Delaware County NY Genealogy and History Site

Thrilled to see the contributions to the digest regarding Scottish immigrants to Delaware County, mainly because I owe so much to mine. Not the least of which are my life, and US citizenship, both of which I've grown quite fond of.

Names in my Delaware County ancestor connections include Downie, Harkness, Scott, Russell, Thomson, Rutenber, Miller, O'Conner, Kineer and Faulkner. I welcome any inquiries regarding information on these surnames. Thanks to Joyce Riedinger and all the volunteers at the Delaware County Genealogy site for all their hard work that has added so much to my research.

In an attempt at brevity I will only include my Downie line here. John Downie was originally from Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland (more Lanarkers). He sailed to America in 1854, the only one of five brothers to do so, with his wife and five children, losing a 16 year old daughter, Catherine, during the journey. He was a shoemaker and settled in East Bovina for a time to ply his trade, but as the story goes "they already had a shoemaker". So he later trekked to Iowa and Virginia where he died in Norfolk according to the Bovina records, but I have failed in my attempts to confirm this with the Health Dept. of Virginia. He and his first and second wives are buried in East Bovina. Legend has it that he also attempted to import cows, apples and paisley shawls from Scotland to Delaware County, but these stories seem unlikely. Has anyone heard any similar tales of importers in their family lines?

His wife Elizabeth Thomson died after arriving in American and he married her cousin (bet there's a good story there) Mary Ann Scott with whom he had one child, James Scott Downie, my Great Grandfather. -->Alan Downie, October, 2004

The "+" denotes spouses and the numbers denote generations, beginning with Johns grandfather, John:

1 John Downie    +Janet          

2 Thomas Downie    b: Abt. 1795 Scotland  d: Coatbridge, Scotland
+Mary Robertson    b: Abt. 1795 Scotland  d: Glasgow, Scotland

3 Lawrence Downie  d: Scotland (drowned, 18 years old - Bovina Records)

3 John Downie      b: December 15, 1817 Coatbridge, Scotland    d: August 6, 1889 Norfolk, VA (Bovina, NY Records)

+Elizabeth Thomson b: 1817    d: July 6, 1862

    3 Janet Downie    b: June 15, 1819  
    3 Matthew Downie  b: May 25, 1821  
    3 Walter Downie   b: February 17, 1823    
    3 David Downie    d: Scotland (very young - Bovia Records)

    4  Margaret Downie            
    4  William Downie            d: Scotland, aged 3 years (Bovina Record)
    4          Catherine Downie  b: 1838 Coatsbridge, Scotland   d: 1854 At sea en route to America
    4          Thomas Downie     b: March 29, 1841 Near Glasgow, Scotland    d: Bet. August 5 - 6, 1917 Cleveland, Ohio
    4          Mary Downie       b: Abt. 1849 Glasgow, Scotland - 1 yr old (Bovina Records) while waiting for ship to US 
    4          Elizabeth Downie  b: July 29, 1853 Scotland  

 
*2nd Wife of John Downie:           
        +Mary Ann Scott        b: October 4, 1832 South Kortright, NY  d: January 2, 1900 Oneonta, Otsego County, NY

    4          James Scott Downie   b: July 23, 1869 Bovina, Delaware County,  NY    d: February 15, 1946 Oneonta, NY
        +Fannie Prudence Harkness   b: March 15, 1869 Kortright (Middlebrook?), NY    d: January 19, 1961 Oneonta, NY

    5          Dorothy Belle Downie b: October 28, 1895 Oneonta, NY   d: October 31, 1989
    5          Mary Harriet Downie  b: June 19, 1897 Oneonta, NY   d: January 8, 2000 The Meadows, Cooperstown, NY
    5          Anna Letitia Downie  b: August 13, 1899 Oneonta, NY   d: September 1982
    5          Ethel Harkness Downie    b: November 12, 1901 Oneonta, NY  
    5          Herbert Lawrence Downie  b: August 2, 1913 Oneonta, Otsego County, NY     d: June 15, 1996 Pasadena, Los Angeles County, CA
    5          John Scott Downie   b: June 20, 1903 Oneonta, NY   d: November 1979 Otego, Otsego Co, NY
    5      James Gordon Downie     b: September 4, 1910 Oneonta, NY        d: March 1, 1990 Oneonta, NY

My grandfather, James Gordon Downie served as Town Supervisor in Oneonta, NY.

Happy Hunting!