Fair whizzing along with FAIRBAIRNs

Continued working on the family of Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Mary GRIERSON with quite a bit of success. Interested to note that one family member married a ROBSON, a variant of which surname married into the other Archibald FAIRBAIRN's family.
Revised, yet again, the brief FAIRBAIRN chart and the "other Archibald" chart on the FAIRBAIRN pages.
Also included the Archibald who married Janet SCOTT on the web pages, given that there's a leap or two of faith taken in there that others may not agree with. At least people can see how I reached my conclusions. If anyone has any compelling arguments another way, do tell me. I see at least one tree on the web that has these families completely differently to this.

Dec 26, 2007: Archibalds rethink and voyage of discovery

Have been on a very fruitful voyage around Roxburghshire chasing Archibald FAIRBAIRN and family (with Mary GRIERSON). Bowden, St Boswells, Melrose, Southdean all must have offered him work, children baptised in each parish. I think I've found his baptism too, so the putative names for the two Archibald's forbears have changed, given I did switch the 1783 Whitsome one to Archibald and Alison instead. There wasn't room between the children I found for Archibald and Mary to fit him in at all by his 1841 census birth estimate and the 1783 baptism predates their marriage with no indication on the record that he was illegitimate.
Brief Fairbairn chart updated, as are those on the FAIRBAIRN page

Dec 24, 2007: Whitsome rethink, GenCircles

Been thinking about Archibald FAIRBAIRNs. And re-examining what I knew about the 1783 Whitsome baptism. Not a lot as it turns out. I'll update the pages shortly (after Christmas), but I now suspect that my showing Whitsome for the 2nd family might be a bit of a leap. Lesley, of the Whitsome one place study, advises that the OPR for the entry merely shows Archibald as the son of an Archibald, a hynd resident at the now extinct farm of Whitsome Vaults, no mother mentioned. 1783 is a tad earlier than I'd be looking for a 50 yr old from the 1841 census, but the place is very close to Swinton, so just maybe, this is actually the Archibald, son of Archibald and Alison, who went on to marry Janet SCOTT.

Archibald and Mary (GRIERSON) FAIRBAIRN are shown in the Bowden Parish Kirk Sessions of Jul 1784 as "said to be married in an irregular way a short time ago". This is the first confirmed sighting I have of them.
Son George married in Melrose and said he was born variously Spaw, Hobkirk and Roxburghshire. Lived at Broomilees and died Harwoodburn, Selkirkshire. So, the likely places for the ancestral home of the Archibald who married Mary are many and varied, but may not include Whitsome after all.

GenCircles seems to have reincarnated itself into quite an interesting new version, MyHeritage.
Haven't explored a lot yet, but it automatically put my gedcoms from GenCircles there, so you can see the tree in a different way at my pages at MyHeritage and seems to have quite a powerful search engine attached. Haven't yet found how to change the standard introductory blurb from what they generated, and it may be having a few teething troubles....

Merry Christmas, and may 2008 be a great year for you and yours.

Dec 22, 2007: DNA results

A day for DNA results. Nothing as exciting as the FAIRBAIRNs completely unexpected match with the first SINTON set to arrive back, but one day maybe there will be. At 12 markers, about 1200 tested people share the same dna, but none of them are SINTONs, so any match is unlikely to be in a genealogical timeframe.

I've also had it confirmed that I'm unique. My mtDNA results are also back, with nary a match. The nearest did however have her earliest maternal ancestor from Cambridge, England, which is pretty close to Braintree, Essex where I think mine came from!

Dec 21, 2007: Paradise regained

Have also now updated the remaining version of my web pages (the Paradise homepages) definitely the poorer cousin as far as the web page content and frequency of update goes: slightly fewer people, and sometime less detail, charts that will load more quickly, and no pictures, so probably slightly more suitable to those on dialup, or who like a list of people for navigation down the lhs of the screen.

Dec 20, 2007: Easter instead? Seasons greetings

It's really Easter, not Christmas! I've had to resurrect someone that I thought died back in 1994. But I had an email from him. I obviously misinterpreted the information I was given back in 1995. Fancy being dead for 12 years and not knowing it. Anyway, glad to welcome you back Michael, sorry to have prematurely deceased you. Look forward to more updates on the PITTAR family.

This is probably an appropriate time to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year. May 2008 bring you all happiness.
I've had a great year, all too short, haven't done half the things I wanted too, and as usual have left it far too late to do anything sensible like send Christmas cards. It's not that I don't think of all of you very helpful, wonderful people out there who help me with assorted branches of the family tree and interesting snippets of information, it's just that there are so many other things to do than stop and write letters. Consider yourselves all thought of with affection, and thanked for all your help, and ongoing friendship.

Fun with FAIRBAIRNs

Given the developments in the FAIRBAIRN tree (yes the dtr of Earl Millard FAIRBURN has been in touch, I had the right family), I've done a wholesale set of updates:
The Rootsweb pages have had a rather overdue update, seeing it's at least 2 months since that was done. The FAIRBAIRN chart at that site now includes a descendant chart from the theoretical Archibald? that links the two lines together.
My domain pages have had assorted FAIRBAIRN bits and bobs updated, including a write up on the theoretical grandfather of the two Archibalds, and their relationship.

Dec 18, 2007: Matching Archibalds

The final FAIRBAIRN dna results came in on our match, which added to the sum of knowledge in that although they were an exact match at 12 and 25 markers, by the 37 marker test there was 1 difference. I concluded, probably rather unscientifically, that they shared a grandfather and that their respective fathers were probably brothers named Walter and Archibald.
I'll expand on this on Archibald's write-up at a later date.

Updated the Patriarchs page of the FAIRBAIRN DNA project to include the line of the 2nd Berwickshire Archibald FAIRBAIRN.

Also included a chart for Archibald and Mary GRIERSON/GIESSEN on my FAIRBAIRNs page.

Dec 17, 2007: Win some? Lose some?

Well, I'm not sure if this DNA result is going to add or subtract people from the family tree!
The final link to Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Alison CROSSER from one side of the test results is an unproven link, based purely on date/place proximity and naming patterns of the children of Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Janet SCOTT. I've reviewed this in light of subsequent research on the chap I believe to be the DNA match. On balance I still think it looks and feels right in the absence of any evidence to the contrary.
Any other FAIRBAIRN descendants out there to help confirm this? I've not traced any of the other lines from Archibald and Alison down to present day, so am short of candidates at the moment, but it would be fantastic if someone else would participate in the FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA project to aid these conclusions.
A male FAIRBAIRN descendant of Walter FAIRBAIRN and Agnes ROBERTSON would be great, or if anyone has a James, John or David born mid/late 1790s around Morebattle....
My research to date peters out before living people, the nearest candidates I currently know of would be children of:
Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Charlesina PHIMISTER, or their son Archibald (born Glasgow, died Jersey) who married Agnes Watt Gladstone FYFE.
Henry FAIRBAIRN and Emma Maud HANNEY, living Hampstead in 1901, with a 1 yr old son Stanley.
Walter Edward FAIRBAIRN and Davina Oswald MacDONALD: son Henry Edward F. was living in Edinburgh in 1930 when father died.
Walter FAIRBAIRN and Elizabeth ROY: two sons still alive in 1901 (Haltwhistle, Northumberland), a Walter and a John

If the other side of the match is who I think he might be, his email didn't bounce, BUT I think he died back in March.
However, researching this chap's family took me back from California to Melrose, and to Whitsome and Hilton, Berwickshire, and another Archibald FAIRRBAIRN, the one married to Mary GIESSEN. The two Archibalds are of an age, and having simultaneous families, so cannot be one and the same people. Both have sons named Archibald, one is my Walter's younger brother, so at least 2nd son in my family's case, but likely to be the first son in the other family.
My current theory is therefore that these two Archibalds share a grandfather via brothers Walter and Archibald, who will likely never be found, more's the pity.

Wonder what the rest of the results of the DNA testing will show up? All very exciting to find a match so quickly, and with only one participant!
I will update the Patriarchs page of the DNA project with a lineage of the second Archibald shortly, and possibly include some notes on my site's FAIRBAIRN page.

Dec 13, 2007: A DNA match! And a hunch confirmed

This DNA testing lark has already proved interesting. The first (partial) results are in, and already there's an exact 12/12 match. My sole FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA project testee matches with another Family Tree DNA testee by the surname of FAIRBURN. I await with baited breath to find out more about him. Hope his email address is still current.
And I would love to find more FAIRBAIRN descendants interested in this process to volounteer, particularly the Delaware lot down from John FAIRBAIRN and Elizabeth MILLER, who may be descendants of my Walter, and the William & Jean (WANLESS) FAIRBAIRN & David & Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN lot.

Another hunch proved correct. When told about James Percy SINTON being in the same orphanage as a Frederick Walter SINTON in 1891, Helen had ordered the latter's birth cert. She advises that he was indeed his elder brother (children of David and Mary Ann SINTON, descendants of William SINTON & Isobel BLACK). Neither of us have been able to find Frederick after this census, anywhere as yet. Sightings welcome.

Updated databases and success with SINTONs

Both WorldConnect databases have been updated: LornaHenderson and LornaPotential

You will have to use these links for about 24 hrs to access them however as they wont be available for searches until reindexed.
Found (via GenesReunited) a descendant of William SINTON & Isobel BLACK, one of the Southdean SINTONs I'd like to include in the SINTON Surname DNA project. Hope they can help make connections between the SINTONs.

Dec 8, 2007: Sorting out the Southdean SINTONs

Continuing right along with Southdean SINTONs.

This time on the family of Thomas SINTON and Elizabeth HASTIE who married and lived in Southdean, even though Thomas said he was "of Jedburgh".
Son James married Jane AINSLIE, grddtr of Peter SINTON and Jeanie WIGHT, making the family of double interest.
This increased the number of Northumberland policemen in the family by one, as it looks like son Robert switched from being a newly married Water Bailiff living with his wife's parents (1891) to a widowed police constable in 1901, with his widowed sister in law Margaret as housekeeper for his 4 children.
Full and brief SINTON charts updated as a result, World Connect databases will follow shortly as this also led me to solve a long standing mystery as to who on earth was the Elizabeth SINTON who married Thomas Henry STAWART, as per a SCT General board posting on Rootsweb back in 1998.

Florence indicated that they were the parents of her Richard STAWART who married Sarah MATHER in 1911 and emigrated to Canada in 1912. But as she had this Richard as born 1866, it had thrown the dates of my searches out completely.
I now believe that Richard is Thomas Henry's brother and that Elizabeth is the dtr of James above.

Dec 6, 2007: Rolling around the RUNCIMeN

First circle of "The Wheel" of Michigan RUNCIMANs checked off against my data, one or two date discrepancies and a couple of surnames for the wives, one of whom involved yet more economy of effort as it led me to investigate whether or not Agnes COLLINS who married John RUNCIMAN was also the Agnes RUNCIMAN, 2nd wife of John's brother George. The chart showed them with the same birth/dth years, and I already had the 1910 census which showed George and Agnes with Agnes' children from her first marriage, QED. Might have caught that earlier if they'd been listed as George's niece and nephews instead of his step-children!
The Michigan RUNCIMAN chart has been updated as a result.

Dec 5, 2007: Luck(ock)s in

Yes, as suspected, Joseph LUCOCK married sisters Annie and Agnes Gair HENDERSON, dtrs of Archibald. The latter was a witness to her sister's marriage, as was what looks like a maternal uncle, Thomas WHITE, and Joseph's brother Reay LUCOCK Junr.
Another DNA kit has reached the lab, one of the RUNCIMAN Surname DNA Project ones.

Dec 4, 2007: More Southdean SINTONs, and sad news

And still on the Southdean SINTONs, not that I've found any new branches to connect, but have found lots of twigs on the known relations. The main find was an interconnected family of HALLs.
Realised I'd not checked off the family of Matthew HENDERSON and Ann MATHER, and as a result found a couple more children, one of whom, Robert HENDERSON, married an Isabella HALL. Thought she sounded a bit familiar, and sure enough I already had her in the database. Her sister Margaret married William WALDIE, one of my WIGHT relations. And when I checked out her grandparents as well, I found that their (Margaret and Isabella's) uncle, Thomas HALL, had married Margaret AINSLIE, 2nd cousin to Robert HENDERSON. So I checked out one further generation back up the HALLs, bearing in mind that I do have some from around the area in the SINTON tree. No immediately obvious connection as yet, but with James HALL's parents being John HALL and Margaret SHIEL, I may well find another connection somewhere.
Very sad to note the death (in the latest Borders Family History Society Journal) of Margaret, one of my earliest SINTON contacts, a descendant of James SINTON and Janet OLIVER. Should the SINTON Surname DNA project ever hit paydirt and indicate a connection between her and my Southdean families, it would have been great to be able to share that news.

Dec 3, 2007: More SINTONs and TELFERs

Continuing Southdean SINTON tracing. Thought I was onto one of them in England, and with a child named John Isaac Barrow SINTON, I thought I even had someone who might be easy to find in records. Unfortunately he was easiest to find in a marriage and death record, registered a quarter apart in 1866, so that trail went cold far too quickly, both for me and for him I guess.
I did eventually find his parents in 1871, they'd been indexed as SANTON, and in 1851 as SENTER. I've no idea if this George is the descendant of William and Isobel (BLACK) SINTON, as I only know he's the right age and was born Scotland. Interestingly enough, by 1871, a nephew had joined the family, born around 1857 in the United States, but so far, he too has disappeared into oblivion before and after this one census.
I will be including a bit more of this family in my Rootsweb databases in the hope someone pops out of the woodwork, but so far it doesn't look like anyone researching this family has shared much/any data online.
Had much more success with the descendants of Cecilia TELFER nee MATHER. A lot of the family moved south into England (Yorkshire and London), then one branch at least (Robert & Ann Brown (DORWARD) TELFER), onto Canada, not that I'm having much luck finding them beyond the 1906 Alberta census.

SINTON charts updated: both the brief one here and the full SINTON chart on the main part of the web pages

Dec 2, 2007: Southdean SINTONs

Decided to continue hunting for other Southdean SINTON descendants to see who I might find still living and willing to participate in the SINTON Surname DNA project.
Sorted out several duplications in my database on the family of William SINTON and Isobel BLACK, some of whose children show up in census data as being born Southdean, even though their baptisms were in Jedburgh at the Associated Session Congregation or Free Church. Some day I might find out where all the Free Churches were in the area, perhaps that was the closest for them?
William and Isobel are the parents of both the Agnes SINTON who married Robert TELFER and of John SINTON who married Dorothy EASTHAM.
William TELFER, son of Agnes & Robert, married Cecilia MATHER, grddtr of Peter and Janet (DONALDSON) SINTON.
Several more twigs will therefore show up on the assorted SINTON charts as I've found a few more of them in censuses etc.

Nov 27, 2007: Doubly related?

And wonder of wonders, this newfound NZ WIGHT descendant is a relative of the last TINNING at Fauld, recently sold (see report on web), AND has a Jane GRAHAM further back up his ancestry, so just possibly we are connected twice over, once via Borders WIGHTs and once via Arthuret GRAHAMs. He also added that another relative currently owns Hornick Hill.

Nov 26, 2007: The WIGHT stuff...

The new New Zealand relation isn't a SINTON descendant after all, well he is, but of the Jedburgh SINTONs, not the Southdean ones. His connection to me being via his grandmother Christina Mary TINNING nee SINTON led me to jump to the conclusion he was a SINTON relation, but the connection is actually via Christina's grandmother Isabella WIGHT, dtr of John WIGHT and Helen THOMSON.
The contact has prompted me to fill in a few gaps on the tree anyway, so the WIGHT chart has been updated.

Nov 25, 2007: Counting down from 11

6 down, 5 to find. Robert found a couple more of the 11 children of Robert TAYLOR & Isabella Armstrong McGREGOR on his last visit to NRH, along with a few of the spice and a couple of grandchildren.

Oliver JOHNSTON's death remains unfound however.

And a welcome surprise in my Guestbook posted on the 23rd. Another line of SINTONs appear to be in NZ, a grandson of Christina Mary SINTON has left me a message.

And also a message from one of the Australian McADIE relations.
No rest for the wicked, or genealogically minded anyway.

Nov 24, 2007: Confirmed SINTONs

Three English SINTON certificates turned up today to confirm a few suppositions about the family of Peter SINTON and Mary SCOTT, including providing names for the children of Jane DERMONT and Margaret HALL, the successive wives of Peter SINTON, and that the Mary Elliot SINTON birth reg. Bellingham was indeed one of the family, not that I know what happened to her at all.

The SINTON chart has been updated.

Nov 23, 2007: Hiding the McFADEN SINTONs

Robert McCUTCHEON's DUNSMORE web pages have been updated with his write-ups (and his db is in the process of being converted to TMG, I'm slowly tidying up the conversion so the sources etc display better).

The GRAY chart will now show a few of the additions from yesterday.

Hunting around for Northumberland SINTONs led me back to the family of Donald McFADEN (McFAYDEN, McFADYEN) and Jessie SINTON who just has to be a relation of Peter's. Next update of LornaPotential will show some additions to this family, despite the best efforts of ancestry's indexing to hide them under FADEN and all sorts of other inventive interpretations of the census enumerators' handwriting.

Bit of a GRAY area

Bit of digging around on the GRAYs of Caithness, filling in some census gaps on the family of William & Isabella GRAY at Tongside, Halkirk. This being prompted by a renewed contact from a researcher I last heard from 12 yrs ago. Don't yet know what he's found in the intervening time period, but I hope he agrees with my write up about Donald GRAY. Found a few more twigs and where at least one of them ended up (Benjamin died in Colinton, MLN in 1924, so he moved away from Caithness).

Nov 21, 2007: Red or blue?

Continued tracking the JOHNSTON/RANKIN family up to 1901. Chuckled over one chap's change of birthplace between 1861 and 1901, so popped him out on the web (Oliver JOHNSTON).
Each of the Surname DNA projects I administer have spare $15 US vouchers available for the 25 marker and mtDNA tests, check out the FAIRBAIN, SINTON and RUNCIMAN recruitment pages for more details on how to join and request to use them.
Also sorted out a few more of the Michigan RUNCIMeN with help from Michigan.

Nov 20, 2007: FAMILTON descendants anywhere?

With some mtDNA test vouchers available until 31st Dec, I mused over how many female descendants of Bessie RUNCIMAN nee FAMILTON might still be around that they would be of use too. Which of course led me into updating a few more branches of the tree. Mainly JOHNSTONs, the family of David Stewart Erskin JOHNSTON and Elizabeth RANKIN, the latter being the dtr of Margaret WIGHT, grddtr of Margaret RUNCHAMAN.

The newly contacted descendants of William RUNCIMAN in Michigan floored me slightly. When I asked what they did, I certainly didn't expect "we used to farm emus (for a couple of years)". It wouldn't have been top of my list of guesses as to occupation for anyone.

Nov 19, 2007: One more down, one to go

Yes, the Michigan RUNCIMAN contact did indeed agree to participate in the RUNCIMAN Surname DNA project, so that's a representative from the William side. They also had a 3 yr old mobile number for one of the James' descendants I'd been chasing around the available records. And it still worked. Had a very interesting chat to the chap at the other end, a brother of the one I'd been tracking.

Nov 18, 2007: Michigan RUNCIMeN ...

A couple of my USA phone calls have finally hit paydirt. Email received from a descendant of one of the Michigan RUNCIMeN (William's line), confirming my suppositions on who was related to whom in Stockbridge. Hope this also leads to descendants of the line of James, and to participation in the RUNCIMAN Surname DNA project for both lines.
Continued fishing around in TURNBULLs, but that sidetracked me back to FAIRBAIRNs as a couple of them married FAIRBAIRN brothers, or so it looked. Proven, but unfortunately, neither look like my families.
While chasing around census data for this lot I happened across a James FAIRBAIRN from Swinton, but lost him again.

Nov, 17 2007: Gone fishin' (for TURNBULLs)

Hunting around in some TURNBULLs I re-found the Joseph TURNBULL who married Isabella RANKIN (a WIGHT descendant) and realised there was more information available now. Found most of them in the assorted census records, and decided to check son William's death as I didn't have a place for it, only the date from the St Boswell's MIs. Found to my surprise that he was married, to a Theresa AINSLEY. He was a fishing rod maker by occupation; subsequently found them in census data in Northumberland, where he seems to have lived, even though he died in St Boswells).
The first DNA test has reached the lab, so in a few weeks there should be some information for the as yet empty FAIRBAIRN results page. Still hunting for willing participants on the trees I want to compare with, hint hint to anyone eligible or interested.

Nov 16, 2007: Who is Lesley?

Back to the Manitoba BAINs, except the snippets I was checking off were actually their MANSON cousins in Brandon, plus an as yet unidentified Lesley, dtr of a George.

Nov 11, 2007: Lots of updates

Despite what my Recent Changes page says for today, the only real change is the addition of William GRAHAM, who has just been added to the web.
In addition the GRAHAM chart also has some updates, down from Dulcibella.
Both WorldConnect databases LornaHenderson and LornaPotential have been updated as there were quite a few snippets here and there to include, ie some HENDERSON/McGREGOR updates on the New Jersey branch courtesy of Linda, and the Scottish lot courtesy of Robert, some WALDIE/WIGHT snippets via census data, and a binge on McEWANs etc etc etc).

Nov 10, 2007: GRAHAMs Galore again ++

A couple of days intensive effort chasing Cumberland GRAHAMs and CARRUTHERS descendants around the records, helped by Kirklinton headstone transcriptions ex Bridget and CARRUTHERS info from Gwynneth. My end conclusion was that the Kirklinton William who died Firbank 1808 is highly likely to be the son of Edward and Dulcibella and the father of the George who married Easet CARRUTHERS (whose brother Richard was at Hornick Hill incidentally), so I've connected him up. Others may well have reached this conclusion quicker, but I've only just worked thru the headstones and done the sums etc.
Got a bit of a problem with some of George's descendants though. Two researchers who have been in contact with me both claim George and Easet's illegitimate son William as theirs. One as William GRAHAM married to Jane FERGUSON, the other as William CARRUTHERS married to Jane ARMSTRONG. More work is needed to sort that lot out.

Along the way of all this activity Bridget mentioned that one of her lot married one of the Moorhouse GRAHAM lot, a Romulus IRVING. The very next marriage I looked up was for Mary Eleanor GRAHAM, who turned out to be the one married to Romulus Graham IRVING. I guess with a father named George ROME you might just call a son Romulus (especially if he was illegitimate and he wasn't living with you).
Also a few snippets from NRH courtesy of Robert. 3 more of the children of Robert TAYLOR and Isabella Armstrong McGREGOR have been identified, only 7 to go.
Also some dates/places on the FAIRBAIRN/JARDINE line in Hawick.

Nov 8, 2007: RUNCIMAN dna project

RUNCIMAN DNA project Patriarchs page has been updated with the three lines I'm particularly interested in proving a connection to/between. And if anyone knows the whereabouts of any of the descendants of the Michigan families who might be willing to participate I'd love to hear from them. There's a discount going for some of the tests for the next couple of months (some details on the Recruitment pages).

Nov 7, 2007: Unrelated FAIRBAIRNs & WIGHTs

A FAIRBAIRN day: the family of Walter FAIRBAIRN and Agnes RENTON, and the goings on of their dtr Elisabeth, mother of the Walter who married Janet RENTON. Way back Terry and I swapped info on this family and I was wondering if there was a connection to the Walter son of James FAIRBAIRN in Selkirk in 1841. I no longer think so as I've convinced myself that Walter is the illegitimate son of Elisabeth, with a sister Agnes. Elisabeth's 1865 death cert shows her as the dtr of Walter and Agnes (RENTON). Even dipped out on a WIGHT connection as the William WIGHT Elisabeth married in 1841 appears to come from Edinburgh, not the Borders, and when he died in 1874, the informant had no idea who his parents were.

Nov 6, 2007:

Worked thru Cherie's SINTON updates, which of course prompted several other checks along the way. Next WorldConnect update will have several new places and some new dates added in.
Unfortunately Dawn cannot verify that Joseph LUCOCK's first wife was Agnes Gair HENDERSON's sister Ann, and there are at least 2 other candidates of the right age in the area. Looks like a cert. will have to be purchased after all.

Nov 5, 2007: While you're away...

Back from a short break recharging the batteries. Wonderful lot of emails to come back too as well.
Ta Dawn for the info re Joseph LUCOCK and Annie HENDERSON, his first wife, hope that we have the bases covered between us, you may have saved my having to buy their marriage cert. to prove she is his 2nd wife's sister. And ta for the info about their (short-lived) son.
Ta also to Cherie for the NBL SINTON updates. Great to come back to those.
And not forgetting Noel's photo of Robert McADIE
En route to, and in, Chch I took the opportunity to look up a couple of relations and a fellow (SINTON) researcher. Always much better meeting those at the end of anonymous emails.
My stated aim for the break was to catch up on lots of reading, and do a heap of overdue clarinet practice, the latter assuming that the hotel had reasonably soundproof rooms. I mostly chose suitable hours for the practice & did get a lot done, but did find that on the final afternoon I must have had some music lovers move in next door, they took exception to my attempts and knocked on the wall, oh well.

Oct 31, 2007: Mysterious SINTON death cert

Continuing down the emigration records has led me to check off all sorts of things en route. Found the death of James SINTON (s/o Robert SINTON and Jeanie PARK), which momentarily threw me as it shows his 1st marriage as being to an Elizabeth WILSON, with KIRKWOOD crossed out, whereas I have it as to Catherine FINLAY. His son has to have had that wrong, as I've received a transcript of the 1st marr. cert, and it clearly shows the same parents, with wife as Catherine FINLAY. Wonder who Elizabeth WILSON/KIRKWOOD is?

Oct 30, 2007: More McGREGORs, and rabitting on..

More McGREGOR updates from the BRC clan from Noreen. It's getting close to time to do another WorldConnect Update as there have been rather a lot of updates over the last few weeks.
The search for living Michigan RUNCIMAN descendants for the DNA survey continues. Rang a likely looking candidate this morning (well he lived in the same State where I know Dr Ronald H had lived for a while), and had a lovely chat to a Sir Walter descendant who may be convinced to join in.
Contacted by a double descendant of the warreners (Nicholas WARE and Margaret King CREBER). Steve R's grandmother is a descendant from Nicholas' first marriage and his grandfather, William Monarch TURNER, from the 2nd marriage. WMT emigrated to Australia and joined the AIF only to be killed nr Gallipoli "of wounds at sea" according to an Anzacs web site.

Oct, 29, 2007: BROOKING corrections, Canadian McGREGORs ++

Daniel McGREGOR is hereby brought back to life - at least for a while. The death in the BC index of the right age turns out not to be him. Noreen checked, and also supplied several other updates to the McGREGOR pile from the films, ta muchly.
With my findmypast voyager sub about to expire I've been chasing around looking for any likely emigration candidates in my database. Don't think I've found (m)any as yet, but in doing the checking I have managed to find several other bits and bobs, eg the Archibald FAIRBAIRN that I lost in 1891 and assumed was dead because he wasn't with his wife Isabella, nee DAVIDSON, and their children. Archibald, Isabella and dtr Isabella turn up in Glasgow (were in London), with several "visitors" that looked like they might actually be relations. Sure enough, one was dtr Elizabeth now married to a Thomas CRAWFORD, the other was Isabella's niece Johan DAVIDSON now married to a Joseph Ellis MORRIS.
Also some corrections to a BROOKING/ROWE area of my database. Found Doris Phyllis BROOKING on a ship to Canada in 1920 with her brothers and either her mother or father (listed as Mr I M BROOKING, engineer, counted in the Males column, but I M are Mum's initials and Dad was Walter Rowe BROOKING, was already in Canada).
Along with the emigration data I kept digging and have corrected Walter's death information. He appears to have died in St Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota in 1947, not the May 1959 Exeter Devon I had previously.
Rest of family also updated with a few items.

Oct 28, 2007: SINTON snippets

Nothing like being forced to re-examine your data. All this activity for the dna surname projects is making me look at parts of my db that haven't been examined for quite some time, and exposing all sorts of gaps that can now be filled.
Some of the SINTON updates that will appear next WorldConnect db update will include some dates and places on the Northumberland descendants of Peter SINTON and Mary SCOTT, a descendant of whom (from Northland) has just contacted me. Good to hear from you Mark/Cherie.

RUNCIMAN, FAIRBAIRN & SINTON family pages

Set up a FAIRBAIRN page along the lines of the RUNCI(Wo)MeN page, and updated the SINTON pages to include the other Southdean lines, and started tidying up links on the familytree and World Families Network DNA Surname pages.

Oct 26, 2007: New York New York?

Also chased around on the New York FAIRBAIRNs in readiness for contacting them re the dna survey. The ones I've previously been in contact with seem to have vanished. I have a gut feel that they really are a branch that belongs to my Walter and Agnes FAIRBAIRN, although they didn't follow the Scottish naming pattern (introducing several rather non Scottish sounding forenames), there are a number of Walters in the family and at least one Archibald, which is very promising. Included a few more of them in the latest update to my LornaPotential database on Rootsweb WorldConnect.
Also created a SINTON page along the lines of the HENDERSON and RUNCIMAN pages that already exist.

Oct 25, 2007: FAIRBAIRN & not forgetting the mothers

Thought I'd better get one of the FAIRBAIRN families a bit more up to date given it is the first that will feature in the FAIRBAIRN surname dna project. Chart updated.
And as for my mtDNA, I found a Nordic & Celtic DNA project, interested in the assorted clans of Europe which seemed rather more relevant than any surname project for mtDNA. I predict a crash course in dna coming up.

And a FAIRBAIRN DNA surname project

When I start something I do tend to jump in boots and all. Check out a new page under Lornaslinks.
As you will see, there's also now a FAIRBAIRN surname dna project and when I've finished the admin involved, all 3 projects should have a related forum for result discussion etc at Forum pages of World Families.

It seems very unfair to me that the more immutable, incontrovertible mitochondrial dna doesn't lend itself to easy organisation into Surname projects. I am going to expand on my Tara, Oxford Ancestors test, but haven't figured out which group to best join, although I am rather tempted to join a CLINTON one, I suspect there's more affinity and likelihood of matches with a ROWE project.
All of which has rather sidetracked me from keeping up with the constant flow of wonderful emails from relations. Promise I'll get back to them soon.
Which I did. The summary DAWE chart has been updated.

Oct 23, 2007: Michigan RUNCIMeN where are you?

Still trying to track down present day RUNCIMAN descendants of the Michigan families. Any of you reading this please check out the RUNCIMAN surname dna project to see why in particular I'm trying to find you!
Along with the RUNCIMAN project, I am also rather curious to see if the new DNA research can help link up some of the SINTON families. So, being a glutton for punishment, I've also set up a SINTON surname dna project and am looking for interested parties willing to participate.

Oct 22, 2007: Win some, lose some

Another DAW(E) line down to present day. Amanda, the grddtr of Richard NORRISH, son of Alice DAW(E) and William NORRISH has contacted me.
The McADIE family tree has shrunk by one. Noel's eagle eyes spotted that I had a Raymond Robert son for Jessie BROTHERTON nee McADIE that he didn't have. My source was the bad writing on Jessie's death cert, re-examination could easily convince me it was actually the Reginald Robert I already had in the family, especially as I couldn't corroborate his existance via the Pioneer Index.
And back to Margaret HENDERSON's McGREGOR brood. Linda and Noreen have had a successful hunt thru the Manitoban and British Columbian indexes after Linda found James Donaldson McGREGOR in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces papers in the Canadian Archives. It looks like Noreen's husband's mysterious (great) uncle Dan has now been found, at last.

Oct 21, 2007: Wairarapa explorations

Spent the day exploring the Wairarapa, primarily to see where Andrew William Alexander RICHARDSON had lived, trying to figure out why a blacksmith's lad from Owaka down South had ended up in the backblocks of the Wairarapa.
Visited the 4 places associated with him and his, Rua Roa, Akitio, Weber and Wimbledon.
These days, Rua Roa crossroads has a building proudly marked as the "Tamaki Co-Op Dairy Co. Ltd RuaRoa Branch", now a contractors headquarters; a community hall, re-opened in 1995; and a school established in 1908.
Akitio (pronounced by the locals A kee tee o) is right out at the coast. From Dannevirke it's a tarsealed road but the route we took was via the Waihi Falls which was windy and unsealed, but good. The settlement was a bit of a surprise to me. Obviously once prosperous despite it's isolation. Coastal shipping would have kept it supplied and the farm output delivered. Three very large homesteads still grace the town. All that remained of what was apparently a very shortlived sawmilling venture is a concrete block on the section next door to the one person I spoke to in town, she just happened to have written a book on the area (and could tell me a bit about Andrew's wife's family's likely descendants who still live in Wimbledon). When I voiced my puzzlement as to how come my South Island relative had ended up here, she said that a lot of people came north to work on the Herbertville rabbit proof fence.
Wimbledon, where Andrew had worked as a blacksmith for his wife's father (E MORGANS), boasted little more than a Tavern, unless we missed it.
Weber (pronounced Weeber) was the most substantial of the 4, but that's not saying much. Largish hotel and school, a church ...

Oct 19, 2007: Houstoun we have lift off & shelling out on SHIELs

A SHIELL day. Shelled out heaps of shekels to Scotlands People today. Hard to stop once you start.
Amazing where I get diverted to when I start on RICHARDSONs. Having popped the earlier RICHARDSON family on the web yesterday I went back to review exactly what I did know and where I got it from. One thing led to another, and I seem to have spent most of the day checking and chasing the SHIELs of Jedburgh Parish, quite succesfully as I've finally solved the mystery of Houstoun. No we don't quite have lift off, but there really was a Houstoun/Houston in Jedburgh, aka Ulston. It's too small a place for google maps but is on my landranger 74.
I also found a wife for James, so no doubt he's happy. Even if he had one all along, I didn't know who she was, just hadn't made the time to look. Economy of surnames again, she's another SHIEL. Added several more children to the family, Margaret's siblings, several of whom had the same names, so either it was a very confusing household with 2 called Agnes, James, John and probably Robert, or there were at least 4 deaths.

Web pages updated as a result of all this activity as several more of my direct ancestors have now been included.

RICHARDSONs from 1571 to 1680s?

Thought I'd found the descendant of James & Isabella of Michigan I'd been trying to trace, Dr Ronald H RUNCIMAN, ex of Hawaii. A letter came bouncing back from Hawaii several months ago but I then found a Californian address that looked promising. Went to ring him, but there's nothing in the whitepages other than several other locations, none of which have phone numbers attached. Guess he's either moved again or is trying to hide from me by not listing.

The descendants of William & Mary RUNCIMAN of Michigan that I've talked to & sent an email, haven't yet replied.

Unfortunately patience is not my strongpoint, particularly when I feel I'm on the verge of a breakthrough.
Better go back to chasing TURNBULLs and GRAHAMs around England for a while.
In the meantime I've revamped the web pages to pull the RUNCIMAN information together onto one page with relevant links.

I've also added a RICHARDSON chart for the generations above Robert (who appears on the RUNCIMAN chart), and included 3 of the earlier RICHARDSONs on the web: William of Caberstoune & Pringlestead, Walter and Robert. Which activity was prompted by contact from a Dr Donald RICHARDSON who contacted me wondering if there was a connection, given he had a Robert RICHARDSON with an Eckford connection.
Any connection will take a bit to uncover methinks because of the timeframe, but it would be rather interesting if so as he was Minister of Eckforde Parish to 1571, and Lord Treasurer for Mary Queen of Scots (Donald gives the same date range, can he be in two places at once?)

Bringing science to genealogy

DNA results here we come. I've set up a RUNCIMAN surname dna project, and the first kit is on order. All I need now are participants from the other two branches I'm trying to link but they're proving a bit elusive to trace.

Oct 16, 2007: Kirklinton GRAHAMS & more METHERELL

Back to chasing TURNBULLs and GRAHAMs around England. Anne Marie (mentioned on the 8th Oct) has been back in touch.

I just knew my research on the family of John TURNBULL and Isabella/Easet GRAHAM wasn't wasted when I was investigating who their son Robert TURNBULL was a couple of years ago. At the time it looked like there was going to be a connection with my Walter and Robert TURNBULL, and there may well be but it is unlikely to be proven unless more records miraculously appear from somewhere.
I had John's wife Isabella (whom I thought was also called Easet as John appears on census data with firstly Isabella and then Easet and they are of an age with the same birthplace) as the dtr of William and Jane GRAHAM, with a possible id of Jane as Jane FERGUSON.
Anne Marie also believes so, but corrected me about Easet, pointing out that Isabella died relatively young and John went on to have yet more children with her sister Easet. Saves on in-laws I suppose.
Anyway, Anne Marie believes Isabella to be the dtr of William GRAHAM and Jane FERGUSON, and has William as son of the George GRAHAM who married Easet CARRUTHERS, then George as son of William married to Eleanor, this William believed to be the son of Edward and Dulcibella GRAHAM. Quite exciting that by combining info we appear to finally have made some connections between the GRAHAM families and I've found several researchers of those lines. Great synergy. Also tidies up my database somewhat as I hadn't identified many of them as being one and the person, so had many of them twice over, once with parents, t'other with their own family.

Another guestbook posting by Heather sounds like she may have some info that might finally sort out the Jane METHERELL mystery, ie how many were there and who did they both/all belong to?

Oct 15, 2007: Wanton Walls to Michigan; Devon to Colorado

Some METHERELL snippets from a posting in my Guestbook by Heather A has tidied up a few more loose ends down the PEEK line.
And once again thrown a heap of evidence against the oft quoted statement that "our forbears didn't move around a lot".
I've followed some of the connected METHERELL families around from Devon to Cumberland to Pennsylvania to New York, back to Cumberland and back to Colorado.

I've also now spoken to (the wife of) a descendant of the William RUNCIMAN who went to Michigan around 1850, so have hopes of finding out a bit more about the States branch I hope to connect to the Wanton Walls lot one day.
In anticipation of which, I've added to the charts on the site by including the Michigan RUNCIMANs.

Oct 14, 2007: web updated

A few snippets updated for assorted Borders families (FAIRBAIRN descendants).

And it's probably time there was a full web page update, including adding a TAYLOR chart which I see seems to have either gone awol, or never existed in the first place.

It looks unlikely that the RICHARDSON connection with John Logie BAIRD is a relation, just a complete coincidence of time and place in a small Northumberland town in the present day.

And I have my first taker for a dna survey of the RUNCIMAN family. All I have to do now is track down some present day Michigan descendants of both William and James and convince them as well. Could be quite exciting, or a complete let down in that the family stories may be either disproved, or more likely, unable to be proven, but I'd like to think that modern science can "prove" a relationship between the Wanton Walls and Michigan RUNCIMAN families, even if we don't know exactly where they fit.

Caithness connections

Mostly BAIN, and TAYLOR updates. Another two for the price of one job. With family info that a sister of George Manson Henderson BAIN was a unmarried postmistress of Thurso, I decided to eliminate the sisters by checking for marriages where I didn't already have one. Found Jane/Jean Henderson BAIN had married James GUNN (1919 Halkirk), then looked at the cert. above it, only to find it was another BAIN, one Daniel William BAIN. Who didn't initially ring bells but turned out to be from a different BAIN family (the Harpsdale BAINs, George the stonemason who married into my TAYLOR family). I'd not traced this family much beyond 1881 until now. I've now found that one son, stone mason David, moved from Halkirk to Edinburgh, and dtr Violet helped keep the family surnames at a minimum by marrying a James MANSON (1909 Halkirk), not that he immediately looks connected to my Watten MANSONs.

Back to the Manitoba BAINs: still can't find Donald, James and George's emigration to Canada, followed by Alexander, but I now know Alexander can't have gone till after his 1923 marriage to Jane ROSIE, and that Donald said 1909 in the 1911 census. If I've found the right James in 1911 he thinks he came to Canada in 1911, which conflicts with family info that they came together, but with a fairly illegible birth month and year on the census I've really only got a near enough age and an occupation including CPR to go on.

James attestation papers show he married a Ruth Anna sometime before 1915, but the marriage doesn't appear in the Manitoba records that I've found.

Matching Michigan and Borders RUNCIMEN?

Next lornahen webpage update will include a link to the geograph picture of Wanton Walls on the place pages. Which activity was prompted by an early morning phone call from George RUNCIMAN ex of Wanton Walls in response to a letter I'd written him. (It was a welcome call, but it was 5:30am, I hope I sounded coherent). I was trying to find out if there was any further information to be had about the Michigan link and the current whereabouts, if any, of the letters between the Michigan and the Wanton Walls RUNCIMEN back in the 1850s-1870s(?). George was convinced that they were related, and added a snippet, to be verified somehow, that the original Michigan lot had been transported following deer poaching in the Edgarhope forest (appears on maps as Edgarhope Wood, just north of Lauder).

Given my current interest in DNA testing and genealogy, wonder if any of the US lot and the Scottish lot would be interesting in comparing dna to "prove" this? A 37 marker test comparing 2 male line surname descendants showing identical or close dna matches apparently have a 50% chance of sharing common male ancestors within 2 generations, and 95% chance within 7 generations, this latter would cover current day family back to known ancestors on the Scottish side, and likely ancestors on the American side. I can spot several Scottish candidates, but Michigan line descendants look a bit thin on the ground unless I do some more research. The last known male descendant of William (still a RUNCIMAN) that I have records of died in 1981, and the last I have down from James isn't at the address I had for him any more.

Oct 8, 2007: More HEIGHTs scaled

Quick response to a Rootsweb posting I made on the Digby, Nova Scotia message board. We now have details about Alden HEIGHT and Christine McGREGOR's 1910 Massachusetts marriage, but aren't really any further ahead with info on the supposed 1932 marriage to Minnie Dale FRANKLIN nee WILSON that cannot have happened then (Minnie was the informant for her then husband's death in 1936, James FRANKLIN). Odd that Alden appears to be married to a Bessie F in 1943, Minnie in 1942 and still to Christine in 1941 (New Hampshire directories via Ancestory).

Curiousity got the better of me however, so I took a punt that the HEIGHTs still living at a 40 yr old address in Hartford Noreen had were the ones at the end of this chain. Spoke to a grddaughter of Alden's who confirmed he'd married firstly Christina then Minnie, but in the brief conversation, nothing was known about any Bessie F. Hope to hear from her via email to "discuss" further.

And back to the GRAHAMs of Fauld. Annemarie a descendant of a William GRAHAM has been in touch. She thinks he's the son of the Dulcibella who married Edward (both GRAHAM) but lacked anything conclusive to link them, just the circumstantial evidence of h/stone proximity. Yet to check it out, but looks like another rellie as Dulcibella left her son William 1/- in her will.

Buried civilisations

Tidy up day. Something I rarely seem to get round too is finishing each bit of research. Each new exciting find or contact interrupts the previous top of the pile. Years ago I read about someone's office desk being described as having buried civilisations at the bottom of the piles. I empathised.

HENDERSON/McGREGOR research interrupts today included a Guestbook message from one of the Argentinian RUNCIMANs who was looking for information on his gt grdfather Robert Inglis (Peel) RUNCIMAN.

The British Hospital in Buenos Aires wanted to commemorate him as an early benefactor and didn't have much information. In his searches the gt grdson found my web site and sent me a lovely thank you.

Also received a query about a GUNN/BAIN marriage, which turned out not to be in one in my tree, but which meant Bella GUNN caught my eye, with an unknown birth and marriage date. Bella turns out to be Isabella Johan GUNN, and I found their marriage, not Halkirk where expected, but registered a bit further north, in Orkney.

And then there was another message in my Guestbook, continuing a correspondence about George Manson Henderson BAIN who emigrated from Caithness to Manitoba. Brenda helpfully pointed me in the direction of the Manitoba Government BDM indexes. Obviously privacy conscious there as not many of my Manitoba people fitted into the timeframes the indexes covered (100 yrs ago for births, 80 for marriages and 70 for deaths) but nonetheless there are a few more of the people who are online in my WorldConnect databases with dates that are either now verified or corrected.
Darned if I can find any record of George's immigration either side of the pond however. He must have swum, sometime between 1901 and 1916.

Oh well, back to checking/filing HENDERSON/McGREGOR correspondence to see what updates I might have missed.

Oct 6, 2007: HEIGHTS of HENDERSONs

The HENDERSON/McGREGOR research has reached new HEIGHTs today, along with CARLIN, COUSIN, RINTOUL, LIBRIZZI, and AVEDESIAN. Today's journey has taken Noreen, Linda and I to Canada and back to New Jersey, Connecticut with a detour or two to Massachusets and added those surnames into the tree (along with several more common names, such as WRIGHT, which are much harder to trace!).
Anyone with a stray Adam McGREGOR wanting a home? Possible last sighting 1871 Dunfermline with a LOW family who may or may not be relations via his mother. Born 1858, vanished into thin air after appearing at home with his family in 1861.
HENDERSON descendant chart updated again to keep pace with the research.

Aliens galore

Even more HENDERSON/McGREGOR updates. Noreen in BC has been talking to the rellies and gleaning some family stories, which has give us some great leads as to what happened to the assorted families. Timescales seem to be subject to the usual vagaries of memory, and one story places Daniel McGREGOR in Ontario, but this is proving hard to validate.
She was very surprised to find that one family also lived in BC.

The HENDERSON descendant chart has been updated as a temporary measure until I've finished this rash of updates and can update World Connect again.

Immigration records have been a great help in tracking down what happened to some of them. I just love the phrase that appears on the US Alien manifests, "nearest relative or friend in country whence alien came".

Surnames added into the HENDERSON tree as a result include: COUSIN, HAMILTON, TAYLOR, CAMERON, with associated places including Ontario, and British Columbia, but also New Jersey, and of course outer space for the aliens.

Ditch hopping or is it pond swimming?

Yet more HENDERSON/McGREGOR findings, mostly on the JACK branch. No wonder they were a bit elusive in the USA census returns, ditch hopping seems to be the norm as a couple of families returned to Scotland, then back to the States. This included the elusive Robert JACK, who pops up in the Royal Navy, marrying back in Edinburgh in 1916, to a Scottish lass who had emigrated to the States back in 1910. They returned (to New York in 1920 thus missing the census that year) and show up in Florida in 1930 (which is where Linda found them and put me onto this trail).

Loved the will of one John SCOTT, bachelor of Piperdeanregg, Nicholforest. Wonder how his niece Barbara LITTLE and Rebecca ARMSTRONG, relationship unstated, got on sharing the cottage &  garden? One got the front room and East half of the garden, the other the back room and the West half of the garden.

Sep 30, 2007: Tasmanian tigers?

Some BYRNE updates received from a DAW(E) 4th cousin in Launceston (Tasmania), ta for making contact Tony, hope to hear more.

Sep 29, 2007: Cor(ry), lots of updates

LornaHenderson db on World Connect updated with the latest HENDERSON findings and whatever other updates have been found in the recent past, including the CORRY bits below.

If anyone knows what happened to Robert JACK after 1910 I'd like to know. Thought I'd found him dying in Massachusets, married to a Catherine, but that chap, although born Scotland at the right time, he turns out to have emigrated 1926 (instead of 1908), was born Greenock and had a brother David, so didn't fit.

Decided to also clear out any backlog of unchecked web updates, so big brother has also been fully updated. Ignore the recent changes shown under 14th and 21st September, they were behind the scenes stuff.

Francis Douglas SINTON has been promised for a while, and John CORRY is a new addition prompted by the arrival of his will today, with lots of relationships spelled out in it. So that meant the Fauld place information also had a bit of a tweak. Still to get round to the Thomas SCOTT page I want to ouptut (his mother is the Margaret SCOTT nee CORRY referred to under John CORRY).

The other main change is to the Hendersons Galore page. I've included an extra generation on the descendant chart so more of the modern day HENDERSON descendants can spot where they fit. No dates or links for anyone not already included on the rest of the site. If anyone is uncomfortable with this I will reduce it back a generation again.

More McGREGORs

Even more HENDERSON/McGREGOR activity last 2 days. I presume we might find them all sooner or later!
Latest main discovery was finding that Helen (aka Nellie) McGREGOR married an Andrew JACK (ta Linda). I then found that this family emigrated to the States in 1907 (Andrew) and 1908 (rest of family). This added in a BORRUP line. Main haunts seem to be New Jersey and Connecticut, with a dash of California and Florida, this latter assuming that the Margaret Elizabeth Addison BORRUP who is shown as dying in Miami in 1948 is Margaret E A JACK dtr of Andrew and Helen/Nellie.
A Rootsweb WC "tree" of the BORRUPs has the JACK family a tad mixed up, but is full of useful hints as to where to look for assorted branches, and it looks like there's a NZ connection in there too, not that I can figure out where Elsie ALLER fits. Anyone out there to help me on that one?
Brenda K, (married to a grdson of George Manson Henderson BAIN), pointed me to a searchable site for British Columbia burials.

Sep 26, 2007: Two for the price of one

More HENDERSON/McGREGOR activity today. Linda found the elusive Susan HUTTON, she'd inconsiderately moved to England and married a JONES. I found more SHEPHERDs, inlcuding two for the price of one. Acted on a hunch and ordered a likely looking marriage certificate for John SHEPHERD, one of the witnesses was a Margaret SHEPHERD of the same address, so went looking for her birth. She was a twin, Margaret McLean SHEPHERD and Christina Johnston SHEPHERD (talk about getting in all the family names with economy of effort).

Anyone with Timaru connections might be interested in the Timaru District Council web site - has a well indexed burial register for the Timaru District Cemeteries, ie not just Timaru but also Geraldine and Pleasant Point (at least), linked to photographs of headstones and plots. Which meant a brief sidetrack and several people with dates updated now. (That info came courtesy of the Canterbury Branch newsletter).

Sep 25, 2007: Fife HENDERSON descendants

HENDERSONs rule KO. Linda and I have had an intensive couple of days updating assorted McGREGORs in Fife (descendants of Archibald HENDERSON's dtr Margaret), prompted by the GenForum posting from a descendant mentioned below. Probably more updates to come, but enough changes have been checked out by now to justify an update to LornaHenderson db on WorldConnect.
The basic HENDERSON chart has also been updated.

Sep 23, 2007: Tiptoeing thru the TIPPETTS, and hunting the HENDERSONs

A day for the TIPPETTs, well an hr or two anyway. Found an entry in my Guestbook from Karen directing me to her TIPPETT/ROUNSLEY information. So much easier finding people in the US census when you know where to look, even though TIPPETT was variously transcribed on ancestry as LEFFEL and TAPPET (corrections lodged). I'd guess that the ROBERTS connected into the TIPPETTs shown on Karen's page probably connect to the other Welsh ROBERTS that married into the ROUNSLEYs but I'll not get sidetracked onto that as it's getting a bit far away from the already distant relations here.
Also several snippets from Linda H. on the HENDERSON/McGREGOR line, spurred on by the contact via the McGREGOR GenForum. Linda found George WATT in Edinburgh in 1901 and found his son, yet another William Meikle WATT, and George's marriage, irregular "by declaration". Several of the family of James HUTTON and Margaret McGREGOR continue to elude her/us though. Anyone seen a Janet HUTTON after 1886? Born Dunfermline 1856. Possible last census sighting was as a cook in Edinburgh St George in 1881.

Sep 22, 2007: HENDERSON dna results and searchable papers

OneGreatFamily
contact from someone interested in Cecil James GULLETT (marr. Ada CREBER in Australia, aft 1912). I hadn't any info on him prior to the marriage but given she tells me he was supposedly from Plymouth I've done some digging and have now updated his birth data and confirmed the emigration date.

Having fun investigating dna based genealogy at the moment.
Oxford Ancestry testing shows that the HENDERSON paternal line comes from what Professor Sykes has named the clan of Oisin.
For more accurate matching of relations more markers need to be tested however, so I'm working on a 2nd cousin to see what can be done about a more detailed test. Wouldn't it be fantastic to finally find descendants of Archibald's eldest son William, or find out what happened to his son John that looked like he went to Berwickshire? Or, the creme de la creme, find out where Archibald came from!

Clive has been searching the newly published version of Papers Past where the newspaper text is now searchable. Snippets shared to date look like it really is time I published what I have on my grandfather William HENDERSON, but it will have to wait until I've cleared the decks of some non-genie stuff I'm busy with at the moment.

Pays to advertise

A Feb 2007 posting about ANDREWS/COATH has elicited a response from a 2*great grdson with some updates. Mind you, the relationship does rather depend on the right Ann BARTER being selected from the records as another contender has been found. They have an old family tree drawn up some years ago, which I wont get an update from until after a return from holiday. Hope it matches my diggings.

Luck changed on LUCOCK

And another hunch verified. Agnes Gair HENDERSON, of Great Clifton, dtr of Archibald HENDERSON, joiner, did marry Joseph LUCOCK, also of Great Clifton, widowed butcher, s/o Reay LUCOCK, farmer. Bit annoyed with the certified copy I received, has the Parish as Wokington, not Workington, and Joseph as LACOCK and Reay as LAYCOCK, instead of LUCOCK. Wonder why I didn't get the normal photocopy?
Casting around for Joseph's first marriage I found a likely looking one in 1909, to an Annie, wait for it, HENDERSON. There's a likely death of a 25 yr old Annie LUCOCK in 1912 in the right area, and an age of 25 would make her highly likely to be Agnes' elder sister. The plot thickens. It looks like a nephew of Joseph's (Albert Reay LUCOCK) emigrated to NSW.

Sep 18, 2007: Confirmed PC

PC Francis Douglas SINTON did indeed marry Margaret Alice RUNCIMAN, and yes he was the son of John Gillies SINTON, Police Constable. 1894 Crookham, Dist of Glendale, NBL, witnessed by Richard LILLICO and Alice MOFFAT

Sep16, 2007 Cousin John SINTON

Still on the trail of PC Francis SINTON's descendants. RUNCIMAN family memory came up with a "cousin" PC John SINTON of Lynemouth, married to a Gertrude, with a son of unknown name and dtr Issy, John being likely to be born around the turn of the century (which coincides nicely with the places, dates I'm looking for).
Research has turned that into a 1930 marriage of a John W SINTON and Gertrude E ORMISTON, registered in Rothbury, and so far I've found a son John D, reg. 1931 Rothbury and a male born/died in 1932 reg. Morpeth. No sign of an Isabel as yet (up to 1944).

Up to date

WorldConnect db LornaHenderson updated.
One of the main changes is in the SCOTT family connected with Thomas who may or may not be Eleanor's brother, but connects in anyway as he fathered an illegitimate child with one of the Abigail SCAIFEs. WorldConnect doesn't quite cope with "de facto", so no, Thomas wasn't married 3 times at all, and it is a bit of conjecture that all three of these partners are the same Thomas, but as two of the children are with him in later census records, and the Thomas SCOTT in each is "of Fauld" or "of Corrylees" it does seem highly likely.
A couple of SCOTT wills, and a CORRY of Fauld one are on order. Pity that Robert SCOTT of Corrylees seems not to have left a will.

Back to BAINs & no luck with LUCOCK

Hope to get Thomas SCOTT on the web soon as I've had fun chasing assorted Cumberland SCOTT families around the records the last couple of days. No great conclusion re Eleanor's relationship to them though. Someone, somewhere might hold the key to where Eleanor fits in.

Also hope to get out an update to my WorldConnect db LornaHenderson as there seems to have been a sudden rush of updates.

GenesReunited hot matches has put me in contact with another of the BAIN/SUTHERLAND/THOM descendants in Australia, so that's a few more dots on i's and t's crossed (how are you meant to write that, doesn't look right with "is" for plural of i!). Thank you Peter M., 4th cousin once removed. The BAIN chart has therefore had a few twigs added.

Received a reply from the LUCKOCK researcher, but dipped out on enough information to solve the Agnes Gair HENDERSON & Joseph LUCOCK marriage mentioned below, at least not without paying for a certificate anyway.

Linda H called my attention to the McGREGOR GenForum activity in response to one of her posts. Looks like we've been found by another HENDERSON descendant of Margaret H, sister to my James H. Not sure where as yet, but her husband is a descendant of James Addison McGREGOR.

Update: digging around from the hints on GenForum and the fact that Canada might be a good place to find James, I came up trumps as he started off in Ontario where I can access BDM data online via Ancestry, and there were a couple of dths in the British Columbia index too so the HENDERSON chart has a few extra twigs under James McGREGOR now.

Sep 10th, 2007: site's officially PC - Robert RICHARDSON added

P.C. Robert RICHARDSON added to the web pages to show the information Paul R extracted from the Northumberland Record Office on his police career.

I hope to be able to include PC Francis Douglas SINTON soon too, assuming that he turns out to be who I think he is.

Looking at the other "recent edits" I can't remember what changed for John ROBERTSON and James Stewart CAMPBELL, but suspect it was merely something minor associated with the recent activity on John HENDERSON's wife Agnes Johnston WHITE who has had her place in the JOHNSTON clan verified as best it can be.

Sep 2007 birth notice of Taryn Heather JACKSON received from a proud grandma (Brenda).

The GRAHAM chart will have a few small twigs added to show Abigail SCAIFE's illegitimate son Thomas SCOTT. Following that lot around the census records really showed how people just didn't know or didn't want to tell their age. I don't think I've ever come across such a varied set of ages over the years. Interesting to note though that the ages at death of Thomas SCOTT and siblings actually suddenly and miraculously became accurate again. Cannot yet fully determine that this Thomas SCOTT and his family are Eleanor's siblings, but it looks highly likely that there's a connection of some sort.

Sep 9, 2007: Scotts of the Fauld & PC SINTON

It is looking likely that I've picked the right Margaret marriage for PC Francis Douglas SINTON, but so far this is on entirely circumstantial evidence.
A descendant of Margaret Alice RUNCIMAN's aunt Susan Bell RUNCIMAN (marr. Robert MOFFAT) remembers a PC John SINTON, and wife, of Lynemouth visiting her great aunt and uncle at Millfield. She also remembers a son and a dtr, but I've no timescales for this as yet. Anyone with a stray PC John SINTON and family of Lynemouth sometime within living memory?

Bridget has shared some SCOTT of Cumberland research with me that looks very promising. It may not lead to conclusively placing Eleanor SCOTT (married Robert TURNBULL) but does have some interesting leads that link SCOTTs to SCAIFES of the Fauld (an Abigail SCAIFE and Thomas SCOTT, both of the Fauld, had an illegitimate son Thomas SCOTT in 1812), and throws in a BARNFATHER name as well. All yet to be further investigated.

Sep 7, 2007: OneGreatFamily +

Interesting to read Dick Eastman's review of OneGreatFamily


The RICHARDSON finds mentioned yesterday will have resulted in some small updates to the RUNCIMAN chart.

Sep 6, 2007: Small world territory and updates

Found a couple more RICHARDSON relations whilst browsing Ancestry today. Noticed that a couple of trees had the same RICHARDSON and RUNCIMAN names as my tree so went investigating. Guess I'll only hear from them if their user info on ancestry is up to date. Small world territory. One of them appears to be from the Robert RICHARDSON Jane YOUNG branch of the tree but has ended up in the same Northumberland town as a RICHARDSON researcher down from the John RICHARDSON / Elizabeth SHIELL line.
The PC Robert RICHARDSON, of Northumberland, is of this RICHARDSON/YOUNG line (and still hasn't been written up).
I'm in the process of preparing a presentation for the Computer Users Group of the local genealogy society. Which means I'm looking around for suitable screen shots as illustrations. As a result I've found someone else researching the family that Margaret Alice RUNCIMAN belongs too and have sent her a message, brought the family of Duncan McGREGOR and Helen MOULTRIE up to the 1901 census and updated my LornaPotential database.

Sep 5, 2007: Green is the colour...

A new set of web pages is hereby launched. Robert's Dunsmores and McCutcheons. Not my data, I'm just doing the web design and publishing the pages (by importing Robert's FTM backup into a TMG database and then using SecondSite, this latter being what I use for all of my pages).
They are by way of a thank you for all Robert's hard work looking things up for me, long may it continue! The green was Robert's choice, or to be more accurate, Robert said green was his favourite colour and that's what he ended up with.

Sep 5, 2007: HELSONs

As mentioned briefly yesterday, I've been contacted by a HELSON rellie (from BC). Which of course prompted me to review what I was missing around the family concerned, that of George Alfred HELSON and (1st wife) Sarah BONNEY of Peterborough, Ontario. So several Marthas and Harrys and one or two others that fell out of ancestry in searches have all been updated. Main mystery that surfaced was a Marwood SMITH, "stepson" to William BONNEY (married one of the Martha HELSONs). I feel he has to be a son of Martha's sister Ella Clifton HELSON, but the documented one of those, Marwood Oliver SMITH was born and died in 1903 and this one is consistently shown as born c 1905. He rather inconsistently shows as female as he crosses into the States around 1919 but that's remedied by the 1930 census where he's in Toledo, Ohio as a machinist for a bottle company. Anyone want to claim him, make him feel wanted?
The PEEK chart on Big Brother has been updated, other updates will follow.

Sep 4, 2007: A side-tracked day in Lorna's life

How I get side-tracked. Not that this is new information. Having found the toothless James SINTON, I looked at the rest of his family and realised that I'd nothing on his brother Francis Douglas beyond the 1891 census so I went looking. Found him living with Mum in Hawick in 1901, working as a laundry vanman. Some years ago I'd noted a PC Francis SINTON at Rothbury, NBL in 1920 injured in a "dastardly attack". But without any further info as to age, and not having any known Rothbury SINTON connections it was just filed info. However, I did find a 1904 marriage of a Francis Douglas SINTON reg. in Glendale, NBL. The brides on the same page were a Margaret BRYSON and a Margaret Alice RUNCIMAN, so he married a Margaret and is highly likely to be the Francis I'm looking for. With a move south from the Borders into NBL he was also looking good to be the injured pc. It wasn't a great stretch from laundry vanman to PC as his father was one. A web search turned up a few more details about the crime as being written up in a book "Tough Times & Grisly Crimes" by a Nigel Green, and Amazon turned up trumps with it being one of the books with a content search enabled. He had a page and a photo, and even better, it gave an age (and that he survived the attack, continuing as a policeman to retire at age 65). Looking good to be "my" missing Francis SINTON.

Setting that aside I decided to investigate the possible RUNCIMAN bride given my interest in that surname, and quickly found a likely match in the same area, tracing her and her family back through the census data etc. The family came from Scotland but had moved to Northumberland between 1851 and 1861. Working back from Margaret I quickly found that a couple of years ago I'd traced her grandparents around BEW and ROX up to 1861 for some reason I cannot now remember, and it was easy to connect up Thomas RUNCIMAN with wife Alison/Alice/Allais CURRIE to this Thomas & Alice RUNCIMAN in NBL. Not that I know she is the right Margaret for Francis as yet.

Decided to check out the theory by buying the marriage cert, so I'll know that answer in a few days.

And as I was putting in a cert. order anyway, I ran off a list of outstanding tasks where I was considering purchasing an English BDM cert. Up popped the query about a dth cert for William White HENDERSON of Cumberland. Which made me look at that family again.

William has a sister Agnes Gair HENDERSON, so I checked FreeBMD for marriages in a likely time period and place, and up popped an Agnes G HENDERSON marrying in 1919 to a Joseph LUCOCK in Cockermouth. Sounded likely. Off to GenesReunited (GR) to see if anyone had a Joseph LUCOCK of the likely age/place. Yes, one person did. Checked 1901 and 1891 census for Cumberland to see how many likely candidates there might be. At least 2, possibly 3. One was living with a blacksmith's family, so he seemed a highly likely candidate to trace back. GR came up with someone who looked like he was investigating that family too, so queries were sent off.

And about there my side-tracks came to a halt, apart from answering some of the daily mail miscellaneous contacts and info.

Few more snippets about the JOHNSTON family of Awamoko, with a FRIDD name thrown into the mix, so a search of the Cyclopedia of NZ to no avail for the new name.

Another HELSON contact popped out of the woodwork, so there's tomorrow's side-track, if you can call it a side-track, I've long since forgotten what I'm being side-tracked from, but the table is looking slightly clearer, so I must be finishing some of the things I start.

Sep 3, 2007: Toothless in Romsey

It's official. I've a toothless relative. Wonderful what you can find in Army pension files. I moved on from the RUNCIMEN to the SINTONs and came across James SINTON, stud groom of Ayr, born Earlston, last employer Mrs E C MacFARLANE of Fenwick Lodge, Ayr. Thought that sounded a bit familiar, and sure enough, he's one of the WIGHT relations, s/o John Gillies SINTON and Isabella WIGHT. His pension application for losing all or most of his molars in the army appears to have been declined on the grounds there was no corroboration in the office vetting the applications. Found a birth date for his dtr Christina buried in the mire of officialdom there, and now have the priceless information that he spent 3 days in Romsey hospital while on army service, suffering from "headache 128".

Sep 2, 2007: WWI RUNCIMEN

Wonder if any of them took their runcie horses to WWI? Found that Ancestry has the British WWI pension records 1914-1920 online. Checked the RUNCIMEN entries and found one of our missing Argentinian bunch being discharged (without a disability pension) in 1919. Although he appears to be living in Walthamstow his occupation was listed as a horse and cattle breeder of the Argentinian Republic. Several others with papers there, mostly belonging to the Haddington lot, and one a son of Walter RUNCIMAN of St John's Wood.

Sep 1, 2007: St Paul's Parish, Oamaru

A few finer details added to Oamaru marriage dates thanks to the Presbyterian Archives published lists of marriages in St Paul's Parish, Oamaru 1869-1920 (Ta Brenda for drawing these to my attention)

Aug 29:2007 apples & eggs; Gretna marriage

Simeon WINES apparently stole some eggs, and had previously stolen apples. Ta Jenni for the fuller details of his record.
Still haven't seen proof of his parents however. Has anyone seen it to show which of the Simons of an age born Sth Petherton he is?

The details of the Gretna marriage of James THOMSON and Betty DALGISH didn't help with her identification, but did confirm the 1874 date, albeit 2 days later than they recorded on their children's birth certs.

The Margaret WIGHT mystery from a few days ago has deepened. Jan had also tackled this, but from a different angle. I haven't fully digested her version of events, but it looks like Margaret WIGHT married her shoemaker James WHITE and then took off. Neither of us can find her as WHITE 1851 thru 1881 but James is living in Jedburgh with his Mum and sister in 1851 and 1861, and alone in 1871 & 1881, his dth cert in 1887(?) apparently saying he was a widower (a lie).

Paul R has provided some details about PC Robert RICHARDSON of Blyth, which may get him onto my web pages in the near future, lack of sidetracks willing...

Aug 28, 2007: Crossing the styx (Border)

Small world territory. Bridget has helped me a lot with my Cumberland research, and had a query about information available about a possible relation of hers here in NZ. Turned out he has a monument erected to him on Mt Egmont. I found a picture of it, and it looks amazingly like the one I have a picture of me and my Grannie sitting at the base of, back when I was around 10.
Which was incidental to her reporting that the Canonbie MIs she was reading had my TURNBULL family in them. No wonder I couldn't find a grave for them in Nichol Forest, I was looking on the wrong side of the Border. They may well have lived their entire lives around Nichol Forest in Cumberland, but when their son Walter died aged 4 in 1826 it looks like they buried him in his mother's home ground instead of theirs, Canonbie in Scotland. Robert's page has therefore been updated and the two children added to the web pages.

Aug 27, 2007: Non swimmers, non FORTTified wines, ex empress of the French

After all these years I've finally had it pointed out to me that there's a convict in the family. Simeon WINES has been sitting in the db a long time, in Tasmania, but now someone has pointed out he didn't swim and ended up there rather involuntarily, so I've added him to the published family tree. Not that I've seen the final proof that this is the right Simon WINES, the family is quite prolific and there is at least one other candidate of an age.

And so much for finding Mary Ann d/o Jacob married to Richard FORTT. A grandson points out to me that the marriage cert. shows her father to be Jesse, not Jacob. One day I'll figure out where Jesse might fit in.

While fossicking around further to see where else she might have got to I did happen upon a Mary WINES enumerated in 1881 at Windsor Castle: Head of household, Queen Victoria, members of household included John Brown, Queens personal servant, and visitor Eugenie, occupation "Ex Empress of the French".

Also dotted and crossed several is and ts on the family of Agnes Johnston WHITE (she married John HENDERSON at Awamoko). My "family rumour" bits coupled with the Clan Johnston researcher coming at the family from the JOHNSTON end have fitted a plausible theory together that needs a few more bits to clinch things, but is looking good. I should be able to check a couple more things next visit to Wellington.

Aug 26, 2007: Who is James NOBLE? Yet more WINES

GenesReunited Hot matches are to blame for today's sidetrack. They've improved the system somewhat, so I paid more attention this time, and some twigs that have been untouched for years have had some attention. Not that the WINES need more twigs, they're already so prolific, but nonetheless, at least one family has been (mostly) brought forward to 1901, that of Jacob son of James & Rebecca (VAGG) WINES. Who needs more BROWNs in the family? At least the other dtr married into a rarer surname, FORTT (census data & birth index) or FORTH (Marr. index).

After posting the WC updates last night I checked my guestbook and found a renewed contact about the SINTONs who migrated south that I've not been able to conclusively link to mine. In checking where I'd got too on that lot, I was reminded of the link between Carole and my WIGHT/HALL correspondent Jan in Canada. The easier access to Scottish census data led me to reduce some of the duplication in my database and tidy up the family of James WIGHT and Cecilia LAING, who appear in my LornaPotential database (not yet republished).

BUT it left me with a larger mystery about the two Margaret WIGHTs born Bowden around the same time, c. 1811/1814 ish.

Two illegitimate sons exist either one to each of the Margaret WIGHTs, or both to one of them: a James NOBLE, born c 1845 Ancrum and a Thomas WIGHT born Bowden c. 1841. And I thought I had them straight, ie one Margaret WIGHT the dtr of Thomas WIGHT and Elizabeth FISHER, died 1882 Selkirk, informant son Thomas WIGHT, and the other, the dtr of James WIGHT & Cecilia LAING, died 1889 Hawick, informant brother-in-law George HALL (and turned out to be the widow of a shoemaker James WHITE).

James NOBLE is the fly in the ointment. I can only find one of them over the years, but he seems to be associated with both of the Margaret's! Last sighting of him is 1871 by which time he is a cabinet maker in Edinburgh St Cuthberts, with a visitor Margaret WIGHT born Bowden with him. However in 1861 he's shown, at least on Ancestry's index, as son of Margaret at Dunsdale Cottages, Selkirk, as is Thomas. I can't conclusively find the other Margaret in the 1861 census yet, unless she's the cook in Borthwick, MLN.

Aug 25, 2007: WC db updated; RICHARDSONs moved sth

WorldConnect db LornaHenderson updated. I appear to have updated some 370 people since the last update 3 weeks ago, 120 of whom are new to the online database.

Found a couple of the RICHARDSONs on the 1901 census rather further south than expected. Margaret and son George look like they're in Walton on the Hill, Dist of West Derby, Liverpool, where Margaret rather generously describes herself as widowed and George has become a bank clerk.

It also looks like Margaret's brother James might have finally married, a Frances Louisa HODGSON in 1892, and by 1901 has a dtr Sarah b. Doddington, NBL but I'm not that sure I've identified the right James RICHARDSON, shepherd born Scotland but living in NBL. I certainly can't find him in SCT 1881 thru 1901 and he was still alive in 1892 as he was the informant for his father's dth then, reg. in Jedburgh.

Aug 24, 2007: DALGLIESHs et al

Ran out of ideas and sources to reach any conclusions about the assorted Betsy/Eliza/Elizabeth DALGLIESH or ELLIOTs, so decided to write up investigations to date and pop them on the web. Someone, somewhere might have the answers.

Mary's DALGLIESH family (of Bigholms, Par. of Langholm, Dumfries) appear to be well documented, and it looks like rellies ended up in both America and New Zealand, but too far away in relationship to James THOMSON to be of great interest to me, so I'm refusing to get sidetracked (that must be a first).

James THOMSON is now written up, as are the associated Elizabeth and Eliza's, and his Mum, Cecilia THOMSON nee SINTON, along with a revised SINTON chart.

Aug 23, 2007: Was Betsey an Elliot or Dalgleish?

The plot thickened even further. Found James THOMSON in 1871 as THOMPSON, widower, which cast severe doubts on the marriage date year of 1870 given in son John's birth cert. in 1876. Hsekeeper with the family was one sister-in-law Betsey, unmarried, 25, b Canonbie, all as expected apart from the age, AND the surname, ELLIOT. I still can't find her in earlier census data as DALGLIESH or ELLIOT unless she's Mary's sister Eliza aged 6mths in 1841.

Went for another of the children's birth certs, Jessie's 1878 cert. It showed her mother as Betsy m.s. DALGLEISH, and gave a marriage date for James and Betsy of 22 Feb 1874 Gretna, which fits better with the 1871 census showing James as a widower.

Mary & Eliza(beth) DALGLEISH's mother Mary was a CARRUTHERS. There's a WorldConnect tree for the family that has Mary's parents in Ontario by 1843. Given I found Walter and Mary with family in 1841 in Dumfries, but 1851 the children were all living with their uncle at Bigholms, Langholm, maybe Walter didn't die, perhaps he emigrated? Pure speculation. And nothing to do with solving the mystery of Eliza/Elizabeth. I wonder what details would be on a Gretna marriage?

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The version of this fully integrated with my web pages can be found at http://genblog.lornahen.com/

Aug 22nd, 2007: A Gretna marriage

Can't even remember how or why I started this trail today, but I found Cecilia THOMSON nee SINTON in 1841 where expected, in Castleton (as Celia). This added a Jessie into the family whom I am assuming is a dtr. Ancestry transcribed her age as 32 and James as 30, but FreeCen has 12 and 10.

Spurred on by this I tried to extend the rest of the family forward to 1901, with mixed success. Son James did indeed marry Elizabeth DALGLEISH, or so his 1899 dth cert says. The informant for his dth was a (new to me) son William THOMSON of Hawick. By naming pattern, he should be the 1st son, so pre 1874. Still to find the family, or James, in 1871.

The plot thickened. Found William's dth and then his birth, but his mother on both was a Mary DALGLIESH, not Elizabeth. Sure enough, James married Mary in 1861 and I couldn't find a marriage to Elizabeth, in either the Scottish or English indices. The two groups of children do indicate two families. Can't find Elizabeth in census data prior to 1881 with any certainty, but her 1898 dth cert indicates she's Mary's sister, & of extremely variable age in assorted records. She may well be the Eliza, 2 yrs younger than Mary, living with their uncle in 1851 at Bigholms, Langholm.

I eventually succumbed to the birth cert of a son from the 2nd "marriage" (can't stand a mystery that's easily solved). John Walter's birth cert shows his parents as having married at Gretna in Feb 1870. And yes, they appear on a list of Gretna Green marriages at Achievements and certainly do NOT appear in the English marriage indices for that quarter anyway.

Aug 21st: 2007 GRIFFIN

Some dates added for the family of Edgar GRIFFIN and Matilda Lucy WYBOURNE, prompted by contact from Wendy, grddtr of Matilda's sister.

Does anyone know if this Edgar is the same Edgar who married a Winifred HEALEY or FAIRBRASS in 1936? Certainly there's both a Winifred and an Edgar GRIFFIN connected with the address No. 1 Line, Wanganui over the years.

Edgar's MI shows he was in the 1st NZEF SA War, and shows him as Cpl E GRIFFIN, Maori Pioneer Bn.

Aug 19th: GenBlog Status

Getting closer to a format that matches my other web pages. If anyone has an inclination to help me sort out the stylesheet associated with GenBlog to solve the mysteries as to why I can't do the bits commented in the attached stylesheet I'd be grateful. I've spent far too long in trial and a lot of error getting it to where it is now and am tired of not being able to figure out very basic things that I just can't get right.
I want the heading and menu bar and first line of text above the posts to more closely match the styling of say http://research.lornahen.com/.

Aug 18, 2007: Hendersons galore & Hounam

Odd how one thing leads to another. I finally found out that Second Site (my web page generator) has (always had?) a feature that allows charts generated in TMG to be included on the web, with photos included and still be able to link back to their pages on the site, if any.
So I've included an ancestor chart from Dad that also shows the siblings of the ancestors, and thumbnail images if I've actually included them in my database. But first I had to catch up on a backlog of photo scanning and processing, including some from my trip last year. Check out the new Henderson's galore page.

The clutch of WIGHT/HALL/STEVENSON names shown under the Recent changes index for yesterday/today are because I included the HALL/STEVENSON/WIGHT headstone photo from Hounam. I also added some pics of the Hounam church in the place index.
Reviewing the MIs transcript of the stone (it was pretty illegible) I decided that I have to rethink whether or not Isabella and James WIGHT really do fit into the family of James WIGHT and Isabella HALL. For the moment, I've included James Hall WIGHT and left the latter two there as siblings, however unlikely this now seems, given this makes two James' in the family, born about the same time.

Anyway, big brother has now been updated.

Aug 17, 2007: SCOTT, LAIRD, FAIRBAIRN, BROWN, JARDINE

A search of The Times archives on the Rev Adam SCOTT brought up the marriage of dtr Marion in 1924 to a David Anderson LAIRD, son of yet another Minister (did my extended family tree attend to the spiritual welfare of the entire British Isles from the tip to the toe?).
In checking back on the FAIRBAIRN & JARDINE families of Hawick, I realised I hadn't followed some of them thru later census records. Most of the family of George BROWN and Agnes FAIRBAIRN, previously in Jedburgh, have now been traced forward 20 yrs to Hawick, and one son's marriage found (Archibald BROWN to Lizzie SMITH or MILLER). A witness to this 1890 marriage was one Martin JARDINE, not that I've placed the latter in the tree as yet. Possibly he's related to the James JARDINE who married Mary FAIRBAIRN, aunt of Archibald, possibly not, but there is a Hawick connection.

Aug 15th, 2007: BIDGOOD, BARNFATHER, SCOTT

A day for the Bs (mostly).

On library duty for the local Kapiti Genealogy Society and had time to do a bit of checking for myself.

Several of the BARNFATHER family in Victoria, AUS have had marriage years added, also some birth and dth years confirmed/updated. No surprises.

And an email from a descendant of Fred BIDGOOD of Bayonne, New Jersey has provided some updates to her line (thanks Wendy). Always good to know that a potential census match I’d found was the right one. Subsequent family events have been recorded in Ohio (Fred’s dth) and San Diego (wife Isabel’s dth).

One snippet for the SCOTT (RICHARDSON) family (1918 dth of James Richardson SCOTT, s/o David and Margaret (RICHARDSON) SCOTT). My helper hasn’t been able to find the dths of his siblings, Robert R and Thomas Alston SCOTT in Scotland. Wonder where the Alston bit of the name comes from? This James R SCOTT was a 9 yr old visitor with a Hugh & Christian ALSTON in 1861.

Was debating with myself about whether or not to continue in parallel with the WhatChanged where the data is searchable and scrollable for up to 6mths worth of data at once, compared to individual messages only able to be filtered via the label search facility. And won. Given no messages are actually stored on my servers, only the templates and indices, I think I want belts and braces and will keep both going.

Thanks to Linda, the fate of John BLAIR, husband of Helen Margaret Dewar McGREGOR, one of the HENDERSON descendants, has been brought forward from a last sighting in 1874 up to 1901, with a new wife and another family, his first wife and child having died.

Aug 14th 2007: Blog status

This is starting to look more like my other web pages, but I've a bit to do yet.
Can't figure out why the page title text doesn't match the other pages, and haven't yet tried to turn the menubar links into the buttons like on the other sites.

I will always try to LABEL posts with keywords.
These can be filtered on by selecting them.
To unselect, you seem to have to view the current blog, or I suppose you could use the back button in your browser.

I'm far enough there that I'll now start putting links to this on my other pages.

Happy browsing, I'd love to know if you think this is an improvement over my previous WhatChanged logs, and the guestbook combined.

Aug 12th, 2007

12th: Fairbairn chart updated slightly following contact from the wife of a descendant of Archibald and Elizabeth (HOUD) FAIRBAIRN. Hopefully more details to follow.
Also included a few of my favourite snaps in the links section above - one of the few non genealogy areas of my pages.

Aug 11th, 2007

11th: Wight and Sinton charts updated and extended a generation downwards. This was prompted by contact from a person interested in Jane Wight SINTON, who married John MURRAY of Northumblerland, and from a posting in my guestbook by a 3rd cousin down the line of Peter Sinton WIGHT and Jessie Ellen DAVIDSON. Hope some updates to the tree result.
I've also been contacted by an Australian interested in the family of Jacob SPURR. Detals provided were scanty (no place data), but it looks very like Jacob, son of the Joseph who married Elizabeth HANNAFORD, with assorted LILLICRAP connections that may well prove to be inter-connections.
Not that I've finished fiddling with the web pages and tidying things up, but it's quite a relief to get back to the backlog of emails instead of staring at webpages and testing links to see what I forgot to change.