Lorna's family forest

John Fairbairn (m. Bessie fflint)^1,2,3

(before 1705 - between 1741 and 1805)

Relationship

6th great-grandfather of Lorna Henderson

BMDB data

John Fairbairn was estimated to have been born bef. 1705 prob. in Melrose?, ROX, SCT

.^3,2
John Fairbairn married Bessie Flint say 1728 ?Melrose, ROX, SCT.²
John Fairbairn died bet. 1741 - 1805 ?Smailholm, ROX, SCT

John Fairbairn (m. Bessie fflint) is likely to be the family patriarch for the families of Archibald? Fairbairn, Robert Fairbairn, Archibald Fairbairn, Archibald Fairbairn, William Fairbairn (m. WANLESS), John Fairbairn and William Fairbairn.
The Archibald with the ? after his name has to have existed, as the Fairbairn Surname DNA project provided a DNA match between a descendant of Archibald Fairbairn and Alison Crosser, likely first son Archibald born Whitsome, Berwickshire, and a descendant of Archibald and Mary Grierson/Giessen's, son George, baptised Bowden, Roxburghshire. These two families are contemporaries in time and fairly close by place.
The name Archibald? is assigned as father of the Archibald who married Alison Crosser from my assumption that the 1783 baptism of an Archibald to an Archibald, hynd of Whitsome Vaults, is their likely eldest child.
Prompted by this unexpected success I researched the other Archibald and have now convinced myself that his father was Robert, and grandfather John (marr. Bessie fflint), this all being from both naming patterns of the children, and the baptisms being in the right area and timeframe as there are no convenient wills left around for us to find. The extended family also end up in all the right places (Smailholm and Kelso). There's even an Archibald as a witness to one of the baptisms, and a Thomas Anderson.

My calcs are that a grandfather to the two known to exist Archibalds would cover 8 generations in total, between the matching y_DNA candidates. This agrees with the 90% probability calculations from FamilyTree DNA's y_DNA calculations (95% that it was no more than 10).
This seemed good enough reason to join the families up in this way, it may however be a generation, or two, further back - until we also factor in the growing number of autosomal dna matches bewteen the two lines. (although subsequent BigY testing shows all tested candidate lines "meet" at a branch of the yDNA tree of mankind with an estimated formation of around 1725 - very conveniently about when John and Bessie married.)

You can read about this research journey on my personal Fairbairns page.^4,3,5,6

NB: John is not the John baptised 1706 to Robert & Alison (SCLATER) FAIBAIRN of Eildon, as that John married a Margaret YOUNG in 1740, when our John is documented as still having children with Bessie (Elizabeth 1740, Thomas 1741).
From naming pattern of known children, our John's parents may be a Robert and Isobel.^7,8

Parents of Robert m. Agnes LANDRETH re-examined
With a first child named Archibald, possibly they are Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Isobel BOONY, whose Robert was baptized at Smailholm Sep 1728.
Or the previously identified John & Bessie FLINT in Melrose.
Unfortunately we don't know anything much about the descendants of Archibald marr. BOONY.
Our DNA matches could come from either!⁹

John and Bessie were mentioned in the Session minutes at Melrose : The session resolve to examine witnesses in this affair and for that end order their beadle to summoned John Fairbairn, miller, and his wife Bessie Flint, Bessie Hog, their woman, John Lyal, John Dawson and James Wilson to the session this day eight days.¹⁰

All the other info

John Fairbairn (m. Bessie fflint) was considered as a potential duplicate of John Fairbairn, but this has been discounted; Some trees do identify the John of Drygrange as the John baptised 1706 to Robert & Alison (SCLATER) FAIRBAIRN in Eildon, but the latter married Margaret YOUNG in 1740, at which time John and Bessie were still having children.^7,11
John Fairbairn and John Fairbairn in 1715 were possibly related too late to be the John who married Bessie Flint, but surely there's some connection, one married Bessie Flint and having children in Melrose 1729-1740, and Smailholm 1741, the other in born in Maxton to an Archibald but baptised St Boswells.¹²

External links

Click here to see John's page on WikiTree, a (free) collaborative on-line tree.¹³
John Fairbairn (m. Bessie fflint) belongs to a DNA tested line. There may be more information available on DNASurnames under the DNA project for his/her surname/line.

Family

Bessie Flint (bet. 1700 - 1710 - aft. 1741)

Children

Robert Fairbairn+² (cir. Jan 1729 - aft. 1771)
Male ?George Fairbairn¹⁴ (cir. Mar 1731 - )
Elizabeth Fairbairn¹⁵ (cir. Aug 1733 - bet. 1733 - 1740)
Archibald? Fairbairn+³ (say 1735 - )
Isobel Fairbairn¹⁶ (cir. Feb 1736 - )
Mary Fairbairn¹⁷ (cir. Apr 1738 - )
Elizabeth Fairbairn¹⁸ (cir. Apr 1740 - )
Thomas Fairbairn¹⁹ (cir. Sep 1741 - )

Charts

John & Bessie (FFLINT) FAIRBAIRN
My pedigree chart
Paternal ancestors of Lorna
Paternal timeline

Adam DAVIDSON's ancestors

Last Edited

10 Feb 2022

Citations

Name assumes I've found the right bap. for Robert father of Archibald (marr. Mary Grierson) - which seems likely given we have good dna matches, both Y-DNA and autosomal DNA, between descendants of Robert and his assumed brother "Archibald?"
Scottish BMDB entries (to 1854), http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/index.php, Bap. 5 Jany 1729 Robert to John FFAIRBAIRN & Bessie FFLINT, Par. of Melrose, ROX, copy d/loaded Dec 2007.
FamilyTree DNA, "FamilyTree DNA", FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project, 36/37 marker match between descendants of two contemporary (time and place) Archibald FAIRBAIRNs, Dec 2007.
Lorna Henderson, "FAIRBAIRN Analysis", Dec 2007, updated Jan 2015.
FamilyTree DNA, "FamilyTree DNA", FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project, 37/37 marker match between descendants of Archibald FAIRBAIRN & Mary GRIERSON, and of William FAIRBAIRN & Jean WANLESS, Mar 2008.
FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project online at https://www.familytreedna.com/public/fairbairn, 67 marker results for the three matching participants, rcvd Apr 2008.
Scottish BMDB entries (to 1854), http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/index.php, Bap. 13 Jan 1706 John s/o Robt FAIRBAIRN & Alison SCLATER in Eidon, Melrose, ROX, 799/00 0010 0173, copy d/loaded Jan 2015.
Lorna Henderson, "FAIRBAIRN Analysis", Jan 2015.
Lorna Henderson, "FAIRBAIRN Analysis", Apr 2016.
Ancestry.com online at http://search.ancestry.com, John FAIRBAIRN, miller, and wife Bessie FLINT, from 1723-41 Roxburgh: Melrose - Register of Baptisms, Marriages, Proclamations of Marriages, Session Minutes (1723-1741) and Mortuary Rolls, extracted Jan 2010, (From Book: 2.---Baptisms, Marriages, and Discipline in the parish of Melrose since November 1723, att which time Mr. Gavin Eliot was admitted School-master and Session-clerk.).
Lorna Henderson, "FAIRBAIRN Conclusions", Jan 2015.
Lorna Henderson, "FAIRBAIRN Analysis", Jun 2008.
WikiTree online at http://WikiTree.com/, Oct 2011.
Online search: assorted surnames, International Genealogical Index (IGI), Bap. 21 Mar 1731 Male s/o John FAIRBAIRN & Bessie FLINT, batch C100091, Film 6901050, Melrose, ROX, extracted Mar 2008.
Online search: assorted surnames, International Genealogical Index (IGI), Bap. 19 Aug 1733 Elizabeth d/o John FAIRBAIRN & Elizabeth FLINT, batch C100091, Film 6901050, Melrose, ROX, extracted Mar 2008.
Online search: assorted surnames, International Genealogical Index (IGI), Bap. 29 Feb 1736 Isobel d/o John FAIRBAIRN & Bessie FLINT, batch C100091, Film 6901050, Melrose, ROX, extracted Mar 2008.
Online search: assorted surnames, International Genealogical Index (IGI), Bap. 16 Apr 1738 Mary d/o John FAIRBAIRN & Bessie FLINT, batch C100091, Film 6901050, Melrose, ROX, extracted Mar 2008.
Online search: assorted surnames, International Genealogical Index (IGI), Bap. 13 Apr 1740 Elizabeth d/o John FAIRBAIRN & Elizabeth FLINT, batch C100091, Film 6901050, Melrose, ROX, extracted Mar 2008.
Scottish BMDB entries (to 1854), http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/index.php, Bap. 6 Sep 1741 Thomas to John FAIRBAIRN & Bettie FLINT, Par. of Smailholm, ROX, copy d/loaded Mar 2008.

E. & O. E. Some/most parish records are rather hard to read and names, places hard to interpret, particularly if you are unfamiliar with an area.

BMD data on all rellies

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John Fairbairn (m. Bessie fflint)

John Fairbairn (m. Bessie fflint)1,2,3