The history of the Steel family begins in the town of Auchterarder in Perthshire, Scotland. Auchterarder is a small town located to the southwest of Dundee and northeast of Glasgow. The first of the Steel family to call it home was James Steil (this spelling of the surname was first recorded by the Auchterarder Clerk of Session) who in 1737 married Margaret Drummond at the parish church there. At the time of the marriage both James and Margaret were listed as being “of the paroch” of Auchterarder.


The Church yard at Auchterarder
Special thanks to Joyce Stewart

However, it does not seem likely that James Steil was born in the town. Going by his given age at his death, James was probably born around the year 1710. The Old Parochial Records (OPR) for Auchterarder do not include the christening of a James Steil (or any variation) in that time period. A likely guess for James’s birthplace might be Blackford, a small town not far from Auchterarder. Marriages recordes for a Janet Steel and a John Steel, both of Blackford, are listed in the OPRs of Auchterarder in 1722 and 1729 respectively. Perhaps these two individuals were siblings of James and the family came from Blackford to Auchterarder-but this is merely speculation. The OPRs for Blackford do not date back far enough to search for the baptism of a James Steel.

Wherever and whenever he may have been born, what is known for certain is that James married Margaret Drummond in Auchterarder in 1737. Born around the year 1715, Margaret was the daughter of Colin Drummond and Janet Barnet of Auchterarder. Among the Session notes for the Sabbath, April 24, 1737 is this notation,

"Received in charity from James Steil and Margaret Drummond both parichoners when listed to be proclaimed in order to marriage one pound four shillings scots.”

The records do not clearly state the month in which the marriage ceremony occurred, merely that the ceremony was performed on the 3rd of the month (either June or July).

On April 30, 1738 Jean Steil, the first child of James Steil and Margaret Drummond, was christened at the parish church. At that time, the James Steels were living in an area of Auchterarder called Borland. A second child, James, was born in Borland and christened on August 5, 1739. Robert Steil, christened on December 21, 1740 was born at Gardub. The remaining Steil children: Thomas (christened April 10, 1743), Janet (christened November 7, 1744), Mary (christened September 25, 1747), Margaret (christened November 2, 1749), Colin (christened May 13, 1753) and Andrew (christened February 16, 1755) were all born at the Steel family home at Clarty Mire.

In 1748-49 a survey of the forfeited estates of James Drummond lying in the parish of Auchterarder lists James Stiell, tenant of Clartymyre paying a rent of £80 for the property. In 1755 a more detailed survery of the barony of Auchterarder was recorded. At that time, James Steel was again shown to be the tenant at Clartymyre. His family numbered nine in total, all of whom spoke English. Four family members were recorded as being able to spin. As to the farm, James held five horses, twelve black cattle, and twenty sheep. Additionally, the survery records that two pecks of flax seed were sown and two pecks of potatoes as well.

A report made in 1765 makes brief mention of Clarty Myre and its tenant is unnamed in the record:

"Wants to have the marsh cleared with Mr. Grame of Damside.-The tenant is a competitor for the premiums for cheese and yarn."

It seems likely, and the record of sasines seem to further indicate, that the Steels remained as tenants at Clarty Mire until James and Margaret died in 1794 and 1795. The deaths of James and Margaret were recorded in the Session records for Auchterarder in this way:

“#834 October 15, 1794 On the 15th corente James Steell aiged 84 was interd in the southmost of his own three graves bounded on the south with the Donaldsons and on the north with James Taylor smith. All in the old kirk yaird.”
“June 1795 On the 30th corente Margaret Drummond was interred in the midmost grave of James Steels three graves and he her husband on her right hand the north side of the Donaldsons. Old kirk yeard.”
The Kirk Yard Cemetery, Auchterarder.
The Old Kirk Yard Cemetery, Auchterarder
The stone on the left belongs to the Taylor
family, while that on the right is Donaldson's.
The Steels may be buried in the area between
the two. Special thanks to Margaret Purcell.

It is difficult to document the lives of the children of James and Margaret. Their daughters, Janet, Margaret, and Mary, may have married at Auchterarder. The OPRs list marriages for three women with these names. However, Auchterarder had more than one Steel with each of the names Janet, Margaret, and Mary!

Andrew Steel, the youngest son of James and Margaret, married Lillias Kemp or Kempy at Trinity Gask on October 07, 1781. Lillias was most likely born in the town of Fowlis Wester. The couple were parents to seven children: James (1782-1816), Helen or "Nelly" (1785-1859), William (1787-1852), John (1790-1791), Lillias (1792-1857), Jean (1797-1822), and Margaret (1800). Because of changes in how vital information was gathered and recorded, much more information is available on this generation of Steels.

Helen, Jean, and Margaret Steel lived in Auchterarder but never married. The three lived together in a part of the town called "Lang Shot." Margaret was mother to a son named John McRobbie who was born January 18, 1839, though she did not marry George McRobbie, the man named as the boy's father. Lillias Steel married the Reverend William Smith and left Auchterarder for Glasgow. It is not known what qualifications Mr. Smith had to garner the title of Reverend since he was not affiliated with the established church of Scotland. William and Lillias had three children born in Glasgow: Lillias (born September 1817), Janet (March 22, 1819), and William (born June 28, 1821). In 1824 the Reverend Smith died in Glasgow. Lillias and her three children returned to Auchterarder following his death and lived in Lang Shot close to the three Steel sisters. Lillias died on February 11, 1857 and is buried in Auchterarder. Click here to visit her grave site.

William Steel, the second son of Andrew Steel and Lillias Kempy became a master slater. Around the year 1819 he married Margaret Young in Auchterarder. The exact date of the ceremony is not known as the marriage records for Auchterarder for that period do not exist. Margaret and William were parents to ten children, all born in Auchterarder:Andrew (1819), Edward Lennox (1821-1823), James (1823), David (1825-1908), Margaret (1827-1896), Mary Lennox (1830-1897), William (1832), Edward Lennox (1834-1891), Thomas (1837-1837), and John (1840).

The 1841 census finds the family of William Steel and Margaret Young living in the feus of Auchterarder along with five of their children-James, Mary, William, Edward, and John. By 1841 David Steel, at age 16, was apprenticed to a baker in town by the name of Alexander Crow and living in his home. The census also finds a Margaret Steel, aged 12 living in Redgorton in the home of a 55 year old farmer named Alex Young. Margaret is listed as a female servant and the household consists of what appears to be a plethora of Young siblings: David, 60; Isabella, 57; Grisel, 56; Jannet, 50. Assuming that this is the correct Margaret Steel, it seems likely that she may have been employed by members of her mother's family.

By the time of the 1851 census only Mary, Edward, and John were to be found living with William Steel-at that time the family residence was given as Milton. Margaret Young was not listed in the Steel home on the day of the census enumeration. Instead, she is to be found enumerated in the town of Methven. There she is listed with the family of Peter McRostie (or sometimes McCrostie). Also residing in the home were Margaret's daughter, also Margaret, her husband John, and their young son, Peter, aged 11 months. One can only assume that Margaret Young's visit to the McRostie home was connected to the birth of her grandson.

On July 3, 1852, William Steel, slater, was buried in the new church yard in Auchterarder. His wife, Margaret Young, was buried in the new yard on April 22, 1854.

It is at this point where the Steel family family begins to branch off into different geographical locations. James, John, and Mary lived the greater part, if not all of their lives in Auchterarder. James married Margaret Donaldson in 1845. John married Isabella McDougall in 1859. And Mary married John Headridge in 1855. Following John's death in 1867, she later married John Stewart in 1868.

David and Edward Steel ventured off in search of new opportunities. On December 15, 1861 David Steel married Margaret Ryan at Lady Chapel, London, England. Margaret was born in County Carlow, Ireland in 1843, the daughter of Geoffrey and Mary Ryan. The 1871 census finds David and Margaret living on Union Street in Kensington. The couple were parents to four daughters, Mary, Margaret, Catherine Lily, and Ellen, all of whom were born in Kensington, London. The 1891 census finds David at age 59, still working as a baker and living with his family on Exchange Street in Colne. David Steel died on November 02, 1908 in Colne, Lancashire. His wife, Mary, died on March 22, 1901 in Colne.

Edward began his ventures throughout Perthshire with the marriage of Jane Fenwick on March 06, 1857 in Methven. Jane, born about 1829, was the daughter of William Fenwick and Margaret McEwen. On July 26, 1857 a son, whom they named William, was born to Edward and Jane. Jane died in Perth on August 28 of that year, one month and two days after the birth of her son. The cause of death was given as "disease of the heart with dropsy." According to her death certificate, she is buried in Saint Serf's churchyard in Redgorton. The child, William, died in Perth of scarlatina on March 26, 1858, several months short of his first birthday.

In the 1861 census Edward, a young widower, can be found living in Monifieth while working as a linen yarn bleacher. Though the census enumerator's marks are a bit difficult to decipher, the record seems to indicate that Edward was sharing living quarters with a fellow yarn bleacher named James Stewart.

On June 10, 1864, Edward married his second wife, Jessie Ann Clark in Garvock, Kincardineshire. Jessie Ann was born in 1835 in Marykirk, the daughter of William Clark and Jane Sheret. In 1861 she had been working in Montrose as a cook in the home of a young commercial clerk named Edward Gordon. The Steel family lived in Monifieth for a while following the marriage as their first child, a daughter named Eliza Jane was born there on April 4, 1865. The Steels relocated to Dundee shortly after and four additional children were born to Jessie Ann and Edward: Jessie Ann (March 7, 1867-July 01, 1867), Margaret (August 10, 1868), David (September 29, 1870-January 07, 1878), and Mary (January 22, 1872-January 26, 1872) Steel.

After close to eight years of marriage to Jessie Ann Clark, Edward would once again find himself a widower, as Jessie Ann died of variola (smallpox) in Dundee on January 26, 1872. She and her four day old daughter, Mary, were buried in the Steel family plot in Eastern Cemetery in Dundee on January 29, 1875.

Twice widowed and with three young children, Edward married for a third time on April 03, 1874 in Dundee. His third wife was Jessie Scotland, daughter of Alexander Scotland and Janet Cram(b). Jessie was born in Auchtergaven, Perthshire in 1836 and was the widow of John McDonald who had been a sergeant in the 79th Highlanders. Jessie also had a daughter of her own, Elizabeth Scotland.

More to come...

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The Steel Family

The Steel Family Photographs


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