Thorat Locke Mitchelson

Chapter 1

How it all began.................

This part of the story begins in Scotland with John Thurot and Agnes Locke, who in the final decades of the 18th Century were living in Kirkbean Village, close to beautiful Carse Bay in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. There John Thurot (origins unknown) worked as a stone dyker and as a farm labourer. In time, he also served as Kirk Officer and as grave digger. Agnes Locke may well have come from a local family. From 1787 through the turn of the century, seven daughters in succession were born to John and Agnes before welcome sons finally made their appearance.

This history concerns in the main their third daughter, Mary Thurot (or Thorat), who in the year 1812, at the age of 21, was married to John Mitchelson, a farmer, at nearby Kirkgunzeon Parish. [A separate history of Mary Thurot's siblings will be of interest to descendants and those still bearing the Thorrat name.] In the year 1813, on the 1st day of April, John and Mary Mitchelson's first child - a son, Jacob - was born at Kirkbean. Baby Jacob Mitchelson (subsequently "Mitchell" - see Explanation of Name Changes) was christened three days' later at Kirkgunzeon. Within two years, sister Agnes made her appearance, to be followed in due course by a number of brothers and sisters whose histories we will only touch on briefly in these pages.

Jacob's siblings, following the birth of Agnes in 1815, included Janet (christened at Balmaclellan in 1817), John who died in infancy, and Elizabeth, John and George Locke, all christened at Dumfries, and lastly, Mary, for whom there is no birth or christening record. At the time of the birth of his brother George Locke, Jacob was already 15 years old and the year was 1828. How Jacob's time was spent during the ensuing seven years we can only guess, but in the year 1835 at the age of 22 years, Jacob and his wife Mary Crosbie had begun their long life together and had produced the first of their large family.

Chapter 2 - The Story of Jacob Mitchell and Mary Crosbie

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Last Edited: 1999-01-10