Malcolm Cumming age 41 and Christina Cumming (her maiden name was Cumming as well) age 32. Marriage 16 October 1874 at Portmahomack, Tarbat, Ross & Cromarty, Scotland. Malcolm was a fisherman likely working for a nearby wealthy landowner who would typically rent a house to the people in their employ.
They were parents of William Cumming born October 1876. To add to the confusion they had just one other child who was also named William. He was born October 1875 and he must have died shortly after birth. It was very common to reuse a name in this situation in this era.
I visited Portmahomack a few years ago. It is a very picturesque village right on the ocean and was noted for commercial fishing in the days the Cumming family lived there. Today there is no longer any fishing in the area and most of the current residents commute to Inverness to work. There is some sheep farming and small local business but little else.
This is the ruins of all that remains of a house of the type they would have lived in. There would have been a gabled chimney at each end and a thatched roof. A very primitive affair in an area that no doubt has brutal winters with nothing to break the wind coming off the North Sea. This is a very flat treeless spot.
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