George Strachan (son of Allan Strachan and Mary Ann Stewart) was born 19 September 1845 in Fettercairn, Kincardine, Scotland114, and died 1930 in Amherst, Hampshire, MA. He married Eliza Edwards.
Notes for George Strachan: The Strachan family was of Roman origin reaching Britain at the time of the Norman conquest in 1066. Settling in Scotland being given the third oldest baronetcy in the country, situated in Aberdeenshire, near Balmoral, the royal residence. There is a village there called Strachan, but our family comes from nearby Edzell, in Angus. All Strachans came originally from the same quarter, the northeast of Scotland, and presumably all decended from the original third oldest noble family in Scotland. The family coat-of-arms is a gold stag, horned and hoofed red, walking on an azure background. The Strachan motto is "Non times, sed caves", Latin for "I am not afraid, but cautious". Since the Strachans came from southren Europe originally, they are not Celtic nor Highland, so no clan or tartan.
The name derives from the Roman "Strakanus". After the Norman Conquest, the "us" was dropped from the end of the name while a gutteral "c" crept in (in Scotland). The name is pronounced "Strawn" in England, "Strahan" in Ireland, and "Strachan" in America (later changed to Strakan).
According to an inscription in a 1872 New Testament bible: Presented to George Strachan on board the Steamship City of Brooklyn, Capt. Tibbits, 10 days from Liverpool, May 10, 1873.
George Strachan's Naturalization Documents - discovered by Shari Strahan
Well, I certainly wish MY Arthur was found as easily as your George! I've been holding onto this for YEARS hoping it would help someone else.....
[Note his signature at the bottom - Geo Strachan. He was well educated.]
This is on legal size paper, there is some "boilerplate" at the bottom which did not fit on my scanner. It has to do with the clerk who should have filled in his county information. He did NOT fill it in. The size of the file is not going to print on letter size paper unless you resize it.
This is the final naturalization. Supposedly, the applications for citizenship (generally made 3 years previous to the "final") hold more information, but I have been unable to find who, if anyone, stores those applications in the Commonwealth of Mass.
The file attached is from Franklin County, Vol. 2, page 278, Nov. 1886.
I read the script at the side (which is partially cut off in my copy) - "find (hearing?) F. F. McCue residing in his own house on Prospect Street, Millers Falls in Montague in said County, the house being unnumbered and Wm H. Shea residing in his own house on Pratt Street, Millers Falls in said Erving, his house being unnumbered." (this refers to the witnesses)
Millers Falls was and still is a village which straddles 2 towns - Erving and Montague.
By the way, did you know there is a short, unattractive street in the center of Millers Falls (Montague side) named after your ancestor? Strachan Avenue.
Some of the other key sentences:
George Strachan, aged 41 years, a melter by occupation, residing at Millers Falls in Erving in said county on a road between the shop of the Miller Falls Co. and the old Amidon (?) Shop, being the only house on that road and with no number, that he was born at Fettercairn in the County of Kincairden, Scotland on or about the 19th of September 1845. Arrived in New York City on the 14th of May 1873.
I did not find my notes from the vital records of Montague, but it looks to me (from Rootsweb) like you already have this information anyway. I live near Montague, and pass through it nearly every day. Let me know if you need something from the town clerk's office - that will be faster for me than going through these mounds of paper!
Regards, Shari Strahan
More About George Strachan: Emigration: May 1873, Steamship City of Brooklyn, Liverpool-USA.
Children of George Strachan and Eliza Edwards are:
George Strachan (b. 19 September 1845, d. 1930)
Notes for George Strachan: