Margaret Japp - my maternal great grandmother
One of my 8 great grandparents
Margaret Japp was born in Montrose on 15 October 1873 to David Japp and Mary Cook Johnston. David was a farmer. Mary was the daughter of Joseph Johnston, who ran a fish curing business in Montrose.
The Mains (farm) where she was born and lived her early life is located north of Montrose between the North Esk River and the coast of the North Sea.
I don’t know anything about her early life. I discovered this photo of her and her siblings Mary, Eliza, Frank and David dated around 1880 (she is the youngest in the middle).
Not sure when the photo below was taken, she could be a teenager here.
Censuses
1881 she is 7 and at school, living at home in Kinnaber Farm House, Montrose with her parents and older siblings Mary (17), Eliza (16), Frank (14) and David (10).
1891 she is 17, unmarried and living at home in Newton, Marykirk with her parents and brother David.
1901 aged 27 working as a housekeeper for a William Mitchell and his wife Jane in Govan near Glasgow (this seems a bit odd but the details of her birth are correct on the census - born in Montrose, Forfarshire).
1911 aged 37 living in Laurencekirk with Archibald and their two eldest sons Archibald (Arch) and my grandfather David Japp Simpson.
1921 aged 47 living in Laurencekirk with Archibald and their four sons Archibald, David Japp, Alexander (Ack) and Frederick (Fred).
Marriage
Margaret married Archibald Simpson on 4 Sep 1903 in Laurencekirk.
Her diaries
Margaret kept diaries showing her daily life in Scotland. They are full of tiny (and quite difficult to read) handwriting and one of my future jobs is to transcribe them.
The earliest one dates from 1947 and they continue until her death in 1955.
A rainy ‘dreich’ (dreary) morning in October 1953.
Archibald wrote the last couple of entries in 1955. He then continued writing diaries into the 1960s.
Her sons
The photo below shows them with their adult sons. From left to right David, Fred, Archibald and Margaret then Ack and Arch.
Death and Burial
Margaret died of cancer in Laurencekirk on 2 December 1955.
They are buried together in Laurencekirk and it’s not easy to read the gravestone.
Japp Family Memorial
Margaret is also mentioned on the Japp family memorial (on the bottom line).
Margaret is the last of my maternal greatgrandparents. I will continue with my paternal ones…
How wonderful to have all of those diaries, filled with the neat handwriting of your great grandmother. What process will you use for their transcriptions?