A letter from America!
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A letter from America…
We were very excited to receive our first enquiry from America via our website!
Penny Perry got in touch after coming across our website whilst researching her family tree. She was wondering if we could shed any light on why two brothers called Robert and David White went from Inchinnan to Ryegate Vermont, America, with their grandmother Allen in 1802. They were the sons of William White and Janet Allen White of Inchinnan. Penny’s Grandmother was a direct descendant of them.
We could tell Penny that the White Brothers were most likely part of the Scottish-American Company of Farmers. The company was sometimes referred to as the ‘Inchinnan Company’ as Inchinnan was where their meetings were held. Inchinnan was very much a farming community but around the year 1800 farming here was changing. There was a bad harvest and possibly, the farm was not large enough to support two sons. It appears that when the opportunity arose the brothers left along with their grandmother.
There are a few gravestones at All Hallows in the name of ‘White’ listed on our website. We think that ‘80a’ may be related to Penny’s search.
William White was a farmer at Fulwood, there is still a farm here today of that name.
It was also nice to be able to tell Penny that the Farmers of Vermont have not been forgotten in Inchinnan. A map of Vermont is included in this tapestry at Inchinnan Parish Church.
Lastly, we sent Penny some scans of a publication by Inchinnan Community Council in 1990 which included information about this topic. We hope our followers find it interesting too!
Document from Penny Perry.