Introduction / Families / Seatter

John Seatter and Ann Drever

John Seatter came to Quoy in Pharay with his wife Ann Drever and their family around 1904. Both came from Westray. John (b. 11th December 1854) was the son of George Seatter and Fanny Stevenson of Newark, Westray while Ann (b. 20th February 1875) was the daughter of George Drever and Jemima Rendall from North Tuan. They married in Westray in December 1892.

John and Ann had nine children:

• George Seatter b. 31st May 1894 who married Mary Isabella Harcus from Eday on 13th April 1914 at Backaland, Eday. Mary was the daughter of James Harcus and Jane Drever and had lived at Hammar before moving to Eday. Her father had been a teacher at the Pharay School and she was teaching there when she and George married. George was a farm servant at Holland at the time. They had two sons. George was killed in action with 4th Btn Seaforth Highlanders on the border between France and Belgium between 19th and 21st September 1917.

• John Drever Seatter b. 31st March 1897 who married Barbara Ann Groat, the daughter of James Groat and Jane Drever from Lakequoy in 1926. John and Barbara had family.

• Robert Patterson Heddle Seatter b. 4th December 1898 who married Mary Hill (b. abt. 1898) from Quarryhouse, Eday on 25th December 1919. Mary was a daughter of quarry foreman William Hill and Alice Mill. Robert and Mary had six children.

• David Drever Seatter b. 10th February 1901 who married Jessie Ann Harcus (b. 1900) in Kirkwall in on 5th December 1929. David was a farm servant at Huip, Stronsay at the time. Jessie was at Towriehouse, Walls. She was the daughter of Robert Harcus and Jane Seatter from Westray (Tuquoy and subsequently Ouseness) and was born on 24th December 1800. They had four children. Jessie died on 16th February and David on 26th February 1991.

• William Rendall Seatter b. 23rd April 1903 who married Annabella (Anna) Margaret Firth (b. abt. 1905) at Nether Button in Holm on 14th June 1923, the home of Anna’s parents, farmer William Firth and Annabella Emslie (or Aimsley). William was a farm servant at Papdale, Holm at the time. William and Anna had seven children.

• Peter Harcus Seatter b. 1905 who married Agnes Jean Firth (b. abt. 1906) on 14th October 1925 at the Paterson Manse in Kirkwall. Agnes was the sister of Anna who had married Peter’s older brother, William Seatter two years earlier. Agnes died on 9th December 1985 and Peter on 23rd June 1992.

• Thomas Drever Seatter b. 1908 and died on 25th December 1973. He was unmarried.

• James Reay Seatter b. 1909 who married Janet (Netta) Drever Patterson. They had six children. James died on 14th January 1998.

• Annie Jean Drever Seatter b. 19th January 1913 who married William (Billy) Gray Rendall

The family were still at Newark, where John Seatter came from, at the time of the 1901 census and had quite a large household already with Ann’s mother in law and brother in law as well as the start their of own family.

1901 - Newark No 3, Westray

	Relation	Status	Age	Occupation	Born
John Seatter	Head	Married	44 years	Farmer	Westray
Ann Seatter	Wife	Married	25 years		Westray
George Seatter	Son		6 years	Scholar	Westray
John Seatter	Son		4 years		Westray
Robert Seatter	Son		2 years		Westray
David Seatter	Son		1 month		Westray
Robert Seatter	Brother	Unmarried	58 years	Assist on farm	Westray
Francis Seatter	Mother	Widow	88 years	Dependant	Westray
Thomas Harcus	Servant	Unmarried	14 years	Carter on farm	Westray

Quoy was the nearest house to the Pharay Holm where the trawler “Hope” went ashore in 1908 and was wrecked. The survivors were put up at different houses on the island. One of John and Ann’s children was subsequently named after James Reay, whom they accommodated there.

The family moved to Lakequoy around 1928 when James Groat and Jane Drever left there. John and Ann’s son John Drever Seatter had married Barbara Groat, the daughter of James Groat and Jane Drever in 1926.

John and Ann moved back to Westray around 1936.

John Seatter died at Kincraig in Pierowall, Westray on 21st April 1941 at the age of eighty six. Ann Drever died almost twenty years later on 10th January 1961 at the age of eighty five.