James Aitken Smith

1923 - 2008  (85 years)

• Name	James Aitken Smith
  Born	28 May 1923	Springbank, Uphall, West Lothian, Scotland   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	26 Dec 1950  [1]
  	Civil Servant, Tax Dept
  _UID	CE294AC6C37942F4853AA890D99F1476723D
  Died	2 Jun 2008	Craigview, Bo'ness, West Lothian, Scotland   [1]
  Person ID	I8417	My Big Tree
  Last Modified	9 Apr 2011

  
  

  Father	James William Smith,   b. 26 Jul 1896, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland ,   d. 20 Jul 1971, Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland  (Age 74 years)
  Mother	Jessie Russell Aitken,   b. 28 Aug 1894, Merchiston Bank, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland ,   d. 14 Jun 1974, Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland  (Age 79 years)
  Married	17 Aug 1921	Ballencrief Nursery, Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland   [1]
  	Marriage Certificate gives her full name as Jessie Russel Aitken. Witnesses were Elizabeth Aitken and James Galloway
  Family ID	F2780	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Elizabeth Cowie Heaps Martin,   b. 4 May 1923, Bo'Ness, West Lothian, Scotland ,   d. 11 Feb 2006, Bo'Ness, West Lothian, Scotland  (Age 82 years)
  Married	26 Dec 1950	Bo'Ness, West Lothian, Scotland   [1]
  Children	1. Living   2. Living
  Last Modified	9 Feb 2008
  Family ID	F3286	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Notes from Terry Stewart After they married they moved to England where James then spent most of his working life. After retirement they moved back to Scotland, moving into Elizabeth's house at Carrinden Brae, Bo'ness. I first met Aitken through a great coincidence. I was visiting Torphichen, in 1991, and was sitting outside the village shop reading a pamphlet of the village I has just purchased. The author was a Robert Kerr who happened to live in Torphichen Village. I called at his home and finding no one home I left a message for him to contact me in Edinburgh. This he did, that evening. He asked that on my return to Australia would I write an article for his local paper. This I duly did. At the conclusion of the article I asked him that if he knew of any Aitken's would he ask them to get in touch with me. On receiving my letter Robert Kerr had a visitor, Alex Pender. He informed Alex of my request and Alex told him of a friend James Aitken Smith, commonly called Aitken. Right away he phoned this Aitken Smith and he got into his car and drove over to Torphichen from Bo'ness and copied my letter.. Aitken went straight back home and wrote to me immediately. Thus began a long, but infrequent, association. Not only was Aitken a relative but so was Alex Pender. Aitken has extensive knowledge of the family and has collected many snippets of information about them. Aitken and I met for the first time in 1993. Together we have driven the Bathgate Hills checking out the family farms. Betty, his wife, thought we were mad, in our pursuit of the family tree. Despite this she was a lovely lady. Unfortunately neither Betty nor Aitken enjoyed the best of health. Although his health has precluded Aitken from spending as much time on the search for relatives, their homes and work he still makes time to be very much involved with his local church of which he is an Elder. Betty suffered an injury to her right foot and then had a circulation problem in her left leg and had to go into hospital on Friday, 30th Dec, 2005. her blood count was found to be so low that the doctors could not operate. Finally it was decided to keep her comfortable as nothing more could be done. She was cheerful and sensible right up to a few hours before she deteriorated rapidly and slipped away with Colin and his wife Anne and Aitken by her side on 11 Feb 2006.

  
  

• Sources

  [S77] Terry Stewart (Reliability: 3).