Researching With Sensitivity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Death of Australian Brothers on Service

Intimation has been received by Mr. Alexander McEwan, Pirnie Hall, Drymen, that his son Private William M.G. McEwan, Australian Imperial forces, died of wounds in France on August 1st. Private McEwan was 21 years of age, and joined the army in February of last year. He was wounded by shrapnel at the Dardanelles, and went to France in March. He joined the army at Sydney, N.S.W.; where he was a steward on one of the coasting vessels. 

His brother, Private George Buchanan McEwan, Australian Imperial Forces, has also been killed in action. He was first posted as missing, but his father has now received information that he has been killed. He was a native of Killearn, and before he enlisted was employed at Broken Hill, Australia. Mr McEwan has other two sons with the forces.

This piece of information plus some research back and forth between myself and a researcher in Australia led to me writing a short family history of some of the McEwans. It's at the "add photographs and documentation" stage. 

5 of my grandmother's siblings settled in Australia. Thus far we have been able to track down information about 4 of them and been in contact with descendants from two of them. 

Something useful from the above obituary is that it takes you into military records. It proved most advantageous for our family that William and George were in Australia when they enlisted because a lot of military records in the UK were destroyed during the London Blitz. We found their WWI records and those of their brother David. Later I found WWII records for a nephew of David's.

My researcher in Australia found newspaper records for the group leaving Broken Hill and George was mentioned in there.

Inscription on headstone

So moving along from the obituary for John Hall this is the information on the family headstone located in Drymen Parish Church.

In loving memory of

John Hall

died 1st. September 1898

aged 71 years

his wife, Jane Wilson

died 7th March 1903

aged 74 years

Petrina McKellar

died 12th March 1930

aged 66 years

wife of John Hall schoolmaster

died 16th May 1943

aged 82 years

Jane Wilson Hall

died 4th June 1944

The headstone is not located in it's original position. It used to be in the lower section but there was a flood so it was moved to higher ground. John and Jane Hall did not die in Drymen and it took a long time to find where they actually lived. Jane Wilson Hall was daughter to John and Petrina. She died suddenly in a work related accident.

So if all you had was this tombstone to go by for family information what could you work out?

You know from the death dates and ages an approximate birth date for everyone except Jane Wilson Hall. You also can "assume" that this is three generations of a family.

To find the death records you would work from Drymen outwards. In this case you would be unsuccessful on the Drymen part for three of them. 

John and Peterina (Petrina) both died in Drymen. 

Jane died in Alexandria, Lanark at her work. (Fell down stairs and broke her neck.) I have a copy of her obituary in one of my files. It makes for interesting reading.

John and Jane Hall both died in Croftamie, Dunbartonshire but we only found that out when we broadened our search to find them in a census record outside of Stirlingshire.

Other records that could be looked for based on the headstone information is  possible birth records for everyone, marriage records for John Hall/Jane Wilson and John Hall/Petrina McKellar. 

If you utilize the information on the tombstone and the obituary I wrote about in the previous post you would know to start in Drymen for birth records for John & Petrina's children but to look outside of Stirlingshire for birth and marriage records.