The MacCrae Family

The Family of Robert MacCrae and ??

The Family of John MacCrae & Agnes Fairman

NOTES :

1. According to notes of grandson, Alexander Robert Black, " John MacCrae was a blacksmith, veterinary, a lay preacher and a irreconcilable Chartist. It is to be feared that he took a rather conspicuous part in the Chartist riots that followed the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832. He was a vehement and effective speaker in the cart tail campaigns. Both in Scotland and in New York he seems to have had some reputation as a veterinary surgeon." John came to America with son, Robert, in 1849. Sarah with Agnes, Margaret and Mary came in 1851.
2. Agnes Fairman born in 1814, died of cholera in Edinburgh in 1849 leaving five children.
3. According to notes of son, Alexander Robert Black, "A splendid type of Scottish womanhood - progressive, great reader, gifted in music, a good draughtsman, clever at dressmaking, etc. She was a staunch Presbyterian until about 1870 when she was turned to the Universalist faith on hearing a sermon by Canfield, then preaching in the church on Fourth St. (Bedford Ave.) Brooklyn in the pulpit formerly filled by Bernard Peters, uncle of Elizabeth Helmle Black (Alexander R. Black's wife). Her children all grew up in the Universalist church. She herself taught in the S.S. in her last years."
4. Had no children.
5. Died in infancy.
6. According to notes of nephew, Alexander Robert Black, "Margaret MacCrae, like all the MacCraes had a good voice, was an enthusiastic reader and always cherished literary ambitions. She had several short stories in print, but the adversities of her family life prevented her from finishing the novel on which she worked for several years. A.B. is indebted to her for his first piano lessons, for early encouragement in writing, and for memories of her unfailing cheeriness of disposition."