Richardsons of Morebattle

As explained on my  RICHARDSONs of Morebattle page, we are exploring a (very small) subset of the overall RICHARDSON Surname DNA project to tease out connections between the lines listed, and any others that come along, using both Y-DNA and autosomal DNA.

Our knowledge of the y-DNA of one of the lines has just increased by an upgrade from 37 to 67 markers, and the RICHARDSON results page of the DNASurnames Lineages site, has been updated.

Only two tests are now at 67 markers however but at least the representative from the RICHARDSONs of Eckford, and that of William the Dancing Master, are only minimally further apart.
At 37 markers they were at a genetic distance of 5 (GD5), which included 4 faster moving markers, so only distantly related.
At 67 markers that became GD6 by the addition of one more slow moving marker.
So still only rather distantly related - FamilyTree DNA's Time Predictor gives only a 71% probability of a common ancestory within 16 generations.

Jury still out, from lack of sufficient information on whether or not the Dancing Master belongs to James and Margaret (MABON) RICHARDSON as we can't compare apples with apples, they could be a minimum of GD1, or at most, GD7 apart (one tested with the now defunct ancestry yDNA test, the other with FamilyTree DNA).

What about Jasper?

The Morebattle RICHARDSONs continue to spread their tentacles.
Something drew me to a RICHARDSON/CAIRNS headstone at Denholm and I decided to investigate a little further.
Sure enough, John RICHARDSON led me back to Morebattle, albeit via Selkirk (his birthplace) and Ancrum (father Jasper's), Jasper's parents being John RICHARDSON and Janet INGLES or INGRAM, depending on which records you believe, or whether or not John remarried to a Janet of the same age and birthplace but a different surname.
John being shown as born Morebattle or Eckford, again depending on which records you believe, the son of Jasper RICHARDSON & Mary HOPE.
The family of Thomas and Cecilia (YOUNG) RICHARDSON will be added to my RICHARDSON page. They do appear to have more connections to Southdean than to Morebattle, but inter-relate to several other families, so my research may as well show up somewhere!

Speculation rife

Couldn't quite give up on the RICHARDSONs.
Went back to my 2008 notes from the Morebattle Gateshaw session records to see if there might be a re-marriage of the widowed James, whose wife Margaret MABON had died in childbirth in 1812.
Although 8 years seems a little too long to wait to get a mother to his bairns, the family of James and Christian (OUTERSON) RICHARDSON came back into view. There's nothing on the 1820 Eckford marriage entry that indicates James was a widower, just that he was from Morebattle.
I'd never managed to find traces of them in Scottish censuses.
Spurred on by reminding myself that they had a son named Archibald Moffat RICHARDSON (Morebattle, 1832), I widened the net to the States.
An Archibald Moffat name is just too much of a coincidence given the Bermuda James' wife Mary MOFFATT, and her father Archibald MOFFATT.

Son Robert pops up in Winnebago Co., Wisconsin by 1850, stating he was born in Canada! Later censuses correct that back to Scotland, with 1900 adding an emigration date of 1841, and the 1860 having (mother assumed) Christy RICHARDSON, aged 64, born Scotland with the family.
His two subsequent remarriage indexes, between them, show his parents as James RICHARDSON and Christiana "OTTASUS" !
The mistranscriptions of OUTERSON abound, but that one takes the cake.

With the hint of Canada being somehow significant the net got wider.
Up popped son Andrew, with (assumed mother) Christian in the Quebec household in 1881.
Andrew thought he had emigrated in 1837.
One family tree has decided that Christian was born in Yorkshire (census records both indicated Scotland) - but as the Bermuda James married and had one child in Leeds, this may have been a bit of lingering family misinformation?

Another tree claims David for the James/Christian family but I haven't yet verified that one, other than yes, he's the right age, and of more than passing interest, is to be found in Oneida county, New York in one census - where Thomas of Bermuda settled. Well, the same county anyway, Thomas was at Trenton, David at Deerfield - which appear to be about 12 miles apart.

Just maybe, one day we'll find that John's Adam, born 1835 in New York, does belong to James of Morebattle after all, but the father not the son?  He's only 3 years after Archibald Moffat RICHARDSON was born in Morebattle to Christian.

Heatherhope

 Ralph has posted a wonderful slideshow of Heatherhope, his ancestral RICHARDSON home on the RICHARDSON Family Group (open only to descendants of William RICHARDSON of Pringlestead).
Also contains some other wonderful old photos of the RICHARDSONs.

TURNBULLs to FAMILTON?

Still digging away at verifying the link back from my McEWAN descendant Sarah Margery JOHNSTON who married a George Miles/Myles TURNBULL, back up George's TURNBULLs to, supposedly, John TURNBULL and Bessie FAMILTON, the latter being of Earlston.
Admit I'm having a bit of trouble with the chain of evidence.

Can spot John and Bessie (FAMILTON) TURNBULL having children in Melrose, with John saying he was a weaver of Gattonside at his 1718 marriage.
Can spot what looks like their son Thomas marrying Peggy FORSAN and having several children in Melrose, including a John in 1769.

The trail back from George Miles TURNBULL reaches a Thomas TURNBULL married to Helen TAIT, with Thomas stated as born Melrose on both 1851 and 1861 census records, about 1804/5.
I've not seen his 1891 NZ death cert (which implies a birth abt 1801), but at least one tree assigns him to a John and Jane/Jean (CURRIE) TURNBULL, who married/called banns at Cavers (John) and Eckford (Jane) and were having children baptised 1794 (Gattonside) through 1806, but with no Thomas recorded.
The Melrose OPRs also record the burial of a John TURNBULL, feuar of Gattonside, aged 73 in 1827 (so born abt 1754), who would seem unlikely to be the 1769 baptism of John son of Thomas and Peggy (FORSAN) TURNBULL, who didn't marry until 1766.

There is a 1753 baptism in Melrose of a John to John TURNBUL & Janet USHER of Gattonside, witnesses James & John BOSTON, which surname also features as witness to the 1794 baptism of John and Jane (CURRIE) TURNBULL's daughter Janet in 1794, and as cautioner for the 1743 marriage of John TURNBULL to Janet USHER (both of Melrose).

Anyone else interested in these TURNBULLs with any comments? Until more info is available, I'll disconnect the link in my WorldConnect database LornaHenderson.

FAMILTONs and LEDGERWOODs

Further to the FAMILTON activity of yesterday, a bit more digging on the Northumberland families unearthed a John FAMILTON marrying a Margaret SENGERWOOD, or so the FamilySearch's England Marriages, 1538–1973 told me.
FindMyPast however has her as LEDGERWOOD, under which name she is indeed shown in assorted census records.
As my FAMILTON connection is on the branch of my tree including RICHARDSON/RUNCIMAN/LEDGERWOOD, I did a bit more digging to see if there might be a connection.
Jury still out, but I did quickly get back to Scotland from Northumberland as her father John LEDGERWOOD was born 1816 in Yetholm, to John LEDGERWOOD and Jean/Jane RIDDEL; John Snr being the son of William LEDGERWOOD or LIDGERTWOOD and Janet STEVENSON. I was interested to note that the 1816 John had a sister Helen/Ellen who married a James RICHARDSON, parents as yet unknown, but born Birgham around 1825, and emigrated to Melbourne, Australia on the "Marian Moore" in 1853.
My LEDGERWOODs hail from Jedburgh, with James, brother of my Walter, being tenant at Lanton in 1714, around which time Walter was at Hundalee.
Walter's last two known children were baptised at Eckford.

Fanny/Sarah - Honor/Flora revisited

Liz has provided a certificate that has both a COMBELLACK and a CHARLES mentioned, even more evidence for the prosecution that her Annie CHARLES was Annie COMBELLACK.
This led me to get a bit more determined to identify Ada and Fanny/Sarah, and see if Sarah was indeed Fanny or yet another mystery in the family.
There's a Sarah COMBELLACK birth registered in Bristol 1879 which would sort of fit with Sarah's age in 1891, and make it highly likely she is the Fanny of the 1881 census.
So I turned my attention to the Honor/Flora mystery again.
Still being investigated but I've found a promising looking lead in a marriage of a Flora DAWE in Bristol in 1878, which fits by time and place. The FreeBMD index shows that the page has a mismatching number of bridges and grooms, and of all the marriages in Bristol that quarter, none are obviously Nicholas/Henry COMBELLACK or Charles Henry CHARLES, so the images will be searched.

DNA work of late has been on assorted FAIRBAIRN families to add a couple of lineages to the Patriarchs page - not yet published, but they will be that of John FAIRBAIRN and Margaret DEANS, in the hope we can prove John is indeed the son of Alexander FAIRBAIRN and Isabella ATCHESON.
Also that of the engineer Robert FAIRBAIRN of Eckford, who married Elizabeth YOUNG and moved to Liverpool then vanishes
DNA candidates being sought.

What have I been up to?

Not really sure what all I've changed since the last posting. Looking at the "Recent Changes" index from a rebuild of my Big Brother website I can see a clutch of Henderson updates, most of which aren't really visible changes, apart from Archibald, whose baptism entry gave me a new place to play with, Craigmill, which is now included on the map of Hatch Match and Despatch Events on the Henderson page.
As I say in his blurb, I'd noted in the past that there was a Robert HENDERSON, Smith at Craigmill, which may or may not be significant as to Archibald's grandfather's forbears. The two Craigmill HENDERSON smiths are rather separated by time however.

Reasonably sure that the changes shown for 31 Jan and 5 Feb were cosmetic rather than real, but those shown for 7th & 8th Feb are real updates.

Behind the scenes Bobby has provided some updates to the BAIN family which are being investigated and will be reflected in WorldConnect db LornaHenderson updates in due course.

The FAIRBAIRN page has had a minor tweak or two, including the descendant chart of James and Mary Bell/Mabel (THOMSON) FAIRBAIRN being brought onto this site instead of pointing off to my WorldConnect db LornaPotential, in the hope that one day (soon?) we may be able to prove a relationship between James and my family of Archibald and Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN, given that both were involved with the Gateshaw Secession Church at Morebattle and lived for at time in Eckford Parish.

Greenes? now Cavers!

Reviewed the Morebattle Gateshaw Film to see if I could decipher David FAIRBAIRN's birthplace a little better. Scrub "Greenes?", I now reckon it is Cavers, Parish of Eckford, which I thought was in Southdean, but GenUKi's gazetteer says has its own parish.
The webpage recentchanges for the 9th/10th, apart from David, are cosmetic changes rather than information changes.

Hunting HUDSONs

Continued on with descendants of Walter LILLY and Mary FAIRBAIRN. The charts have been updated as it appears some descendants I had as hers, actually belonged to second marriages etc, not where I had them. (Wish the James Arnold WOOD obit I was working from had said survived by his step brothers). Looks like at least one marriage kept things in the family, with Henry WOOD marrying his brother's widow (Eda L SUTHERLAND) after Elizabet Jenet LILLY died.
Those showing on WC are hers, it was some who hadn't made it that far in my publishing of data.
It has been interesting looking back at some of my previous emails, searches etc. I came soooo close to solving this FAIRBAIRN mystery (what happened to David and James, brothers of my Walter) several years ago. I have rediscovered correspondence on file with a now known connection who couldn't recognise my FAIRBAIRNs, and I didn't know about her TRACY, LILLY, IREDALE connections back then, and if I hadn't been so broke when I first found the Cottonwood, Iowa Robert Safley FAIRBAIRN, I could have ordered his death cert then and kept digging.
Such is genealogical life, but it does show that time does solve most mysteries.

Took a break from David and Jane (HERD) FAIRBAIRNs' family and went back to the Quebec FAIRBAIRNs, checking/adding rather a lot of HUDSONs into the tree, spurred on by renewed contact from Ellen H wanting to know about Anthony MORRIS-ROWE, first husband of Mary Ann HUDSON, her husband's grandfather's sister. Couldn't add much to the sum of genealogical knowledge other than his marriage cert shows his parents as Michael and Mary MORRIS-ROWE.
In the process I got interested in who William Fairburn HUDSON was. He has to fit into the picture somewhere given he was in Parry Sound where the HUDSONs seem to congregate (until they moved to Michigan) but I've not placed his parents George HUDSON and Eliza(beth) RAYCROFT as yet.

Hopefully the DAWE Surname DNA project may have found, or been found by, it's first participant. Fingers crossed. I promised I'd get back to finding representatives of my Devon lines, so any DAWE males out there who want to help connect up Newfoundland DAWE families with their assumed Devon and Dorset roots, please check out the project, we'd love to hear from you.
And the FAIRBAIRN project may be about to add in another participant too, which should prove interesting, particularly as he traces back to an Eckford FAIRBAIRN, where I've only recently discovered mine were based for a while.

Eckford not Morebattle

Check out the Recent changes. Mostly from my finally reading the Morebattle Gateshaw Associate Session records - long overdue. Turns out that my "Morebattle" FAIRBAIRNs, are actually Eckford FAIRBAIRNs with a thing against the local Established Church at Eckford, having their children baptised by the Gateshaw minister at Morebattle instead. Assuming that my Walter really did know where he was born (Swinton), then Archibald and Alison moved from there to Eckford and were at Grahamslaw and then ?Greenes? for the next three baptisms.
Which may well add some weight to Betsy's current search for why David had McDOUGALL as his middle name - seem to be a few of them in Eckford.
If you're wondering where the rest of the research log went, I've archived off the first 6 months of the year into 2008: Jan-Jun

Even fewer James'

Another very successful FAIRBAIRN day, culminating in 3 fewer James FAIRBAIRNs in my database.
For some reason I decided to check the actual marriage entry for Alison, dtr of James and Joan (FORSYTH) FAIRBAIRN. What a bonus. She was described as of Melrose bridge bar, and a few entries down the page was a James FAIRBAIRN of the same place, marrying an Elizabeth LAIDLAW. I'd stumbled across James' 2nd marriage!
I then found I already had James and Elizabeth in 1851, but hadn't known who she was, so had never connected them, but had tentatively identified that James as the one an Elizabeth LAIDLAW or FAIRBAIRN, relict of James of Lantonhall, and if that held, he was highly likely to also be the James F. who erected a headstone to his uncle James CROSSER. So, all these James' have now been combined, and James FAIRBAIRN's web page updated.
Several more twigs have been identified from US census records as well, and more snippets received from Melinda to add to the picture of our Civil War veteran, John FAIRBAIRN aka FAIRCHILD.

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?)