Profile: William Aitken

My dad’s grandfather, William Aitken, was my only great-grandparent still living when I was a child. He died at age 88 in 1959, when I was six. I never met him, however, since he spent the last decade of his life, a widower, in Dorchester, Ontario (near London), living with the family of his daughter Margaret Cromarty. There was no way a road trip there from Toronto would have been feasible for my parents with five very young children.

William was born in Slains, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on New Year’s Eve, 1870, the fifth child of William Aitken and Mary Irvine. In the words of his grandson William Cromarty: “It was a very stormy night and his father went 5 miles to Ellon on horseback to get the doctor. They had to break the snow both ways for the doctor and his gig.” William would ultimately be one of 12 children—nine boys and three girls.

William’s father was a crofter and farm overseer so it was only natural that young William would earn his keep doing farm labour. Even as a young boy, he was employed herding cows, a job that resulted in serious injury when he was not quite 11.

Aberdeen Press and Journal, 14 Sep 1881:
“A Boy Attacked by a Bull.—On Saturday last a lad named Wm. Aitken, aged 11 years, son of the overseer of Hatton farm, parish of Cruden, was engaged herding cows in a field near the farm of Stones, when, on attempting to drive one of the animals into a corner of the field, he was attacked by a bull which was fastened to a chain in the middle of the field. The bull struck the boy with its horns, and he was severely injured about the abdomen. A farm servant who had observed the occurrence went to the rescue, and his approach had the effect of making the bull leave the boy, who succeeded in crawling out of its reach. He was taken to the farmhouse and attended to by Dr. Fraser, of Hatton, but still lies in a rather critical condition.”

William was fortunate to survive his run-in with the bull. The papers also carried the report of another young boy, only five years old, who was gored to death by a bull in Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, just two weeks later.

A decade later, William again made the news, although this time he was before the courts in Stonehaven, where he was employed.

Aberdeen Free Press, 8 Oct 1891:
“William Aitken, farm-servant, Mains of Fordoun, was accused of committing a breach of the peace in the village of Auchinblae on 19th ult. He also admitted the offence, and, as it appeared that such annoyances were common in that district, he was fined 10s, with the alternative of a week in prison.”

No word on whether he paid the fine or took the jail time.

It’s interesting to note that the above incident took place just over a week after he first became a father. His son, William Bruce Aitken, was born 10 Sep 1891, to Margaret Bruce, a domestic servant from Ellon, Aberdeenshire. Although William and Margaret were not married, deeming the baby illegitimate, William signed the birth register admitting paternity. The couple would eventually marry some six years later, just three months before their second child, daughter Margaret, was born. Three more children followed: George (my grandfather) in 1899, Jane in 1903, and Mary in 1906. Sadly, Mary died of neonatal jaundice at just five days old.

By 1901, William had given up farm work in favour of a job as a labourer in an ice factory in Nigg Burgh, Kincardineshire, in order to support his growing family. At some point in the next decade they relocated to the city of Aberdeen, where the 1911 census records William as a general labourer in the fish trade.

In 1913, the family set out for Canada, William arriving first in April and Margaret and the three youngest children following in August. Settling in Toronto, William found work first as a clerk in a sheet metal products company and later as a dairyman. By 1920 he was an employee of the Bank of Montreal in maintenance/caretaker roles.

My father had fond memories of his paternal grandparents’ home, and especially the raucous celebrations there at Christmas time.

“They lived down on a street called Norfolk which is south of where we lived. It was a fair walk, below Dundas, off Brock Avenue. And they had a nice house, … a small living room, good size dining room and a small kitchen. … Down there was a different group, they were all Scottish and there were people there who were friends that came over on the same boats at the same time as my grandparents.

“We’d sometimes go down there some time during Christmas holidays. They would have somebody playing the violin and the piano and what we called a melodean which is really a small piano or accordian. … There’d be all kinds of dancing, highland flings and Gay Gordon, all different types of Scottish songs. Everyone was able to sing. They’d dance in the dining room. It was cleared out; everything was pushed to the side. There was lots of food and lots of booze. In those days most of them made their own beer.”

The Toronto city directory lists William still employed as a caretaker, at Copper Wire Products, in 1944 when he was 73 years old. He finally retired the following year, and he and Margaret left Toronto, moving to Mersea Township, now part of Leamington, Ontario. Sadly, Margaret died there just eight months later.

William subsequently moved to the Cromarty farm in Dorchester. He had come full circle, ending his days in a farming community, although undoubtedly in more comfortable circumstances than his early years and with no danger of encountering any bulls.