John Darroch's Birth (1822)
- Doug Robertson
- Apr 30, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 27, 2021
In our last post, we read about the birth of Archie and Mary Darroch’s first child, Kate. Their next child, John, is my great-great-grandfather, and the direct ancestor of many of you reading this. Some interesting facts attend John’s birth. I will get to those after describing a scene, which I imagine happened something like this.
Archie could hear Mary crying. She tried to conceal her sadness and, truth be told, he would have preferred it if she had. She cried so much during her pregnancy over the simplest things! He’d put up with this for over eight months and it was starting to wear thin. Nonetheless, he loved her and wanted to help.
“What’s wrong, luv?”
“Nothing. Since my sister Kate left for Upper Canada, I miss her so much. Now my parents and other siblings are talking about going! Can we not join them?”
Archie stood silent. He needed to answer his wife, but his pause was as pregnant as she was. She looked up at him with red eyes and tear-streaked cheeks. He was conjuring up a response and about to answer, but in truth, his dominant feeling was, “Surely this notion will pass once she has that baby!”
Mary’s expression changed from sadness to a grimace as she grabbed her swollen abdomen. “Oh-oh…the baby.”
Mary waited out the first contractions and intuitively knew this was not false labour. She sent Archie to fetch her gossips and the midwife. When he returned, he could tell the delivery was moving along faster than it had with Kate’s birth. The women gathered in with Mary. They could tell she was close to delivery.
Archie waited outside with little Kate, straining to hear the women’s subdued voices. The involuntary, heavy labour soon took over Mary's body, and she cried out in pain. Soon another cry was heard, a wee voice this time.
The women's excited voices confirmed a healthy birth. “Archie, you have a son!”
Presently, Archie went into the room, carrying Kate. Mary's face was pale and sweaty. She smiled weakly at her husband and daughter.
“Kate, say hi to your little brother. His name is John, just like Grandpa Darroch.”
Kate peered into her brother’s eyes, but only for a few moments, for Archie slowly put her down so he could hold his son. The newborn instinctively clasped his father's finger.
Little Kate looked up at her dad. She didn’t realize it yet, but this was only the first time she would be passed by for her younger brother. As she grew, she would learn to navigate around that cultural morass and love John in spite of the privilege he inherited simply by being a boy. They would enjoy a lifetime of love, friendship, and mutual support, here as children, and then later on in Canada as adults.
Archie beamed at his newborn son, “John Darroch, John Darroch. We’ve been expecting you. I can’t wait to show you the Darroch stone.”
The details in this story are derived from research and genealogical data. Here are some questions the story elicits, with the answers from the research I have done:
After whom was John Darroch named? The Scottish tradition was to name the first son after his paternal grandfather. Archie’s father's name was John.
How do we know John’s birth date? Frank Darroch obtained the following transcript from the Scottish Ancestry Research Society: “John Darroch, lawful son to Archibald Darroch and Mary Milloy in Ronachan, born 7th, December 1822, registered 20th December.”[1]
Was Mary's desire to emigrate to Upper Canada a point of contention in their marriage? We do not know how contentious it was, but it is clear that Mary wished to emigrate long before they actually did. Mary’s sister, Kate, had already moved in 1822. Mary’s parents and most of her 10 siblings soon followed. Almost twenty years later, in 1841, Mary wrote to her mother asking for help to immigrate. In the letter, Mary refers to immigration as "my old inclination."[2] Mary's "old inclination" started with the departure with her sister Kate, and increased when her parents, siblings and their families left in the 1820s.
Next post we will take a look at Mary’s side of the family, the Milloys.
Footnotes:
[1] http://www.darroch.org/b_d_m.html, retrieved April 29, 2020.
[2] Letter from Mary Milloy to Peggy Beaton Milloy, 11 June 1841, Wellington County Museum and Archives (A1978.30.250).
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