remembers her grandmother Agnes ‘wishing she knew where Peter was’?
Shetland Croft Museum
See Chapter 3 for details.
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View of the Shetland Coastline at Eshaness, Noflhmaven
Hellister Loch
Near the site of the Robertson croft. Note the fine stone walls.
1. l have tried to check this discrepancy in dates, which occur for several family members. lt seems it is not unusual for there to be different dates in different records. The later date may be a baptismal date.
2. Frances Saunders is the daughter of James Robertson and there are two tracts with the title ‘My Grandmother's Prayer’.
3. J. Nicolson, ‘Traditional Life ln Shetland’, Chapter 2 tells us that smuggling was common during the 19th century. Another way of supplementing provisions and income was salvaging wrecks on the coastline.
4. Letter from John Collins McCue to Mac Dickins, 1993
5. information from Lottie Dickins recorded by her daughters Marie Nemec and Margaret Worrall
6. Letter from John Collins McCue to Mac Dickins, 1993. John’s writing is sometimes hard to decipher. hence the question marks.
7. From Lottie Dickins
8. Interview with Gertie Grace, April 2000
Garry Gillard | New: 5 March, 2019 | Now: 5 September, 2022