On July 4, 1839 my great great great grandfather, John
Henderson Duffus, of Dundee married Grace McEwan who was born in Abernethie.
Grace gave birth to my great great grandfather John Duffus on October
11, 1840, had complications in childbirth and died October 24, 1840 at the
age of 24. She was buried at the Howff cemetery in Dundee. This cemetery was
closed to anymore burials in 1840.
When I was in Dundee in 1997, I attempted to look for her
grave. I was able to find a reference to the grave in the office of the
Parks Department and went to the Howff. After a couple of hours of looking I
was unable to find the grave.
Innes Duffus of Dundee and I have corresponded by email over
the internet and by mail for the last few months. Innes was kind enough to
find Grace's grave which was unmarked since she had been buried with her
mother and two brothers and her name was omitted from the headstone.
With my last trip to Dundee to meet with Innes, Harry Duffus
& George Duffus regarding the Duffus gathering June 29 - July 2, I
suggested that we meet with the cemetery people to see about erecting a
headstone for Grace. here is a picture of the meeting we had at the Howff
and the email exchanges between Innes and myself regarding Grace's location.
I want to thank Innes for his hard work and appreciate his efforts in
finding the grave of my great great great mother who gave her life in her
tender years.
John Henderson Duffus remarried again and had 12 more
children, one of whom was a son who died at age 23. All of the rest were
girls. Two of the daughters lived to be 100 and 105 years of age.
My great great grandfather, John
Duffus, was put in the care of a foster home for 10 years after his
mother's death and later was raised by his step-mother, Janet Stewart
Duffus, after his father remarried.
John in his early twenties became a missionary with the
London Missionary Society and traveled to Madagascar. he later emigrated to
the United States and joined the Union Army in 1864 and fought in the Civil
War. After the Civil War he became a realtor and Justice of the Peace in
Passaic, New Jersey. He died in 1912 and left two sons and a wife surviving
him. Recently, I found a reference on the Ancestry.com web site
regarding his Civil War enlistment and have added his record to the Duffuses
in the Military web page.
Pictured left to right - a representative of the Parks
Commission, Harry Duffus of Newport-on-Tay,
Innes Duffus, Richard Middleton (Monumental
Mason),
David Duffus and Adam Swan (Conservation
Officer - Dundee City Council).
Re: Grace McEwan
Date: December 1, 1999
From: David Duffus <[email protected]>To:"Innes Duffus" <[email protected]>
By the way I almost didn't make it here since my great great great grandmother died at age
24 while giving birth to my great great grandfather. She is supposedly buried at the Howff
cemetery according to the Dundee Parks Department. Is there any chance finding her grave?
When I was in Dundee last year I was told that a certain gentlemen from the Parks Dept.
would have to meet me at the cemetery and help me find it. I didn't have the time to meet
him
Best wishes,
David
Re: Weavers Craft
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 10:05:06 -0000
From: "Innes Duffus" <[email protected]>
To: "davidduffus" <[email protected]>
Your final para. asks me to look for traces of a gravestone in the Howff. I
have spoke with the Cemetery's people who tell me that all the Howff records
are with the City Archivist. That is no problem as both Ian Flett and his
deputy Richard Cullen are friends. What would help, however is any other information about the good lady which you might have. Would
this for example be the Josephine who died on 11th October 1840?
Innes
Subject: Grace Duffus
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 15:51:28 -0000
From: "Innes Duffus" <[email protected]>
To: "David Duffus" <[email protected]>
7th December 1999
David.
I spoke with the Parks and Cemetery department of the City about Grace Duffus. It appears
that all the records in the Howff have been handed over to Iain Flett, the City Archivist.
Thanks to him, and a useful friendship, he sorted out a number of Journals, which I did
not know existed. BINGO! Here are the results.
Entry in Register of Funerals.
Date of funeral: 1840 29th October. No 1467.
Grace McEwan - wife of John Duffus, tailor. Died 27th October aged 24 years. Born in
Abernethie and died in childbirth. Interred 1259/2A(this is the grave reference).
Purchase of Gravestone in Howff.
1259. (The grave reference). 1833 by Thomas McEwan for Margaret Ness his spouse.
Occupation, Mill Manager.
Inscription on Gravestone.
Ref: 1259.
1833 by Thomas McEwan Mill Manager Dundee, in memory of his wife Margaret Ness died 24.5.
1832 aged 45 and son James, student of Divinity died 9.12 1833 aged 23 and of son John
11.2.1842 aged 5.
The inscription has not yet been confirmed by me. However by the good graces of
Iain, I
have obtained a copy of the plan of the graves in the Howff. As you can imagine, it being
an ancient graveyard, the graves are all over the place and indeed many of the stones are
no longer there. I will forward the plan, by snail mail and have circled your family stone.
The weather is a bit rough at the moment, but as soon as it is good enough, I will go to
the Howff and if the stone is still there, will photograph it and send it to you.
As you can image the inscription may well be unintelligible, but in due course, another
friend of mine may get permission to clean it up enough to get a better picture (sometimes
favours take a little time to be called in).
Finally, all the Duffus records, held by the City are in process of being put on disk and
I have been promised first crack at them. This will not be completed until around the end
of February. I don’t know if I can get permission, but I will have a copy made
if that is possible.
That’s another dram you owe me.
Innes
Subject: Re: Grace Duffus
Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 21:11:52 -0500
From: davidduffus <[email protected]>
To: Innes Duffus <[email protected]>
CC: "Kevin P. Duffus" <[email protected]>
References:
1
Innes,
I owe you ten drams at this point. Thanks for your incredible research. You can't imagine
what this means to me! Here is a brave woman who gave her life to create another life and
ultimately lives. I hope your efforts to find the grave are successful since I would like
to remember her in some way when she has been so long forgotten.
I can imagine the task in locating the gravesite after spending a few hours in the
Howff.
Best wishes,
David
Subject: Grace
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 17:16:19 -0000
From: "Innes Duffus" <[email protected]>
To: "David Duffus" <[email protected]>
Here we go again.
I have indeed visited the Howff and found the grave. The actual inscription,
as read and copied by me, is:
1833
Erected by Thomas McEwan
Mill manager Dundee in memory of his spouse Margaret Ness
who died 24th May 1832 aged 45 years
Much lamented by all her friends
Also his son James
Student of Divinity died 9th Dec'r 1833 aged 23 years.
Deeply regretted by all those who had the pleasure of his acquaintance
Also his son John who died 11th Feb'y aged 5 years.
Notice that there is no mention of either Thomas himself or Grace. One
possible explanation is that when he died, followed by Grace, (or vice
versa). there was no one left in the family to arrange an inscription. I
have seen the entry in the register confirming the actual burial of Grace in
the grave, so there is no doubt that her remains are there. I
have also spoken with another friend of mine, a funeral director, and
confirmed that there is no reason to prevent you having her details put on
the gravestone even at this late stage and despite the graveyard being
listed. He is following up on that, to be absolutely certain, but it should
give you something to think about. For example she could be referred to as
Grace Duffus, daughter of Thomas McEwan. The stone does not have enough
space left to be engraved in the same form as the original, but that should
not matter too much. If I do see you in January I will be happy to show you
the grave and make any arrangements for you depending on what you decide
Photographs will follow as soon as time and conditions allow.
Innes
Subject: Re: Thanks for your last message
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 19:28:06 -0000
From: "Innes Duffus" <[email protected]>
To: "davidduffus" <[email protected]>
David,
I have gone a step further with regard to Grace. I spoke with Peter Sandwell
of the Parks and Cemeteries Department. This is the first enquiry of its
kind to have been handled by them. There is no problem from their point of
view, but Historic Scotland are involved in the preservation of the site. I
do have a contact name for them in Edinburgh and will be in touch with them
on Monday.
I have also spoken with a monumental mason regarding
having the stone engraved. Obviously any possible cost would depend on a
number of variables. The number of letters has a strong bearing on price.
Also whether the stone requires cleaning. By cleaning I assume he means what
I would refer to as scaling. To that end I made a further visit to the
grave. The stone has a depth of approximately 15" available at the
bottom suitable for engraving. This would probably allow for three lines,
something in the order of:
Grace Duffus, Daughter
Died in childbirth age 24 years
27th October 1840
There is no doubt that although the stone is in excellent condition for it's
age there are obvious signs of scaling at the bottom, and some remedial work
would have to be done. I am told that, not having seen the stone, the mason
is of the opinion that the cost could be up to around £300 Stg. However we
must first find out if we can get all the necessary permissions, then you
can decide on an inscription, and finally (and preferably when you are here)
meet the mason so that he can give you a quotation. There would of course be
no obligation on your part to accept the quote. What happens after that
would be down to you. I hope that this answers any questions which you might
have (I have tried to anticipate the questions).
Let me know if you require any more help.
yours aye
Innes
Subject: Grace
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 20:27:56 -0000
From: "Innes Duffus" <[email protected]>
To: "David Duffus" <[email protected]>
Hope you are feeling better.
Whist researching the Old Parish Records yesterday I found another reference to Grace. It appears from the burial records that she was born in
Abernethie. There are two Abernethy parishes in Scotland (note the new spelling). They are: Abernethy and Kincardine, a parish and hamlet, East
Inverness-shire, on Speyside, 4.5 miles SW of Grantown; comprising some 78,088 acres and a population of around 1,000. There is an extensive
deer forest here. The other, and by far the most likely one, is, Abernethy parish and police burgh on the river Nethy 8.5 miles SE of Perth; It is a
parish of 9232 acres. It has a remarkable round tower, 74 feet high, probably dating from the 10th century, and of course is home to the famous
Abernethy biscuit. There was a great deal of movement between Dundee and this part of Fife and Perthshire and I would expect Grace to have
come from there. Her birth record would of course provide the answer.
I do try!
Innes
