The First Time Buyers

When I think of home sweet home, I think of my parents house, or my grandparents homes. But for this week, I thought I would talk about my 2 x great grandfather. With help from family, he was able to buy his own farm.

On 28 January 1870 Alexander Stephen was born at Greenhowe in Glass. He was the youngest of seven children born to James Stephen and Agnes Walker. Alexander had six older siblings, three brothers (William, John and Robert) and three sisters (Helen, Margaret and Elspet).

After leaving school Alexander worked as a farm servant. The 1891 census shows he was working for John Riach at Greenloan.

On 16 December 1892, Alexander married Elizabeth Dyker at Upper Dumeath Glass. The witnesses were Lizzie Dyker and Robert Stephen. Alexander was still a farm servant but was now at Upper Keithack.

By 1901 Alexander and Elizabeth had four children and were living at Drywells, where Alexander was now a Farm Grieve.

In the 1911 census, the family were still at Drywells, Alexander was still a Farm Greive, they had seven children.

All together, Alexander and Elizabeth had nine children. They were James, Agnes “Nancy”, Alexander, William, Elizabeth “Bess”, Isabella, John, George, and Albert “Boysie”.

Son John died on 17 September 1933 (aged 24). He was knocked off his bicycle by a motor bus at Maltkiln Dufftown (Aberdeen P&J, 18 Sept 1933). He was buried at Wallakirk Cemetery.

Alexander was still working at Drywells until the 1940’s.

On 18 March 1942, his beloved wife Elizabeth died at Huntly Cottage Hospital. She suffered from an intestinal obstruction. She also had carcinoma of the colon and septic absorption, which occurred after a colostomy on March 15^th.

At some point after Elizabeth’s death, the family clubbed together and bought their own farm, Easterton next to Drywells, building their own house. They went from farm workers and became farm owners.

Alexander died 16 September 1957 at the age of 87, he is buried at Wallakirk Cemetery. 

I visited the farm in the early 1990’s, meeting the last two brothers, George and Boysie. I can remember the floor of the kitchen was stone, no carpet. The fireplace had a crane arm, that the kettle was put on. Boysie had a thick stong doric accent and I had to get my grandparents to translate.

The Stephen family were the first in my family to purchase their own property. While their farm was still prospering in the 1990’s , Drywells, where they lived for years, had became a ruin. The Stephen family continued to work the farm right up to 2000, when it became a holiday let.

Easterton

Sources

• Photographs from Stephen family collection
• Alexander Stephen. Scotlands People, Statutory Registers births 199/ 3, 1870.
• Alexander Stephen and Elizabeth Dyker. Scotlands People, Statutory Registers marriages 199/00 0008, 1892.
• Elizabeth Dyker. Scotlands People, Statutory Registers deaths 202/ 16, 1942.