A Little Piece of Botriphnie

Many years ago, I heard an excellent tip on the Genealogy Gems podcast by Lisa Louise Cooke. She recommended placing an eBay alert for names that you are researching, such as family surnames or locations. You never know what might turn up.

My list included the place name Botriphnie, a little parish in Banffshire, Scotland, birthplace of my ancestor William CRUCKSHANK. He was born there ~1746 and had moved to Enmore, Somerset, England by 1772 when he married Elizabeth (known as Betty) COLLARD. In Somerset he was the Steward for Lord Egmont. I've blogged about him before here. Botriphnie is the former name for the parish around the village of Drummuir, which in 1755 had a population of around 953 people, declining to almost 600 by 1780s, mainly due to changes in local farming (source: the fascinating St Moluag's Coracle).    

FamilySearch describes the official and dominant religion at the time William was baptised as being the Established Church of Scotland, although there were also a handful of dissenters, Seceders, or Roman Catholics living in the area. So chances are, my William was part of this church community. 

A few years ago eBay emailed me when an item came up for auction that was from Botriphnie - a communion token. I had never heard of these before but Wikipedia told me that it "is a metal token issued to members of Reformed churches in order to provide them entrance to the Lord's Supper" and that Communion tokens were also used in Scottish Episcopal churches. This one started at £1 but ended up being sold for over AUD$360, which was out of my budget. I left the alert in place, just ticking away in the background. And then another token appeared last month. This time I was the lucky buyer, spending just £13.50! 

My token is dated 1782, so it is particularly exciting to think that it was made in the very place where William was born, probably during his lifetime. It is a tiny thing – only about 18 x 14 mm – but it has opened up a whole new area of research for me. I can now start learning about the church community William may have belonged to, and what these little tokens actually meant to the people who received them.

I can highly recommend Lisa's technique. You never know what you might find, and what you'll learn about these random items along the way. 

Is this the front or the back? I have no idea.
I love how the 'N' is retrograde.

Is this the back or the front? Again, no idea.
It reads 1782 and has two floral ornaments stamped onto it.  

It's not terribly thick 

This is why I pay Ancestry the big bucks

For many years now I've known my great-grandmother's maiden name of CRUICKSHANK must've originated in Scotland, but I couldn't find the missing link that stretched from the family in Enmore, Somerset, England, back to somewhere in Scotland. My 5x ggf married Betty COLLARD in Enmore in 1772, but there was no record of his birth around there, and I had no specific area to attempt to find him in.

Enter Ancestry DNA. I had a match with a women from the USA, Jean, who had another Jean in her tree, Jean Cruckshank, born in 1644 in Botriphnie, Banffshire, Scotland. I'd never heard of the place before now, but sure enough, it does exist, and I'm sure it's lovely. Thanks to DNA being what it is I knew this was a real connection, not just a stab-in-the-dark-and-hope-it-fits type of result.

I thought I'd find out as much as I could about my William CRUCKSHANK in Enmore so I was well equipped for the search, hoping to find something (anything!) that would show me where he was born. William appeared in a search relating to his son, James, being given Freedom of the City of London papers in 1820, after becoming a Clerk and Solicitor.

Attached to this beautiful document was another lengthy one requesting permission to be admitted, and down the side of all the curly writing was this gem:

It describes James as "Son of William Cruckshanks of Botriphnie, Bamffshire, Scotland, Farmer".

BINGO!!

I'd found the missing link, and of course happy-danced around for the rest of the evening, and there's even still some movement today. This hobby/addiction gives me such a buzz. I just love it!