Papers relating to George McWillie, farmer, and the McWillie family of Botriphnie, Aberdeenshire

Photocopy of unpublished typescript, The Journals of George McWillie and a Genealogy of the McWillie Family of Botriphnie, compiled by Alistair C. McWillie of Newtonhill, Aberdeenshire, c 1986-1988.

The journals of George McWillie cover the period 1826 - 1876, though his entries do not become regular until 1830. Early entries are brief, recording details of his farming life, the weather, his family and society, but with age and less time devoted to farm work, later entries become increasingly detailed, with greater commentary on people and events. The genealogy of the McWillie family traces the descent of the family from the birth of John McWillie, of Boharm, Aberdeenshire in 1664, to the children of Alistair McWillie (b 1950).

George McWillie was born on 25 Feb 1802 at the farm of Cachanhead in the parish of Botriphnie, Aberdeenshire, the second son of William McWillie and his wife, Isabel Shearer. His father had farmed Cachanhead since 1798, and George took it over in March 1835. Later, in October 1844, George and his parents, moved to Midthird, one of the largest farms in the parish, and in 1863 he moved once more to a cottage and croft, called Ardgaithney in the village of Drummuir, Botriphnie, where he continued to farm, though on a much smaller scale, until his death on 27 May 1885.

Branches of the family moved abroad during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and are now living in Canada and the United States of America, though the branch to which Alistair McWillie, compiler of this record, belongs, still remains in Aberdeenshire.

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The original journals of George McWillie are believed to belong to a member of the McWillie family living in North America. Alistair McWillie, of Newtonhill, Aberdeenshire, prepared a transcript of these journals, together with a genealogy of the family, some time between 1986 and 1988. The photocopy deposited here was made by Dr D. Stevenson, Centre for Scottish Studies, University of Aberdeen, and deposited in the University in Aug 1988.

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Exact location not known - probably in care of McWillie family in North America