Fittie folk

My wife comes from a small fishing village, Fittie, at Aberdeen's harbour mouth.

At least five generations of Massons lived in Fittie - from Alexander Masson who born some time around 1820 to his 2g-grand-daughter - my wife - Sandra Masson. In common with many fishing village in north-east Scotland the families that lived in Fittie had 'tee-names' that helped to identify the people; the Masson tee-name was Rachle. - see Fisherfolk and tee-names for an explanation of tee-names.

Alexander Masson lived at 3 South Square, Fittie. His son William had a very large family - at least 11 children. The 1881 lists William as a Whitefisher, living at 27 North Square with wife and 8 children. By the time of the 1891 census, William was described as a harbour pilot - still living at 19 North Square, Fittie with wife, five unmarried children, married daughter Elizabeth, son-in-law, granddaughter, father-in-law and sister-in-law - a total of 13 persons. It must have been very cramped.

The last child was my wife's grandfather - Robert Montadore Masson - born in 1880. No one knows where his middle name came from - it does not seem to be a family name and there are no other families in the area with this name. Robert (known as Bob Scott) was a pontoon labourer. He married Rosie Mitchell and they had twin boys, Alex and Jock, born in Fittie. Bob Scott and Rosie then emigrated to Canada so that Bob could work on the Canadian railways. Rosie died while in Canada and the twins were sent home from Montreal to Liverpool alone at age 3 (approx 1912), with labels around their necks. They were collected by their Aunt Issie (Bob's sister) who looked after them and brought them up in Fittie. When Bob returned to Aberdeen he lived at 89 Virginia Street.

Bob's son Alex was a boatswain in the Merchant Navy. Before WW2, Alex's ship turned over when sailing through the English Channel. A list of survivors was printed in a newspaper; his name was not amongst them, but Alex had in fact ended up in France. During WW2, his ship "Ben Lady" was sunk in the Indian Ocean and he ended up in a lifeboat. On another occasion, he fell ill and was left on shore by the rest of the crew. He then spent several months without papers, beachcombing in Panama.