4 August 1798
(baptised) to c 1835
COU00015
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1798
William Coutts,
the son of John Coutts and Jean (nee Thom) Coutts (COU00016), was born in 1798 and baptised at Drumoak, Aberdeen, on 4 August 1798 (Scotland Births and Baptisms).
1829
William Coutts
married Ann Reith at Drumoak on 7 February 1829 (Drumoak PR).
Ann Reith, the
daughter of John and Ann (nee Findlay) Reith, was born in 1809 and
baptised on 30 July 1809 at Drumoak (Drumoak PR). Her father was a shoemaker.
William Coutts (COU00014) was born on 24 August 1829.
William Coutts
was referred to in the Drumoak
Kirk Session Minutes on Sunday 1 November 1829.
Reith
Family Surname
Reith
may be a reduced form of McCreath (see McRae Scottish: Anglicized form of a
patronymic from the Gaelic personal name Macraith,
meaning ‘son of grace’.)
This
interesting surname recorded in several forms including McRae, MacRae, Rae, Ree, and Rea, is of Medieval Scottish origin,
although there can be confusion with English nameholder
of similar spellings. The derivation is from the pre 7th century Old English 'ra'. This word described the roe deer, and when used as a
nickname was on the face of it, a description for a rather timid person.
However the developed sense of humour of the medieval period was to say the
least robust, and 'nicknames' often meant the reverse of what they appeared to
describe. This is certainly the case with the Scottish Border clan 'Rae'
(originally Raa) from the Dumfries region. They were one of the fiercest and
most disruptive of the famous 'Reivers'. They were described in a 15th century
warrant of the Scottish court as being as 'troublesome and contumacious as any
of the borderers'. Their refusal to cooperate in the lawful business of the
region being legendary! There are many recordings of namebearers,
these dating from as early as 1231, when Robert Raa, described as a mason,
witnessed a charter to the Abbey of Culross, Peter Rae 1671 - 1748 was a
minister of Kirkconnel, Scotland, and published an
account of the 1715 Jacobite uprising. The first recorded spelling of the
family name is shown to be that of Vlui Ra, which was
dated 1095, in the Records of the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, during
the reign of King Henry 1 of England, known as 'The Lion of Justice', 1087 -
1100.
The
name MacRae or the gaelic
'McRath' is understood to mean 'son of grace' and is commonly thought to be of
ecclesiastical origin. The clan name first appears in the district of Beauly in
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries but within one hundred years they had
migrated to Kintail in Wester Ross.
The
clan MacRae, sometimes known as the "wild MacRaes" became loyal supporters of the MacKenzie clan, and so fierce were they in their loyalty
that they earned the name of "MacKenzie's shirt
of mail". With support from the MacRae clansmen,
the fortunes of the MacKenzies prospered and they
became the "Earls of Seaforth". They rewarded the MacRae
family for their help by establishing them as hereditary constables of Eilean
Donan Castle and also as chamberlains of Kintail.
The
MacRae clan, while known for its warlike reputation,
also produced notable figures in the fields of religion and literature. One of
the most renowned of these figures, John MacRae (or
Iain Mac Mhurchaidh, as he is often known) emigrated
to America and fought there in the War of Independence. While in America he
composed many gaelic songs and lullabies which were
brought back to Kintail and preserved to the present day by the oral tradition.
1835
The suggestion that
William Coutts died on 8 December 1835 at Old Machar, Aberdeen is probably wrong
as he was not the child of James (Old Machar PR).
He may however have died at about this time.
1841 Census – Drumoak
By 1841, Ann was a crofter. William
and Ann’s son, William the Younger, would only have been 12 at this stage, so
the Mary, Isabel and William here were probably not Ann’s children.
1864
This may have
been Ann Reith, by then a widow of many years, remarrying (Cookney
Marriages).
