Robert Rait

[silverly]

Robert Rait was born in Edinburgh, Scotland 15 Aril 1807 and died in New York City on 1 February 1869. Scots in the Mid-Atlantic States 1783-1883 by David Dobson shows Robert Rait as a jeweler in New York city from 1833 to 1866. Robert Rait is listed on tax rolls as late as 1866 at his business address 261 Broadway.
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[dognose]

Robert Rait served his apprenticeship under James Muir. He appears on the Incorporation of Edinburgh's Apprentice Register as from the 5th October 1818.

Trev.
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[silverly]

Thanks Trev, I was just wondering about that. I hadn't found his immigration record yet, but I know there is more out there about him.
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[MCB]

Having come across the name Rait quite a few times on marks registered by silversmiths in the UK a family connection seemed possible.

The parents of Robert Rait were David Rait and Ann Crichton.
David Rait and Ann Crichton had another son born in 1796. They named him David.
David Rait appears on the Scottish Census of 1871 as a goldsmith and 74 years old. The only goldsmith of that name is the well known David Crichton Rait (presumably the Crichton part coming from his mother although he doesn’t seem to have been christened so) who registered marks in both Glasgow 1822 and Edinburgh 1844 and who founded something of a Scottish goldsmith and jewellery dynasty. He died in 1879.

It rather looks therefore that David Crichton Rait and Robert Rait were brothers.
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In the course of the research there was detail of Robert marrying Jean Aitchison (another well known Scottish silversmith’s name) in Scotland in November 1832 and his arrival in the USA in 1833. In the 1860 New York Census he is shown as a merchant, not shown to be married or to be head of the household but living with a family named Adland. The Census also shows an estimate of Robert’s worth as $50000!
A website showed he died of an epileptic fit in New York in February 1870 (1869?) a widower.

Mike
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[dognose]

Perhaps also to be identified with William Rait, who along with Walker Crichton, were both indentured to Adam Elder in 1826.

Trev.
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[silverly]

MCB, the U.S. Census Mortality Schedules, New York for the year ending June 1870 does report Robert Rait's death in the Month of February. Reluctantly because of my lack of faith in just one U S Census record as a source and without knowing where the biographer David Dobson got his information from for the 1 February 1869 death date, I'll go with the cenus record. Robert Rait's birth date comes from U S passport application records and were given by himself.

Coincidently, Robert Rait had a son named Crichton who was born 19 February 1845 in New York, New York.
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