David Bruce

David Bruce was George Bruce's father.  Which David Bruce would that be out of a number of possibilities?  It turned out to be an easier task than I at first thought and the occupation of joiner or carpenter narrowed it down to one individual straight away.  Better than that he turned out to be a ship or boat carpenter and even boatbuilder in the relevant records.  This ties in neatly with son George's trade as a ship model maker on Clydeside.  It suggests that even although George was illegitimate he knew his father and the fact that he was given his surname supports this.  Although David's marriage can't be found it must have been around 1848 and George's mother Janet McAdie didn't marry until 1849 so there were a few years when it was possible that George would have been in touch with David and watched the boatbuilding with interest.  I have no proof of this but would seem a logical link between father and son being in related occupations.  Given that David and Janet were both teenagers when George was born marriage was probably not seen as an option at that time.

David had a brother named George and knowing how important family names were at that time that strengthens the already solid evidence that he is our man.  The family stayed in Vansittart Street on the south-east edge of Wick Harbour area and so did David when he set up his own family home.  In fact, when he moved it was to just round the corner in Bexley Terrace.  Vansittart was known locally as Fancy Tart Street according to a local history forum.  This also tells us how the Vansittart and Bexley names are related but I can't see any link with the man and Wick.

As yet I don't know when David died although George's marriage in 1878 says his father is David Bruce, Joiner (deceased) (Reputed) and, as stated elsewhere, I don't know whether this means that he was reputed to be the father or reputed to be deceased.  Maybe George had heard some news from home that his father might have died but wasn't sure.  For some reason the death record is proving elusive.  I do remember some time ago finding a record in Register House about a multiple drowning in Wick Harbour including a David Bruce but I seem to remember it being young men and our David had reached at least 59 in the records we know of.  He was certainly still alive in 1878 when he was reputed to be deceased!  The search will continue.

This is a phot of Wick Harbour in 1867 so the types of boat he was building can be seen fairly clearly.  They're herring boats and I wouldn't like to put to sea in one of them.

Another couple of photos from about 1880 give further impressions of the industry.  David's father and his brother George were both fishermen.

Finally a print from this online book about the herring industry in those days. Page 4 is interesting as it suggests that the fishermen and their wives could do with a bath!