You’ll find pockets of Fairweathers around the UK – and of course overseas as well. My own branch goes back to Alyth, Kincardineshire, with links to places like Brechin, Forfar, Rescobie, Kirriemuir, St Cyrus and Dundee, etc. It’s from here that many Fairweathers set out for the New World. There are clearly several branches of the family, with one strongly based in Dundee, and I’ve yet to establish family tree links, although DNA links exist. There was an Alexander Fairwedder in the Angus area in 1626, but a link has yet to be established. My great-grandmother was a Falconer from Glenbervie, and through her, I share a distant grandmother with Robert Burns, Scotland’s National Bard.
I’m Iain Fairweather, and I’ve been building on the work started by my father and uncle in tracing our family roots. Our own family mythology always pointed to the Fairweathers having a Viking connection. Might there be any truth in that? The origins of the name have long been a puzzle, and the explanation offered by Burke’s Peerage and, dare I say, Ancestry.com, doesn’t seem credible – Fairweather, “one who had a jovial or sunny disposition”. Is there a better, more satisfactory explanation? This site records my own research, and you can judge for yourself whether there may be any truth in what I’ve discovered.
My own family history might mirror the story of who the Fairweathers were, and how they may have got their name. My father was a farmer and at one point he had a small flock of sheep. My uncle was a banker, but as a hobby, he gathered sheep’s wool, spun it and knitted jumpers. My life’s experience may mirror a real-life explanation for our origins, as my own family tree reveals that many of the Fairweathers were farmers and weavers.
As you look into history, you’ll find that there are no family crests – other than the fanciful creations of those who perpetuate the myth of a people with a “sunny disposition”. Fairweather mottoes are equally fanciful, as the Fairweathers were never part of a clan-type grouping. Despite being in Scotland, probably as long as some of the “Scottish” clans, the Fairweathers do not belong to a clan, and there is no Fairweather tartan. Wherever they came from, they seem to have lived quietly alongside other communities “under the radar”. They likely arrived in one of the numerous waves of immigration from various European countries.
Join me on my journey as we try to unravel the mysterious origins of the Fairweathers, their journeys, and their life stories. And just so that everyone is clear, I am no authority. I have made some interesting discoveries as I have sought to uncover who we are and where we came from. My particular interest is in those found mainly in the Counties of Angus and Kincardineshire during the 17th and 18th centuries, right up to the present day. This is a work in progress, and new material will be added over time.
For your interest, the photos above are as follows: on the right is Robert Fairweather, born 1793, who began work as a draper in Alyth and became a farmer in Rescobie, Angus. He is my great, great-grandfather.
On the left is Louisa Fyfe Fairweather, his granddaughter and my great-aunt.
In the centre is one I’d love to meet, were it possible to go back in time. Apart from looking like a most distinguished lady, she produced an excellent needlework sampler at the age of eight in 1868. She is not a Fairweather as it happens, but a Falconer and my great-grandmother. She married a Ronaldson, and along with the Fyfes and Stobies, these families form the core of my own Fairweather family tree.
