9 & 10 - Isaac Wilson Abercrombie (Ike) 1868 - 1956 and Susanna Orkney 1867 – 1951

 Isaac Abercrombie

 Daughter Hannah wrote about Isaac and his siblings:

"Dad was born in Kilsyth, Scotland Dec. 3l, l868 to Grandma Susan Wilson Abercrombie. She also had four other sons, John, James, Thomas, and Alex, better known as "Sandy," and 3 daughters, Aunt Agnes in Scotland. Aunt Jen lived in McKeesport, Pa., and Aunt Mary lived in Dravosburg, Pennsylvania.

"My Dad was herding sheep in Scotland at the age of 9 years, and hadn't got much education. But he could tell you the answer to any of the problems they had in high school. He would say, “I can give you the answer, but I can't write it down. It was a pity he didn't have a chance to have that talent developed." 

The Abercrombie siblings left Scotland at various times after their father died in 1875 and their mother remarried in 1881.  Isaac first came to the US in 1885 at the age of 17. I was a bit shocked to see an 1886 or 1887 passenger manifest (Glasgow to New York) that included Isaac and three younger siblings Alexander (age 16), Mary (15), and Thomas (11), traveling without an adult.

Isaac and at least one of his brothers returned to the UK in 1895, with a wife and young son. Family history tells that he was a miner while in the US, but on the passenger manifest for the trip back to England, he listed his occupation as 'printer.'

When in England, Isaac and Susanna lived in Choppington, near Susanna's parents, Alexander and Hannah.

Ike's personal sense of where he belonged had been settled while he lived in the US. When he returned to the US in December 1902, the passenger manifest listed his destination as his brother Thomas’s house in White Ash, Pennsylvania, and the reason for his trip: “returning home.”   (His occupation on that manifest was miner.)

The next month, his wife and children arrived. His daughter Hannah wrote, “We came to this country in January of 1903, settled in Sandy Creek, as most of Dad’s folks were there. We moved to Verona in 1914.”

Grandson Bill wrote about the possible reasons for the back-and-forth:

"The Abercrombie family settled in the Pittsburgh area, and there were one or more young adult males in that family.  Somewhere I remember a tale that one or more of the sons of this family were falsely accused of a crime. They were later proven innocent, but they and my great grandfather became so disenchanted with the justice system in this country that the family returned to Scotland.  I seem to remember that the "crime" had something to do with union unrest in the mines around Pittsburgh. That I can believe. It is still going on 100 years later.

"Somewhere I remember a tale that the Abercrombie family first settled in the Pittsburgh area, and there were one or more young adult males in that family that one or more of the sons of this family were falsely accused of a crime. My great grandfather became so disenchanted with the justice system in this country that he and the family returned to England. I seem to remember that the "crime" had something to do with union unrest in the mines around Pittsburgh.

"After they returned, they  lived in Lime Hollow, a ‘gulley” which intersected Coal Hollow about a block or two from the crossroads of Coal Hollow Road and Verona Road which was downtown Sandy Creek. Granddad worked in a coal mine further up Lime Hollow just below where it connected with Frankstown Road. I have seen the house. It still exists.

"Sometime before I ever knew him, Ike deserted the family, went west, and worked on the railroad. I believe in Missouri or somewhere, later returned to the Pittsburgh area, but I never met him until I was about 8 or 9 years old.

Aunt Hannah's letter, if taken literally, would seem to say that Isaac Abercrombie was illiterate, but I know from first-hand experience that he could read and write. Ike read the newspaper and other material regularly. My memory of his writing was that it was terrible as regards legibility, but it was okay if you could decipher it. I don't know how or where he learned to read or write.

As regards his math ability, the high school to which Aunt Hannah refers was hers and my Mother's, not her father’s. While my own mother did quit school to go to work to help support the family, she did get part way through high school. She told me that when she and Aunt Hannah got stumped on algebra or "sentence problems" in math, their father could look at the problem and give them the correct answer, but he could not translate this into the algebra equation or a written step-by-step set-up and reduction of the problem as demanded by the teacher.”

Isaac and Susanna’s marriage was not a good one. Daughter Hannah wrote:

"While my Dad worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad, he and a group of workers from there (presumably Sandy Creek, Penna.) went to Sedalia, Missouri to work. He was gone for several months, then came back to Sandy Creek again. Dad left home again, I don't remember just when he left, but it was after I had married and lived in Blawnox (Pennsylvania) . They were separated for years, and Dad worked at the mine in Monroeville. Then he quit work and lived at your home for a while and at my home until Herman retired from the workhouse. (Bill notes: Uncle Herman was Captain of the guards at the Allegheny County Workhouse in Blawnox, Pa.) and we moved to Verona. It was then he roomed and boarded out in Monroeville, then stayed at your home. Then when we moved to Oakmont, Herman got Mother and Dad back together again as Mother was an invalid and in bed constantly, but at least they were talking to each other. He spent many hours just sitting beside her. Dad worked for some time at the Oxygen Works in Verona."

The family notes also say that Isaac’s last job was as the caretaker at a small mine near Center, PA, where he lived in a small shack near the mine entrance and tended the mine mule and machinery. "

They say Ike never lost his heavy Scottish accent. My mom said she could not shake the feeling that his words were getting garbled in his bushy white mustache as he spoke.

Susanna Orkney

Susanna was the youngest of seven, born in Seaton Burn, Northumberland, England on May 29, 1867. For information about her childhood and siblings, see the section for her parents, #21 and #22.

Susanna came to Pennsylvania at the age of 15 or 16 with her older sister, Priscilla and Priscilla’s husband. She met Isaac there. They married in 1891, when Susanna was 24, and had their first child, Alexander, in late 1982. 

In 1895, the couple returned to England with at least one of Isaac’s brothers, along with Susanna’s sister Jane and her husband and daughter. The reasons for returning may have been related to labor unrest (see Isaac’s notes) but might also have had to do with the tragedies befalling the Orkney family in England around this time—brother Alex had been killed in 1891 and brother Tom went blind in 1893. Susanna’s parents may have needed their help with a fish and chips store. 

Susanna’s daughter Hannah, who was born while the family was in England, wrote:  

"Grandma had a nice grocery store, not large but nice. I was only 5 when we left there in 1903, but I can remember it well. 

"On Saturday evenings mother and Aunt Jane (her sister) cooked and sold Fish and Chips, and sold a lot. Uncle Tom, mother's brother, was blind, lost the sight of one eye in the coal mine, and was such a great reader, lost the sight of the other eye. Grandma had a big tub which she kept for scrubbing the potatoes in. Uncle Tom scrubbed all potatoes. They didn't peel them, just scrubbed them, putting the tub on the back porch which was cemented."

Susanna gave birth to her second child, Hugh, a month after arriving back in England.

Isaac returned to Pennsylvania in January 1903; Susanna followed in June 1903 with their five children—the oldest, 10; the youngest two, Jean (2) and Sue (6 months.)

Money was always tight. Isaac had several types of jobs, some in other states. It’s hard to sort out who lived with whom at different times—the 1920 census shows a 13-year-old girl, Alma, living with Isaac and Susanna’s family. She’s designated as a daughter, but something else is crossed out. Perhaps one of Isaac’s nieces?

In 1920, Susanna visited her family in England. On the trip home, she traveled on the White Star Line's Olympic, which must have been nerve-wracking only eight years after the Titanic.

Isaac left entirely when the children reached adulthood. Susanna lived with, and may have been supported by her children, particularly Hannah and Sue. 

Her grandson William wrote:

"She was very active, took pride in quilting, baking bread, etc. Her health began failing in her 40s—some sort of circulation problem. The doctor prescribed a daily shot of whiskey to which she strongly objected, but finally consented. She somehow learned that Sue was buying high-priced bourbon for the purpose. She again became very incense and insisted that if she much drink whiskey, it must be the cheapest brand available.

Her grandson William also remembered his Great-Aunt Jane: 

"For a short time my great aunt Jane Grey (nee Orkney) lived with my family when I was about 5 years old and we lived on Pennsylvania Avenue, opposite the Oakmont cemetery.

"Aunt Jane served as a sometime babysitter and assistant housekeeper while she lived with us. I remember her telling me and Frank stories at bed time. Sometimes the stories were of her early life in England. I remember her telling us her husband was a sea captain and had brought her wedding ring from Egypt. It was a plain gold band which she always wore. I also remember seeing a mounted photograph of Capt. Grey sitting on the deck of his ship in a posed picture with his ship's officers. They all had full beards."

Isaac's Parents
Susanna's Parents
Daughter: Jean Abercrombie

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