From 1865 to 1891 William Thom and Mrs Elsie Thom nee Meffet

From 1891 to 1907 Mrs Elsie Thom

William Thom occupied Outseats House from about 1866. He purchased additional land towards the River Dee from the Trustees of Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie on 12 May 1887. Miss Duthie had possibly purchased this from John Blaikees executors following the death of his wife. William Thom was a shipmaster employed on the China trade, as mentioned in the obituary below, before he retired to Outseats.

From the Aberdeen directory it appears that William Thom's father, John Thom, a feuar, who had also been a shipmaster, was resident close to Outseats in Hardgate in 1866/7. In 1868-9 his address was confirmed as St Machar Cottage, Hardgate; in 1870 - 1 he was just described as being at Ruthrieston.

William is first recorded in the directories as being resident at Outseats in 1867. William and Elsie Meffet married 24 November 1869 at Old Machar, Aberdeen.  Elsie Meffet  was the daughter, Elspet ,of John Meffet, from Outseats Cottage. William and Elsie had 3 sons, but the first born, William (Willie) died at only one year old. Willie was born 9 February 1871 at Outseats as confirmed by the statutory register entry and he was therefore included in the census for 1871. They had two further sons John and James born in 1872 and 1875 respectively.

Williams' parents, Isabella and John Thom both died in 1874. Isabella died on 12 February 1874 At the time she was resident at Ruthrieston, Aberdeen. Her parents were Moses Lough, a house painter, and Janet Lough, nee Lederson (?). John Thom died on 11 August 1874. He was then resident at Falcon House, Ruthrieston, Aberdeen. His parents were William Thom, a rope maker, and Barbara Thom, nee Shirses (?).

The residents of Outseats in 1871 were listed under the heading Pitmuxton Road and detail Outseats and were as follows:

Refer Old Machar ED 22 Page 49

The residents of Outseats, Pitmuxton in 1881 were as follows:

Source FHL 0203450 GRO 168/2 ED 39 P10 (FHL Discs do not give occupations)   

Williams' son, John, was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School from 1882 - 1884. He served an apprenticeship as an engineer with Messrs Alexander Hall & Company, Aberdeen. He moved to Moriani, Assam, India, where he was General Manager of the Hunwal Tea Company. The Hunwal Tea Company is one of many tea companies recently taken over by McLeod Russel (India) Ltd. of Calcutta.

James moved to Amuri, New Zealand. In the first world war, he became a rifleman with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. He was killed in action on 7 June 1917 and is recorded as a member of the Commonwealth War Dead and is included in the City of Aberdeen Roll of Honour. He is buried at the Bailleul Communal Cemetry Extension, France. The comment  about James "He made Good" on William Thoms' gravestone may follow from his, apparently not being keen to work whilst at Outseats. The 1901 Census, when he was 25, refers to his occupation as "No occupation". James' Commonwealth War Graves Commission on line record is as follows:

William Thoms' obituary published in the Daily Free Press reads as follows:

The deceased gentleman, who was a native of Aberdeen, was in the early part of his life a ship captain, and was largely employed in the China trade. At a later period he became connected with the great London and China firm of Messrs. Jardine, Mathieson & Co, A little over twenty years ago he returned home to Aberdeen, where he settled down in the property at Outseats, which he had purchased. During the whole of that time he has been intimately associated with the work of Ruthrieston Free Church, of which he has been an elder for the greater part of that time. He took no part in municipal matters, but passed his years in quiet and unostentatious works of kindness and generosity. He was close upon seventy years of age and is survived by his widow and his two sons.

William Thom is buried in Nellfield Cemetery, Aberdeen

His gravestone reads:

Sacred

to the memory of

Willie who died 14 Feb 1872

aged 1 year

also Isabella Touch Thom

Died 12 Feb 1874 aged 76 years

and John Thom

Died 11 Aug 1874 aged 77 years

William Thom

Died 17 May 1891 aged 69 years

his wife

Elsie Meffet Thom

Died 10 Feb 1907 aged 71 years

Their son James Thom died in France

7 June 1917 from wounds received in action

He made good

_______________________________________

The burying place of William Thom

_______________________________________

In loving memory of

John Thom

son of William Thom

beloved husband of

Betty Thom

Died 26 Feb 1935 aged 61 Years

Buried at Boscombe Cemetery

Bournemouth Hants

__________________________________________

William Thom Testament and Inventory

(Note that these are large files and will therefore take some time to download)

Copies of the 1891 census information are also available, on two sheets:

Outseats Cottage

At Outseats Cottage the residents were as follows in 1871:

Refer Old Machar ED 23 Page 19

The residents at the cottage, Old Hardgate Road, Pitmuxton were as follows in 1881  

Source FHL 0203450 GRO 168/2 (FHL Discs do not give occupations)   

Note that the cottage and the house still appeared in non contiguous parts of the census in 1881

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Page last updated Sunday, 22 July 2007