Our Scottish Heritage

Barry Ewell of MyGenShare.com

2012-01-17T11:16:00.000-06:00

I'm excited ....... Barry now has a blog ........ a good one. Lots of fun short videos to watch and learn from. It will be interesting to see what he shares over time about his journey through genealogy.
Go check it out.
http://barrysblog.mygenshare.com/

Ancestry.com - a plethora of leaves

2011-11-15T06:50:00.002-06:00

I've been using Ancestry.com since it was a free site. Family trees for each of my grandparents are stored there on the public free section.
On a fairly regular basis I have been getting the leafy hints in my e-mail but could not attach the sources. Any research I've done at the site has been at the Franklin FHC, our local library, or through a couple of very kind, generous friends.
My husband recently surprised me with a subscription to Ancestry and I have been plowing my way through all the leaves attached to my ancestors. It will probably take months to get that all sorted out.
Major find - a descendant of my great great grandfather's sister Jane Fowler Lindsay. I'd about given up on ever finding her, or her daughter. It turns out she got married briefly, then moved to Australia and died a few weeks later. Her daughter was wooed over to Australia. It took her besotted intended two years or so to get her there :)
Once I knew what Jane's married name was it was fairly simple to find records for her at Scotlands People and some of her descendants through the Australian Electoral Rolls.
So some family names on my old calligraphy main line tree have now gloriously come to life and I finally feel at peace. I hope my newly found cousins and I can keep in contact.
Biggest surprise - most of my ancestors are not being researched by other Ancestry subscribers. A few of my "twiggy" cousins have worked hard at their research and I am impressed with their efforts. I won't be putting my BMD images or sources on my trees (which now includes one for my uncle's father). The BMD sources will remain at my web site or people can contact me for the info. I have not made up my mind about photographs yet.

Georgia Family History Expo Nov 11-12, 2011

2011-10-13T18:44:00.000-05:00

From my e-mail in box.

We are excited to invite you to the second annual Georgia Family History Expo to be held again in the Gwinnett Center, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth, Georgia, on November 11 and November 12, 2011.

Registration begins at 1:00 p.m., and the keynote address will begin at 2:00 p.m. This gives you plenty of time to check out exhibits before the program begins.

The exhibit hall is one of the best parts of the expo. Be sure to tell your friends and those curious about the expo but not committed to classes that the hall is open and free to the public. There will be excellent displays available for browsing in the exhibit hall.

Family History Expos’ Bloggers of Honor will be tweeting and blogging about the expo. You can follow the buzz by going to @FHExpos and searching on #fhexpo.

The opening keynote speaker will be M. Bridget Cook, who will speak on “Taking the Tiger by the Tail: Tackling Your Personal History with Creativity, Enthusiasm, Integrity, and Skill.” Bridget will share inspiring stories of human nature and teach attendees how to write their own lasting legacy.

The closing keynote speaker will be Holly T. Hansen, president of Family History Expos, Inc. Through Family History Expos, Holly has helped thousands understand techniques and technology that they can use to trace their roots in today's ever-changing technological environment.

Over 50 classes will be available and will cover a range of topics such as research tips, online resources, helps for writing personal histories, recent updates in FamilySearch (shared by staff from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah), and much more. You can review the class schedule at www.fhexpos.com/expos/

Exhibitors from throughout the U.S. will teach about the latest products and services available in the industry. Representatives from various genealogical societies will also be on site.

There is no cost for attending the keynote addresses, visiting the exhibit hall, or attending the three free classes on Saturday morning for family history consultants, stake directors and assistants, and priesthood leaders.

General questions relating to the expo should be directed to:

Family History Expos.com
P.O. Box 187
Morgan, UT 84050
E-mail: Expo@FHExpos.com
Phone: 1-801-829-3295
Web: http://www.fhexpos.com/expos/

Beginners Tip - when in doubt - Travel

2011-08-08T09:01:00.000-05:00

More often than not when you are doing Scottish research people disappear. If this happens with your relatives think ...... travel..... i.e. check other countries. A large # of Scots have emigrated either by force or by choice, through military deployment or other work.
In some instances my relatives were traveling on business or vacation and important events happened so the BMD records are in other countries.

I've spent the past two weeks doing some extensive internet "travel" in various parts of Canada, USA, and India as I researched family members related to my great-uncle and one of my cousins. (I'm on a major dry spell with my family so I am "puttering" around with other family members info.)

Orkney is the main study area for my great-uncle's family but for a long time I could not find his uncle. I happened across a query on the internet about the same person and lo and behold he had emigrated to New Jersey and had his family there. Then I ran across two of his brothers and their families in Nova Scotia ! The recorded "uncle" in NS is definitely NOT their "uncle" but as yet I have not worked out how they are related.

On my cousin's maternal line a lot of the research is in India military records, about the time Queen Victoria became Empress. Some of the family eventually moved to the same town I grew up in but I did not know that till about a couple of years ago. Small world.

Tip - At ScotlandsPeople there is a section called Minor Records, which is a useful area to look in if you have "lost" a relative. It provides some (but not all) records for Air Register, Consular Returns, Foreign Register, Foreign Returns, High Commission Returns, Marine etc. Returns, Marine Register, Marine Return, NRH, Other Returns, and Service Returns.

What internet resources did I use?
Google
ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk
FamilySearch.org
Ancestry.com
Genealogy.com
Rootsweb.com

I looked at some sites and books related to military history in India. Newspaper articles and local county sites for Nova Scotia (specifically Pictou County.)
For my home town I accessed the annual indexes for the local newspaper and found marriages and descendants. I also found a photograph on line for a family tombstone.
So by looking overseas I found siblings and their families, BMD's, christenings & burials, professions, immigration, census records, military records, newspaper articles, parents, and learned more about the history of the relevant time periods.

So travel on people and have fun exploring other countries and their resources.

Research Help - The Long, Long Trail

2011-07-19T09:10:00.001-05:00

The Long, Long Trail - The British Army in the Great War was an invaluable tool as I tried to do some background research on my grandfather's WWI POW experiences http://www.1914-1918.net/

Recruitment Timeline
1914 - call issued for volunteers to join the army
May 1915 - upper age limit raised to 40
15 July 1915 - National Registration Act - men between the ages of 15 and 65 to find out what their occupations were
11 October 1915 - Derby Scheme - voluntary enlistment/semi conscripted, war pension introduced.
27 January 1916 - Military Service Act - All British males between the ages of 19 to 40 (on August 1915), unmarried or widower (on 2 November 1915) were conscripted. This came into force on 2 March 1916. Most males were conscripted to the army unless they expressed a preference for the navy.
1 September 1916 - Training Reserves formed.
25 May 1916 - Military Service Act extended to include married men
10 April 1918 - extension of Military Service Act, age of conscription lowered to 18.

The site has so much information in it that it's probably better to dip into it at a leisurely, timed pace than try to look at it all at once. You will find general information about WWI, the army and more specific information about army units, battles, maps, finding service records - to name but a few. It helps that the site is split into three main parts - Soldiers, The British Army and The Great War. Thanks to Chris Baker for giving us this wonderful resource.

My grandfather was in the Royal Naval Division which later became the 63rd RND. He was in the 189th Brigade. While the RND was originally under the command of the admiralty it transferred to the army in 1916 and I was able to find useful information at the site.

The Scottish National War Memorial

2011-07-18T08:46:00.000-05:00

Gorgeous building but some of the tourists need to be a bit more respectful and show more reverence. There's no photography allowed inside but people still tried while we were there, and I found that upsetting.

The year was - 1898

2011-07-17T07:56:00.000-05:00

Since I am doing some research about my grandfather, John Wilson Hall, I thought I would take a look at the year of his birth - 1898. My grandfather was the second of six siblings, all of whom were born at the Schoolhouse, Drymen, Stirlingshire. His father John, was the schoolmaster and local registrar.

This photograph from my grandfather's WWI personal book shows his 4 sisters. Surprisingly there was no photograph of his parents or his brother. (Maybe they got separated since the pages are loose.)

Other family births in 1898 were few i.e. James McGeachie McEwan (brother-in-law of JWH) and Frances S. Hall (1st. cousin to JWH) and so far I have no deaths.

World Events
Royal Army Medical Corps formed within the British Army
Henry Lindfield - first fatality in a car accident on a public motorway.
Spanish-American War
First official game reserve established - Sabi Game Reserve in South Africa
First Italian Football League games played
Joshua Slocum completes a 3 year solo circumnavigation of the world
Pepsi-Cola given it's name
Marie & Pierre Curie announce discovery of radium
meat slicer invented by Wilhelm van Berkel
Will Kellog invents corn flakes
Klondike Gold Rush
Neon, Krypton and Xenon discovered

Some famous births
Alvar Aalto - Finnish architect
Dorothy Gish - actress
Golda Meir - PM of Israel
Norman Vincent Peale - minister
Henry Moore - sculptor
Peggy Guggenheim - art collector
George Gershwin - composer

Some famous deaths
Lewis Carroll - British writer
Charles Pelham Villiers - longest serving MP in British House of Commons
Aubrey Beardlesy - artist
Gustave Moreau - artist
William Gladstone - British PM
Otto von Bismarck - German statesman
Wilford Woodruff - 4th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

I have almost finished the first proof of grandpa's WWI POW memories. There's a few areas I would love to know more about but info "out there" is somewhat slim. My grandfather also wrote about a memorial visit the British Legion made to Europe so maybe I might find some information in there on my next trip to Scotland. (We did not have time to scan/copy all of that story.)

Family Obituary - William Seybourne Bailey

2011-07-12T07:27:00.001-05:00

Death of Hong Kong Shipbuilder. (Singapore Free Press. 8 January 1936. Page 12)

Mr. W.S. Bailey's Forty Years of Residence

The death of Mr. William Seybourne Bailey, managing director of W.S. Bailey and Co., Ltd., Kowloon Bay, took place at the War Memorial Hospital, Hong Kong, on Dec. 27 after a short illness, at the age of 76 years.
A resident of the Colony for the past 40 years, the late Mr. Bailey was one of the best liked and most highly respected business men in the Colony, having earned the affection both of friends and the staff of the firm which he so successfully established and managed.
Born in Ireland, the late Mr. Bailey was formerly connected with the Australian coasting trade and with the China coast, before going to Hong Kong. The firm of W.S. Bailey and Co. was formerly Messrs. Bailey and Murphy before the deceased took over the sole interest.
For many years the firm has had a high standing as shipbuilders and repairers, specialising in smaller craft, which were regarded a s models of good workmanship.
Mr. Bailey was also the builder of several river gunboats from the Canton Government.
Mr. Bailey was a keen sportsman, and his speciality was boxing. He figured, as a young man, in many a hard-fought contest and was at one time light-weight champion of the Colony. Long after he had retired from the ring Mr. Bailey, as referee and general patron of the sport, was still one of the leading figures in Hong Kong boxing.
Mr. Bailey was also a keen swimmer and a fine long-distance runner. Until a few years ago, all through the summer he would swim his three or four lengths at the Victoria Recreation Club, and then off for a run, to keep himself fit.
Mr. Bailey enjoyed extraordinary good health until about three years ago but, while in England, he had rather a serious illness. Though from then onward he had to take things more easily than had been his custom, he still kept hard at work and in fair health. He was only in hospital for four days, and his passing was unexpected.
Mr. Bailey was a life member of the Institute of Engineers and Shipbuilders; past president of the Kowloon Resident's Association; a member of the Hong Kong Boxing Association and of the Hong Kong Club.
He was formerly a member of the Kowloon Bowling Green Club and was also a keen and generous supporter of St. Andrew's Church.
Mr. Bailey is survived by a widow and four young children, two of whom are in Hong Kong and two at school in Australia having left here only a few weeks ago.

****************************

Jurors Lists for William Seybourne Bailey
1899 Merchant. Bailey's Engineering Agency. 17 Praya Central.
1900 Merchant. Bailey's Engineering Agency. 17 Praya Central.
1901 17 Praya Central, Hong Kong, China
1902 Merchant. Bailey's Engineering Agency. Hong Kong Hotel
1903 Merchant. Bailey's Engineering Agency. Hong Kong Hotel
1904 17 Praya Central, Hong Kong
1905 Merchant. Bailey's Engineering Agency. W.S. Bailey & Co. Hok-un
1906 Bailey's Engineering Agency. (does not show address)
1907 Bailey & Co Hong Kong Hotel
1908 Engineer. Bailey & Co., 20 Connaught Road.
1909 Engineer. Bailey & Co. Highlands, Kowloon
1910 Bailey & Co, Highlands, Kowloon

**********

Postcard of the Hong Kong Club Building c. 1905.
**********
"Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong, Shanghai, etc." by Arnold Wright vol 1. page 242 has a good description of the company W.S. Bailey & Co.
Here's a few details
Founded - 1897 by W.S. Bailey
Partnership - 1900 with Mr. E.O. Murphy
First order - 50 foot steam launch "Ida"for the Hong Kong Steam Laundry Company
1905 - upwards of 2,500 men employed in the yard
Some other ships built - Kwong Chow, Kwong Tung, Loong Sheung.
Customers included Messrs. Markwald & Co., the Imperial Chinese Navy, Standard Oil Co. of New York, Manila Govt.,
Non ship related - metal work for Kowloon-Canton Railway Terminal Station (1914)

"The senior partner, Mr. Bailey, was born in Dublin and served his apprenticeship as an engineer with the Australian Steam Navigation Company, of Sydney, N.S.W. He came to Hong Kong in 1890 and joined the Hongkong, Canton and Macao Steamboat Company Ltd., in whose steamers Honan and Heungshan he served until he started in business for himself. Mr. Bailey is a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London."
At the time the entry was written his partner Mr. Murphy was vice-president of the Institute of Marine Engineers, London.
********

St. Andrews Church c. 1906 shortly after it was built.

Family Obituary - William Field

2011-07-10T10:57:00.000-05:00

William Field, longtime Valley resident http://gazettenet.com

South Hadley - William F. Field, 89, formerly of Amherst, passed way on Sunday, May 22, 2011.
He was born in Los Angeles, Calif., the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. William Field. He was schooled in Philadelphia and held degrees from Westchester University, Temple University and the University of Maryland. He held an honorary degree from the University of Massachusetts.
He was employed at the University of Massachusetts, first as a teacher and later as Dean of Students, a position he held until he retired in 1988. He served for many years as Moderator of the Amherst Town Meeting. He enjoyed wood working, and designed and built parts of his home and much of the furniture it contained. His principal pleasures involved his home, his family and his dogs.
He was married in 1949 to the former Helen P. Long, who survives him. He is survived also by a son, Jonathan A. Field of Ft. Scott, Kan.; daughters, Nancy A. Field and her husband James Becker of Windsor, Conn., and Margaret J. Light and her husband Richard of Pelham; and grandsons, Tim, Alex and Jake Light of Pelham.
It was his wish that no funeral or memorial services be held. His family will gather at a later date to celebrate his life. It was his wish also that those who wish to remember him do so in the form of kindnesses to others. Obituary and Memorial Register at www.douglassfuneral.com

This is one of those "related through marriage" i.e. his wife Helen is my cousin. Her grandfather and my great-grandfather were brothers. We had a good phone conversation a few summers ago about Hall cousins we both knew.

Family Obituary - Jessie Joyce Lee

2011-07-08T10:58:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it can take a while for an obituary/tribute to pop up on-line. Even though I have been typing in my cousin's name every few months it only showed up (for me) yesterday at www.tributes.com

Jessie Joyce Lee
Born: December 10, 1922
Died: August 23, 2009
Residence : Concord, CA

Joyce Lee a 56 year Bay Area resident, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Sunday August 23, 2009. Joyce was born in Australia and moved to San Francisco in 1953. Over the years she had a full and happy life, had many friends, and was always ready to lend a helping hand. Beloved wife of the late Robert Lee; loving mother of Michael Lee; grandmother of David, Corinne and fiance Ryan, and Jason Lee; daughter of the late David and Nora McEwan; cousin of Shiela Oconnor of Michigan, dear friend of Theresa Greco and her beloved dog Poopsie.
Friends may visit Wednesday August 26 from 9am at Duggen's Serra Mortuary, 500 Westlake Ave, Daly City and are invited to attend the Funeral Mass at 11am at St.Bruno Church, 555 San Bruno Ave, San Bruno. Committal to follow at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the San Francisco S.P.C.A.

I had been in contact with her grandson a few years ago, but that fell apart when I mislaid his e-mail and the paperwork I had printed out. This is one of those moments when I feel really inefficient with regards to family paperwork and contacting. My grandmother (aunt to Joyce) would probably roll in her grave :(

Fireman's Memorial - London

2011-07-02T14:35:00.000-05:00

In a previous posting I said I would try and stop at the Fireman's Memorial when I went to London. It's across the street from St. Pauls Cathedral.

Looked what family name popped up on our recent vacation

2011-06-29T07:29:00.000-05:00

We were walking down some side streets in London with my brother and he showed us this one :)

"Walking" in the footsteps of a POW

2011-06-18T17:41:00.001-05:00

I've enjoyed reading my grandfather's POW story in a bit more depth and am looking forward to putting his whole story together. I hope I can find out more about the places he stayed and the people he knew.

Here's a brief timeline of events.
Sunday, December 30th 1917
early morning taken prisoner near La Vacquerie (Cambrai)
taken from the front line to the reserve line then to the collecting stations (cages)
About mid-day escorted by military
5.00 p.m. stopped to eat (first meal as prisoners)
9.00 p.m. arrived at Caudry - had dinner
Continued on to Le Cateau.

January 3rd. 1918
left by train for Le Quesnoy - a disinfecting and distributing station.

January 6th 1918
left in cattle trucks for Dulmen, Westphalia (passed through Belgium)

January 9th 1918
walked two miles from the train station to Dulmen Lager POW camp.

February 11th 1918
Left Dulmen for Kommando 40 in Lunen
Remained here till after the armistice and "worked"in the coal mine.

Saturday November 23rd. 1918
Marched to Munster Camp from Lunen

Monday November 25th 1918
walked to wayside station then took train to Enchede

Friday November 29th 1918
train from Enschede to Rotterdam via Utrecht. Marched to the docks.

Saturday November 30th 1918
boarded SS Londonderry and sailed down river. Anchored overnight.

Sunday December 1st 1918
Crossed the North Sea and anchored off the Cromer Light.

Monday December 2nd. 1918
Sailed up the Humber to Hull, (received a huge welcome home greeting), ate and left by train for Ripon.

Wednesday 4th December 1918
train from Ripon to Glasgow and home.
(some of the regular soldiers had not seen home for 10 years.)

10 US military were amongst the POW's taken with my grandfather to Le Cateau. He mentions their photograph being taken, probably for German propaganda purposes.

The Year Was -1837

2011-06-17T07:10:00.000-05:00

Janet Anton - great granddaughter of Frances Pierre/Pirie (mentioned in my The Year Was - 1745 posting), was born in the first year of the lengthy reign of Queen Victoria. The Anton family were members of the United Association Congregation of Lochee. For a while her parents were "keepers of orphans" though by profession her father's was a stone quarrier. Janet was known as Jessie and grew up in Backmuir of Liff, near Dundee. After she married William Colville, she spent most of her life living at 1 Fords Lane just off Perth Road in Dundee.
Dundee is famous for it's jute industry which became a major employer of workers from the 1830's. None of "my" Antons were employed in this industry and only one spouse of Jessie's siblings was. Dundee's population exploded from 4,135 in 1831 to 55,338 in 1841. My Anton parents/siblings/spouses were Quarriers, Guardian of children, Lodging House Keeper, Farmer, Baker, Master Draper/Tailor, Factory Overseer, Confectioner, Grocer & Spirit Dealer (William Colville), and Gardener.
Jessie had 4 older siblings - William, Margaret, Isabella and Susan and 1 younger sibling, Agnes. Her father was originally from Perthshire and after marrying her mother in Blairgowrie in 1828, they lived in Auchterhouse till about 1835. Backmuir of Liff is just a few miles south of Auchterhouse.

Watercolor painting of Queen Victoria by Alfred Edward Chalon.

Events
Sir Robert Peele installed as Lord Rector of Glasgow University
Buckingham Palace becomes the official royal residence
Pigot & Co's "National Commercial Directory for the Whole of Scotland and the Isle of Man" is published.
Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths begins in England and Wales.
Construction starts on Marischol College, Aberdeen University
Duncombe's Uprising - Ontario
Patriots Rebellion - Lower Canada
The Panic of 1837 - America
Samuel Morse patents the telegraph
William Crompton patents the silk power loom
Galilee earthquake
SmallPox epidemic - Great Plains
Flu epidemic

Some famous births
William Allan - Scottish Engineer and poet
John Thomson - Photographer
James Augustus Henry Murray - creator of the Oxford Dictionary
Mrs. Amanda Smith - missionary
William Harkness - astronomer
Ivan Kramskoy - artist
Robert Henry Elliot - farmer and originator of organic gardening

Some famous deaths
William IV - King of Britain
John Constable - artist
David Prentice - Founder of the Glasgow Chronicle
Francois Fabre - French artist/printmaker
Samuel Wesley - musician
John Field - musician
Robert Nicoll - poet

Greetings from Bonnie Scotland

2011-06-03T16:03:00.000-05:00

I was planning on doing some genealogy research and visit New Register House while here in Scotland. Well I've been doing some research but not quite in the way I was planning.
I transcribed my grandfather's WWI Prisoner-of-War memoir and had my brother scan a number of photographs, drawings and other items for me. Now I have the basis for some research that I can hopefully put together into a short book to give back to my family and the historical society in the town my grandfather grew up in.
We had the opportunity to go to Edinburgh yesterday and we chose to go to the castle, amongst some other places. The military exhibitions scattered round the castle are quite fascinating and in some instances, quite overwhelming. We started out at the Scottish Military History area, which I highly recommend. It appears to be one of the 'quieter' areas of the castle but definately prepares visitors well for the rest of the tour.

The Year Was - 1745

2011-05-29T12:06:00.000-05:00

Scotland was in a wee bit of an upheaval in 1745. Bonnie Prince Charlie had arrived to lay claim to the throne and the Jacobite Rising started. My ancestor Frances Pierre (or Pirie) arrived into the world during all of this tumult through Scotland and much of England. I wonder if the Pirie family were pro or anti Charles?
The family lived in Newtyle Parish, a few miles north of Dundee, and had done so for many a year. Dundee itself, was heavily garrisoned by the Jacobites in late October of 1745.
Eventually the Pirie family moved to Dundee by way of Lundie, Auchterhouse, Backmuir and Liff .
This is one of my families that spelled their surname in a variety of ways, even amongst the siblings e.g. Pourie, Pierry, Pierre, Pyrie, Piery, Perry, and Pirie. The surname, seemingly, is of early medieval English origin and means "someone who owned or lived near a pear tree." Somewhere I also have information that the name originated in France.

I wish I could say I know lots about Frances, but I don't and I only know little bits about the straight line family I am descended from until it gets to my great great grandparents generation :)

Some other events
"God Save The King" sung for the first time in public.
Jacobite Rising which led to the Disarming Act of 1746 that prohibited the wearing of the kilt and the playing of bagpipes (till 1782).
Court of Session Act, Scotland
Highland Peasant Uprising
Jacques Duval performs first cataract surgery, France
Cattle plague - Gloucestershire
Battle of Prestonpans
First recorded ladies cricket match takes place near Guilford, Surrey
Skirmish of Clifton Moor (last land battle on English soil)
Treaty of Dresden
1st Carillon Bells in America shipped to Boston from England
Yoshimune Tokugausa - shogun of Japan resigns
Battle of Fontenoy
Schonbrunn Palace chapel is concecrated

Some famous births
Henry James Pye - poet
Johan Peter Frank - Entomologist and physician

Some famous deaths
Robert Walpole - first PM of Britain
Tomass Antonio Vitali - violinist and composer
Jonathan Swift - writer

We are about half way through our trip to Scotland. Even with the funky weather we have managed to get about a bit and enjoyed seeing lots of historical sites. Tomorrow we are planning on going back to Glasgow to visit Kelvinside. Hopefully this time round we won't get caught in any type of weather that cancelled all trains last week (we got 'home' on a bus).
So it appears that Scottish regional libraries are none too happy that they are not being given copies of the new 1911 census records. It has the potential to make it somewhat inconvenient for those people visiting, or living in, very specific areas if they do not have access on-line to ScotlandsPeople or physically to Edinburgh. I for one, did a huge amount of research at Stirling Cental Library the last few times I visited.

The Year Was - 1687

2011-05-17T11:44:00.000-05:00

I have one uncle and occasionaly I do research on his family. One of his lines is the Gatherum family from Fife, which has a goodly number of people researching them. Janet Morgan married John Gatherum. Her grandfather was John Auchterlonie who was born 29 January 1687 in Ceres, Fife.

Auchterlonie is an unusual surname, and Othirlonay in Forfar is credited with being the geographical origin of the name. A variation of the name was first recorded in the early 13th century - 1226 John de Othirlony - "Land Charters of Forfar." Lonie is the more common modern version of the surname.

Census records
1841 - 22
1851 - 86
1861 - 104
1871 - 135
1881 - 189
1891 - 272
1901 - 304
1911 - 261

Births 1855-2009 = 907
marriages 1855-2009 = 317
deaths 1855-2009 = 823
OPR's births & christening 1538-1854 = 207
OPR's banns & marriages 1538-1854 = 139
OPR's death & burials 1538-1854 = 83
Catholic births & baptisms 1703-1992 = 2
wills & testaments 1513-1901 = 30

The village of Ceres is not far from where I was born and is currently home to The Fife Folk Museum. The men of the village were involved in the Battle of Bannockburn (1314). The village itself was built some time in the 12th century and was built round a village green (which was a rarity in Scotland).

Some world events
The Sedan Chair is introduced as public "for hire"in Edinburgh.
Scottish Declaration of Toleration (The Declaration of Liberty of Conscience) - Moderate Presbyterians allowed to worship in private homes, Quakers allowed to worship anywhere and Catholics allowed to hold public office.
The St. Andrew Jewel made for James VII and II. It was completed in 1688.
Isaac Newton publishes "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica"
First South African vineyards established
The Parthenon in Athens is severely damaged by mortar attack. Gunpowder was being stored in the building.

Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is founded "wha daur meddle wi me'"
Guillame Amontons invents a hygrometer
Tulleys Almanac first publication

Famous births
Robert Simson - Scottish mathematician
William Stukeley - one of the founders of modern archaeology

Famous deaths
Jean-Baptiste Lully - composer
George Villiers - 2nd Duke of Buckingham
Henry More - English philosopher
Geminiano Montanari - astronomer
Nell Gwynn - mistress to Charles II
William Petty - scientist
Constantijn Huygens

The Year Was -1770

2011-05-13T16:16:00.000-05:00

Way back when ............ David Lyon was born. Not exactly a direct ancestor. He was grandfather to my g-g- aunt's husband. Like many people of his time he was a weaver (often an "at home" occupation.)
David was born at Kirkton of Panbride, a parish near Dundee. The village of Panbride was not formed until about 1800. The parish, historically, has a connection with St. Bridget of Ireland. At the north end of the parish stood Panmure House (now demolished) nicknamed "the big hoose" by the locals.

Geographically the area is situated near the the mouth of the Firth, and way back in time was completely submerged.
At some point David and his family moved to Dundee. Any census records show him at Todsburn Entry, Wellgate with his wife, Ann (who hailed from Aberdeenshire). All of their children were born in Dundee.
It appears that a number of the inhabitants in the area of Todsburn were a mighty feisty bunch, probably because of their business usage of the burn - the miller and the brewer, in particular, had issue with each other.
During the time that David and his family lived in Dundee there was a number of Cholera and Typhus outbreaks due to sanitation, or lack thereof, issues.

1770 some world events
Marie Antoinette marries Louise-Auguste (Louis XVI)
James Cook discovers New Holland (Australia)
Boston Massacre
Townsend Acts repealed
Battle of Cesme
The toothbrush was invented in the 1770's :)
first Orange Lodges created
St. Andrew Square Garden (Edinburgh) created
Scottish explorer James Bruce finds the Tissisat Falls and the source of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia
Bubonic Plague starts in Russia
Falkland Crisis
Lexell's Comet passes by
British Linen Company switches to banking
The first eraser, made from rubber, is created
Famine in Bengal - about 10 million died

Some famous births
William Wordsworth - poet
Frederick William III of Prussia
Ludwig von Beethoven - composer
George Canning - British PM
Johann Friedrich Schubert

Some famous deaths
James Stirling - Scottish mathematician
George Grenville - PM of Britain

Something to think about - cemetery/burial records

2011-05-09T11:59:00.000-05:00

A lot of people get aggravated trying to locate cemetery/burial records for their ancestors. If you fall into that category - that would be me - take a wider look at what epidemics, plagues, severe illnesses were going on at the time your "missing" ancestor was buried.
Many plague victims were deposited, sometimes in large groups, in special areas away from the main burial sites.
If you are lucky there might be some kind of record in existence even though there might not be a tomb stone.

The Year Was -1828

2011-05-07T12:39:00.003-05:00

Sturrock Arthur - I love that name and it shows up in various forms amongst his descendants. He was born in 1828 near Tealing in Forfarshire. He was known as "Stroke" and as far as we can tell only two of his children lived into adulthood. His daughter Mary married William Lindsay and her brother Thomas married Wilhelmina Gunn. Thomas descendants live on this side of the "big puddle" just a few states away from me and are actively researching "their" side of the Arthur family :)
There were 5 other siblings, 4 of whom definitely died as babies (Charlotte, Arthur, James and Robert). William is still unaccounted for and I'm thinking I'll put him on my list of family to research on my trip to Scotland.
"Stroke" was my great-great-grandfather. He and his family moved around the Dundee area and show up in a different home on each census record. He was a Calenderer by profession, which means he operated machinery (calender) that used two large rollers or plates, to press and finish fabric. Later in life he was a Cloth Packer.
He died in 1907 just a few months short of his 80th birthday from "Senile Degeneration" i.e. old age. He outlived his slightly younger wife by 16 years.

So what was going on in the world in 1828?
1828 was a Leap Year
Bubonic Plague
Duke of Wellington becomes Prime Minister of Britain
New Corn Law in Britain
"Websters Dictionary" published
"Birds In America" vol 1 by J.J. Audoban published
Lord William Cavendish Bentinck becomes Governor-General of India
Casparus van Wooden patents chocolate milk powder
Rene Caillie is first non-Muslim to enter Tombouctou (Timbukto)
Russia declares war on Turkey
Zoological Gardens open at Regent's Park, London
Circuit Courts (Scotland) Act
Kaspar Hauser found wandering in Nuremberg
St. Catherine's dock opens in London
Andrew Jackson elected 7th president of USA
6.8 earthquake strikes Japan
"The Fair Maid of Perth" and "Tales of a Grandfather" by Sir Walter Scott published
J.B. Neilson invents the hot-blast furnace
Maitland Club founded
Burke & Hare murders in Edinburgh
"Dedham Vale" by John Constable
Glasgow Asylum for the Blind built

Some famous births
Jules Verne
William Randal Cremer - politician & pacifist
Margaret Oliphant - writer
Jean Henri Dunant - founder of Red Cross
Dante Gabriel Rossetti - painter
Nikolai Chernyshevsky - Russian philosopher
Giovanni Rossi - composer
Leo Tolstoy - writer
Henrik Ibsen -
Josephine Butler
Joseph Wilson Swan - physicist and inventor of incandescent light bulb
John Rhind - sculptor

Some famous deaths
Francisco Goya - artist
Shaka - founder of Zulu Kingdom
Dugald Stewart - Scottish philosopher
Rachel Jackson - wife of 7th US PresidentAndrew Jackson
Sophie Maria of Russia (wife of Tsar Paul I)
Carl Peter Thunberg- Swedish naturalist
Hongi Hika - New Zealand Maori chief
Gilbert Charles Stuart - portraitist
Franz Schubert - composer
William Thornton - designer of US State Capitol

I mentioned earlier in this post that the "other" Arthur's have been working on their genealogy. Thomas and his family originally settled in Omaha, Nebraska and there is a nice index site available for marriages
http://omahamarriages.wordpress.com/
There's also an index site for obituaries http://omahaobits.wordpress.com/
I found some information at both sites :)

The History of Scottish Fire Brigades

2011-04-28T11:23:00.000-05:00

As far as I know I never had any ancestors that served in the Fire Brigade (modern day cousins, yes). If you have ancestors, then here's an interesting site, if you don't it's still interesting :)
http://www.btinternet.com/~graeme.kirkwood/

Since I am currently trolling around the general area of Dundee in my family research, I thought I'd look up what the site had to say.
Here's a wee bit of it.

Firemasters

1835 to 1837	Superintendent T. Matthew
1837 to 1845	Superintendent J. Coutts
1845 to 1870	Superintendent James Fyffe
1870 to 1873	Superintendent John W Fyffe
1873 to 1898	Captain Robert Ramsay
1898 to 1903	Captain John Ramsay
1903 to 1937	Captain James S Weir MIFireE
1937 to 1941	Firemaster William MacKay

Equipment

1904
2	Steam Engines,350 gallons capacity
1	Manual Engine (obsolute, not used)
1	70' Horsed Fire Escape
1	Horsed Hose Tender
1	General Service Waggon
1	Hand Hose Reel
4	Hand Pumps
14	Stand Pipes
23	Branch Pipes
6	Scaling Ladders
2	15'Pompier Ladders and Belts
4	Horses belonging to the Department
8,300 yds	Canvas Hose 2 1/2"

1905
Received an additional Horse Hose Tender.

Calls to fires

1904 - 146

1905 - 137

1913 - 235

There's also information about where the fire brigade was located, some salaries, staff (some locations list the names).

Some other districts also have breakdowns on the kinds of fire trucks.

AD43 - the Romans invaded Britain and the first fire fighters were organized - basically buckets of water.

1666 - Great Fire of London. As a result Nicholas Barbon introduces fire insurance then sets up his own fire brigade. Insurances companies set up their own fire brigades but only attended those buildings insured by their clients.

1672 - fire hose invented by Jan Van der Heiden

1725 - fire engine developed by Richard Newsham

1810 - Napoleon Bonaparte creates the "Sapeurs-Pompiers"

1824 - First public fire brigade in Britain is established in Edinburgh by James Braidwood. He later took charge of the London Fire Engine Establishment which had been created in 1832. He developed the strategy of entering buildings to fight fires.

http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst925.html

1938 - Fire Services Act

1947 - Fire Services Act 1947 returns fire brigades to local authority control

It would be difficult for me to sum up the operations of fire brigades (in Britain) in a few sentences because of all the changes that have occurred over the years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Fire_Brigades_of_the_United_Kingdom

The Scottish Fire Heritage Group http://www.ayeready.org/ has got a lot of resources in their LINKS section.

A wee hint - if you had male ancestors living in Edinburgh, in the early to mid 1800's, who were tradesmen e.g. slaters, carpenters, masons and plumbers, or sailors, they might have been volunteer firemen.

When I'm in London in a few weeks time I'll try and pay a visit to the Firefighters Memorial near St. Paul's Cathedral. Last time I was there it was pouring rain so I did not take time to stop. http://www.firefightersmemorial.co.uk/

http://www.fireservice.co.uk/history

The Year Was -1805

2011-04-26T14:55:00.001-05:00

My main paternal line stops at 1805 and I'm hoping if I research some other events it might spark other avenues to explore.

Twas the time of the Napoleonic Wars. The Battle of Trafalgar was fought. Lord Horatio Nelson died. Napoleon was crowned king of Italy.

If you want to find out if one of your ancestors fought in the Napoleonic Wars try searching at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/trafalgarancestors/ I found a John McKellar from Bute, now I just have to work out if he is one of mine.

Did you know that -
Dayton, Ohio was incorporated (I had to put that one in since my husband grew up near there.)
Tangerines appeared in Europe from China.
The modern matchstick was invented by K. Chanel
Jane Austen's father moved his family to Bath.
"The Beauties of Scotland" 5 vols. by Robert Forsyth was published.
The Beaufort Wind Scale was devised.
Sir Walter Scott wrote "The Talisman".
George Greenough did a geological tour of Scotland

Famous births

Hans Christian Andersen - writer
Horatio Greenough - sculptor
Samuel Palmer - painter
Franz Xavier Winterhalter - artist and engraver
William Harrison Ainsworth - writer
Joseph Smith jr. - founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Famous deaths
Jean-Baptiste Greuze - artist
Friedrich von Schiller - dramatist and poet
Alexander Carlyle - Scottish church leader

Another WWI casualty

2011-04-21T10:03:00.002-05:00

I'm old enough to have grown up around a lot of people that were impacted by WWI. Last night I was doing some research on one of my great grandparents when up pops an e-mail.

Stewart Greig
son of Lyall and Jessie Stewart Greig of Dundee
Lance Corporal Royal Marine Light Infantry (CH/15295)
Killed, age 34, after HMS Hogue was sunk by U9 off the Dutch coast. 22/09/14
Commemorated on Chatham Naval Memorial.
Source: CWGC Casualty Details Data Base.

That's all it said.

Stewart's mother was sister to my gggrandfather John Kirkwood Stewart. At the moment they are the only two of the 9 siblings that I have done any research on. They had an older brother and the remaining 6 were younger. My dad grew up near his Stewart cousins.

So I took a wee detour, checked out the information and added a lot to it :) Here's some of it.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ has some information.

Greig, Stewart
register # 11266
division Royal Marine Light Infantry, Plymouth Division
when enlisted: 02 December 1901
date: 19 April 1881
catalogue ref: ADM 159/79
depart: Records of the Admiralty, Naval Forces, Royal Marine, Coastguard, and related bodies
series: Admiralty: Royal Marines: Registers of Service
piece: 10916-11464
image ref. 351/332

War was declared 4 August 1914
Stewart died 22 September 1914 in what I learned was a really famous incident (from the German perspective) at the time involving a German U9 boat and 3 ships, Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy.
Alan Coles wrote a book specifically about the incident "Three Before Breakfast"(1979).

There's a very sobering list of WWI Royal Navy and Dominion Navies casualties here http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1914-09Sept.htm (This is the September page.)

A concise write up on the event can be found at http://www.maritimequest.com/daily_event_archive/2005/sept/22_cruiser_force_c.htm

After reading about the ships, nicknamed "The Live Bait Squadron" and the circumstances surrounding the incident "it was an accident waiting to happen", it's a sobering thought that it only took HMS Hogue 10-15 minutes to sink and that if zig-zag protocol had been stuck too maybe many of the deaths (abt. 1400) might have been avoided. Hogue was attempting to rescue survivors from Aboukir.

http://www.cityofart.net/bship/hms_terrible.html (scroll down to the Cressy Class)

http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/cressy.htm
As usual it annoys me that memorials like Chatham Naval Memorial get vandalized. We need to be more respectful of those that fought to give us freedom http://www.cwgc.org/ Many were scared, young men with inadequate training, trying to do the best they could in horrible circumstances. (IMHO)

Lance Corporal Stewart S. Greig was added to the CNM Find a Grave Memorial on May 23 2006 (#14372098). A copy of the Memorial Register is kept in the Naval Chapel of Brompton Garrison Church, other copies are kept at Chatham Library.

"In honour of the Navy and to the abiding memory of these ranks and ratings of this port who laid down their lives in the defence of the Empire and have no other grave than the sea."

Gate photo courtesy of http://nobeatenpath.com/
It's somewhat ironic that for about 2 years (in the mid 1980's) I lived 40 miles NW of Chatham and at the time never knew anything about the memorial.

The year was - 1849

2011-04-20T13:26:00.005-05:00

I have a fondness for my g-g-aunt Ann Kay nee McKellar. I don't know a whole lot about her and have not been able to track down any descendants yet. I do know that she was a very talented stitcher because I have one of her samplers in my possession. She was a shopkeeper by profession and had 5 children, that I know of. Ann was born, raised, and died on the Isle of Bute. She did make some visits to the mainland to visit her sister who was living in Glasgow.
So I decided to use her birth year - 1849- as the first of my "The year was ...." mini series. I'm in a mood to explore Scottish history and put my relatives into some social context.
Our relatives may, or may not, have been impacted by greater events and it definitely is useful to know what was going on during their lifetime.

It's somewhat ironic that my little delve into Scottish history would find Peter Hume Brown who also was born in 1849. He is credited with being the first professor of Scottish history at Edinburgh University and slanted his classes toward placing Scotland in a European context.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hume_Brown

The "Highland Clearances" were at the tale end of that sorry episode. The bareness, and barrenness, of the Highlands led to some wonderful art and writings, so I suppose some good came out of it.

There was an epidemic of Cholera, including Glasgow (where 3,777 died.) Ick :(
Thomas Carlyle visited Ireland in July and wrote about the effects of the famine.
Edinburgh and Bathgate railway opened, as it did in a number of other towns round Scotland.
600 people left the Isle of Tiree bound for Canada.
Multiple Sclerosis was first diagnosed.
California Gold Rush.
Inverurie Catholic Church was consecrated.
Rosslea Hall, Helensburgh, built for Daniel Walkinshaw.
Ness Bridge (Inverness) destroyed by a flood.
1.5% of Scotland's population was from England - 39,000.
David Livingstone was traveling from Mabotsa trying to find a waterway across the African continent.
Auchen Castle built
Tileworks opened at Kilchattan Bay, Isle of Bute.
Corn Laws abolished.
Battle of Novara
Britain annexes Punjab
Ardnamurchan Lighthouse built.
Alexander Duff, first Duke of Fife, was born
First edition of "Who's Who" published

Family births in 1849
William Robertson Lindsay (great grandfather, Angus)
William Colville (cousin, Perthshire)
Margaret Audus (cousin, Orkney)
Elisabeth Bissett (cousin, Fife)
Kay Brownson (cousin, England)
David Gardner (cousin, Stirlingshire)
David Howie (cousin, Ayrshire)
Mary Robertson (cousin, Orkney)
Ann Smith (cousin, Forfar)
William Thorburn (cousin, Bute)
Mary Ann Wilson (cousin, England)
Janet McArkley Wighton (cousin, Forfar)
Robert Charles Williamson (cousin, Midlothian)
Janet Weir (cousin, Fife)
George Watson (cousin, Scotland)
Mary Ann Watson (cousin, Fife)

map of Scotland 1849 drawn and engraved by J. Rapkin

The Original Scots Colonists of Early America" 1612-1783

2011-04-18T11:12:00.000-05:00

David Dobson has done a ton of research over the years about Scottish immigration to the Americas.
Quote
"The Scottish participation in the settlement of America dates from the early seventeenth century, and from that time until the American Revolution probably around 150,000 Scots emigrated to the New World. During the seventeenth century many Scots settled within the English, Dutch and French colonies, while others attempted to establish independent colonies in Nova Scotia, New Jersey, South Carolina, and at Darien (Note: Darien is the Scots' name for Panama. --GB). After the political union of Scotland and England in 1707 the Scots had unrestricted access to the English plantations in America. Emigration expanded slowly but steadily until 1736 when a combination of factors in Scotland and America stimulated emigration, especially from the Highlands. Although Scots could be found throughout the American colonies from Barbados to Rupert's LAnd, areas such as Georgia, the Carolinas, upper New York, Nova Scotia and Jamaica had the greatest concentration of Scottish immigrants. This then was the general pattern of Scottish immigration and settlement in colonial America."
Source - "The Original Scots Colonists of Early America"1612-1783, David Dobson

I highly recommend reading any of his publications though be prepared for lists, and lots of them. I am currently reading "The Scottish Surnames of Colonial America."
I have the Arthur surname in my family and here's what the book says - Arthur. Probably from the Gaelic "Artair", also MacArthur, from "MacArtair". Their traditional lands were in Lorne in Argyll. Isabel Arthur, from Edinburgh, emigrated to Philadelphia in 1775, and Duncan McArthur from Jura settled in North Carolina in 1754. Linked with the Clan Campbell or the ClanMacArthur."

If you have Scottish Quakers in your lineage then check out "Scottish Quakers and Early America, 1650-1700." Very interesting.

One of his newest releases is "Genealogy at a Glance: Scottish Genealogy Research" a 4 page laminated resource for conducting research. It includes tips, publications and in-line resources. (where would most of us be nowadays in our research without on-line resources.) I'm looking forward to getting my own copy and trying it out.

Ship Passenger Arrival Records and Land Border Entries

2011-04-15T09:31:00.006-05:00

Most people in these parts have immigrant ancestry so the topic of port entry comes up fairly regularly.
Not everyone came in though Ellis Island or the main ports of call earlier in history. Ships captains were not obligated to keep, or hand over, a list of passengers till after 1820. A goodly number of people came in through Canada or South America. Not all immigrants flowed from north to south or east to west.
A good start off point is to check the introduction page at the National Archives (Washington DC). There's lots of general background information and resources.
http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/
and
http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/passenger-arrival.html#colonial
If your British ancestry came "By Way of Canada" you might be interested in this article by Marian L. Smith
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2000/fall/us-canada-immigration-records-1.html
and
http://www.theshipslist.com/Research/canadarecords.htm
Another useful listing of, and about, port entries can be found at http://www.genesearch.com/ports.html
Irish Ancestry - check here - http://www.genealogybranches.com/irishpassengerlists/
History of the INS - http://www.uscitizenship.info/ins-usimmigration-insoverview.html
A few years ago I had a lengthy talk with one of the ships experts in Edinburgh. His advice to anyone researching from the US was to exhaust all possibilities here (US) first before attempting to research in the UK.

A starter tip when reading birth records

2011-04-12T11:57:00.001-05:00

If you are going to make a photocopy of an original Scottish birth record OR make a digital copy double check the back side. Oftentimes the christening/baptism date was written on the back (mine being an example). Also check information that might have been added onto the certificate at a later date. I have a number of birth certificates where the christening dates have been written in, and signed by the minister.

I have copies of a number of OPR pages that I am revisiting. I originally got them because a specific family member was recorded on each page. One page I am currently "re-visiting" has two or three other people on it that are family but I did not know that at the time the copy was made.

I also have both copies of the Certificate of Proclamation of Banns that were posted for my maternal grandparents. The marriage date was written in after the event on both copies by the minister. One of the pieces of paperwork is "suitable for framing" :)

The Scots-Irish: The Thirteenth Tribe

2011-04-09T07:56:00.006-05:00

The longer I live in the south the more questions I get asked about Ireland, specifically the "Scotch-Irish". Yesterday during our question and answer session at our local genealogy group my mind went completely blank when asked for resources and unfortunately I did not have my resources book with me :( (It's at the Franklin FHC if anyone is interested in looking.)

Northern Ireland (Belfast)
PRONI - Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
http://www.proni.gov.uk/

Southern Ireland (Dublin)
General Register Office
http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm

National Library of Ireland
http://www.nli.ie/

Find My Past Ireland (new)
http://blog.findmypast.ie/

I have issues with the term "Scotch-Irish" and consider it a purely American "tag" made for convenience sake. Having said that it did originate with the Protestant Irish to separate themselves from the newer Catholic Irish immigrants. Here's some sources about the history.

The Scots Irish - The Thirteenth Tribe
www.ulsterancestry.com/ulster-scots.html

Tracing the Scots Line
http://barlowgenealogy.com/Resources/scots-irish.html

Scottish and Scotch-Irish Americans
http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Pa-Sp/Scottish-and-Scotch-Irish-Americans.html

Scotch Irish Emigration to America
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mcclell2/homepage/migrate.htm

The Irish Story
http://www.theirishstory.com/

This wee Scots lass with Irish ancestry is currently trying to work out why her ancestor moved from Ireland to Scotland. I guess I better hit the history books again. Looking at the time period 1790'ish thru 1815.

Book Review- History for Genealogists......

2011-04-08T12:29:00.002-05:00

The full title is "History For Genealogists. Using Chronological Time Lines to Find and Understand Your Ancestors" by Judy Jacobson, a very long title for a very interesting little book. Very well researched.

It mainly covers USA state timelines and history BUT there's a bit about Scotland at the start and a number of European sections. I'm still reading the book and enjoying it very much.

How did I find the book? My friend Rick attended my class on Timelines and when he saw the book thought I would be interested in reading it. He came into the FHC and I have it on loan from him. I need to buy my own copy because I guarantee I will use it often :)

Here's a taste of some of Judy's timelines -

Major revolutionary war events and battles

foreign military and armed engagements

uncivil disobedience

epidemics

international disasters

the rise of labor unions

Judy has a lot of concise, well written "shorts" that are packed full of information. A great jump off point to take your own research further e.g. Meandering Boundaries, Ghost Towns, Orphan Trains, The Lost Three States, America's Historical Migration Patterns, to name but a few.

Chapter 2 is specifically about how and why to create Time Lines.

For more information about the book go to http://www.genealogical.com/products/History%20for%20Genealogists/9956.html

With all the junky weather, bronchitis type stuff that's been going round the family and my own lack of transportation on occasion, today was the first time this year that I was able to go to our local family history group. Thanks to Bob for highlighting my blog at his web page and to everyone who came to our question and answer session. Hopefully between the two of us we were able to provide decent information :)

Personal Past Meditations-A Genealogical Blog

2011-04-06T11:28:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking recently about genealogy blogs that I really like and would like to share with others.
Dr. Daniel Hubbard has a wonderful blog (IMHO). Lots of wonderful information that is very concisely written and reflects his sense of humor :) http://thepersonalpast.com/
It's not got a huge amount of information about my area of research - Scotland BUT it does have a ton of information that is useful for any kind of family history research.
One of his recent postings entitled "Who Will They Think We Were?" raises some very good points about when a future genealogist might be researching him.
Daniel lives in the house that his grandfather built. There are plenty of records locally indicating that Daniel lived/lives there BUT does that tell the whole truth? In this case ..... NO..... because Daniel has travelled extensively, married abroad and had some of his children abroad also.
So while we are focusing on researching our own ancestry remember that one day one of our descendants might research us. What information will we leave behind in our own paper trail? Will it be accurate or shrouded in family myth?
My descendants might get upset with me because I am not an active journal writer and do not come from a family that does. I have stories that I am writing down and photographs that I am collecting, but will it be enough to flesh out the official documents?

The good doctor has a topics section in his side-bar that takes you to interesting postings on such things as experimental genealogy, forgotten history.
If you live in the USA here's a good resource from his writings that could prove useful - Sanborn Maps. http://www.thepersonalpast.com/2010/06/14/a-memory-trip-down-any-lane/What are they? Fire insurance maps. How many of you would have thought to look there for family history information?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanborn_Maps
And why is the good doctor so interested in the maps himself? http://www.thepersonalpast.com/2011/03/06/taking-walks-with-the-census-taker-and-my-dad/
I love how it links into expanding upon the use of census records AND how it got his dad talking.

Addendum - The British equivalent of Sanborn would be Goad and they can be found at the British Library http://www.bl.uk/.

So excited ......

2011-04-05T13:00:00.002-05:00

...... because I am heading off to Scotland in May, with two of my daughters in tow, to visit my parents. So far we have our flight to and from London booked (we want to visit my brother) and just have to take care of booking the short hop up to Edinburgh. We have a 4 hour lay-over in Toronto, Ontario on the way over and will be in spitting distance of some family history locations there. I've already had the "no you cannot leave the airport to go visit ......." speel.
To make good use of my family history opportunity in Scotland I'm going to have to make some tough decisions about who and what I will have time to research.
How to incorporate touristy stuff for my daughters with family places I would like to see.
How much time can I actually spend at New Register House in Edinburgh without the girls "buying up" the whole city :) Last time I was in Edinburgh the new section of NRH was still being built and I so want to see the changes AND check out the newest census record releases (1911).
What research information/notes do I want to take with me just in case there are issues with internet access.
Which cousins do I contact and visit, etc. etc. etc.
I had camera issues last time I did research over there so one of my questions to myself is "Do I want to revisit some areas to get decent photographs or do I want to go to areas not visited before?"

Season Two: The Generations Project

2011-03-28T15:14:00.000-05:00

The second season of BYUtv’s The Generation Project premiers Monday, March 28 at 7:00 p.m. MDT. The Generations Project is a reality-based family history show that uncovers the remarkable stories and family histories of everyday people. The people take a hands-on journey to learn about their ancestors, and in the process they discover more about themselves.

The second season of The Generations Project “takes you from Germany to Holland to New York's 'Little Pakistan' and everywhere in between, following eleven journeys into the past: the Denkes explore the origins of their children’s life-threatening genetic disease. Kerry hopes his ancestors will help him find his estranged son, and Ty delves into his complicated heritage as a son of Nazi Germany. They along with eight other guests engage with the past to understand the present.”

BYUtv is available through many local satellite and cable companies. In addition, The Generations Project can be viewed live online at http://www.byutv.org (you'll need to register for a free account to view the show live). All episodes are also available to be viewed immediately after airing at http://www.byutv.org/thegenerationsproject/episodes (no registration required).

 A link to more information has been placed on the home page of the FamilySearch.org website.

I was contemplating 10 things then ........

2011-01-20T18:24:00.000-06:00

we got snow and the kids were out of school all last week ........ and guess what ....... it's currently snowing so they might be out tomorrow. So before I get side-tracked with other things ..... yet again ... here's my 10 things that have surprised, humbled or enlightened me about my ancestors (and my search).
1. If there is no paper trail, there's no paper trail.
Sometimes records just plain do not exist, and it's not because "there was a fire and the court burned down." So our ancestor William Lindsay is still without parentage and no records that exist (that we can find) tell who they are. To those ancestors who found the money to pay to register .... thank-you. To those that could not ... I totally understand ... no hard feelings.
2. Some family tree "no issue" couples did a fairly good job of populating the planet :) I bet their descendants would love to see that part of the tree if I could ever track them down :)
3. Some occupations were surprising and thought provoking - keeper of orphans, prison matron, carriage maker, gunsmith, master shoemaker, spirit dealer, being a few of them.
4. Some of my brick wall research has been solved by unknown cousins who just "popped up out of nowhere" and handed over years of information "because no-one else in the family was interested."
5. My grandma and grandpa Hall never told my mother how they met.
6. There's always two sides to every family story. It's important to either keep, or develop an open mind. Ancient family "fall outs" can be reconciled and wonderful relationships created.
7. My great grandfather lost his "drawing" arm in an industrial accident and used his stump to hold his mechanical drawing instruments.
8. My great-uncle married his daughter-in-laws mother (marriage #2 for both) so said son and spouse are now step brother and sister !!!!
9. You need an iron stomach, a good dictionary, and lots of paper tissues if you take an interest in researching "cause of death" e.g progressive emaciation, gangrene, softening of the brain, miners lung, run over by a train, paralysis.
10. My seemingly very quiet, and wonderful, great aunt actually led a very active interesting life. I did not know too much about it all till after she died :( One of the disadvantages of moving to a different country as an adult (me).

Here's another general one - I miss my active research at Edinburgh's New Register House. I loved going up the the spiral staircase and being able to see the hand written documents up close and personal. Being able to share my excitement on finding someone's info with the person showing it to me was a real treat "back in the day." Having said that Scottish on-line research is amazing and I am truly thankful for what our wee country has available. Spoiled rotten we are ........ spoiled rotten.

Aaaaw shucks and thanks :-)

2011-01-08T15:20:00.000-06:00

Kathy at http://jonesfamilymatters.blogspot.com/ has given 10 genealogy blogs the following award.

The award was the brainchild of Leslie Ann Ballou of "Ancestors Live Here" in March of 2010. http://ancestorslivehere.blogspot.com/ It was her way of sharing other genealogy/family history blogs that she enjoyed because of their "tips, tricks and funny & heartwarming stories."
So I'm supposed to pass along the award to 10 other genealogy blogs that I like (this might be hard since a goodly number of them already have been given the award), after sharing 10 things that have surprised, humbled or enlightened me about my ancestors.

Now to put my thinking cap on. It might take a few days to put my lists together.

Happy New Year 2011

2010-12-31T23:03:00.002-06:00

Bellevue History and Genealogy Group

2010-12-06T10:07:00.000-06:00

I've mentioned on a few occasions that I am a member of the Bellevue History and Genealogy Group. We meet most Friday mornings at the local YMCA in the Fifty Forward Center. It's free and all are welcome. I am the "baby' of the group :) I recently taught a class on how to use time lines in your research and will share some of that at a later date.

Our hard working group leader, Bob Allen, lines up speakers 3 times per month and we do computer/brick wall research on the remaining Friday. Let me introduce you to his relatively new web site. If you live locally or are interested in middle Tennessee research you will definitely find what he has to share interesting. http://www.archivelookup.com/

For those of you interested in Scottish research I hope you will continue, or start, to look at the resources in my side bar. I do update it as needed and have found everything there to be helpful to my own research over the years.

I almost missed it.

2010-11-30T16:25:00.000-06:00

Darn it I almost missed giving all my Scottish buddies happy St.Andrews Day greetings. Hope you had a great day.
Unlike St. Patricks Day, here in the USA St. Andrews Day kind of slips by without much fanfare, maybe because of Thanksgiving.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EhM6V9k3P84

Thanksgiving and appreciating our ancestors

2010-11-24T10:22:00.000-06:00

"The First Thanksgiving" by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris.
I hope you enjoy Thanksgiving tomorrow and pause for a moment to give thanks for the ancestors who went before us and in their own ways helped to create the lives we each enjoy now :) Without them we would not exist.

The National Museum of the American Coverlet

2010-10-13T09:17:00.007-05:00

You never know where your genealogy research will take you. Most of us Scotties of humble origin can safely say "we have weavers in our ancestry". Mine are not too far back either :) There are very few places in the USA that specialize in the history and art of weaving but this is one of them http://www.coverletmuseum.org/museum.htm
It has a very narrow, but fascinating, focus ... the coverlet... and if the photographs are any indication it should be an amazing place to visit. Thanks go to Laszlo and Melinda Zongor for creating this museum located in Bedford, Pennsylvania.

The coverlets date from the 1700's, 1800' onwards. Wouldn't it be fun to visit and find out if there are any Scotties in there?

So if you are researching your weaving heritage in Scotland where could you go either on-line or in person?
There's the Verdant Works in Dundee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdant_Works and www.verdantworks.com/
The World Heritage Village at New Lanark http://www.newlanark.org/
Weavers Cottage at Kilbarchan http://www.flickr.com/photos/re_teacher/18719212/
to name but a few.

Being a weaver was a hard life and one that should be given more respect (IMHO).
Linen weaving was a major industry in rural Scotland from the 1750's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calton_weavers
http://www.dunning.uk.net/weave.html
If you have children doing genealogy/family history research (or not) here's a fun puzzle http://www.scottishradiance.com/puzzle/puzzle1203.htm

The International Wool Textile Organisation has an interesting potted history of wool and weaving at its web site http://www.iwto.org/WhyWool/WoolHistory.htm

I guess I would get a finger wag from some others for not mentioning tartan. I learned something new today ..... or it got lost in the fog that is known as my memory ........ Bannockburn, just a robust walk from where I grew up, was known as the Capital of Tartan Weaving !!!!!! (I definitely live under a rock)
http://www.bannockburn.co.uk/history/tartan-joesmith.html

Clackmannanshire was the heart of the textile industry during the 19th century. Water from the Ochils was used to power the looms. If you visit the Mill Trail Visitor Centre in Alva you'll find out about the story of the woolen, tartan and tweed industries. Nice to see the powerloom shed being used instead of abandoned.

A nice site to visit for a potted history of weaving in Scotland is http://www.Scottishtextileheritage.org.uk/onlineResources/articles/articlesTem2.asp?articleNo=39

October is National Family History Month

2010-10-06T11:37:00.000-05:00

On this side of "the puddle" October is national Family History Month.

What a great time to be starting your research or adding to what you already have. Maybe you need to organize family papers. Or how about all those photographs lying around in boxes.

Daughter #3 needed a large three ring binder to put all her information together. Her old binder was too small for everything. She spent a few hours over the weekend organizing what she had and adding new items from her drawers. Our next task is to type up some stories to go with the photographs.

Daughter #2 is doing a class assignment on Genograms for her Family Relations degree. I know most of the causes of death and some of the quirky inter family relations on my side of the family but realized that the same is not true for my husband's side. Phone calls will have to be made to my wonderful m-in-law :)

Daughter #1 is actually being paid to do some genealogy research and organizing. She is enjoying this relatively new venture and learning much from it.

I will be spending part of this month learning how to make a power point presentation for a class I am teaching next month on Timelines. I'm also going to write a long overdue letter to one of my cousins thanking her for family information she sent me a few weeks ago.

My m-in-law gave us some of hubbies childhood info. We should probably sort that out and put it with the rest of his papers and books. She also joined Facebook and has been adding a considerable # of photographs with stories so that other family members can access them.

So give some thought to what you might do this month. Doesn't have to be anything fancy or hugely time consuming. Just organizing your own personal papers in one spot would be a huge start. If you put them in a large envelope and there is ever a huge crisis, you can just pick it up and walk out the door.

Celebration of Family History

2010-09-08T12:47:00.001-05:00

From my e-mail box - "All nine videos from the widely acclaimed “Celebration of Family History” that was presented at the Conference Center in April as part of the National Genealogical Society annual gathering are available to view online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfXVvWb0qOQ. These are inspirational videos that you will want to share with family, friends, and ward members. Details on how to order a DVD of the entire event will be coming shortly."

The link should take you to part 1. The rest are on the right hand side of the YouTube screen. A really interesting potted history and behind the scenes look at what happens with the records at the granite mountain.

Happy Labor Day

2010-09-06T08:10:00.000-05:00

http://www.worldcorrespondents.com/labor-day-history-tells-how-labor-day-came-into-legislation/889923

FamilySearch visiting the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville

2010-06-18T11:42:00.000-05:00

An invite from my mailbox that I thought some of you might be interested in attending.

FamilySearch will be visiting the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville, Tennessee on June 23 at 1:00 P.M. to present FamilySearch indexing and inviting local participation in the Tennessee County Marriages project that is just coming online. This project will allow participating volunteers to help provide free and open online access to historical marriage records from counties across Tennessee.

FamilySearch sees this as an opportunity to meet and interact with local indexers as well. You are invited to attend this meeting to learn more about FamilySearch indexing and the launch of the Tennessee County Marriages project.

FamilySearch will also discuss Confederate Pension Records and other projects that may have local and regional interest.
Seating is limited. Please call Knox County Library at 1-865-215-8809 if you have questions or to confirm your attendance.

Location:
East Tennessee History Center - Auditorium
601 S. Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37902-1604

Date and Time:
Wednesday, June 23, 1:00 P.M

Sincerely,

Knox County Library
East Tennessee Historical Society
FamilySearch

500th posting

2010-06-07T12:13:00.000-05:00

Well it would appear I have made it to the 500th posting on one of my other blogs. I am surprised.
If you have a moment swing by and enter.
http://ascotintennessee.blogspot.com/2010/06/giveaway-500th.html

Getting sidetracked is easy to do :)

2010-06-04T16:05:00.002-05:00

Our local, very good, genealogy group meets on Friday mornings. I am the baby (age-wise) of the group and have a really good time interacting with everyone.
Today we had a visitor who told us about growing up in Nashville from the 1920's thru the 40's. All very interesting stuff. While I was listening to him it struck me that some of what he was relating was not to far different to what I experienced growing up in Scotland.
He brought a friend who it turned out used to live a few houses down from where we are currently located. She shared some interesting info about the history of our sub division so I am going to side track myself for a while and go find out more. Some of her "then" neighbors are some of my "now" neighbors :)

The list's the thing - AOC "discovers" genealogy :)

2010-06-02T14:14:00.001-05:00

If you like lists then this site might be of interest to you. It has a posting about genealogy links, mainly US, and they seem to have covered most of the more popular ones with a few more thrown in for good measure :) http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.com/blog/2010/50-places-to-find-your-family-history-online/
Scroll down past Thinkers to May 27th and watch out for this -
"Are you interested in learning about the history of your family? You can find out a whole lot just by searching online. Here, we’ll take a look at 50 of the best resources for genealogy research on the Internet."

They have it nicely split up into categories - general, search, family facts, communities & tools, BM&D, and data & archives.

I dare you NOT to take a look at some of the other lists e.g. Beating Writers Block and Really Cool Bookstore Blogs :) Interesting.

I'm an antique, who'da thunk it !!!!

2010-05-28T08:51:00.000-05:00

Remember this "bonnie baby" photograph from a previous posting?

Well here's the dress :)

It's still in really good condition after all these years. It's companion came to a soggy, chew a hole through it, end. Mother caught me in the act before it got completely eaten.

I was a wee bit of a holy terror in that runaround contraption. The photograph was taken on a visit to my great aunt and uncle's home (the Robertsons). There was a bit of a slope in the garden and I decided to try it out :) Got caught, darn it !!!! Aaaaah the rush of the wind through my hair :)

In the US anything over the age of 50 is considered an antique. Not sure if that also applies to people but I'm willing to run with it ..... mmmmm, maybe walking briskly might be better.

Sometimes you just have to have a "serious" sense of humor.

2010-05-27T15:13:00.000-05:00

A few postings back I mentioned I was looking at info about my great uncle William Lindsay. I needed to confirm some information with my cousin. Well she did and I was right but I totally did not expect what she told me.

William did marry twice. Wife #2 was his son-in-law's mother : ) So daughter and spouse became step-brother and sister. Good thing I was not drinking anything at the time !!!!!!

Her letter answered a number of questions and also raised a few more so this writing back and forth may take a while. Methinks it might be easier to hop on a plane and visit for a week or two. (DH wants to drive.)

CastleGarden.org

2010-05-21T09:04:00.001-05:00

A good but often under-utilized site over here belongs to Castle Garden.
www.castlegarden.org was launched in 2005 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Castle Garden as an immigration center.
What's a garden got to do with Scottish genealogy? Quite a lot actually.
Most people know about Ellis Island but what they don't know 90 odd% of the time is that Castle Garden was the precursor to it's more famous cousin.

(photograph - Castle Garden)

CG started life as a fort built to defend New York harbor from the British during the war of 1812. It was open to the public from 1824-1854(?) and saw use as a beer garden, restaurant, exhibit hall, theater and opera house. It became the immigrant processing/receiving center for the Port of New York from 1855-1890. (The local populace were not very happy about that turn of events.) From 1890-1892 immigrants were processed through the Old Barge Office.

(photograph- Old Barge Office)

Once Ellis Island opened up, Castle Garden became New York City's Aquarium 1896-1946. Like many areas of historic note it was scheduled for demolition but the public ranted and, while the building was saved, it lay empty for many years.

(photograph - postcard of the old New York Aquarium)

Now known as Castle Clinton National Monument it serves as the visitor center for New York's National Parks and Monuments at Battery Park.

The Daily Times published an interesting article about Castle Garden on August 4th 1855. http://theshipslist.com/pictures/castlegarden1855.htm

Ruth Coleman wrote an informative piece about the history of Castle Garden and other immigrant information http://www.genealogytoday.com/columns/ruby/011117.html

Ellis Island c.1935

You can also find an interesting potted history at http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=7233

Castle Garden is a free look-up site and I have been able to find a number of records (indexes) of family members who came from the motherland to the new one which then led me to other resources. The records are not complete due to a fire destroying some as they were being transferred to Ellis Island but it is still a valuable source and worth looking at.

Wordless maybe but the memories are priceless

2010-05-19T08:45:00.000-05:00

Scottish Death Record

2010-05-18T10:35:00.007-05:00

I was going to share a photograph of my girls standing beside their g-g-grandfathers grave site in Scotland, but I cannot find the disc with the photograph so here's something that's still related to him.

John Hall was the schoolmaster in Drymen, Stirlingshire and also the registrar for BMD's. I have a goodly # of certificates showing his work. He was always praised for his penmanship and for any researcher his clarity and neatness (on the whole) is a jewel.
What is so different about this particular page?
Entry #1 is the death record for his wife Petrina Hall. That had to have been hard to write.
Entry #3 is the death record for Margaret McEwan. She was my grandma Hall's aunt.
I definitely "lucked out" with this image when it showed 2 relatives from different sides of the family, on the same page written up by another relative.
There is some irony in the whole "relative being town registrar" scenario. When John Hall died the registrar was...... his daughter. His death was registered by my grandfather.

here's the transcripts of all 3 entries.
Page 1. 1930. Deaths in the District of Drymen in the County of Stirling.

No. 1(I'm going to leave out the headings for the columns)
Petrina Hall. Married to John Hall. Schoolmaster (retired)
1930. March Twelfth 7h. 15m. p.m. Ormonde, Drymen.
F.
66 yrs.
Neil MacKellar. Bath Attendant (deceased)
Helen MacKellar m.s. Hutson (deceased)
Cerebral Haemorrage (3 years) as certified by John MacKinnon MB (?) Drymen
John Hall. Widower (present)
1930. March 14th at Drymen.
John Hall. Registrar.

No. 2
Mary McGregor. Married to Donald McGregor. Blacksmith.
1930. March Sixteenth 3h. 35m. p.m. Drumbeg Smithy.
F
79 yrs.
James McAllister. Blacksmith (deceased)
Martha McAllister m.s. Maitland (deceased)
Cerebral Haemorrhage (10 years), Heart Failure (10 days).
as certified by Maud E.D. MacKinnon MB, Ch.B, Drymen
Donald McGregor. Widower. Present
1930. March 17th at Drymen
John Hall. Registrar.

No. 3
Margaret McEwan. Single
1930. May Thirty-first. 11h. 50m. am. Drymen
F
71 yrs.
Duncan McEwan. Weaver (deceased)
Margaret McEwan ms Clydesdale (deceased)
Mental depression with gradual heart failure 1 year
as certified by Maud E.D. MacKinnon MB Ch.B, Drymen
Duncan McEwan. Nephew. Ivy House, Drymen
1930. June 2nd. at Drymen
John Hall. Registrar

Drymen Parish Church and ariel views showing the cemetery. My relatives are now buried on the left hand side of the church on higher ground. Some of them had to be moved because of an overabundance of water in the hollow :)

MyHeritage.com's Top 100 Genealogy Sites

2010-05-16T17:48:00.000-05:00

MyHeritage.com recently published their 2010 recommendations. Lots of great blogs, some I am familiar with, others not. Definitely worth taking the time to look at, and learn from.

http://blog.myheritage.com/myheritage-coms-top-100-genealogy-sites-2010/

Rescuing Flood Damaged Family Collections

2010-05-14T15:22:00.003-05:00

It's been a sobering sight over the past few days seeing the physical lives of many, many people sitting on the sidewalks waiting to be picked up and hauled away. Obviously a concern for some is going to be - how to rescue personal, family items damaged by water.
The Tennessee Department of State has a good section covering basic information with links to other resources.
http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/preservation/flood.htm

Fun project - Matrilineal line

2010-05-13T15:41:00.009-05:00

Here's a fun project for all you ladies out there - follow your matrilineal line - female line on mother's side - as far back as you can. This is how you get your mitochondrial DNA. I have not been tested so I have no idea what my Haplogroup is.

Here's my matrilineal line so far.
me (still living, obviously)

mother (still living)

grandmother - Jeanie McEwan 1897-1981

great grandmother - Janet McGechie 1853-1933 (sitting, holding granddaughter Betty)

2nd g-grandmother - Isabella Scott 1829-1891
3rd g-grandmother - Janet Gardner 1779-?
4th g-grandmother - Christian McIlquham - (dates unknown)

People you do not want to know how many times I tried spelling matrilineal correctly and the variations I got therein :)
Mmmmm I wonder if I am supposed to revert to my furthest back matriname - I think it's pronounced "MickIlam" but I could be wrong.
From what I can gather the McIlquham surname is not all that common in Scotland and can for sure be traced back to the 1550's in the highlands, though not by me and my line :) Like all names it has a meaning - son of St. Thomas servant - darn back to patrinames !!!!!
References to the surname at ScotlandsPeople show
Census
1841 - 20
1851 - 12
1861 - 11
1871 - 20
1881 - 22
1891 - 28
1901 - 31
1855-2006 records
births - 231
marriages - 72
deaths - 181
OPR records - 1538-1854
b&c - 217
b&m - 151
d&b - 27
wills & testaments - 13
Note the big discrepancy between b,m,d's and census. I bet the census takers had a big headache trying to spell that surname :)

Given that I have an aunt and female cousin here's their matrilineal line .

granddaughter - (still living)

daughter - (still living)

mother - (still living)

grandmother - Jessie Colville 1899-1984

g-grandmother - Julia Stewart 1865-1942

2nd g-grandmother - Ann Lyell 1837-1912

3rd g-grandmother - Julia Ogilvie 1801-1878

4th g-grandmother - Isabella Samson (dates unknown)

Taking care of family photographs

2010-05-04T23:27:00.001-05:00

If you live anywhere near any kind of river, stream, pond etc. make sure your photographs are not stored in your basement.
I live in one of the towns that has been impacted by flooding over the past few days and a neighbor's friend found all her family photographs floating above the furniture in two bedrooms in her basement. I'm told it was quite a sight to behold :) She is currently trying to dry them all out.
So how do you save photographs that have been caught in a flood? http://www.ehow.com/how_2052698_save-flood-damaged-photos.html
If you have negatives and they are safe just make more copies.

It's all in the translation

2010-04-27T09:47:00.002-05:00

At some point a goodly number of us run into languages other than our native one when we are researching. What to do, what to do?
It does not hurt to learn some of the basic words like, birth, marriage, death, family, mother, father, daughter, son, etc. The internet to the rescue aka GOOGLE. You can copy and paste words, phrases etc. and get fairly good translations. Some web sites will let you translate sentences and paragraphs.

The photograph shows my late-father-in-law's genealogy ("Etterkommere etter Ole Eriksen Trones - Familiene Busch, Trones og Lindgaard" by Hermund Pederson). Both of his parents were from Norway and the book tracks 3 descendent lines of a common ancestor (1671 to 1996). There is a very interesting potted history at the beginning of the book. I have a basic idea of what it says (I learned some written Norwegian in high school) but plan on translating it properly, using on-line resources.
Other alternatives if you don't have access to a computer.
1. Talk with the language departments at your local university or high school and find out if anyone would be interested in translating for you. You may have to pay for the service or do some kind of trade. 2. Your local LDS Family History Centers might have people proficient in other languages.
3. Learn the language yourself. In our part of the world Spanish is useful, all my children are learning it and I am trying :)
4. Find out if the paperwork you are looking at has already been translated.
5. Buy a language dictionary.
6. Advertise for help in your local newspaper.
7. Ask at your local library if they know anyone fluent in the language you are researching.
8. Do any native immigrants live near you?
9. Ask at any of your group, school or church activities.

J.J.Elbert M.B.E., M.B, CH.B, D.T.M.&H. - the missing link uncovered

2010-04-25T17:44:00.004-05:00

British Medical Journal 16 December 1972 Obituary Notices. page 677

Dr. J.J. Elbert, who was in general practice in the City of London, died on 9 November after a short illness. He was 58.
John Jacob Elbert was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, on 12 September 1914 and educated at Rothesay Academy, where he won the dux gold medal, and at Glasgow University, where he graduated in medicine in 1937. After a house appointment at Altrincham Hospital he joined the R.A.M.C. on the outbreak of the second world war and was posted to West Africa as regimental medical officer to the 6th Battalion of the Nigeria Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force. On arrival in India his battalion was detached to form part of General Wingate's force, the Chindits, and Dr. Elbert served with distinction in the 1944 Chindit operations behind the enemy lines in north Burma. He was mentioned in dispatches and appointed M.B.E. for his part in organizing the reception and evacuation of sick and wounded Chindits from the jungle airstrip at "Aberdeen" (Mawlu). After the war he joined the Colonial Medical Service as a Government medical officer in Nigeria and served for more than ten years in the Eastern Region, attaining the rank of senior medical officer. When the region was granted self-government in 1957 he retired from Government service and went into private practice at Port Harcourt. at the outbreak of the Nigerian civil war in 1967 he had to abandon his practice, and when at last he was able to return to Port Harcourt it was to find his house in ruins and his property pillaged. After a period of service with the International Red Cross in the war-stricken areas he returned to England and in 1969 joined a practice as third partner.
In jocular allusion to his unconcealed delight in the good things of life John Elbert used to say that for him the best was barely enough. Whatever he undertook, in work or play, he tackled with energy and the resolution never to accept any standard but the best. He prided himself on being a good doctor; any patient could be sure of his undivided attention, but for his African patients he had a special affection and was rewarded in turn with their liking and trust. The news of his early death will be received with deep sorrow both in Britain and in Nigeria.
He is survived by his wife, son and daughter.
N.L.

I did not know he existed until today. I was researching other members of his family, specifically his sister Laura Serepta Elbert and his mother Sarah Leitch. His great grandmother was my great great grandmother's sister and it has bothered me for quite a while that this family was being "elusive". I found a family tree on Ancestry.com which turned out to be wrong but I did a bit of digging and got everything sorted out via census records, ships manifests, marriage records, newspaper articles, BMD records and a few other odds and ends :)
All of this because I wanted to know what had happened to his dad and what his first name was. His dad's name was also John Jacob and he died in 1920, Sarah had emigrated to the USA in 1913 after marrying him then returned to Rothesay at some point after John sr's death where she died in 1965.
All of John jr's sisters died in Scotland (which I already knew).
It was Sarah's application for a passport in 1921 that "sealed the deal" so to speak because it confirmed a lot of information I had already run across but had not quite connected all the dots yet.
As for the unknown wife and children in the obituary they showed up in a ship's manifest.
What was the big link for everyone? A house address in Rothesay that covered 4 generations of the family and showed up in numerous pieces of paperwork.

Census records

2010-04-23T13:41:00.000-05:00

If you have read some of my previous posts or know me personally then you already know that I love census records. Great place to start if you are looking for information. You still have to follow up on all the information contained therein but what a slice of history to peruse.
The census records for Great Britain, and yes Scotland is part of that entity, were taken on the following dates (Sunday/Monday except for 1939).
1801 thru 1831 - statistical information only. Usually households were not broken down or names etc. given. There is some debate as to the dates for the 1801 census but the other 3 were taken on the last weekend of May.
1841 - 06/07 June
1851 - 30/31 March
1861 - 07/08 April
1871 - 02/03 April
1881 - 03/04 April
1891 - 05/06 April
1901 - 31 March/01 April
1911 - 02/03 April
1921 - 19/20 June (will be available next year at some point. Still covered by 100 year privacy law)

For other dates and some concise information about what was included in each census visit http://www.talkingscot.com/censuses/census-dates.htm

Busy little beaver - Lindsay genealogy Newfoundland

2010-04-15T14:13:00.003-05:00

If you are researching Newfoundland families this is THE site to go to http://ngb.chebucto.org. aka Newfoundlands Grand Banks Genealogical & Historical Data.
I've visited the site a few times over the past 3 or 4 years but this time round I ploughed my way through almost everything and came up with a bucketful of information :)
Found links to birth, marriage, death, burial, census, obituary records for a number of family members.

Almost none of the information can be found at Ancestry.com or Familysearch.org, by the way, but they did prove useful when I had to look in England.

So now I know when my great uncle William Lindsay moved to Newfoundland, where he lived, when and where he got married, information about his wife and her family in England, and that he might have been married twice (or he had a child with exactly the same name as his wife, or there was another person with exactly the same name as his wife). I also looked further into the spouses of his children and that was very interesting. One ancestor had the names of her parents, paternal grandparents and g-grandparents on her marriage record and there is a tie in to the very first family that settled Indian Burying Ground.

So to all the volunteers who run the NGBGHD site - THANK YOU - you are doing fabulous work. I will be back to hunt some more :) Now I just have to confirm some of the information with one of my cousins.

Overlooking the mill, Cornerbrook, Newfoundland.

If you are interested in finding out more about the history of Newfoundland http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/NFLDHistory/index.html has some good short articles and photographs.

The Miners of Wabana, Bell Island

2010-04-14T17:39:00.001-05:00

I was looking up some information and as usual I got sidetracked when an obituary popped up for one of my Lindsay cousins in Canada. This led me to information about his wife and some of her family members which got me to thinking some more about my great -uncle William Lindsay (my grandpa's older brother). He emigrated to Canada and spent most of his life in Newfoundland. I already knew he worked on Bell Island so I thought I'd find out more. My dad told me that when his grandfather died most of his engineering tools went to William and some to my grandfather.
The "Bell Island Submarine Miner" (1954-1959) is a fund of information about the people that worked there - their births, marriages, deaths, anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, club activities, mining activities, photographs etc. The cartoons for the regular safety features are hilarious.
I came away with a feeling of community after reading the articles and was impressed with the references to retired workers and their families. Whoever wrote the articles paid a great deal of attention to details and as such has left a good set of historical documents.
So what info did I find -
reference to a visit from the former Superintendent William Lindsay Sr. and Mrs. Lindsay October 1954 and where they were currently living (Cornerbrook) and a birthday greeting for him. (Nov 1954 edition).
An article about his promotion to "Foreman in charge of all Surface Mechanical Equipment & Compressors" effective Aug. 10th 1954 (Sept. 1954 edition)with reference to his previous position "Compressor Foreman".
A reference to Mrs. William Lindsay of Cornerbrook deceased April 25th 1959.
There is also a book available "The Miners of Wabana - The Story of the Iron Ore Miners of Bell Island" by Gail Weir which is from the Canada's Atlantic Folklore ~ Folklife series.

Personally I have a great deal of respect for anyone who mined for ore 3 miles under the ocean. Tough job. The first mine shaft opened in 1895 and the last mine shaft closed in 1966.
Based on some other information I have William was associated directly with Bell Island for about 40+ years.

Looking after your records

2010-04-09T08:44:00.000-05:00

Living in one of the southern states subjects us to humidity, pollution, mold, and dust (amongst other icky things). Here's a really good concise article about looking after your records. http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/your_records/looking_after_your_records.htm
I'm off to a lecture about libraries and Andrew Carnegie :)

Malta Family History - Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial (Floriana)

2010-04-08T18:51:00.000-05:00

I had a cousin, James Ford Billett, that I knew died during WWII but I did not know where. I was researching some of his family members today and ran across this site which gives a list of all the names inscribed on the memorial. How did I know it was the right person? It also listed his parents and his uncle and where they were from.
James Ford Billett, 1051615, Sergeant, Royal Air Force (V.R.) 18 Squadron, died 26th December 1941, age 22 years. Son of Albert and Marion Billet, and nephew of Mr. D. McEwan of Drymen, Stirlingshire.
http://website.lineone.net/~remosliema/index.htm
2,301 names are on the memorial from RAF, RCAF, RAAF, RNZAF, SAAF and BOAC.

Just because I can - OWOH - another giveaway

2010-03-31T09:55:00.000-05:00

A while back I participated in the One World One Heart giveaway. I decided to have another drawing. This time I will be offering 5 hours of assistance with your research. I have pulled a few names and will be contacting them sometime during the next 2 or 3 weeks :)

I've been busy recently teaching classes and helping others with their research. Lots of fun. I love helping others get started. Everyone always feels like they have been able to accomplish something positive. Recently I've been helping people who have been given lots of family history from other family members and each one has felt overwhelmed to say the least. What to do with it all, how to store it, how to organize all the family names etc. My first piece of advice is usually DON'T TACKLE IT ALL AT ONCE.

When organizing items use the "work for 15 minutes chunk" principle. Start 4 stacks - one for each grandparent name - pick up a piece of paper, find the appropriate name and put it in the stack. DO NOT read everything else, you will get side tracked. That part comes later :)

Following the paper trail - Accountants

2010-03-14T19:58:00.003-05:00

Do you have an accountant in your Scottish family? I do.
Here's some resources that might be of use.
1."The Incorporated Accountants Year Book by Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors." available on Google Books. Go to the index to find the name you are interested in then jump to the page indicated for more information.
My g g uncle shows up in the 1904-05 edition. Gives the name of his company (in his case partnership), where it was located and when he was admitted as an associate. In the 1907/08 edition he shows up as a Fellow without a partner at a different address.
The Society (Scotland) was founded in 1885 and merged with the Institute of Chartered Accountants (England & Wales) in 1959.
2. "History of The Society of Incorporated Accountants 1885-1957" was written by A.A. Garrett and published by Oxford University Press in 1961.
3. "The Society of Accountants in Edinburgh 1854-1914: A Study of Recruitment to a Profession" by Stephen P. Walker was published by Garland Publishing in 1988.
4. The main online site is http://www.icaew.com/ It has an INDEX section called Accountancy Ancestors covering 1874-1965. It was last updated in August 2009.
The searchable index is set up as follows:-
Obituaries by surname
Obituaries by Accountancy Firm
Portraits
Other Illustrations
First World War
It's a work in progress being done by volunteers and is in the form of an excel spreadsheet. It was all pulled from information held by the ICAEW Library & Information Service.

Australia revisited

2010-03-12T21:06:00.000-06:00

Those of you who read my blog on a regular basis know that a number of my relatives relocated to Australia. Every so often I piddle around on the computer looking for more information. Such was the case yesterday. Up popped a site I had never seen before and low and behold some information about my cousins and the ship they sailed on was there.
http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/welcomewalls
Welcome Walls is an interesting project being constructed in Fremantle and Albany. If your relatives landed in either place they might show up.
The entry I was interested in showed where my cousins sailed from and when, the name of the ship, where they landed, who was in the group and the profession of the head of household. Interesting for me. That led me to doing some research on the ship which led to some fascinating dairy entries of other people traveling during the same time period. This also led to a death notice and a military record.

It's all about the box

2010-03-05T09:50:00.000-06:00

My daughter headed out to school today with a large box filled with items for an art project. She had been gathering things for a couple of weeks based on her theme. Never ceases to amaze me what seemingly unrelated objects can be gathered then combined together to make a work of art.
Genealogy can be like that, especially when you are first starting out. You might have lots of "odds and ends" scattered round your house, many seemingly unrelated. Some items may be complete mysteries because they have never really been looked at. So get yourself a box, and start gathering items. Take your time, maybe a few weeks. GATHER DON"T SORT !!!!!
Some things to gather.
BMD certificates
obituaries
awards
photographs
family stories
personal items e.g. baby clothing, small toys
newspaper articles
favorite recipes
wills
magazine articles
letters
postcards

I have a cardboard slimpick wallet folder that is old, worn and very much used. It has travelled many places with me and been used for many different family history projects. I am currently using it to gather information for project but it started out as my basic genealogy info carrier in the early 80's and became my "lightweight briefcase" for such when I moved "across the puddle" in 1987. It sits in a plastic tub with some bulky items and comes in very useful if I need to grab something for classes.

Fab 40

2010-02-27T20:35:00.000-06:00

Family Tree Magazine has released its current top 40 genealogy/family history sites. Very interesting.
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/article/fab-forty
Top Scottish genealogy blog belongs to Chris Paton's Scottish Genealogy News and Events. http://scottishancestry.blogspot.com/ Very well deserved. I've been reading his blog for quite a while now. Always very informative.

ScotlandsPlaces

2010-02-20T15:41:00.003-06:00

It's kind of hard to do on-line genealogy and watch the Olympics ski jumping at the same time :) Swiss guy (Simon Ammann) just made jumping history for his country. Woohoo :) Such an elegant looking sport.
ScotlandsPlaces. Interesting site to go to when you are researching places (which I am). http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/ The blurb for the site reads "Bringing authentic information and images together to help you discover places in Scotland."
It's divided up into each shire (pre-1975) showing a map, description, with photographs and general information. I found an ariel photograph of my great-grandparents house :)
The shire I am researching also has information about Farm Horse Tax 1797-1798, Medical Officer of Health Reports 1891 and Land Ownership Commision 1872-3.
When you click on a photograph you will be taken to an individual page. The information there is variable. Some will be very basic, others will give you quite detailed information.
Photographs are copyrighted and cannot be used for anything other than personal or teaching tool use.

OWOH - Magic Carpet Ride - and the winner is ..........

2010-02-15T12:34:00.001-06:00

Bev Coffaro #880 www.alteredpaperarts.blogspot.com/

Congratulations to Bev. She has been notified and responded. She is a novice at genealogy so is looking forward to getting started.
Since a goodly number of you participated I have some other surprises in store but y'all are going to have to wait till another time to find out what that is all about :)

A fascination for all things Scottish

2010-02-12T14:39:00.003-06:00

I've lived on this side of "the puddle" since 1987 and have rarely met a native that is NOT interested in Scotland and it's history. Many are fascinated by the clearances, Scots-Irish connections and the history of early Scots migration.
Myra Vanderpool Gormley wrote a good overview "Migration Patterns of Our Scottish Ancestors" for American Genealogy Magazine that was re-printed in Genealogymagazine.com http://www.genealogymagazine.com/scots.html She writes of the whys, where from to where to, and the early Scots contribution to the fledgling nation. Interesting reading and a good jump off point for more in depth studies of various settlements.
Another interesting, and much longer article "Scotland's Mark on America" by George Fraser Black can be found at http://www.scotlands.com/usa/3.html You need to take your time reading this one. Lots of information to sift through.

Poorhouse/Workhouse

2010-02-04T14:19:00.002-06:00

I have mixed feelings about Poorhouse records. It's great that the places existed to provide relief for those that needed them but when I run across death entries e.g. my g-g grandfather in Glasgow, I have to wonder why he was there and not living with a family member. His wife had died a year or two before and at that point he was working. He had children and grandchildren living in the area so I have had to ask myself if there had been a family rift or people had just lost contact with each other.
On the other hand I had ancestors who ran the poorhouse in Dundee and are well documented. When they died they were missed greatly by the local community and family.

A good site to visit for histories of Poorhouses/Workhouses in Scotland is www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Scotland/UnionsScotland.shtml

Just as an example - the East Poorhouse in Dundee, which was run by some of my ancestors gives maps, information about when it was built, photographs, 1881 census records.

The site also gives a good overview of the 1845 Scottish Poor Law Act and the differences between Scotland and England/Wales when administering relief. The drawing shows a Model Poorhouse Plan for Town Parishes, 1847.

OWOH - Magic Carpet Ride - update

2010-02-03T10:17:00.005-06:00

This event is proving interesting. Lots of people to meet and interesting things to learn about. Lots of countries visited on my little supersonic carpet. I've even met someone from Scotland with the same surname as my grandmother :)
Our lovely crystal cookie jar - picked out specially for the occasion - is filling up at a respectable rate. I will be announcing the winner of the drawing on 15th February. 10 HOURS OF GENEALOGY/FAMILY HISTORY ASSISTANCE.
The rest of the items in the photograph are just to make things more interesting to look at. The bonnie wee baby looking adoringly at her mother is MOI, aged about 1 month :) (That was taken a looooong time ago.) The tartan book in the background is entitled "Scottish Songs" and was a gift to my grandmother from her sister-in-law in 1917. The double photo frame shows (we think) two different images of my great grandmother with her mother and grandmother.

Writing a short story and Who Do You Think You Are?

2010-02-02T14:21:00.000-06:00

Okay so it's February and many people's thoughts turn to romance.
Do you know how your parents met? Has it been written down?
It's a great way to start of your family history and guess who might like to read this "tale of romance" ....... your kids (if you have any) :)
If you have children have you told them yet how you and your spouse met ?
When I asked my mother how my grandparents met I was somewhat shocked to discover that she had no idea. She had asked but they did not tell ...... just grinned at each other :)
My dad's parents met through her sister and his best friend dating each other.

If you like to scrap book you can "pretty up" the story with items that date from the time they met.

"Who Do You Think You Are?" which is mighty popular in the old homeland hits the tiny screens here in March. It'll be interesting to see if it an exact replica or if a US twist is done to it. If this gets to our local channels I am going to be one happy camper and we have TIVO if it is aired at a silly time :)

Snow Day Activities

2010-01-31T11:38:00.001-06:00

It's been a few years since snow has fallen in abundance in middle Tennessee so when it started falling on Friday morning I was not expecting too much. However ....... 4-5" by the middle of Saturday (maybe more) was not to shabby and looks crisp, sparkly, and lovely.
Then the phone calls and e-mails started :) This is cancelled, that is cancelled, put this one on hold, we'll be re-arranging the date, we will be closed etc. etc. etc.
There is no church today and I was scheduled to co-teach the 5th Sunday lesson about Genealogy and Family History to prepare for the next few weeks of Sunday School lessons.
So what's a person to do with that block of free time? I decided to visit a genealogy blog (while listening to General Conference DVD's) which turned into a blog hop and it's all Sue's fault http://excavatingformyroots.blogspot.com/ Her blog is very simply laid out but once I got into the links section it took me all over the place and proved quite fascinating.
So here I sit listening to Elder Scott and his beautiful talk about genealogy and temple work and reading (about dust bunnies at) http://yougogenealogygirls.blogspot.com/ I confess it was the title of the blog that got me hooked and I will be visiting again.

Scottish Miners

2010-01-28T10:32:00.001-06:00

There's a long tradition of mining in Scotland. Dangerous and labor intensive work. A number of my ancestors were miners so when I found http://www.scottishmining.co.uk/ I was happy to see a decent site related to the subject.
Early miners, and their families, were "bound" to the colliery and owner by an Act of Parliament set in 1606. This basically meant a miner could not move from one colliery to another without written consent from his "master". If he did try he could be reclaimed within a year and a day.
Owners of mines could also apprehend those they considered to be beggars and vagabonds and put them to work in the mines.

Mining was not initially an underground profession. In it's formative years coal was quarried above ground and often near salt-pans. Often the whole family was involved in the mining process with the older members hewing the coal and the younger carrying it away in baskets.
Young children did not receive much in the way of formal education, usually being removed from school between the ages of 7-9.
There's an interactive museum, The Scottish Mining Museum, at Newtongrange near Edinburgh http://www.scottishminingmuseum.com/ which I've been told is an interesting place to visit. Look in the links section of the web site for lots of information and places to contact.
The largest collection of coal mining records can be found at http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/coalmining.asp
The photograph is from "The Industries of Scotland Their Rise, Progress, and Present Conditions" by David Bremner (1869).

National Trust Names

2010-01-27T19:42:00.000-06:00

So here's a fun activity.
Most people associate The National Trust with historical buildings and gardens but did you know you can name search?
http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/
Click on the link, search for a surname, pick the year and surname. What happens next? Try it and see. I loved it. Might be a fun page to add to my family history project.

One World One Heart Event - Magic Carpet Ride

2010-01-25T18:46:00.006-06:00

There is a super worldwide event going on over at A Whimsical Bohemian and I have decided to join in. Starts today and runs through 15th February.
One World One Heart is the brainchild of Lisa Swifka who, in 2007, had the idea to host an event linking bloggers together. It has grown with each year and attracts a diverse group of people willing to share their talents and get to know each other.

Have you ever wanted to find out more about your ancestors but don't know how, or where, to start?
Let me help you with a gift of 10 HOURS OF ASSISTANCE.
I'll help you get started and show you some ways to organize your information.
You need a computer available to do this.

All you have to do is leave a comment for a drawing AT THIS POST ONLY with your e-mail address so I can contact you. The winner will be announced on 15th February.

Genealogy has taken me on my own "Magic Carpet Ride" over the years. I've found, and been found by, relatives in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, South Africa, England, Ireland, and other places round our wonderful planet. It's been a joy to interact with them and learn more of my heritage along the way. I recently met one of my New Zealand cousins when we were both in Scotland at the same time !!!!!! Fabulous experience.

So journey on over to http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/ and join in the fun. Then hop on your magic carpet and explore some wonderful sites.

Update - Hi all thanks for visiting. My entry is now closed. The winner will be announced on Monday afternoon.

Census 2010

2010-01-04T12:18:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year and welcome to a new decade.
To kick things off it's time for another US census to happen. Short form.
13 "Portrait of America" buses started touring today (4th January) with information and will show up at events until April.
http://2010census.gov/2010census/index.php

Oh happy day.

2009-12-28T08:38:00.003-06:00

I have been writing a history of "my" McEwans and mislaid my one and only paper copy (long story behind that statement involving two computer crashes). It travelled to and from Britain with me earlier this year then disappeared once we got home. It showed up on Christmas Eve while I was looking for something else. Today I will make another copy and take a few days to type it into my laptop. Mmmm, given the number of pages, weeks might be a better goal :)

Winter Wonderland courtesy of Planet Earth

2009-12-23T18:10:00.000-06:00

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas filled with joy and celebration.

Remembering family members

2009-12-04T13:07:00.000-06:00

Here's a good example of writing about a family member. http://thatchwick.blogspot.com/2009/11/friday-13-november-aunty-helen.html

Writing about family traditions

2009-12-03T21:03:00.000-06:00

Don't know what it is about November/December timeframe but it gets me thinking about family traditions. For many people writing about Christmas traditions is a relatively safe way to get started on family history. There was a long period of time where I was not entirely sure if I actually had any "traditions" but after a bit of thinking and jotting down ideas some common threads started to appear.
My childhood and adult Christmas traditions are very different to each other mainly because of living on two separate continents in two separate cultures. Commonalities are spending time with family, decorating Christmas trees and singing Christmas Carols.
Childhood - the tiny tree was decorated on Christmas Eve by mum. One or other or both of my parents would wrap the presents, put them in pillow cases and lay them out on the sofa. The door to the living room was locked. Sometimes we would go to a Christmas Eve Carol Service. Christmas morning we were expected to get up, have breakfast then line up outside the door whereupon dad would unlock the door with great ceremony and we would troop in. (I think my grandma thought this was a bit silly but she played along.) After opening gifts and playing for a while dad would disappear into the kitchen and make dinner. Dinner was served at two and we would listen to the Queen's Christmas Broadcast then Top of The Pops (quite a contrast). Next day (Boxing Day) we would sometimes visit relatives or they would come to us.
So as you head into this festive season take a moment to write a story down. It does not have to be complicated or long. Just something to get you started.

A Clan Map

2009-11-26T08:40:00.000-06:00

Scotland is famous for it's clans and often non-natives have a romanticized view of what they are. Learning about clan history in school was not one of my favorite moments because I was not fond of the "blood and guts" aspect of it all. Having said that here's an interesting article http://www.scotclans.com/scottish_history/articles/clan_system.html

Images of Scotland

2009-11-18T07:13:00.001-06:00

I went blog hopping yesterday and have decided to add a new section to my sidebar. The links will take me/you to blogs that highlight Scotland in images and some of them also give information that would be useful for writing family histories. Some will be there just because I like them :)

Using YouTube for family research

2009-11-17T12:09:00.000-06:00

I bet YouTube is not a source many people automatically think about but there's a lot of interesting information there. When you write a family history it is always good to set your ancestors in context. This means researching the area they came from. Here's a very interesting example about the history of Edinburgh that would be a great start off for further research.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkjEzYaP9Sk "Birth of a City."
Some of my direct ancestors lived in Edinburgh and even though I grew up in Scotland, loved history in school and lived in Edinburgh myself I still learned a lot from this video.

Armistice Day

2009-11-11T13:21:00.000-06:00

Today we remember and reflect, give thanks for the freedoms we have gained through the sacrifices of others and pray we never have to endure what they endured.

We should also show appreciation to and for those who are currently fighting and are away from their loved ones.
The photographs show some of my relatives who fought during WWI and lived through a number of experiences.
Horseback - Patrick Lindsay (my grandfather)
Pyramids - (my great uncle) David McEwan (back row)ANZACS
Standing portrait - John Hall (my grandfather)
Two of my McEwan great uncles died at Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli (1915) and Albert, France (1916).

Pitlour House, Strathmiglo, Fife

2009-10-15T12:24:00.004-05:00

This is one of the places where my g-g-grandfather William Lindsay worked as a Butler. He was employed by Patrick G. Skene Esq. of Hallyards. The house was located 11/4 miles NW of Strathmiglo.
The Lindsay family occupied East Pitlour Farm during the time William was employed there and appear in the 1841 and 1851 census. I think they moved to Strathmiglo about 1840/41 just after their daughter Margaret was born but for whatever reason the younger siblings were born somewhere other than the local area. They had ties to Edinburgh and Inverkeilor so I'm wondering if Euphemia was visiting family or friends.

A new venture for me

2009-10-09T07:45:00.000-05:00

I was working my shift at the Franklin FHC yesterday when who should call but one of the members of the Bellevue Genealogy and Family History group that I belong too. He wanted to make sure I was there before heading on over. We got deep into conversation about one of his ancestors who turned out to have Irish Quaker roots. A new area of research for me and one that is proving fascinating. One of the other patrons got so interested he joined in the discussion too :)

The Quakers, who keep extremely good records, arrived in Ireland about 1660'sh and initially settled in Mountmellick. Now that name bugged me for a while till I realized it's also a form of textile that I had been learning about a few months ago. They expanded out to different communities and then came to America in groups.

I plan on learning more about this interesting group of people.

A day to remember and reflect.

2009-09-11T15:33:00.000-05:00

Who Do You Think You are?

2009-09-07T20:00:00.009-05:00

Over here we are an issue behind because this is what I bought today at Barnes and Noble.

A lot of my research is centered round Stirlingshire so I am totally looking forward to looking at the free CD that came with the magazine. The magazine itself has a lot of information in it so I know it will take me a while to read through and digest everything :)

I really like the T.V. series and have been able to see one of them and part of another, on visits to the UK. Lots of interesting information.

I also have the book from series I which made for great reading. I highly recommend getting a copy of that or the other series' issues.

If you have not already visited their website go to http://www.bbcwhodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/

Okay, enough gushiness from me :)

Researching With Sensitivity

2009-08-30T16:51:00.004-05:00

One of the areas of research that has to be done very carefully is if you have a relative that fought in any kind of war.

WWI, for many, was the first huge one that had an almost global impact in one way or another.

Many participants tried to forget the traumatic experiences they went through. Some on occasion spoke up, others never did. All would probably wish it had never happened. Never force someone to talk about their experiences. Always be considerate of their deeply buried feelings and the grief and pain that can arise. For many time never heals.

I feel greatly blessed that we have a hand written account of my grandfather's 11 months as a prisoner-of-war in Germany. He wrote it well after the event. It is a thoughtfully written account of life in the coal mines and interactions with the local population. In some ways he felt better off than they were because he at least had boots on his feet.

At some point I plan on transcribing it because the pages are now quite fragile. My mother has it so I will either have to wait till I can make another visit or have my dad send me a photocopy. It's not one of those projects you can sit down with and do in an hour.

The title page reads as follows -

"Eleven Months Behind Barbed Wire"

My experiences as a prisoner of war in Germany 1918

John W. Hall

A.B. "Drake" Batt. R.N.D.

In the following pages I have tried to give an account of my experiences while a prisoner of war in Germany in 1918. Most of this account has been compiled from memory but an experience such as this lives in the memory for a long time.

Researching family items

2009-08-21T08:04:00.004-05:00

Have you ever researched any of the family items in your possession?

My mother has inherited a number of family pieces over the years and this is one of her favorites.
It is inscribed Helen Margaret Hall Xmas 1897 on the bottom. Given that Helen was born September 1896 I will have to assume that it was made for her by one of her parents or grandparents. What a lovely gift for a cherished baby.
I only ever knew my great aunt as "Nellie" and she had a wooden leg that she let us play gentle drums on when she visited. She died in 1971. By profession she was a teacher and lived in Campbelltown. My parents minister told them that she taught his mother !!!! (Small world). She enjoyed travelling and visited a number of relatives abroad, some of whom still remember her with much affection.

BMD records England

2009-08-20T14:12:00.003-05:00

Occasionally I have to do research in English records which is a bit more tricky that Scottish records (I am totally spoiled).
On Tuesday I was working at the family history center and was looking at some of the new data bases. I found a site for Lancashire, where one of my cousins was born. It proved very fruitful and I have now pushed my knowledge about his family back about another 3 generations. It's a basic index , which is free to look at, but some of the family names are unusual so that helped quite considerably. Copies of the original documents can be ordered from the same site for a small fee.

Visiting old haunts

2009-08-14T09:05:00.004-05:00

Something that many people like to do when researching their family history is try to visit the homes, workplaces etc. of their ancestors.

While we were visiting my parents in Scotland we had the opportunity to meet a cousin from New Zealand for the first time. His father and my grandfather were brothers and this house is where they and their siblings were born and raised.

The Old Schoolhouse, Drymen used to be where John Hall was schoolmaster and taught school from the late 1890's till 1926. It still looks a lot like it would have done in years past but is now used as a B&B.

Old maps

2009-07-18T10:01:00.004-05:00

I love old maps and this one is from 1762. It's fun to look at them over a period of time and see what was considered "real" at any given moment. I think that map makers should be considered artists because there are some beautiful renditions out there.

Click on the map to see a larger version of it.

A visit across the puddle

2009-07-13T15:19:00.002-05:00

We are leaving for Britain on Sunday. Whoopee:) Hopefully we will be able to photograph some historical family sites during our travels. I'm going to try and get copies of family photographs when we visit my parents so that I can use them here.

Flemish descent of the Lindsays

2009-07-09T11:16:00.004-05:00

There is an oft quoted research about the history and descent of the Lindsays in Scotland that is very much worth reading.

http://www.clanlindsay.com/flemish-descent-of-the-lindsays.htm

Since I have not been able to get further back than about early 1800's on our main line I cannot "make the leap" so to speak. William's parents MIGHT be James Lindsay and Agnes Loban but that has not been (concretely) confirmed as far as I know.

Another interesting read and a wee bit different information wise can be found at http://www.electricscotland/com/webclans/htol/lindsay2.html

The old Scottish chronicler Andro is oft quoted as saying - "Out of Englande came that Lyndsay; Mair of thame I can nocht say." (and sometimes I feel the same way about my own!!!)

Happy 4th July to our ancestors descendants

2009-07-04T07:17:00.003-05:00

A number of ancestors emigrated to various countries and have descendants scattered all over the globe. Some of us are here in the US of A so happy 4th July.

I live deep in southern Civil War history country with some fabulous historic plantations and battle fields. About 20 minutes south of us is historic Franklin that is a must on any visitors list.

A piece of trivia. During the Civil War one of the major battles was fought by Scots on both sides.

Here's an interesting read about Scots and Scots-Irish influences in historic US of A. http://www.visitdunkeld.com/scottish-americans.htm

Henry Brock Hospital 1924 - 1978

2009-06-21T18:40:00.006-05:00

Full name - The Henry Brock Memorial Hospital, Alexandria.

money bequeathed by Henry Brock of Darleith.

Broomley House converted into hospital.

1924 - Brock hospital opened. 2 general wards, 1 children's ward, 1 ward for private patients, operating theater, x-ray room, outpatients department.

1955 - Integrated into Vale of Leven General Hospital which was built on the same grounds.

1956 - 1977 became Geriatric long stay unit and chronic sickness center.

1978 - demolished

My great aunt, Jane "Jean" Hall, was carrying a full tray down the stairs, fell and broke her neck (hence the work related accident mentioned in her obituary). 13 March 1902-4 June 1944. Died age 42.

Stirling Observer - Thursday - June 15, 1944 - Obituary

2009-06-21T08:27:00.004-05:00

A poignant sense of loss was felt throughout the parish and district when the sad news spread last week of the sudden and tragic death of Miss Jean Wilson Hall, of Ormonde, Drymen, for many years Sister at the Brock Hospital, Alexandria. Sister Hall met her death as the result of an accident in the course of her duties on Sunday, 4th June, and the grievous news came as a profound shock to the whole community, where she was held in the highest respect and esteem. The second daughter of the late Mr. John Hall, F.E.I.S., schoolmaster, Drymen, Sister Hall took up nursing as a career at an early age, and gained rapid and well-merited promotion in her profession, being most capable and efficient in her duties. Of a most kind and courteous and obliging disposition, Miss Hall endeared herself not only to the patients under her charge, but to a wide circle of friends, and to all with whom she came in contact, being greatly beloved by all who had the privilege of knowing her. The large and representative concourse of mourners who attended the services at Alexandria and at Drymen Churchyard on Wednesday last was a tribute to her worth, and an indication of the painful sense of loss which all sections of the community felt at the sudden and unexpected passing, in its prime, of a gracious and useful and consecrated life. The deepest sympathy of all is extended to her sorrowing family in their sudden and sore bereavement.