| Administrative History | Hilda Maud Paterson was the fourth child of Alexander Ross Paterson MD, M.R.C.P. and Grace Anna Leslie, daughter of Alexander Leslie of Birkwood, Aberdeenshire [formerly Kincardineshire] and Johanna Hogarth, who were married at Old Machar Aberdeen 6th February 1840. Johanna was the youngest daughter of George Hogarth 1st of Firhill and his wife Jean Forbes of the Echt family. Her grandfather Alexander Leslie of Fordoun married Jane Seton, daughter of William Seton 6th Bart of Pitmeddan who were married 1st January 1805 at Pitmeddan in the Parish of Udney.
The marriage of Alexander Leslie (1733 - 1807), minister of Fordoun, to Margaret Reid (d 1829), daughter of Lewis Reid, minister of Strachan (by his second marriage, in 1735, to Janet Fraser (d 1798), of the Frasers of Phopachy), and half-sister of Thomas Reid (1710 - 1796), philosopher, established family ties with the Aberdeenshire Reid, Gregory and Fraser families, which form the basis of much of Hilda M. Paterson's extensive genealogical research. As part of this research, she amassed an important collection of original family records, including personal and professional papers of Thomas Reid (1710 - 1796) (MS 2131 and MS 3061) and correspondence of and relating to the Reid, Forbes, Fraser, Gregory, and Leslie families (MS 2814). A keen antiquarian and amateur archaeologist, she also devoted much of her life to the local history and archaeology of Deeside: her collection of microliths was deposited in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, c. 1949, and other, miscellaneous archaeological and family material is deposited in Marischal Museum, University of Aberdeen.
For further details on the Reid, Fraser and Gregory families, see collection level descriptions for the papers of Thomas Reid (MS 2131 and MS 3061); the papers of the Gregory family (MS 2206); and correspondence and papers of and relating to Thomas Reid (1710 - 1796), his ancestors, family and descendants, and to families of Forbes, Fraser, Gregory, Leslie, and others to whom they were related, 1628 - 1908 (MS 2814). Further details of Hilda M. Paterson's direct family line (principally, the Leslies of Birkwood, Leslies of Warthill, Setons of Pitmedden, Hogarth of Woodhill, and the Cornish-Brownes) will be found in this collection. |
| Description | Genealogical and antiquarian papers of Hilda M. Paterson, of Birkwood, Banchory, Aberdeenshire. The collection has not been fully listed, but items identified thus far include notebooks, mainly genealogical, but including some local history research; genealogical notes; archaeological papers, principally re. her research on Deeside, including off-prints of papers and box of slides used at British Association lecture; and newspaper cuttings and printed extracts, re. genealogy, antiquaries and curios. There is also a small volume of miscellaneous family papers, principally relating to the Leslies of Birkwood, and to the Cornish-Browne family. This includes correspondence; family pictures and photographs; admission of George Read as barber and surgeon in the city of London, 1731; and family Bibles (with family notes).
The principal subject of the genealogical papers in this collection appears to be Hilda M. Paterson's direct family line, i.e. the Leslies of Birkwood, Leslies of Warthill, Setons of Pitmedden, and Hogarths of Woodhill. The material on the Cornish-Browne family comes from Hilda M. Paterson's niece, Miss Cornish-Browne (1913 - 2002), whose mother, Ada Elma Alberta Paterson (Hilda M. Paterson's sister), married Samuel Cornish-Browne, Esq., of Venn, c. 1908. |