I IS FOR Robert "IMLAH"
Robert Imlah was my
2nd Great Grand Uncle was born at Whitebog of Culsh, New Deer,
Aberdeenshire, Scotland on Sunday 22nd August 1852 and baptised on Wednesday
6th October. The entry in the New Deer register reads:
October
6th 1852
Peter Imlah farmer Whitebog of Culsh
had a Son born to him by his wife Mary
Wilson on August 22nd baptized this day & named Robert witnesses Alexr Webster &
George Laird Servants Whitebog.
Robert was one of
10 children born to my 3rd Great Grandparents who were farmers in
New Deer. The 1861 census shows Robert living at home with his parents at
Ironside, New Deer, He is in school. Ten years later we find Robert age 19 on
the 1871 census working as a farm servant for Barbara Burr at Nethertown,
Millbrex.
Robert Imlah married Catherine Rettie at Monquhitter manse on Saturday
5th December 1874. The witnesses at the wedding were Robert’s
brother, John, and Catherine’s father or brother, James. Robert gave his
address as Fedderate, New Deer. Catherine, a domestic servant, was living in
Cuminestown. She was born there on Monday 9th December 1844, the
daughter of James Rettie, a feuar, and his wife, Eliza Yeatts. Catherine
previously had a son, James, born at Cuminestown on Friday 21st May,
1869. His father was William Ingram, a farm servant.
The Imlahs had the following children:
John, born Tuesday, 19th January 1875,
Catherine, born Friday, 25th January 1884,
Robert, born Wednesday 3rd November 1886.
In 1889 Robert Imlah decided to emigrate to the United States of
America. His brother, James, had already gone there and was working as a
stone-cutter at Barre, Vermont. Robert sailed from Liverpool, via Queenstown in
Ireland, aboard the S.S. Aurania, reaching New York on Monday 29th
April. The passenger list describes him as a labourer. Catherine and the
children stayed in Scotland. In 1892 Catherine and the children joined Robert
in America.
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Catherine Rettie |
The 1900 census for Ward
3, Barre, Washington County, Vermont, was taken on Monday 11th June.
It shows the Imlahs living in a rented house at 3 Long Street. Robert is
described as a stone-polisher. He is not naturalised, and identified as an
alien. The rest of the household consists of his wife, Catherine, and their
children, Catherine and Robert, who are at school. The year of immigration for
Robert senior is given as 1889. For the others it is 1892.
At the time of the time of the 1900 census Robert and Catherine’s
son, John, was living in the village of Hardwick, Caledonia County, Vermont.
The enumeration was made there on Thursday 21st June. John is
described as a granite-cutter. His year of immigration is given as 1892 and he
is naturalised. He is boarding with Henry J. Clifford, himself a
granite-cutter. In 1903 Catherine
Rettie made a visit to Scotland. She sailed back from Liverpool aboard the S.S.
Columbus on Thursday 1st October, arriving at Boston on Saturday 10th
October. She had $15 with her and stated that she was going home to 63 Merchant
Street, Barre. According to the passenger list, she had never been in prison,
was neither a polygamist nor an anarchist and did not support the overthrow of
the government of the United States.
Catherine Rettie
died at Barre on Monday 16th March 1908, aged 63. The cause of death
was angina pectoris. The record card gives her age wrongly as 59 and gives her
mother’s name as “Gates” instead of Yeatts.
The 1910 census
shows Robert Imlah living in ward 3 of Barre. There are no other Imlahs with
him. The head of the household is given as John C. Allen, a native of Scotland.
Robert Imlah died
at Barre, Vermont, on Monday 5th January 1925, aged 72. The record
card gives his age wrongly as 70.
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Record For Robert Imlah 1925
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