Alexander and his father-in-law, Robert, were shipmasters at a time when Broughty Ferry was a small maritime community, long before its transformation in the C19th into an enclave of the rich and a holiday playground for the rest. There is a sizeable number of shipmasters in the graveyard records. Shipmasters could be wealthy men or, presumably, not so much, depending on the size and number of their ships, what their ships carried, and what financial interest they had in their cargo. I have found nothing, as yet, to indicate what spot on the spectrum Alexander and Robert occupied.

Scotland’s People finds eight Alexander Andersons born in Angus between 1735-1745. The closest to 1740 was baptised in the

parish of Rescobie, 19.5 miles from Broughty Ferry on 12 December 1738. His father’s name was John, which was also the name of our Alexander’s eldest son. According to Scottish naming traditions, the firstborn son is named after his paternal grandfather but that’s a tenuous link to a definitive identification. Another possibility is the one born in Dundee (including its satellite villages and parishes such as Broughty Ferry) in 1743 to Alexander Anderson and Margaret Doig. Of course, the births of many children were never registered at all.  

Alexander and Isobel married in Dundee on 8 August 1765. I originally reported they had at least five children but I can

confidently identify only two and even then I have no definitive link to son James other then circumstantial evidence from ScotlandsPeople, naming traditions, and the relationship being recorded by several families (including the Websters and Kidds) on ancestry.com. The dubious Celtic Royalty Register also records the lineage.

With no confirmation of Alexander's parentage, it is through Isobel that I have traced our earliest known ancestry. Her

grandfather was Thomas Kid (1690-1750); I haven’t found any certification but ancestry.com suggests his wife was Isobel Asplen. This couple married in Dundee the year before Isobel’s father, Robert, was born in 1711. Robert Kid married Margaret Webster and their first daughter was named Isobel. This suggests that ancestry.com may be right and Thomas Kid and Isobel Asplen were her grandparents. An Issobell Assplen (parents John Aspen and Mart. Couper) was baptised on 22 March 1690 in the parish of Mains and Strathmartine, a parish abutting the north border of Dundee, but this is not enough for me to claim this person as an ancestor. We're on somewhat stronger ground with Isobel's other grandparents, assuming you can follow the below chart.

With a bit of luck, Captain William Kid, the pirate, born in Dundee in 1645, was somewhere in Isobel’s line; much preferable to

the royalty people often ask if I've found in my research.