#52Ancestors - Week 25 - The Old Homestead

Week 25 (June 18-24) – The Old Homestead: Have you visited an ancestral home? Do you have photos of an old family house? Do you have homesteading ancestors?

No homestead in my history that I am aware of. There is a place called Farley Farmhouse in Sussex but it is on the other side of the county from where my Farley ancestors came from, so it is likely not my "ancestral home".

In week 5 I wrote about Abraham Channon and the farm he lived on. But Abraham is part of my former brother-in-law's family, only in my tree in case my nephews ever want to know about the other side of their tree, so that farm is not my "ancestral home" either.

So what I thought I'd feature today are some of my ancestors' graves in an historic graveyard in Scotland.

Cambuskenneth Abbey in Stirling Scotland is the place were James III, King of the Scots, is buried and also apparently where Robert the Bruce had his Parliament, so it was a surprise to find a number of my ancestors buried there.

When I was in Scotland in 2010, my 4th cousin John Robin Hunter took me to see the what was left of the Abbey and the cemetery attached to it.

There are only 25 headstones there - and 25% of them are "Hunter" headstones (somehow related to me though I didn't get a chance then to work out how we all belonged together).

My great-great-great-grandparents Robert Hunter and Agness Wright are both buried here as are 2 of their children - Barbara Hunter and Duncan Hunter and one of their grandsons - John Ross Clarkson Hunter

I'm not sure how they came to be buried in this historic graveyard, but obviously the relation to some of the other Hunters there must be key



Here are some photos from that day.

So who are Robert Hunter and Agness (Agnes) Wright?

Robert, born January 22, 1808 was one of the 5 known children of Robert Hunter and Barbara Alexander

Agness (Agnes), born July 17, 1803 was one of the 7 known children of John Wright and Helen Finlayson

They married in 1827 

And went on to have at least 9 children:
Robert, John, Helen, James, William, Alexander (my great great grandfather), Duncan, Agnes and Barbara

Agness (Agnes) and Robert died within a few months of each other in 1876. Agness of Senile Decay and Robert of Intussesception which apparently remained a fatal medical condition until the late 1800s (too late for Robert).