Gilchrist: Shoemakers
Millar tree showing Gilchrists
I made this tree for my cousin Lin - our grandmothers were sisters and best friends. It shows the occupations of people in the tree. Over 50% of my ancestors were involved in the textile trade, as weavers, drapers, tailors, seamstresses, and lacemakers.
David Gilchrist 1751 was the son of William Gilchrist 1726, both shoemakers in Fife.
William was born in Scoonie and married a local girl Agnes Edmond. Their first child, David was born in Edinburgh in the Canongate, which suggests that William went there to train or for a meeting of shoemakers. David’s siblings were all born in Kennoway, Fife very near to Scoonie.
The shoemakers guild met in Canongate where the first shoemakers or cordiners in Edinburgh had gathered since 1544. The name “Cordiner” comes from the Spanish “cordovan” which is for the leather used in shoemaking. Cordiners made shoes from scratch and didn’t repair them (that’s a cobbler’s job).
David married a girl from Fife, May Turbean - I don’t have her birth record but most people with the name Turbean are from Fife. Their first child was also born in Edinburgh.
Mary Ann Gilchrist was born in Lady Yester’s Parish in 1780, after which the family went back to Fife and lived in Cupar. David and May had four daughters, the third of which, Helen Gilchrist, is my ancestor.
Helen married William Ritchie 1794, a weaver in Cupar. Their son Robert Ritchie c 1816 became a wright (or engineer) and married Margaret Stalker 1813 of Newburgh, Fife. They moved to Dundee where Robert switched jobs and sold spirits. Their daughter Margaret Ritchie 1833 met her husband there, draper Robert Dalgleish Millar 1831, my great great great grandfather.
Shoemakers Hall, Canongate (photo taken by me in 2022)
When we visited Edinburgh in June 2022 we saw the entry to Shoemakers Hall on the Royal Mile. Their motto reads:
1677
Behold how good a thing it is
and how becoming well
Together such as brethren
are in unity to dwell
It is an honor for men to cease from strife
Lucy Robertson Pidcock and Lucien Clemson Bruggeman
Royal Mile, Edinburgh June 11 2022