August
25, 1971 Dear Mrs. Douglas, My son, C.W. Kilpatrick, has given me a Photostat of your letter to him dated August 2nd. You say "As far as I know, I have no relatives and would like to feel that I did."� I can assure you there are plenty of your relatives in this country. The closest relative to you are three second cousins. They are grandchildren of the sister of your Grandfather, Caroline Easton Macfie who married George Barbour of Bolesworth. Mr. And Mrs. George Barbour had a daughter, Caroline Elizabeth who married George F. Barbour Simpson and they had three children now living. The only son, Rudolf Barbour Simpson, must be about 70 years old. He is a retired schoolmaster and is married with two or three children I think. He lives near Malvern in England. The elder daughter, Caroline W. is the widow of Ian Black. She lives in Edinburgh. She is a great friend of my wife and was one of my wife’s bridesmaids at our wedding. This is because of her friendship with my wife and not because of her relationship with myself. Carol (as she is usually known) has no children. Their other daughter is Margaret who married Fred Root. He is now retired but was a Civil Servant before retiring. They live in Haslemere in Surrey, England. They have two daughters, one of whom married last summer. I do not know how distant you consider that relatives go. I am a fourth cousin of yours. My grandmother was Janet Marshall Macfie who married Walter Bigger Blaikie. Her grandmother was Janet Marshall, the second wife of William Macfie of Langhouse (1776 - 1854) who was the elder brother of John Macfie (1783 - 1852) who was your great- great- grandfather. I know of at least six other fourth cousins of yours in this country who are still living. All of these have children. I have three children and five grand children. I am 66 years old. In addition there is still living Catherine Mary Peploe (born July 29, 1897) daughter of Claud Macfie of Gogar Burn who was born in 1822. There is no typing error in those dates. He was 75 years old when she was born! Claud Macfie was a first cousin of your great-grandfather and so Catherine was a second cousin of you grandfather. Catherine has at least two, and I think three children. As well as the Peploe children, I know of at least four Third cousins of your father, still living. Since you are evidently in publishing, you may be interested to know that one of your fourth cousins (Marjorie Macintyre) married the author Eric Linklater. They are both alive and have a family. Eric Linklater is well known in this country as an author. I do not know how well known in the United States. You say you have the entire family tree. I know of two versions. The first is the Tables at the end of the book "John Macfie of Edinburgh and his family "� which I gather you are trying to obtain. This only goes down to the generation of your grandfather and my grandmother. The second version is a single sheet which has a number of names in the next generation. This chart was prepared by my great-grandfather John Macfie helped by his son-in-law, my grandfather Walter Bigger Blaikie. This contains information up to December 1878. It does not mention your father. A relative of ours, Dr G. Marcus Greig is trying to bring the Macfie family tree up to date. He is a fourth cousin to you and a step-second cousin to me. He is being helped by an American cousin who has done some research into family matters at the British Museum, London. I don’t know what her name is but I think she comes from one of your Eastern States. It would be a great help to them if you could give dates of birth, death and marriage, together with the names of husband or wife for your immediate relations. I have your grandfather Robert Andrew Macfie, born September 9, 1854, died January 27, 1925, married Pauline Keeting (but with no date). You tell me that your father was Robert Francis Macfie and your uncle was Douglas Arthur Macfie. You are Auriel Macfie (Mrs. Douglass). Have you any brothers or sisters. You are evidently not in touch with the Macfie relations in this country. I hope you won’t be offended by the story that my aunt (aged 88) told me only last month about your grandfather. She said that he went to South America and when there did a thing that was so terrible that his photograph was taken out of all the family photograph albums and he was never mentioned again. What was this terrible thing? It was that he married a Roman Catholic! It wouldn't have mattered if he had an affair with a Catholic, and even had several illegitimate children. His crime was that he married the girl!! It is such a good story and throws such a light of the Free Church attitudes of the very strict Victorian Macfies, that I am worried that you will tell me that you knew Pauline Keeting and that she wasn't a Catholic. You write that you have the family tree back to the early 1600's. Do you go further back than Robert Macfie, born about 1680, died about 1749 who was married to Mary Lyon. Dr. Marcus Greig told me that his facts went back to the early 1600's, but when he checked his details they only went back to this man. The year 1615 is a critical year. Can you get back to that date. For centuries before that the Macfies or Macduffies as they were sometimes called were seneschals or major-domos to the Lords of the Isles. There are genealogies of they available. They lived in the Island of Colonsay and the adjacent island of Oransay off the west coast of Scotland. About the year 1600 the Macdonalds obtained these islands (an Irish branch of the Macdonalds) and in 1615 the Macfies were almost all murdered. We know that we are descended from these Macfies of Colonsay, but nobody has found the connection between Robert Macfie (born about 1680) and the earlier Macfies. Can you provide the link? Will you please keep in touch with me so that you can get a copy of the results obtained by Dr Marcus Greig, to whom I am sending a copy of this letter, and his American cousin. I don't know whether they will produce a book or merely an up-to-date family tree but no doubt if you are interested in family matters you would like to have a copy of what they find. I have a second cousin on the Blaikie side of the family who lives in Whittier, close to Los Angeles. He is very interested in the Blaikie side of the family. I imagine that the relationship is too remote to be of interest to you since I am only a fourth cousin of yours. There is precisely the same relationship through a Mrs. Helen Anderson. Two of my Blaikie relations (my grandfather and my mother's first cousin) married Macfie relations. Yours sincerely, (Peter J.W. Kilpatrick) Mrs. Auriel Douglas Price, Stern & Sloan (Publishers) Inc. 410 North La Cienega Boulevard Los Angeles California 90048 |
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