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Sadness visited Orphir parish on Saturday, July 16, 1842, when the breath of life ceased for JOHN's mother only a few months after her 44th birthday. ROBERT lost his devoted mate of a score of years, and the 46-year-old Scottish farmer was left with seven aggrieved children. The oldest boy, James, was 19; Robert was 18; JOHN, 16; Magnus, 13; William, 8; and Andrew was 6. BARBARA's only daughter, peerie Mary, would soon reach her fourth birthday deprived of her mother's example for guidance in life. The Orcadian mother had departed almost four years before the day her eldest son left for the United States and the seven years succeeding when the remainder of her young sons became emigrants to America. Family friends may have joined relatives to respectfully offer prayers in a memorial service at the Orphir Church. BARBARA's christening was noted there in 1798, and it was the same church which recorded the naming of each surviving infant born to herself and her husband. As a young woman, she had married ROBERT in Orphir parish during the autumn of 1821. An Orcadian bride ordinarily retained her wedding gown for when it would serve as a final permanent adornment. On a long summer day, BARBARA was arranged in clothing probably two decades old and laid to eternal rest in a nearby Orkney graveyard. Recent ancestors of both ROBERT and his late wife were named Sclater, a common Orkney surname beset with multiple variations of spelling. ROBERT's great-grandmother was MARGARET SCLATER, and ELSPETH SCLATER was the maiden name of BARBARA's mother. Concerned with the needs of his four younger children, the widowed ROBERT asked for assistance from a young woman who at birth had been given the same name, ironically, as his late mother-in-law. "Eppie" Sclater consequently became a regular family member down by Swanbister Bay at the House of Piggar, theTAYLORS' farm residence in rural Orphir parish. |
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