Chapter 4A: The Glennie and Reid Families at Strathdon - The Glennies

The families of Glennie and Reid appeared to have much in common in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Both families had been established on their respective, adjacent farms for several generations, both Glennies and Reids appear to have been at the upper stratum of the agricultural working class in Strathdon, and it was the same generation of these families that migrated from their Strathdon homesteads.

The Glennies at Lochrie[1]

While I am unsure of the roots of the name, “Glennie,” I suspect it is derived from the Scottish Gaelic / Irish word, gleann, or glen in English. A glen is a valley, typically narrow, secluded and defined by mountains. Glen is a frequently found root of the names of places in Scotland (e.g., Glen Coe, Great Glen, Glen More, not to mention the local names Glenbucket and Glenkendie). The suffix “i.e.” means small, so we seem to have in Glennie a name meaning “small valley”. As the terrain of Strathdon[2] could well be described as one of gently sloping mountains bisected by valleys, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that the Glennies take their name from the region in which they resided for so many generations.

The Glennies’ residing at Lochrie apparently dates at least to some time in the mid-18^th century[3], although we have no information concerning from whence they came and whether the Jacobite Rebellion or its aftermath explained their move. However, as a sept in the Mackintosh Clan with a history dating to the 12^th century, it is quite possible that the Glennies lived at least in the general area of Strathdon for centuries. As you will see below in the map of Northern Scotland showing the locations of the clans, the Mackintosh name (red dot) appears in the virtual center, where Strathdon is located. Also, the Mackintosh ancestral home at Loch Moy, while not labeled on the map, is near Inverness, shown to be quite close.

Clan Map of Scotland

We have few details about the family composition until after the turn of the 19^th century on which my grand uncle, Charles Glennie, reports, bolstered by a census, repeated every decade, systematically taken of Strathdon’s residents starting in 1841.

James Glennie, my great grandfather, born in 1823 and migrated to North Andover, Massachusetts, where he died in 1901, was the first-born Glennie to participate in the emigration from Strathdon. He married Isabella Howie (1828–1907) of Keithmore, Bannfshire, Scotland, who migrated with him. James and Isabella had 11 children, 9 of whom survived into adulthood and all but one of whom migrated to America. They are[4]:

John (1852-1929)[5]

Mary Ann (1854-1931)

James (1856-1926)

William (1859-1916)[6]

Isabella (1861-1907)

Elizabeth (1863-1937)

Margaret (1865-1927)[7]

Alexander (1869-1942)

Charles D. (1871-1955)

From what we know of the Glennies of Lochrie through family records and infer from census and other information, they lived lives that were harsh by modern standards, yet attained a lifestyle that placed them among the advantaged of those tied to the land in Strathdon during the 19^th century. The head of the Glennie family was the head of Lochrie, a farm that was among the largest in Strathdon’s 7^th district, perhaps the best indicator of family economic status given the pressures of the time to achieve high levels of efficiency in farming. James and Isabella supported the needs of what was to become a large Glennie family, with 11 children living under the Lochrie roof.[8] The Glennies employed agricultural laborers and household servants. (In fact, Isabella came to Lochrie in her teens as a household servant, later marrying James.) James served as Deacon in the Established Church of Strathdon, a position of esteem if not wealth. James and Isabella were well enough to make a strenuous Atlantic crossing in steerage class[9] from Liverpool, England to Ellis Island, N.Y. at advanced ages (64 and 59, respectively) in 1887. Their life spans exceeded those of the average of their Strathdon neighbors by at least a decade. The Glennies were established farmers, not peasants.

James and Isabella’s children provide further evidence of the relative well being of the Glennies at Lochrie. The Glennie children attended the Ardler School in Glenkindie, reported as “uninhabited” by the 1861 Strathdon Census, and the Glenbucket School, the latter presumably after the Ardler School was closed. James and Isabella, in addition to their own children, raised James’ nephew and niece, Alexander (b.1847) and Jane (b. 1850) Munroe, at Lochrie. The Munro children’s mother was Isabella’s sister. While we do not know with certainty why Alexander and Jane were raised at Lochrie, we do know they were not servants and attended school. Charles speaks of his parents “raising” these children. The most likely explanation of this arrangement appears to be financial constraints in the Munro household.[10]

Most remarkably, when the last of the family (James, Isabella, William, Elizabeth and Charles) emigrated to the US together in 1887, they were able to buy a farm almost immediately upon their arrival. As Charles was later to write:

On Monday June 6, 1887, we arrived at my brother John’s home, the house next to the bridge on Mass. Avenue, North Andover. We stayed there just one week and then moved to a farm my father had bought in North Andover. We were living on our own farm in just 2 weeks and 2 days from the time we left Liverpool.[11]

Yet, it would be wrong to think of the Glennies as “well to do” as we use the term today. What, in a ruined condition, appears to have been a small homestead of only several rooms, Lochrie must have been confining as a house for so many family members and workers. Some slept in the barn. In contrast, gentry of the time, here the Leiths in Glenkendie, lived in grand mansions on vast estates. Isabella gave birth at home to all 11 children during a 19 year (1852-1871) time span, an arduous and dangerous undertaking at a time when death in childbirth was common for women as well as infants. She unlikely had medical attention, a hardship the more affluent would not have so likely endured. The Glennies were not landowners, but tenants. James and Isabella took one half lease of Lochrie from his father upon their marriage and the balance after his father’s death. Annual rent was about 50 pounds plus providing other provisions, such as “ten cartloads of peat delivered to the landlord’s house.”[12]

Economics aside, the Glennies appeared to be able to look beyond day to day labor, trials and inconveniences and find pleasure in family life. Alexander describes family time at Lochrie as idyllic in a poem, A Winter Evening at Lochrie. In it, he salutes each member of the Glennie family by spelling their names vertically in the first letter of each line, with each family member having his / her dedicated verse. The poem is undated, and more compresses a period of some years when the children were growing up rather than a particular evening. There never was a time when the entire family lived together at Lochrie. John was settled in Massachusetts before Charles was born.

You will find several verses below and the entire poem in an appendix.

For the most of the day, the snow has been falling

And the depth of the snowfall is simply appalling

The icicles hang from the edge of the thatch

Hard frosted the snow to each thing does attach,

Even the water is frozen and everything drear

Reminds us that winter, stern winter, is here.

Murkily round us the twilight is falling

And tired we retreat to our snug little dwelling

Right cheerfully blazes the fire on the hearth

Young hearts are o’erflowing with innocent mirth,

And the old folks seem twenty years younger and more

Not a heart but is merry and glad to its core

Not a soul but with gratitude simply runs o’er.

Cold is the winter wind roarin down the lumm

Hurry aff to bed now, the morning will soon come

And quickly the Quines set in order the chairs

“Remember”, says Mother, “remember your prayers.”

Light-hearted, they all have gone off for the night:

In soft foot steps Mother looks in if all’s right?

Everyone is asleep, she retires with the light.

Alexander Glennie

---

[1] See Appendix _ for more comprehensive and detailed genealogies of the Glennie and Reid families.

[2] “Strath” is derived from the Gaelic Srath, which means large valley, typically a river valley that is wide and shallow, as opposed to a glen which is typically narrower and deep. Strathdon seems well named, as the suffix “don” surely refers to the River Don, which flows through the “strath”.

[3] Glennie, C.D., A Short History of the Glennie Family, p.1.

[4] Glennie, C. D., A Short History of the Glennie Family.

[5] This is the John Glennie, our pioneer introduced at the start of Chapter 1, who was the first of the Glennies to migrate to America.

[6] William was my grandfather.

[7] ) Margaret was the only of her generation to remain in Scotland for life. She was the mother of John Glennie Frederick MacGregor, who introduced me to Strathdon during my first visit in 1965.

[8] This may be a slight overstatement as John Glennie emigrated to America in the year before the youngest of his siblings, Charles, was born. The 11 children include the Munros, introduced in the next paragraph.

[9] Steerage class travel appears to have resulted from lack of space, not lack of funds. Charles reports the 5 Glennies were promised private accommodations in Aberdeen, but, upon their arrival in Liverpool, the port of departure, were told that an “intermediate” berth was only available for Elizabeth. The 4 others traveled steerage. Elizabeth lamented later in life that her parents were deprived of second class passage during this journey. These Glennies sailed on the S. S. Alaska, which Charles described as among the fastest ships of the day and carried steam and sails. There were 3 classes of travel on the Alaska: steerage (1000 passengers), intermediate, and saloon.

[10] A theme to be picked up later has to do with Alexander Munro. He emigrated to Massachusetts earlier than John (He was several years older.), and was helpful to the Glennies, starting with John, as they established themselves in the New World.

[11] Glennie, C.D., A Short History of the Glennie Family.

[12] Ibid.