O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!

Marmion, Sir Walter Scott

The Kidds caused some considerable problems, but were fascinating to research.

The Prestongrange link

The family can be traced back to George Kidd, who was seemingly born in Whitekirk, East Lothian about 1821. However, possible dates from official documents vary between 1812 and 1826. George Kidd’s mother was Mary Kidd (or Kid), a milkmaid and his father’s name is unknown.

Mary Kid’s nephew, another George Kid, had two interesting witnesses when he was baptised at North Berwick on 3 January 1814: Sir James Suttie Bt, and Mr Clarence Dalrymple. These were representatives of the two local landowning families. Four years later, in 1818, Sir James Suttie became the Member of Parliament for Haddingtonshire, a seat which he held until 1826. In 1818 he also succeeded to the estates of his aunt, Janet Grant, Countess of Hyndford, one of the three daughters of Lord Prestongrange of Kidnapped/Catriona fame, and changed his name to Grant-Suttie. One of his relatives was captain of Dunbar Golf Club. The other Kid children do not seem to have had such illustrious witnesses or were baptised before the congregation. It should be noted, however, that Suttie and Dalrymple also witnessed the baptism of the daughter of David Laird, gardener, Balgone, (presumably Suttie’s gardener) six days later. This may suggest that John Kidd was also a servant of Suttie or Dalrymple. On the baptism certificate he was described as a labourer, but by 1816 and in 1819 he was described as “servant at Newhouse, Dirleton.”

George was the second son of that name as another George Kyd had been born on 21 July 1807 to John Kidd and his wife. This George presumably died before the birth of the second George in 1813.

Who was George Kidd’s father?

Our George Kidd’s date of birth is not known with possible ranges between 1812 and 1826 according to various official documents. Could his mother’s brother and sister-in-law, presumably without a surviving male child of their own after at least 8 years of marriage, have adopted Mary’s illegitimate son George as their own and had him baptised? It seems unlikely.

It is tempting (but also extremely unrealistic) to link all of the above and fantasise that our George Kidd might also have been a descendant of Lord Prestongrange! However, it is far more likely that George Kidd’s real father was simply a farm labourer.

The Kirk Session Minutes

The recent availability of Kirk Session minutes on ScotlandsPeople has been a godsend to researchers as they include many instances of women who had been forced to “compear” before Session for bearing a child out of wedlock. However barbaric and misogynistic such deliberate humiliation of vulnerable young women can appear today, the Kirk Session Minutes have allowed many fathers to be identified and brick walls to be broken down.

Mary Kid(d) supposedly gave birth to George Kid(d) around 1820 in Whitekirk parish, however she does not seem to be mentioned in the minutes for Whitekirk & Tyningham 1807-1823. Nor has she been found in the minutes for the neighbouring parishes of Dirleton (1810-1824); North Berwick (1814-1822) or Haddington (1810-1815 has been searched at the date of writing). The Athelstanesford Minutes and Prestonkirk Minutes from 1785 to 1835 are not yet available.

DNA

With the Kirk Session Minutes drawing a blank so far, DNA matches with descendants of George Kid(d) are being used to attempt to identify his father. These studies are currently at an early stage as although many DNA matches have been found, only a small minority of those tested seemingly know the names of any of their ancestors.

George Kidd’s mysterious second marriage

George Kidd married Margaret Selkirk (b. Spott, 24 August 1825) at Haddington on 5th July 1846. She died at Haddington on 14 July 1863, ten days after giving birth to their tenth child, Georgina. Our great-grandmother, Elizabeth Selkirk Kidd was their sixth child, born in 1855.

There is a mystery concerning the outcome of George Kidd’s second marriage. In 1867 he married Isabella Bridges, the widow of Peter Chirnside. However, by the time of the 1871 census, his new wife had reverted to the name Isabella Chirnside and was living in Edinburgh. We can only speculate but perhaps becoming a stepmother to George Kidd’s nine surviving children, then aged between four and 21, was a daunting task.

George Kidd’s apparent third marriage

At the time of the 1881 census, George Kidd appears to have another new wife “Christian” aged 35, along with three new “sons” George (aged 10, born Haddington), Alexander (aged 8, born South Leith) and John (aged 3, born Kelso). However, when their entries in the Statutory Birth Registers were tracked down, they turned out to be not George Kidd’s sons, but his grandsons.

Catherine Kidd’s two illegitimate sons

George Kidd (b. 5 March 1871) was the illegitimate son of George Kidd’s eldest daughter Catherine, and Andrew Thomson, while John Middlemiss Kidd (b 16 February 1878) was the son of Catherine Kidd and an unknown father. It seems likely therefore, that George Kidd’s new “wife” “Christian” in the 1871 census, was actually his daughter, Catherine. The age (35) and place of birth (South Leith) of “Christian” were certainly the same as those of Catherine.

Elizabeth Selkirk Kidd’s two illegitimate sons

The third “son”, Alexander was born in Leith on 2 December 1872, the illegitimate son of Alexander Sharp and our great-grandmother, Elizabeth Selkirk Kidd. At the 1891 census, Andrew was listed as “A. Kidd” and is living with the family of his aunt, Catherine Kidd. Alexander Kidd subsequently moved to England where he married twice and had a total of twelve children.

Elizabeth Selkirk Kidd also gave birth to another illegitimate son, Nicol Kidd (father unknown) on the 27 July 1878. Sadly, Nicol died a few days later on 2nd August 1878. Elizabeth’s sister Catherine registered both the birth and the death.

So it appears that not only our father’s “Granny Scott”, but also “Granny Old” had children by three different partners!

Briggs and Bridges are the same!

Catherine Kidd went on to marry James Briggs on 9th March 1883, and after his death, William Calder on 1st June 1888. There is a further twist to the tale in that Catherine’s husband, James “Briggs” turns out to be the brother of Isabella “Bridges”, her stepmother!

At the 1891 census, Catherine was living with her father George Kidd, her second husband William Calder, her second husband’s son, her own two sons George and John (presumably by different fathers), her two stepsons by her first husband James Briggs, and her nephew Alexander, the son of her sister Elizabeth. 

Quite a family, and quite a tangled web to unweave!