I asked my mum instead if she was able to fill any of the blanks for me, which she was quite happy to do where she could.  I will try asking my Gran again at some point soon.  Something genealogists will be painfully aware of is how much information can be difficult if not impossible to obtain when those with recollections of those ancestors are no longer with us.  Indeed, my mum reminded me today that my grandfather’s brother Jock had himself researched the family history some years ago, and left the information to his wife.  His wife passed away just a few years ago and now no-one is any the wiser if Jock’s research survives, and if so, where.

So go interrogate your nearest and dearest now!  Let them know you’re interested in finding out about your roots, ask them for the anecdotes and character insights that seldom make it in to the official records.  Certainly, some relatives will not wish to talk much, some may prefer to say nothing, but don’t let it be that you haven’t asked!

Below are a few gems from a chat with my (great-)aunt, much of which would not have been possible to know outside of the official records.

Whilst talking about her mother’s (Mary Jane Barclay) family, we discussed James (or Jimmy) Barclay (my aunt’s uncle) for a short while.  Having not long returned from my trip to London trying to find military service records, my aunt was keen to tell me which regiment James had served with – the Scots Greys.  Certainly this I would have eventually been able to discover, and would probably have researched before long as I knew that Jimmy had served in the military as his career.  The greater insight though was on how this affected him!

Jimmy came from a musical family – to a limited extent this continues, although myself and my mum feel we’ve let the side down a bit!  Jimmy was no exception, and quite a musical person.  However, he hated war songs.  The moment a war song was playing, his mood would change instantly and if it was on the radio, he would switch it off.  No one can blame him for this – he lost his younger brother Charles in WWI, as well as experiencing the horrors of that war for himself.  This tiny insight however was an amazing opportunity to discover more about the impact of war than the official records detail.

Then my aunt turned to me and asked me not to tell my Gran, but my uncle Jimmy was born outside of marriage.  I smiled, knowing that whilst this information would not make masses of difference to my aunt (although I can’t imagine she was thrilled about it), it most certainly would never go down well with my Gran.  Despite having Jimmy’s date of birth in my files, I had never noticed this.

My next trip to the Scotland’s People Centre in Edinburgh gave me a chance to look in to this.  I’m glad I did, because it gave me something positive I could relay back to my aunt.  Jimmy was indeed born outside of wedlock, but to the side of his registration was a note: “re-registered in the southern district of Aberdeen on 21st September 1939″.  Jimmy had re-registered his birth so as to include the details that his parents were married, and was not forever registered as “illegitimate”.  Unfortunately, despite him having been born in 1886, as the re-registration was in 1939 it is too recent for me to be allowed to print a copy to show my relative, but nonetheless it was good to be able to relay this information.

Curious, I wondered when his parents, James Barclay and Annie Summers, had married.  Looking through my file, it was the 26th December 1889.  Their next child, Edward, was born in 1890.  (Frustratingly I don’t have his date of birth on file, even though I am certain I looked it up – I guess it’s holes like that in your notes that you find when you have a chance to sort through them!)  Draw your own conclusions from the proximity of the dates

I also heard a tale about his son running off with the carpet!  I will need to ask her to repeat that story for me, as the months have made it too vague in my memory to feel confident in recounting here, but it’s tales such as those that help you build up an idea of the person behind the names and dates of the official records.

Your relatives are a goldmine of information when it comes to family history, make sure you ask about as much as possible!

————-

Upon hearing that Edinburgh Castle would have free entry on St Andrews day, my [then] boyfriend and I headed off for a nice day out.  What I didn’t realise at the time the use the trip could be to my family history research.

I have visited Edinburgh Castle on a previous occasion,  but never noticed that the regimental museum for the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was there.  I am quite sure that on my previous visit I had even been inside the museum, but had never realised that the museum linked to my own family history.

One regiment of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was the Royal Scots Greys, with whom my ancestor James (Jimmy) Barclay had served with.  I only found out which regiment he served with after my trip to the National Archives, so I hope that a future visit with this information will mean I can track down his service record!

Family history opportunities pop up everywhere, often quite unexpected, and it only serves to make me wish I could carry all of my notes with me constantly, to be able to seize those opportunities fully!  Unfortunately my research notes have long outgrown normal carrying capacity!

I enjoyed looking round the museum nonetheless, although my [then] boyfriend was keen to move on!  Perhaps the moral of the story is to always carry a pen and paper!

————-

October’s Your Family Tree magazine had an interesting feature on solving puzzles in your research.  Unfortunately they covered so many puzzles that they spent no more than a page on each (including lovely pictures, of course!), but the feature was good enough to persuade me to buy the magazine.  As some of the puzzles are ones I myself have encountered, I thought I’d comment on them.

My ancestor has moved away – how can I find them?

The answer to this puzzle was useful not so much for the advice it gave on finding ancestors on the move (checking surrounding parishes sort of goes without saying if you have no leads!), but rather for the advice it gives for tracking down landlords and estate owners.

“Landed estate records can help you establish who your ancestor’s employer was and whether they had interests elsewhere in the country.  You can find these in county record offices.  Many landowners are catalogued on the National Register of Archives at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra.”

I haven’t had any luck finding land owners from this link (although I’m sure county record offices will have it, I just can’t visit for a while!), but the area search has brought up some interesting links for the towns that my ancestors lived in.  It could be very useful to search for a town on here even if you’re not experiencing problems – to know that there was a non-conformist church in the town whilst your ancestors lived there may be just the hint you need to locate their records, and of course this will point you in the direction of the answers!

Why can’t I find the burial site?

A more specifically helpful link here (and one that I can never find when I really need it) is this.  This is an online collection of monumental inscriptions for Aberdeenshire (this will be part of my links page when I finally get round to finishing it, because it’s absolutely brilliant!).  Of course, it does not give everything on the gravestone, but it gives a fair bit, certainly enough to confirm that it is your ancestor, as well as a few dates, possibly some new relatives mentioned on the same stone.  To see the entire inscription, you either need to buy the book of inscriptions from them (last time I checked they were less than £4 a book, so definitely worth it if you’ve got family there!), ask them to do a look up (members only, but if you’re researching Aberdeen and North East Scotland then joining ANESFHS is a good place to start!) or visit the graveyard yourself.

A map of burial grounds in North-East Scotland can be found here.

Eligible to vote

Again, it shows how comparatively new to this I am that I haven’t had to look for relatives on electoral roles yet (although I have used them for other research).  A key point however that this section pointed out, was that even when eligible to vote, not everyone chose to have their name on the register.  (My mum had always as a matter of privacy insisted that we stayed off the public register, and whilst the private one will eventually become available, my experiences with genealogy led me to ask her to keep me on the public register this year.  It’s all another clue on the trail!)

My ancestor seems to have changed their name – can this be possible?

This was an issue I was pondering a few weeks back.  Unsurprisingly many name changes were only on an informal basis, but the article made reference to deed poll changes to names to be recorded from 1851.  This may be a date for England more than the UK, but if so I would assume it was in place in Scotland by the time I was looking in to.  This means that a formal procedure was (almost certainly) in place (although later use of their original names makes me think that my ancestors didn’t use this option).

I can’t find my forebears’ marriage record – why?

It comes as no surprise that Scotland’s marriage laws were “less stringent”, afterall, is that not one of the reasons border marriages such as those famous at Gretna Green became such a big thing?  However, there was one big revelation from the article, which certainly has not been accurately represented in my own research (and thus makes it hard for me to visualise!):

“Despite the institution’s long history, many couples never legally married.  During the Victorian era it’s thought as much as 20 per cent of the adult population didn’t marry.”

Of course family history research is greatly skewed in favour of those who did marry, as this was considered the most acceptable way to have a family, but nonetheless the above is one heck of a statistic!

Procrastinating on the Your Family Tree Forum, I found the following interesting soundbite:

Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:46 am Post subject:
Yes they should be on SP for that period – there is a Gretna index online, but it only goes as far as 1895 (starting 1795) – it’s at www.achievements.co.uk/services/gretna/index.php for anyone else who might be interested in such weddings.
If you suspect they lived in Scotland, they may have been married by cohabitation and repute, or by declaration, and the wedding never registered at all. Perfectly legal back then!
Chris

(my emphasis)

The institution or records no longer exist – what can I do?

A few interesting tips were given here:

1. Many hospitals were workhouses in a previous existence, and as such looking up the location of the workhouse records may be an option.
2. Bishop’s Transcripts of parish records should be available at Diocesan record offices.
3. Companies may have been taken over by another company – access to archives (link above) can give information on companies that no longer exist.  The London Gazette and court records should note if a company became insolvent.
4. A school’s records are probably with the Local Education Authority, or at a local record office,  if the school no longer stands.

Do you have any tips for any more of the above puzzles, or puzzles of your own you have stumbled across?  Please share!  :-)

White Poppy

Well, I couldn’t very well have remembrance day go by without writing something about my military ancestors, so here goes

Charles Farquharson Barclay, youngest brother of my great-grandmother, a sapper with the Royal Engineers, died aged 21 on 26th April 1918.  ”Charlie” was very much a family favourite, and his loss was deeply felt within the family.  He was burried in Aire Communal Cemetary, although his parents gravestone in Springbank Cemetary, Aberdeen, also gives tribute to him.

His older brother, James “Jim” / “Jimmy” Barclay survived him.  James had been in the army for many years prior to the outbreak of the first world war with the Royal Scot’s Greys.  Despite a love of music, after his war-time experiences he would not listen to music with links to war, switching it off immediately.  The whole mood of the room would change in an instant.

Carlos Alick Souter, brother of my great-grandmother Eliza Mary Souter, was a private with the Gordon Highlanders when he was killed, aged just 24, on the 12th April 1917.  He is burried at Aubigny Communal Cemetary, although as with Charles his parents too paid tribute to him on their own gravestone.  He is also listed on the Alford war memorial.

Henry Geddes, details currently uncertain but believe that this is his page on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, although more needs to be done to confirm this.

But let’s not forget that remembrance day is not just about the world wars, as horrific as they were, its scope is far wider than that.

Kenneth Murray, missing, presumed dead, Korea April 1951.  To this day there are some relatives who hope they may get to find out what happend to him.  He was my great-uncle (through my grandfather’s side).  His parents’ gravestone in Alford gives tribute to him.

Whenever I go to a cemetary ancestor-hunting, I tend to find myself cleaning up the gravestones and leaving some flowers.  When one fell off whilst I was in Alford, I decided to leave it at the war memorial.

The picture at the top of this post may be of interest to some people.  I have always been very much in favour of non-violence, but through my genealogical research I have seen for myself how much pain war leaves for families many generations and many decades on.  I firmly believe that the only proper response to fully acknowledge the sacrifice of these individuals and the suffering of their families is to say never again.  That is the message the white poppy sends out for me.

(I also have a purple poppy, but for completely different reasons, so I shan’t start on that here!)

Alford war memorial with Carlos Alick Souter listed

Woolmanhill Hospital - home to the Northern Health Services Archives

Back to university, back to the grind (yes, I have been studying, thank you very much!).  Far less time now to add to this blog, although genealogy is frequently on my mind.

A few weeks back I visited the Northern Health Services Archives in Aberdeen (although not without its own troubles – perhaps I should be “the absent-minded genealogist”!) and was able to uncover far more about my ancestor James Barclay, who died at the Aberdeen Royal Lunatic Asylum.  It was amazing to be able to hold original medical records that were more than 130 years old (and the archivist, Fiona, had helpfully got every document I could possible want to see out ready for me!).

Woolmanhill Hospital

I found out that James Barclay had initially been admitted to the Banff asylum as a private patient, having been living in Monquhitter prior to that.  The petition to have him admitted to the asylum was originally made by his son John in February 1873.  The petition had to be supported by two medical certificates.

“He is constantly working in an unregarding way with his fingers – says he is ruined body & soul, that he is in utter starvation, that he has no clothes, that he has committed every sin & is utterly lost.  He is constantly on the move and restless.  His expression is characteristic of insanity.”

“He would wonder about constantly and get violent being restrained, that he has made several attempts to injure himself & other facts similar to the above.  Said to me by his son John Barclay.”

(From first doctor, Alexander James Manson, February 1873)

The second doctor, William Mortimer, dated his medical certificate 16th July 1873, although the Sheriff claimed to have two medical certificates presented to him, one from William Mortimer, on 17th February 1873.  What’s going on here?  Did they lose the first certificate and do it again (the forms claim there was one dated the 16th), or were they naughty enough to ignore the requirements until later?  Of course a far less interesting possiblity is that I simply misread the document.  James Barclay was admitted to the Banff asylum on the same day (17th February).

William Mortimer commented:

“his general appearance & expression of countenance, especially of his eyes & a peculiar restlessness of his limbs – all the time I was there he besides himself in taking up small pieces of turf or straw and dividing them into still smaller pieces.  He is sullen, stubborn and disobedient and fancies he is reduced to beggary.  His natural disposition is entirely changed.  About a month ago his predominating idea was that God had foresaken him.”

“He is frequently violent & not long ago made  several attempts to take his own life, as stated by his wife & son.”

There was also a form detailing James’ personal and family details.  We find out that he was born in Monquhitter in 1814, apparrently went insane on 14th November 1872 and had been farming prior to that.  It also lists “places and periods of residence prior to insanity” which is fascinating as it shows where he was living ten years before the first census with individual details!  From this I found out that he had been living in Garmon from 1831-1839 and then in Greeness ever since.  His wife’s name is given as Margaret Castel (yet another spelling variation on what you’d of thought would not be a very tricky name!) and then lists all of their children!  (I only expect genealogists to understand my use of exclamation marks here!)

“James, 14, Greeness Monquhitter

George, 17, Mill of Balcairn Meldrum

Jane, 20, Mount Hool St Hilda [note, unsure of my own transcription here]

John, 22, Greeness …

Alexander, 25, 9 1/2 Canal Terrace [Alion?]

Isabella, 27, Balquholly [inferred from other reading], Monquhitter

Margaret, 33, 9 1/2 Canal Terrace [Alion?]“

“Names and occupations of parents of lunatic?  Alexander Barclay, pauper, Isabella Barclay (deceased)”

(It later notes that they were last known to be living in Garmond)

“Names, Occupations and Residences of Lunatic’s Brothers and Sisters, and Uncles and Aunts, if any?

John Barclay, Berryhill, Peterhead, Farm Serv., brother

Ann Barclay, Greeness Monquhitter, sister

Barbara Barclay, Cuminestown, Monquhitter, sister

Isabella Barclay, Cuminestown [?], Monquhitter, sister

Mary Barclay, England, sister

Mary Grigg, aunt, Monquhitter”

(dated 20th February 1873, so after James’ admission into the Banff asylum.)

Upon his arrival at the Banff asylum, a “statement” of his medical condition was written, which provides even more insights.  It contains standard information, such as that he was previously a crofter, a member of the Church of Scotland, lived at Greeness, Monquhitter, and then it moves on to more specific information regarding his health.

“Length of time insane: since 7th Nov. 1872

Whether first attack: yes

…

Supposed cause: pecuniary losses & bad season

Whether subject to epilepsy: no

Whether suicidal: suspected to be, of late

Whether dangerous to others: not much”

(Pecuniary losses are financial / money losses – I didn’t know that until then!)

The cause of his illness was the point that really set my mind going, thinking of all the posibillities for further reaearch.  That’s one of the brilliant things about genealogy, no matter how much information you uncover you’ll still be given even more questions to pursue somehow (and for those who have caught the ancestor-hunting disease, drive you absolutely bonkers in the meantime!).  I wondered if the pecuniary losses were just tied to it having been a bad season (because, as a crofter, that would make a big difference to him).  Were others similarly affected in that case?  Or was there something more to it?  Did he lose money by some other means (such as gambling, or spending it on something he shouldn’t've?).  At some point I’d love to get hold of newspaper records for his area to see if they report on any events that could be linked.

The Banff asylum’s report on his physical condition noted that other than being “full of delusions but not excited”, he was in good health.

An application was made to move him on 13th July 1876 to the Royal Lunatic Asylum Aberdeen, with the Banff asylum noting that his condition had not improved (although it is also worth nothing that it had not deteriorated and for the length of time he had been there was doing better than many to still be living!).  The transfer gives an interesting opportunity to see how he was doing roughly half-way through his time in the asylum which would not otherwise exist as it (unsurprisingly) generated even more paperwork.  By the time the application was made for him to be moved he had gone from being a private patient to a “pauper lunatic” under the supervision of the Inspector of the Poor for Monquhitter.  One of the supporting medical certificates notes that he is “afflicted with dementia” but is otherwise in good health.

The medical statement upon arriving at Aberdeen gives little new information.  We find out that he has been suffering one continuous “attack” for more than three years, and he is no longer considered to be dangerous to others.  His wife still lives at Greeness, Monquhitter.

The Aberdeen Asylum’s records notes that he was admitted on the 25th July 1876 and gives information about his occupation and marital condition that I already have.  It then went on to give a physical description of him, which whilst not terribly detailed, is another insight that few other records provide.

“Eyes: Dark grey

Hair: Black – becoming thin and grey

Complexion: Coarse

Stature: Wide

… Figure: Stoofing”

It then goes on to repeat much of the information from the medical certificates, and then notes:

“Labours under vague fears … but talks quite coherently”

“18th December 1876 no improvement – is quite harmless apparently”

“7th September 1879 for several months this patient has suffered from Phthisis under which he gradually sank and died this morning.”

This last note was of particular interest.  On James’ death certificate his cause of death had been given as insanity, and my family had long wondered if either the doctors truly believe insanity could kill or if it were a more sensitive way to note a death by actions they couldn’t rationally explain (such as suicide).  It was a relief to see that the doctors were aware that James died from Phthisis (tuberculosis).

Having copied out all of James’ records, I then took notes from the reports into the asylums, but I think I’ll put those in to another post as this one is long enough as it is!

Aberdeen Central Library

After finishing off at the Northern Health Services Archives, I meandered off towards the town again.  I popped in on Aberdeen Central Library’s local studies unit, but soon realised that I’d be spending hours there if I was going to do justice to all of the new things I wanted to research.  Oh well, I’ll get to go back soon enough!

This gave me a little bit longer to get back to the bus station, so I stopped and took some pictures.  Now that I’ve come to write about it, I realise that every time I’m in Aberdeen I end up walking past Union Terrace Gardens, thinking it looks lovely and wanting to go in, but have never done so.  This time was not exception – I guess that’ll just have to be something else to add to my to-do list!

Union Terrace Gardens

The National Archives

I was wrong to be so pessimistic, it seems!  I did indeed get back to the National Archives before my trip back north for university, although unfortunately this did not result in much genealogical success.

I was armed with all of the information I had on the relatives in question, including record references, print outs of medal cards, all of my relevant genealogy notes, new information freshly in my mind from having pestered relatives on the phone the night before, and yet after a few hours searching on the computers for Charles Farquharson Barclay and James Barclay in every variation conceivable, I had to admit defeat.  Certainly I was at the time lacking some information relatives have since returned to me with (such as James Barclay having served with the Scot’s Greys) , but I could not find a single file I could say was the person I was looking for.

I then turned to the microfilm readers to try and see if I had any luck searching for Carlos Alick Souter.  Again, I searched for every variation I could think of, looking for him under Charles, Charlie, Carl, Carlos, Alick – but alas, still no luck.

Determined for my second trip to the National Archives to be more successful than my last one, I decided to make the most of access to the 1901 census.  The Scottish records are simply transcriptions, so widely open to error, but it was information I wouldn’t be able to see for weeks at best anyway, so I went for it  With the amount of luck I’d had thus far that day, I started with the relative my family keep refering to as our “lucky charm” – Ann Summers – because records relating to her often find their way into our hands far more often than any others!

The following information is probably of no use to anyone other than those sharing branches in my family tree, but I shall copy it out anyway:

Name: James Barclay, age: 43, estimated birth year: abt 1858, relationship: head, spouse’s name: Annie S, gender: male, where born: Monquhitter, Aberdeenshire, registration number: 168/2, registration district:  St Machar, civil parish: Aberdeen, Ferryhill, county: Aberdeenshire, address: 13 Village Rd, occupation: clerk in office, household schedule number: 162, line: 17, roll: CSSCT1901_61

Name: Annie S Barclay, age: 42, estimated birth year: abt 1859, relationship: wife, spouse’s name: James, gender: female, where born: Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, registration number: 168/2, registration district:  St Machar, civil parish: Aberdeen, Ferryhill, county: Aberdeenshire, address: 13 Dee Village Rd, household schedule number: 162, line: 18, roll: CSSCT1901_61

Name: James B Barclay, age: 14, estimated birth year: abt 1887, relationship: son, father: James, mother: Annie S, gender: male, where born: Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, registration number: 168/2, registration district:  St Machar, civil parish: Aberdeen, Ferryhill, county: Aberdeenshire, address: 13 Dee Village Rd, occupation: ironworker, household schedule number: 162, line: 19, roll: CSSCT1901_61

Name: Edward J Barclay, age: 11, estimated birth year: abt 1890, relationship: son, father: James, mother: Annie S, gender: male, where born: Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, registration number: 168/2, registration district:  St Machar, civil parish: Aberdeen, Ferryhill, county: Aberdeenshire, address: 13 Dee Village Rd, occupation: scholar, household schedule number: 162, line: 20, roll: CSSCT1901_61

Name: Mary J Barclay, age: 9, estimated birth year: abt 1892, relationship: daughter, father: James, mother: Annie S, gender: female, where born: Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, registration number: 168/2, registration district:  St Machar, civil parish: Aberdeen, Ferryhill, county: Aberdeenshire, address: 13 Dee Village Rd, occupation: scholar, household schedule number: 162, line: 21, roll: CSSCT1901_61

Name: John W Barclay, age: 7, estimated birth year: abt 1894, relationship: son, father: James, mother: Annie S, gender: male, where born: Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, registration number: 168/2, registration district:  St Machar, civil parish: Aberdeen, Ferryhill, county: Aberdeenshire, address: 13 Dee Village Rd, occupation: scholar, household schedule number: 162, line: 22, roll: CSSCT1901_61

Name: Charles F Barclay, age: 4, estimated birth year: abt 1897, relationship: son, father: James, mother: Annie S, gender: male, where born: Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, registration number: 168/2, registration district:  St Machar, civil parish: Aberdeen, Ferryhill, county: Aberdeenshire, address: 13 Dee Village Rd, household schedule number: 162, line: 23, roll: CSSCT1901_61

Name: Maggie A Barclay, age: 2, estimated birth year: abt 1899, relationship: daughter, father: James, mother: Annie S, gender: male, where born: Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, registration number: 168/2, registration district:  St Machar, civil parish: Aberdeen, Ferryhill, county: Aberdeenshire, address: 13 Dee Village Rd, household schedule number: 162, line: 24, roll: CSSCT1901_61

As an interesting side-note, this is the family in the picture at the top of the website, but you can see the full picture in all of it’s glory below

Barclay family photo

]]> http://murrayfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/military-research-at-the-national-archives/feed/ 0 murrayfamilyhistory The National Archives Barclay family photo http://murrayfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/my-fail-of-a-day-at-the-national-archives/ http://murrayfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/my-fail-of-a-day-at-the-national-archives/#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:53:32 +0000 murrayfamilyhistory http://murrayfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/?p=63 Continue reading →]]> It’s been too long since I added anything to this – but that does not mean that I have neglected genealogy!

For the past week I have been without internet, and just before then I made a trip to the National Archives, intending to have tons to write up here afterwards but instead having a day I’d rather forget.  (So why I have chosen to immortalise it on the internet is not entirely apparrent to me at the moment, beyond feeling I ought to provide some sort of explanation for my absence!)

I was quite happy with myself for having worked out what exactly I was going to see at the Archives.  Despite having found no easy way to search through the document search results page, I had the reference number thingy of each of the documents I was going to ask for and had even remembered an extra relative who had been involved in the military and looked up his info.  I’d spoken to my great-aunt to get additional helpful details and was all set!

I didn’t get any further than reception at the National Archives.  After having travelled a fair distance to get there as early as possible, I was too ill to do anything.

Returning to the archives is still very high up on my to-do list, but with only a few days now before I return to Scotland and lots of packing still to be done, my optimism that I will get there this year is fast fading.

Mary Jane Glennie's gravestone in Alford

I’ve been back in London for a few days now, and most of that has been spent going through my research notes and updating EVERYTHING, as well as trying to work out what I’ll be looking for when I go to the National Archives.

I’ve been having an interesting time with two of the cases of illegitimacy in my family tree.

First is Mary Jane Glennie (my great-great grandmother).  Mary Jane Glennie’s illegitimate birth was one of the first things that I found out when I started researching my family tree.  We had told ourselves that the chances of finding out who her father was were slim, as no-one was mentioned on her birth certificate.  She was born on November 7th 1867 at Corrie of Morlich, Towie to Catherine Glennie.  No mention whatsoever of the father.  Later when we came across her death certificate, we brushed aside mention of her father as ______ Ritchie, as the death was reported by her neighbour, and we assumed that it may have simply been based on tales or such like.  We weren’t optimistic of finding any kirk session records telling of the father for his actions for an 1867 birth either.  However, today Kildrummy Families has reignited my hope that we may be able to track down (or at least narrow down) Mary’s father.  Their website notes that in the 1881 census, Mary (whilst living with her mother and grandfather, so we can be certain that it’s her) was going by the surname Ritchie – perhaps there was some truth in that afterall!

Second is Ann Harvey Brownie.  I only discovered Ann today thanks once again to the fantastic Kildrummy families website.  Ann’s parentage is different to Mary’s in that although her parents were not married, her father (William Glennie, brother of the aforementioned Catherine) is mentioned on her birth records.  Ann was born on the 23rd of May 1860 in Tullynessle & Forbes.  However, she too appears under her father’s surname of Glennie in the 1871 census.  Whilst there was no mystery to resolve here, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the repeat occurrence of this action.

It made me wonder if the parents married (although in both cases I am yet to find a marriage certificate, and all of the information I have for Catherine Glennie describes her as single throughout her life) or if they simply chose to change their name.  Would it have simply been a matter of what name you used in your everyday dealings being your name, or was there a formal procedure for this?  If there was, did Mary or Ann do this, or did they simply enter a name they use onto the census return?  As neither seem to have this surname for the official records I have tracked down so far, I am doubting that these names were legally recognised and simply were used day-to-day.

Interestingly enough,  it struck me that I had done the exact opposite to Mary and Ann.  Born with my father’s surname, at 17 I changed my surname to my mother’s maiden name of Murray.  I wanted to make myself independent from a father I felt no links with – perhaps they wanted to establish such a link.

However, both  Ann and Mary spent some time (it’s not known how much) around each other in Towie – maybe one influenced the other’s decision?

Dunrobin Castle

I don’t intend on advertising or reviewing this series, but wish to say one thing very quickly – I do enjoy Who Do You Think You Are immensely, but I don’t think it’s as good as it used to be

I do however wish to comment on Wednesday’s episode with David Mitchell.  It seems each series now has its token Scottish episode, but this one touched on so little I was left feeling rather disappointed.

The highland clearances are a huge part of the history of the time, but it felt like the producers were so keen to stick with the small segment of the family tree that they were looking at that they didn’t bother to find out what the generations at the time of the clearances had been doing.  If the family were based in the highlands at the time, chances are they would have been affected by it (positively or negatively).  If they were elsewhere, where were they, why were they there, why did they move, were they still sheep farmers, were they as successful – all of these questions (and probably more if I gave it some thought) arise, but the producers didn’t utilise the sense of investigation which is integral to genealogical research and instead were happy that it was case closed, no story here although the previous occupants were involved.

On a personal note it was nice to see Dunrobin Castle, which never fails to look stunning.  I went there a few years back, and apart from all of the animal heads hanging off the wall, it was gorgeous.  It also made it easier for me to pick a non-copyrighted picture for this blog entry!

The potato blight on the west of Scotland was mentioned in my year 13 history and I was unable to find much beyond what I had been told in a sentence in class.  Certainly the potato blight in Ireland was bigger, but why does that mean that the smaller Scottish communities that were affected by it have any less of a story to contribute to their history?  This is not so much a criticism of the BBC, as very little is easily available on this topic, more of a personal frustration.

I got excited when they started looking at kirk session records as I now have quite a few things I want to see if the kirk elders told my ancestors off for, but I simply haven’t been able to get to see the records yet.  The records read out on the show were certainly interesting, but I felt they were used more as an insight into the church elders than of David’s relative.  It felt like this was a general “here what was going on at the same time” document, which, whilst useful for bulking out the background for people, doesn’t contribute much to knowing more about David’s ancestor – surely with such in-depth comments for each “case”, there must have been something noted on what the minister thought?!

It also didn’t feel like they were going very far back with their research – indeed most of the relatives were already known, and the history wasn’t (with a few exceptions) that old.  Maybe that’s just how it seemed from the perspective of someone with historian hat on, but early 20th century is not long ago – anyone who has done genealogy will know just how few generations you have to go back to find out this stuff.

And, admittedly a manse is a slightly more significant building than many, but it was a tad convenient that there was a history of the house all ready for David to read.

Nice to see more of the experiences of more normal people though (I say more normal because, as David pointed out, they were still middle class, which wasn’t quite the norm for the highlands!).  And that will was both brilliant and horrifying at the same time!  (Although whilst the ancestor reading it seemed like quite a character, it would have been nice if David had searched for it, rather than simply having someone bring it to him, but I guess it does show the benefit of the multitude of websites that can help with this stuff.)

Watch it here and decide for yourself!

Who Do You Think You Are – David Mitchell (available online until the 26th August)

Who I hope to find in Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae

There absolutely had to be genealogical advantages to studying at a Scottish university of such historical importance.  The library.

Admittedly there’s not much compared to the archives more specifically relevant for my research, but a quick search on SAULCAT (which for any non-St Andreans reading this is the St Andrews University Library Catalogue – the entire library catalogue searchable online) brought up these:

• Pre-1855 gravestone inscriptions in Upper Donside
• Pre-1855 gravestone inscriptions in Upper Deeside
• Fasti ecclesiae Scoticanae : the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation. Vol. 11, Ministers of the Church from 1 January 1976 to 30 September 1999
• Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae : the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation. Vol.10, Ministers of the church from 1 January 1955 to 31 December 1975

Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae gives information on Church of Scotland ministers (not read one yet but from what I’ve heard it’s like a mini biography).  I know at least one relative (by marriage, not blood) was a Church of Scotland minister for some of the years mentioned, so it’d be great to check out what information there is on him whilst I can access it so easily.

The monumental inscriptions should be very interesting, as I have relatives from both of the parts of Aberdeenshire covered in the two books.  Particularly as some of the earlier relatives are in these areas (who, from my experience, seem to move from town to town less), and I’ve got a fair bit earlier than 1855 on all branches, this should be useful.

Should be.  Even if it turns out to be of no use whatsoever, that’s my procrastination sorted for quite some time!