The WATT family in my tree comes from Marion Watt who married James Brown and arrived in Otago onboard the ‘Bernicia’ in 1848. That in itself is noteworthy, but the real interest lies in Marion’s family in Scotland.
Marion’s father was John Watt, whose farm was called ‘Bonnyton’ in Ayrshire. Marion’s obituary stated that her father was the “Laird of Muirhead” in Stuarton, (Moorhead in Stewarton) which might be slightly exaggerated. As far as I can glean, the farm was handed down between several generations of Watt, with the last one, John Watt, being Marion’s father, who sold the farm to a John Reid. According to Robert Watt (son of John), that was in 1810 when his father died.
According to Wikipedia, the size of the farm was 50 Scottish acres, which equates to 25 hectares today. Bonnyton farm was in sight of Auchenharvie Castle, a ruin within a couple of kilometres distance.
Bonnyton was on-sold in 1827 to a Captain John Cheape and renamed ‘Girgenti’. The original farm buildings were destroyed in the 1940s. The farm has a rather curious tower which is called ‘Cheapes Tower’ which remains today.
In Marion’s obituary, mention is also made of a Doctor Watt in Glasgow. This is Dr Robert Watt, creator of the ‘Bibliotheca Britannica‘ which was a bibliography of all the medical books available at the time. His painting still adorns the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow.
Sadly Robert died in 1819 as his life’s work was being printed. The printer went broke and the widow received nothing for her husband’s efforts.
Marion’s parents both died in Paisley in Renfrewshire.