John Corrigall and Betsy Leask - Our Direct Ancestors - my generation's g g g grandparents

John Corrigall was born on the 25th of October, 1828, at Bluebraes, Firth, Harray (Reference 40872; IGI/OPR Index: 1828-018)

According to Michael Corrigall (2016, p. 9)

“John went to sea as a teenager and travelled to most parts of the known world. He even travelled round the stormy southern tip of South America to Canada twice which was very adventurous, and went to Ballarat in Australia in the early 1850s to find gold, thus becoming a landed proprietor in Harray”

Betsy Leask and John Corrigall and family - date unknown

Ballarat House with Loch of Harray beyond

This would also explain the fact that John called his home "Ballarat" after the 1850s gold rush in Ballarat, Australia. In 1856 on the 10th of June, when he married Betsy Leask, he listed his occupation as "an Australian gold digger”. The marriage certificate also states that the couple were both 27 years old and their parents names (Reference 11608; marriage certificate: 1856-027-00-0003). Interestingly James’s mother’s last name is spelt Sinklair on this document. The marriage took place in Sandwick.

John Corrigall's nick name was "Hellfire Jock" as he turned to religion after what he had witnessed at Ballarat while gold mining. Apparently he was very generous to those in need. When my UK friend and distant relation, Fiona Wilson (Ellen Twatt Corrigall Johnston’s great granddaughter) returned to Orkney in 2006, she worked in Home Care and one women she worked with told her that she and her brother had been brought up by their grandmother. The grandmother had been unable to secure a loan to buy her house and eventually approached John and he lent her the money to buy the property. She paid him back the money and was extremely grateful that he was prepared to lend this money to her a woman on her own raising two grandchildren.

Betsy was born on the 18th of December 1828 and was christened on the 8th of January, 1829 at Evie (Reference 2861; IGI/OPR Index: 1829-016). There is more about Betsy and her family in the section on the Leasks. Betsy and John were married on the 19th of June, 1856 at Manse, Sandwick.

John and Betsy’s children included

1. James - born on the 27th of June 1857 (birth certificate: 1857-018-00-0011) at Ballarat House, Netherbrough Harray, and died on the 15th of December 1922 in Omakau, Central Otago - our direct ancestor - more about James in a separate section

2. Elizabeth Marshall - born on the 4th of October, 1858 at Ballarat House, Netherbrough Harray, and died in Harray during 1941; married Robert Louttit Flett, farmer of 15 acres, on the 17th of February 1876 in Kirkwall, Laing St, who was born on the 4th of November 1856, at Stromness; raised their family at Furso Langhouse; died 4th of May 1941 in Woodwyn, Harray.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Marshall with Jim Flett of Furso; photo courtesy of Fiona Wilson, Ellen Twat Corrigall Johnston’s great granddaughter

Elizabeth and Robert’s children included

• Isabella - born on the 17th of September 1876, in Harray, Netherbrough and died on the 7th of April in 1958 at Harray, Newbigging

• James - born on the 7th of August 1879, in Harray, Netherbrough and died on the 4th of June in 1941

• Elizabeth Corrigall - born on the 9th of April 1881, in Harray and died on the 7th of November in 1953

• Helen - born on the 22nd of February 1884, in Harray, Netherbrough

• Rose Annie Corrigall - born on the 16th of February 1888, in Furso, Harray, Netherbrough

• Robert (Bertie) - born on the 25th of May1895, in Furso, Harray and died on the 10th of September in 1980, in Kirkwall

• Daisy Jane Kirkness - born on the 5th of November 1899, in Harray, Netherbrough and died on the 13th of February in 1917

Furso Langhouse as it looks today, where Elizabeth Marshall lived with her husband and family during the late nineteen century

3. John - born on the 27th of July, 1860 at Ballarat House, Netherbrough Harray, and died in 1922

4. Mary (Moll) - born on the 18th of June, 1862 at Ballarat House, Netherbrough Harray; had two children; her oldest was Lizzie-Anne Garson born in 1884, whose father was George Garson, and she kept this child with her; her second child was a boy, Alexander Tulloch, born in 1890 to John Tulloch, a ploughman working at a neighbouring farm. She heard where John was ploughing a field and went with the baby and lay the baby in front of the horse and walked away. John took his son in and eventually emigrated with him to the United States or Canada. That must have been a difficult decision for Mary, no doubt driven by the prospect of a better future for her son. It was no doubt an extremely difficult life for a single mother in those times.

5. William Leask - born on the 9th of June, 1865 at Ballarat House, Netherbrough Harray; married Maria Sinclair aged 28 on the 30th of June 1898, (reference 114750; marriage certificate 1898-018-00-0002) at Beboran, Russland, the bride’s family home, Harray; Maria died sometime between 1911 and 1912; at 47 he then married Mary Flett aged 37, on the 23rd of January 1913 (reference1101; marriage certificate 1913-018-00-0002); died on the 31st of January, 1944

Beboran Farm as it looks today

6. Helen (Ellen) Twatt Johnston - born on the 15th of August, 1868 at Ballarat House, Netherbrough, Harray; married George Garson Johnston, (born on the 5th of June, 1865 at Vetquoy, Sandwick and died on the 17th of March, 1913 at Linday, Sandwick) a farmer, on the 1st of August,1889 at age 21 (George was 24) in Harray (reference 68315; marriage certificate 1889-018-00-0007), her brother William was a witness; children included); died on the 10th of February, 1925 at Drill Hall, Evie; their children included

• Bessie - married James Marwick; their daughters included Agnes, Peggy and Louie

• Lily

• Ivy

• Andrew Sabiston Johnston (1902-1974); daughter includes Anna-Eileen Stevenson Johnston (1931-); granddaughter is Fiona Wilson (1954-)

• Margaret (Mannie) (Ritchie TBC?) and her daughters emigrated to South Africa

• William (Billy) who also emigrated out to South Africa

Ellen Twatt Corrigall and George Garson Johnston on their wedding day in 1889; photo courtesy of Fiona Wilson, Ellen Twatt Corrigall Johnston’s great granddaughter

7. Samuel Leask - born on the 31st of May, 1870 at Ballarat House, Netherbrough Harray

8. Thomas Harrison Vint - born on the 21st of February, 1873 at Ballarat House, Netherbrough Harray, died on the 31st of October, 1946 in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; married Isabella Jane Johnston on the 25th of August,1904 (reference 976; marriage certificate 1904-018-00-0006) at Conyar, the bride’s residence, Russland Road, Harray. Isabella was born on the 9th July 1874 in Harray and died 11th of July 1956 in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Thomas Harrison Vint was named after his father, John’s great friend Captain

Thomas Harrison Vint, a Master Mariner (1834-1889) of South Shields, Durham. Apparently Captain Thomas Harrison Vint had saved John’s life, and later went onto pay for his namesake’s education.

Conyar House / Farm as it looks today; where Thomas Harrison Vint Corrigall married Isabella Jane Johnston in 1904

The census records tell us that in 1861, five years after marriage, John Corrigall was 31 years old and the ‘Proprietor of Money and Lands’ living at Ballarat House, Harray with his wife Betsy and children James aged 4, Elizabeth aged 2 and John 7 months. Ten years later, the family remained at Ballarat House and John now described himself as a landowner and farmer of 55 acres. Betsy and John were 42 years old. Their children now included James aged 13, Elizabeth aged 12, John aged 10, Mary aged 8, William Leask aged 5, Helen aged 3, and Samuel Leask 11 months.

A further ten years on, in 1881, the census tells us that John and Betsy were now both 52 years old, and still residing at Ballarat House. John described himself as a farmer of 100 acres, a significant amount of land for the time. The children living with them included James aged 23, Mary aged 18, William Leask aged 15, Ellen aged 13, Samuel Leask aged 10, Thomas Harrison Vint aged 8.

By 1891 there were only three children left living at Ballarat House according to the census data, with farmer John and Betsy now both 62. They were William Leask 25, Samuel Leask 20 and Thomas Harrison Vint 18. They also had a servant Jane Johnston, 23 years old, from Sandwick, living with them.

Betsy died on the 8th of June, 1899, at Ballarat House, aged 70. She is buried St Michaels Kirk Harray, headstone ‘D/2/3’. See photo below.

In 1901, John was 71 and still living at Ballarat House. He described himself as a farmer and proprietor in the census. John lived with his sons, Samuel, now 30 and William Leask, who was now 35, and the farm caretaker. William Leask’s wife, Maria Sinclair, 30,and their child, Thomas Sinclair Vint, 7 months, also lived at Ballarat House. Also living with the family was John’s granddaughter, Hellen Flett, who was 17 and a dairymaid. I haven’t confirmed who Hellen’s parents were yet, but possibly she was Mary Flett’s daughter? That would mean she could have been William’s daughter or step-daughter? The family also had a general domestic servant who was only 14 years old, Isabella Kent, from Firth.

John died on the 12th of March, 1903 at Ballarat House, Harray. He was 73 years old.

John and Betsy’s headstone headstone ‘D/2/3’ at St Michaels Kirk, Harray, which reads “Sacred to the memory of BETSY LEASK beloved wife of JOHN CORRIGALL who fell asleep in Jesus 8th June 1899 aged 70 years also the above JOHN CORRIGALL who fell asleep in Jesus 12th March 1903 aged 73 years. Only till he come.”

Corrigalls continued to live at Ballarat House after John and Betsy’s deaths. The 1901 census states that it housed two families: William, his wife Maria and their two children, Thomas and Samuel, 10 and 8 years old respectively; and Samuel Leask and his wife Georgina and the their son, George M W I, who was 6 years old.