Where did the year go?

2009 seems to have vanished exceedingly fast. Not sure I've achieved much, but I've had a great deal of fun along the way. Many thanks to all who helped.

Ended the genealogical year by updating the neverending story to include this month's complications that have been added to my FAIRBAIRN research, with a hope that the dna project's findings may eventually resolve the questions asked.

All the best to you and yours, and may 2010 prove as interesting a year to all (only 5 hours left in 2009 here in kiwi-land).

Some wedding!

I don't know who the James FAIRBAIRN was who married in 1737, but I think I'd like to know what this NAS Catalogue GD18/5415 refers too:
"Letters (2) to Sir John Clerk from James Fairbairn requesting money for his wedding and giving an account of the uproar which occurred on his wedding day"
(this being in the papers of the Clerk family of Penicuik)
Postscript: he has to be the James who married Margaret GIBSON

"Keeps Lodgers"

A new light was shed on one of the extended FAIRBAIRN family today.
I was trawling the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) Catalogue and came across this entry for Ann CURLE or FAIRBAIRN who had appeared in the 1841 Kelso census as "keeps lodgers":
The catalogue entry shed light on what sort of lodgers, reading:
"Petition and complaint in case brought by William Smith, Procurator Fiscal, against Ann Curle or Fairbairn, residing in Kelso, for harbouring vagabonds, vagrants and other idle persons"
Ann CURLE was married to Robert FAIRBAIRN, son of George and Janet (MURRAY) FAIRBAIRN.
The FAIRBAIRN Surname dna project is still looking for a proven representative of this family as we only have representatives from George and Janet's assumed son James (married Helen GOODFELLLOW and emigrated to Canada).

27th: Got a spare year or two?

That's how long I think it will take me to decipher the 1610 testament I've just downloaded from ScotlandsPeople!
While researching some early FAIRBAIRNs in the Earlston Old Parish Registers (OPRs) I noticed that there were contemporary families surnamed FLAEBAIRN, rather than FAIRBAIRN, so became intrigued as to what had happened to them, and whether or not they were, or would eventually become, FAIRBAIRNs.
Noone seems to be currently researching anyone of this surname (FLAEBAIRN, and variants), and several appear as patron submissions on the IGI as FAIRBAIRN instead.
The document I refer to above is a 1610 testament of one Michaell FLAIBAIRNE, merchant, burgess of Edinburgh, which I have published on the Originals section of my web pages.
Any hints as to what all it says would be most welcome!
It will take me a long time to work through it methinks, and makes the occasional word I cannot decipher in the Earlston OPRs a doddle by comparison.
e.g., what would you make of the occupation or designation of James fairbairn father of the Barbara baptized 11 Feb, second entry from the bottom of this extract from the Earlston OPRs? (they appear to have lived in fan(n)s, and I am assuming that the word I cannot decipher is James' occupation).

two shillings per horse

The latest (Dec 2009) Scottish Genealogist provides the information that back in Oct a new website was launched as a joint venture between the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland, and the National Archives of Scotland.
Check out Scotland's Places, I've already got myself sidetracked from the 1797 Farm Horse Tax Rolls, having found a family of RICHARDSONs buried in the wonderfully named Black Swamp Cemetery of Hampton Co., Sth Carolina.
All because the Morebattle Horse Tax rolls mentioned a Revd W RICHARDSON, and I only knew about a James. The Rev W had two horses, so had to pay 4/-
I went fishing. Henry, son of Rev James RICHARDSON of Morebattle, is buried in said swamp (he married a Mary FRASER from Beaufort, which I'm assuming is the Sth Carolina Beaufort for now).
So far I've found Henry's daughter-in-law Mary Asinthe MANER, described as a "ladie farmer", and her son John Maner RICHARDSON as a rice planter.
Absolutely no idea if these RICHARDSONs are in any way connected to my RICHARDSONs (who were actually at Maxton), or the Revd W RICHARDSON, but they sounded intriguing.

Seasons greetings to you and yours.

22nd: Too much exercise

I've had too much exercise jumping to conclusions, with my only excuse being unfamiliarity with Quebec, Canada and all the Scottish and English town names that get re-used.
Earlier this year I mentioned finding a FAIRBAIRN/TAYLOR marriage where the bride's father was of Thurso.
I jumped to the conclusion this was Thurso, Caithness, but no, a descendant has just put me straight.
The Thurso mentioned was in Quebec, near Gatineau.

On the trail...

Found out where Nora CARLAW fits (see post for the 15th). Her father was Errol Hastings MARSTON of Longueuil. So, if any of her family read this, I'd love to hear from you to find out more about her notes on file at the Wellington County Ontario Archives, particularly about the John FAIRBAIRN she gives as father of the David FAIRBAIRN who married Charity WALKER.

The "Quebec Connection" descendant chart has been updated to include any of the latest findings, and my WorldConnect db LornaHenderson has also been brought up to date.

15th: John found in action?

(Refer to previous posts dated the 10th and the 3rd)
Ross and I have been mulling over the implications of the newfound baptism of John to John Fairbairn of Grenville, and reviewing what we do and  don't know, and what the dna evidence tells us.
Then along came a copy of a document from the Fairbairn file at the archives of Wellington County, Ontario (thank you Duncan, you don't know what you started!).  It was undated, and unsourced, but was obviously a tree that I'd been given extracts from previously many years ago.
(I've included the tree on the DNA Project Patriarchs page, along with links to the dna project supplementary pages where you can find some commentary on the erroneous family linkages shown).
The archivist advises that it was catalogued in 1994, and submitted by a Nora CARLAW of Elora, now deceased.
From the document she would appear likely to be a descendant of David and Charity (WALKER) FAIRBAIRN.
Whereas the tree contains many errors of fact in linking up earlier generations, it has provided two very significant clues with regard to the family of what we had previously shown as David and Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN, namely that Jane's husband was a John, not a David, and gave his date and cause of death.

All of which has led me to republish the web pages for the following two Johns:
John, son of Archibald and Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN, and
John, son of "John or David" and Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN.

You may be interested in the discussion on the former John's web page.

I haven't yet bitten the bullet and merged the families, as there's still the puzzle over William and Aylsie (ELLIOT) FAIRBAIRN, given as parents to the William who married Jean (WANLESS), to re-evaluate the evidence for.

As the notes for John state, it would be really really great to find a proven direct FAIRBAIRN male line descendant of the families concerned for the FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA project to see what additional weight can be given to this re-evaluation:
"John or David" & Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN
Archibald & Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN
David and Jane (HERD) FAIRBAIRN
Walter & Agnes (ROBINSON) FAIRBAIRN

What the English did to the Scots in 1545

I was ferreting around on the internet trying to validate a story of destruction of Yetholm by the English on the Scottish Borders in 1545.
Read all about one such expedition from near contemporary sources.
It contains a fascinating list of place names which can still be recognised (despite the ravages of the Earl of Hertford).

11th: Thomas Alston RICHARDSON found

A (10th Dec) posting in my Guestbook from a SCOTT/RICHARDSON descendant has led me to find what happened to Thomas Alston RICHARDSON (See this post from 2007)
Given I didn't have him married, and couldn't find a marriage in Scotland, I was a tad surprised to find someone claiming to be a descendant, although I shouldn't have been, as I'd also been unable to find a Scottish death for him.
A quick web search led me to a Voluntary liquidation notice by liquidator Thomas Alston Scott in the 1919 London Gazette for him, described his company as:
T. SCOTT & CO. (CARDIFF) Limited, Bakers, Pastry Cooks, Confectioners, etc.
So, off to the 1911 census for Wales, where he was found. Looking at the Enumerators' lists for the census, his shop was about 3 shops away from the Public School, so I guess he sold a lot of sweeties to the local school kids.
(Brother George was in Wales in the 1891 census, so I guess I should have looked there anyway before now.)
Good to hear from you Steve, (a 5th cousin, sharing Robert RICHARDSON and Margaret RUNCHAMAN).

10th: What do you make of this?

What would you interpret the forenames of the above squiggle as?

He is enumerated in the 1852 Hull, Quebec census, a few entries below Jane FAIRBURN (aka FAIRBAIRN) with her assumed sons James (later married Mary SMITH, Jane's niece via her sister Agnes SMITH nee WILLIAMSON) and John (married Sarah DAUGHTERTY and moved to Stillwater, Washington).

We'd like to prove that he is Jane's son, hopefully with an extant death cert or obit. that conclusively states whether Jane was married to John or David FAIRBAIRN.

New information found (see re John's son John) has led to a re-evaluation of supposedly known information for this family.

With records indicating that there was both a John and a David in the area, and assorted records assigning their assumed families indiscriminately between the two, and often with the wife for both being Jane WILLIAMSON, it's been an interesting exercise.

The jury is most definitely still out, but tending to Jane being married to a John, who seems to have died in 1847, from a fall from a horse if newly received information is accurate.

Children Agnes, James and John rather look like they belong to John and Jane, with possibly Archibald (marr. Margaret GRAHAM) and William George (marr. Sarah FARRELL) belonging to David and wife unknown..

David marr. to Charity WALKER could belong to either, but I'm currently leaning towards him being John and Jane's!

Anyone with hard facts about these families? The family information is rather contradictory, one even throwing an Archie in as married to Jane WILLIAMSON.

Honor becomes Hannah, and Fanny was/is Sarah

Oh I wish our relations made things slightly easier for us by having one name throughout life!
Sarah COMBELLACK's 1879 Bristol birth cert has turned up, and yes, she has to be the Fanny with Henry and Flora COMBELLACK in Llandaff, Cardiff in 1881 and the Sarah with Charles H CHARLES, widower, in Plymouth in 1891.
It shows her as the dtr of Charles Henry COMBELLACK, miller, and Hannah (sic) formerly DAWE.
So, unless Henry married a Flora between 1879 when Sarah was born, and 1881 when he shows up in Wales with wife Flora, I currently think Flora is just another name for Honor/Hannah, after all she has to keep up her side of the name-changing equation, given how many names we've found her husband had.
So, I've removed Flora, and shifted Ada and Sarah/Fanny to being daughters of Honour, and republished Honor's web page (or should that now be Hannah's web page?

3rd: David or John revisited

What was the Latest Update, re John and Sarah (DAUGHTERTY) FAIRBAIRN back in March rather looks like it might have just been upturned.
Today I stumbled across a Quebec 1834 baptism (born 1833) that just has to be him, and may well overturn my sceptism as to the accuracy of his marriage and death certs.
I'm mulling over the options and implications, but for at the moment, he stays as a son of David and Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN. (My currently favoured revised theory is that there's a brother John for David and William.)

Re the blog entry for 27th Nov: the Flora DAWE mentioned didn't marry either a COMBELLACK or a CHARLES, so it's back to the drawing board.

And for those interested in COMBELLACKs, I've kickstarted a COMBELLACK Surname DNA Project to help any of you wishing to explore further the inter-relationships of assorted COMBELLACK trees.
Supporting web pages etc yet to be developed, but the basic join link is active.