My Strachan ancestors came from Fyvie, a small village northwest of Aberdeen. There were Strachan tenant farmers at Cardenwell for four generations from 1786 until 1923, when John Strachan, brother of my great-grandmother Annie Strachan, retired. Cardenwell can be seen on the map below, just to the north of Fyvie Castle.
View Map (nls.uk)
The Cardenwell Strachans have been traced back to their origins in Banffshire in the late 18th century, but my recent research has focused more on the immediate family of Annie, my great-grandmother. She was one of nine children born to John Strachan (1822–92) and Christian Donald (1832–1908), the third generation of Strachan farmers at Cardenwell. The Strachans were well-known in the community and were deeply involved in the local Free Church.
Several of John and Christian Strachan’s children distinguished themselves in ways that were a little unusual for farming families of the time. The eldest, John, took over the tenancy of Cardenwell after the death of his father in 1892 and farmed there until he retired in 1923. His obituary in 1929 describes him as a member of a “distinguished family.“ Like many of the Strachans he was a deeply religious man, “a devoted elder of Fyvie United Free Church for almost thirty-five years.” James and Robert were both distinguished scholars who went on to become Free Church ministers and professors. Elizabeth Strachan was one of the first four women to graduate from Aberdeen University in 1898. She and two other sisters, Margaret and Christina, became teachers.