Glenbuchat Heritage

62 Profeit Family Reunion

Profeit family reunion – after 130 years

Photographs 1&2 Louise and Victor at the Glenbuchat Bothy
Photographs 3&4 Outside the Glenbuchat Free Church

In about 1878, 133 years ago, James Riach Profeit left with his pregnant wife from the family farm in Towie Aberdeenshire to emigrate to Canada. He initially settled in Arthur Ontario. His son Alexander James Profeit eventually moved to Mayo in the Yukon where he died. The Profeit family lived in Mayo and Whitehorse. Alex Profeit was the first school teacher in Mayo. He came to the Yukon from Ontario in 1910 or 1911 and taught in Mayo from 1913 to 1915. Alex married Ellen Turgeon in Mayo. They had 10 children: Ella (Profeit) Rear, Isabel (Profeit) Tornai Maisie (Profeit) Morberg, Bessie (Profeit) Freisen, Dorothy (Profeit) Genier, Charlie, James (Lawrence and Mary.

Louise Profeit-LeBlanc was raised in the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun (English: First Nation of the Big River People) in the Yukon Territory in Canada. She grew up in the cultural lifestyle of the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, speaking the Northern Tutchone language, an endangered Athabaskan language. Louise was nurtured by the traditional stories told by her grandmother Ellen Profeit, a masterful storyteller. Many more elders shared their stories with Louise, and early on she dedicated herself to storytelling and to the promotion of Indigenous stories. Louise has travelled extensively sharing her stories at many International venues and Storytelling festivals and has provided storytelling workshops in her local community and across Canada.

Louise is also a visual artist, poet, and short story writer. She continues to demonstrate the necessity of utilizing the power of art to heal, educate and provide opportunities to others to voice the need for justice.

Louise is a member of the Nacho N’yak Dun First Nation from Mayo, in North-eastern Yukon. She is a mother, grandmother and a keeper of stories. She presently lives in Wakefield, Quebec with her husband Bob. She comes from a long line of traditional storytellers and her repertoire consists of stories related to her homeland, the Yukon. These stories tell of how the land was made, how her people lived and survived for thousands of years. Many of these stories refer to how everything in nature exists in balance but more importantly depict morals and teachings to live harmoniously with each other, while caring for the land, the water, and all living things. She is grateful and honoured of the privilege of having been passed down these stories by her Elders.

In November 2019. Louise was touring Scotland as part of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival

In Strathdon she visited the Towie graveyard to performs a traditional ceremony to honour her Scottish ancestors and at the Glenbuchat Bothy she shared her stories at a ‘Soup and Stories’ lunch.

Louise Profeit-Leblanc at Towie Kirkyard

Meanwhile in the UK Victor Jordan who was brought up in Deeside but worked in England, retired to Ballater. His great grandfather was Alexander Profeit the brother of James Riach Profeit. Alexander Profeit was a Local GP who became Queen Victoria’s Commissioner. This Louise Profeit LeBlanc and Victor Jordan therefore both had the same great great grandfather, Alexander Profeit of Towie.

On Saturday 26th October 2019 Louise and Victor met at the Glenbuchat bothy pop Up Café. They had the opportunity to share family details, stories and pictures. Photographs were taken at the Glenbuchat Free Church where their great grandfathers other brother William had been a minister.

No doubt they will have further contact to complete the family history.


Profeit Family History

Victor’s branch of the family

Alexander Profeit 1799–1862
Birth 24 OCT 1799 Towie,
Death 23 JULY 1862 Towie,
Parents
Alexander Profeit 1765–1843
Isabella Riach 1761–1848
Spouse
Mary Riach 1806–1880

Children
Alexander Profeit 1834–1897
Mary Profeit 1835–1841
William Profeit 1837–1913
John Profeit 1839–1912
James Riach Profeit 1842–1912
Maria Profeit 1845–

Alexander Profeit 1834–1897
Birth 27 OCT 1834 • Towie,
Death 27 JAN 1897 • Crathie,
Parents
Alexander Profeit 1799–1862
Mary Riach1806–1880
Spouse
Isabella Anderson 1842–1888
Children
Robert Alexander Profeit 1868–1954

Spouse
Eleanor Harrison Suplee 1869–1950

Mary Profeit 1869–1870
Charles William Profeit 1870–1937

Spouse
Helen Jessie Bett2 1871–

Alexander Profeit 1873–

Spouse
Ada Winifred Dickson 1867–1929

George Walker Profeit 1874–1923

Spouse
Annie Maud Bostock Smith 1880–1953

Albert Profeit 1876–1901
Leopold Profeit 1878–1917

Spouse
Dorothy Rundell 1888–

Erskine Grant Burnett Profeit 1880–1913
Victoria Helen Profeit 1883–1968

Spouse & Children
Harold Phillips 1877–1978
Violet Alexandra Phillips 1908-1983.

Violet Alexandra Jordan nee Phillips Born 15 March 1908
Married 11 Jan 1907 Bournemouth Registry Office
Spouse and Children
Thomas Charles Jordan
Victor Frederick john Jordan Born 9.11.1937

Souse 2
Elizabeth "Betty" Forbes 1839–
Child

Jane Jean Profeit 1861–1942

Louise’s Branch of the family

James Riach Profeit
1842–1912
Birth 3 AUG 1842 • Towie,
Death 23 JULY 1912
Parents
Alexander Profeit 1799–1862
Mary Riach 1806–1880
Spouse
Isabella Leslie Profeit 1842–1915
Children

James Profeit 1869–1870
Mary Profeit 1872–
Alexander James Profeit 1876–1943
Isabella v Profeit 1880–1974
John William Profeit 1883–1892


Alexander James Profeit 1876–1943
Birth 17 AUG 1876 Arthur, Wellington, Ontario, Canada
Death 10 JAN 1943 Mayo, Yukon, Canada
Parents
James Riach Profeit 1842–1912
Isabella Leslie Profeit 1842–1915
Spouse
Olive Grace Macdonald 1887–1910
Children

Private

Spouse 2
Ellen Johnson Turgeon 1900–1963
Children

Ella Profeit 1916–1992
Isabel Profeit 1918–1990
Maisie Mae Profeit 1920–1985
William Profeit 1922–1991
James alexander Profeit 1924–1969
Charles Profeit 1926–1988