fishwife workers

[kimmie]

Where can i find a list of employees for fishwife workers...and is there such a thing? My great granmother was Kitty(also known as katie and catherine) MacKintosh also spelt mcIntosh....anyway....she was a fish wife when she had my gran and my grans brother....he unfortunatly died in infancy...but had the middle name of Gilespie(which isnt in my family tree), and as my gran and her brother were illegitimate I was wondering if Kitty worked with a man with that name....or am i putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5? I hope that all made sense

[trinkie]

Hallo Kimmie,

I dont think such a list exists.
There were so many fisher lassies in Caithness around the time of the Herring Days.
Can you give a year and an address.
Have you checked a census for around the time of the Gilespie - even the birth certificate of the baby, as very often children were named after the Minister or the Doctor.
Please give as much info as you can, and no doubt someone will step in to help you.
Happy hunting,
Trinkie

[kimmie]

Hallo Kimmie,

I dont think such a list exists.
There were so many fisher lassies in Caithness around the time of the Herring Days.
Can you give a year and an address.
Have you checked a census for around the time of the Gilespie - even the birth certificate of the baby, as very often children were named after the Minister or the Doctor.
Please give as much info as you can, and no doubt someone will step in to help you.
Happy hunting,
Trinkie

Hi Trinkie and thanks

James Gilespie McIntosh died at 35 shore street Thurso, william MacPhirson(or thats what it looks like) signed the register... and Kitty was down as single, that was in 1917
My gran was born in 1914....so all after the census records :(
I have ordered his birth cert, but still waiting for it in the post, unfortunatly i cannot view his birth online, only his death...which to me is a bit weird :lol:
I know he is burried in Thurso cemetry, with Neil MacIntosh(his uncle) and his mother, along with other members of their family
Other than that, all i know is his mother married an unrelated man afterwards called George Elder

[trinkie]

Hi Kimmie,

Good information there, I am sure someone from Thurso will step in.
The dates are not too long ago, I bet the family will be remembered by somebody.

Are you using www.scotlandspeople? It's a very inexpensive way to get the Certificates... and quick too.


Good luck,
Trinkie

[trinkie]

I meant to say there a several photos of the Fisher Lassies on the Wick Thread, mostly Wick I expect, but I'm sure someone will have a Thurso Pic for you.


Trinkie

[kimmie]

Hi Trinkie

Yes i am using scotlandspeople, i agree it is good :D

Would be good to see what she looks like, but i am not holding my breath :lol:
Also i am now suspicious about her husband, his first wife died only a few years after they married, they married in 1914 she died in 1918, same thing happened to Kitty...she married him in 1920 and she died in 1925, he lost two children with his first wife and three with Kitty....all had convulsions!
The eldest child lived to the ripe old age of two years!!

he himself lived on to 1971....does that all seem odd to you, was he killing them off? or just his bad luck?

[Mosser]

Where can i find a list of employees for fishwife workers...and is there such a thing? My great granmother was Kitty(also known as katie and catherine) MacKintosh also spelt mcIntosh....anyway....she was a fish wife when she had my gran and my grans brother....he unfortunatly died in infancy...but had the middle name of Gilespie(which isnt in my family tree), and as my gran and her brother were illegitimate I was wondering if Kitty worked with a man with that name....or am i putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5? I hope that all made sense

Was she a Thurso fish wife or a herring gutter? The two were quite different, the fish wives sold fish in the streets of the town whereas the gutters worked for an employer in a curing station. If you know, it might help to narrow the search.

Mosser

[kimmie]

Was she a Thurso fish wife or a herring gutter? The two were quite different, the fish wives sold fish in the streets of the town whereas the gutters worked for an employer in a curing station. If you know, it might help to narrow the search.

Mosser

Hi Mosser
I think she must of been gutting herring as on the census and certs i have, it just says "fish Worker" but her husbands first wife was a "fish Cleaner" on her cert....so i am not too sure, i know she lived in Shore street if thats any help?

[Mosser]

Hi Mosser
I think she must of been gutting herring as on the census and certs i have, it just says "fish Worker" but her husbands first wife was a "fish Cleaner" on her cert....so i am not too sure, i know she lived in Shore street if thats any help?

Almost certainly a gutter, I think that a few of the fish wives names were recorded but I've never come across a record of gutters names, she may have worked in Thurso or over in Scrabster. Sorry that I can't be of more help

Mosser

[kimmie]

Thanks for the help you have given me so far...at least i know now that she would of more likely been a gutter, which is something i wasnt sure about before.

If anyone else could help, that would be great, would love to find out as much as i can about them all