Janet Oal, the daughter of Alexander & Margaret Oal (m.s.Murray), was born about 1828 in the Wick area.

On the 1st November 1850 she married Alexander Gray, the son of William , a farmer, and Elizabeth Gray(m.s.Plowman). He was born about 1825 in Bilbster, near Wick. The Marriage Register shows the bride as Janet Auld and not Oal!

In 1851 they were living at Thruster with Janet's father, Alexander Oal, by then a widower. They had a son William born about April 1851.

Ten years later they were living at Blackton with William(1851); Donald (C1855), George (C1857), Maggie (or Margaret) (C1859).

In 1871, Alexander, Janet and six children, Donald , George, Maggie (or Margaret), Elizabeth (1860), James (C1867) and Ellen (or Helen) (C1869), were living at Thuster, in the Stirkoke Estate, near Wick, where Alexander was a farmer of 27 acres. There was also a seventh child, Janet, who was born in 1863 but died less than two years later in 1865.

According to a Valuation Roll for 1884/5 held at the North Highland Archive, Wick, Alexander rented a farm at Thuster from Edward William Horne of Stirkoke for an annual rent of £14-0-0d

Alexander Gray died on or about the 9th June 1890, aged 65. There seems to have been some mystery regarding his death as the certificate shows no cause of death. There is a comment in the margin of the register which implies that there was an inquest. The following appears in the ‘Register of Corrected Entries’;-

For the Parish of THURSO in the County of CAITHNESS. The following Report of Result of a Precognition has been received touching the Death of ALEXANDER GRAY Registered under No. 57 in the Register Book of Deaths for the year 1890.

Name; Alexander Gray - Farmer - Married - 62 years - Male
Where and when died; Last seen alive on Friday, 6th June 1890.
Found in Thurso River in the Parish of Thurso & County of Caithness on 11th June 1890.
Usual residence Dixonfield, Thurso aforesaid.
Name of Parents; William GRAY, Crofter and Elizabeth AULD
Cause of Death; Drowning - As certified by John Craven LRCP etc., Thurso
Procurator Fiscal's Office, June 14th 1890
Signed; Jas Brims, P.F. & Geo. Geddes, Assistant Registrar

There is an error in this report as his mother was Elizabeth Plowman and not Elizabeth Auld.

The following Inventory was prepared;-

At Wick the Tenth day of October Eighteen hunded and Ninety
Presented by Daniel Wares Georgeson, Solicitor, Wick
Inventory of the Personal Estate and Effects, wheresoever situated, of Alexander Gray, Farmer, Thuster, Wick, died at Thuster, aforesaid, on the fifth day of June 1890.
Household Furniture and other effects in the deceased's house..............................................................................................5. 0. 0d
Stock-in-Trade and other effects belonging to deceased.......................................................................................................64. 5. 0d
Sum in Bank, viz;
Probable amount of valuation of young grass on farm at Thuster, taken over by ingoing tenant, Mr. Malcolm Shearer............6.10. 0d

At Wick on the Tenth day of October Eighteen hundred and Ninety in presence of Andrew Rugg, Sheriff Clerk Depute of the County of Caithness, appeared James Gray, Dixonfield, Thurso who being solemnly sworn and examined, depones that the said Alexander Gray died at Thuster, aforesaid, upon the fifth day of June 1890 and had at the time of death hos ordinary or principal domicile in said County. That the Depondent is the son and one of the next of kin of the said deceased, and is desirous to enter upon the possession and management of the deceased's estate as his executor; that the Deponent does not know of and Testamentary Settlement or writing relative to the disposal of the deceased's Personal Estate or Effects, or any part thereof; that the foregoing Inventory signed by the Deponent and the said Sheriff Clerk Depute as relative hereto, is a full and complete Inventory of the Personal Estate and Effects of the said deceased Alexander Gray wheresoever situated and belonging or due to him beneficially at the time of his death, in so far as the same has come to the Deponent's knowledge; that the deceased had no Hertiable Estate in Scotland; that the value at this date of the said Personal Estate and Effects, including the proceeds accrued thereon down to this date, does not exceed Three hundred pounds sterling; that confirm of the said Personal Estate in Scotland is required in favour of the Deponent; all which is truth as Deponent shall answer to God.
(Signed) James Gray; Andrew Rugg, Sherrif Clerk Depute
Confirmation; Dative of Umguhile Alexander Gray, farmer, Thuster, Wick

James Gray's declaration above is at complete variance with the inquest findings. Why did he lie on oath?

Their daughter, Margaret (Maggie) married William Thain, a 32 year old fisherman from Ackergill, on the 22nd June 1894 at Drumdry. William, born on the 28th August 1861 in the Wick area, was the son of Alexander Thain, a sailor, and Euphemia MacKay, who had been married in Leith on the 3rd October 1859.

Margaret and William had at least two children - Euphemia born about 1899 and Alexander about 1900.

Margaret (Maggie) died at Ackergill on the 7th April 1932 aged 72. Her husband, William, died of heart problems on the 11th July 1937, aged 76, also at Ackergill. The informant shown on his death certificate was his brother, Donald.

By the 1901 Census the Gray family had moved to Drumdry Farm, which is in the area of Thuster, on the Wick/Thurso road mentioned earlier.

Janet, now 74, was living there with four of her children – George, working on his own account as a mason with ‘Blue Stone Material’, Elizabeth, described as a ‘General Servant’, James, the farmer, and Helen, a dressmaker working on her own account. All four were still unmarried.

Janet died at Drumdry, Wick on the 16th June 1914, aged 87. Her son, James, is shown as the informant on her Death Certificate.

Drumdry Farm outbuildings in 2005
Part of house shown at left hand side of picture

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There is a headstone in Wick cemetery for various members of the Gray Family–

The Gray Family Headstone in Wick Cemetery
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Additional Information

Alexander died at Thruster on the 17th December 1863 aged 10 and his elder brother William on the 31st December 1863 aged 13.

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