16th: Hounding ROWEs, fossicking in the FAIRBAIRNs

A fun day fossicking in the family of William and Margaret (SCOTT) FAIRBAIRN. This was prompted by finding a newly joined member of the Borders Family History Society interested in FAIRBAIRNs of Bowden, Galashiels, Selkirk, Smailholm. How could I resist.
John is a descendant of schoolmaster William, so we are now swapping notes on that lineage, and hopefully will find a living male FAIRBAIRN to represent them on the FAIRBAIRN Surname dna project.

Also on the family of one of the several Robert FAIRBAIRNs born around 1820. This one married a Catherine STEWART and I'd not placed him with an appropriate set of parents. My current theory is that he belongs to James FAIRBAIRN and Ann WALKER who married Melrose 1806 (banns Merton), and by 1841 were enumerated at "Stable", Galashiels, their children having been baptised in Crailing.
Anyone interested in this family of FAIRBAIRNs and able to help Bonnie and I sort them out?
Both of the above lineages will be added to the DNA Project Patriarch's page shortly.

Back to the Baskervilles. The addition of Baskerville to the name of a child of my Elizabeth ROWE/Hugh HAMLEY family has been explained. Not prescient knowledge of the hound at all, much more prosaic, Dad Hugh HAMLEY's Mum was apparently a BASKERVILLE. This from Vikki, a descendant via son James who married and emigrated to Adelaide, Australia shortly (a few days) thereafter. No wonder I couldn't find hide nor hair of him after his 1819 baptism in Bere Ferrers.

Nov 10, 2008: DNA Projects Portal/DAWEs

Prototype version of my DNA Projects Portal now in place. Many more lineages to be added. Anyone researching the surnames is welcome to contact me to get their webpages included in the Web Links section. Or even have their dna project included.
Currently working on new info from a DAWE descendant (in Michigan) of Isaac DAWE and Thirza STEPHENS.
Will update the pages when I've caught my breath from the TMG Conference and fought the mail backlog, and then get back to the exciting new results from the FAIRBAIRN and SINTON DNA projects.

Oct 20, 2008: Seeing the world from your armchair

Ignore all the entries in the recent changes index for October, until today. I've been fiddling with place data to make sure that at least some of the people on the site pop up on their appropriate maps.
The main changes have been to each of the main surname pages (FAIRBAIRNs, HENDERSONs, ROWEs, RUNCI(Wo)MEN, SINTON).
They each now include both an index of all descendants (and spice) included on the site, and a map showing some of the hatch, match and despatch places for said descendants - but only if they are already on the site, AND only if I've gotten round to including Lat/Long coordinates in the appropriate place information, which I certainly haven't done consistently. So, scroll down to the bottom of the pages concerned, eg FAIRBAIRN, HENDERSON, SINTON, ROWE, and RUNCIMAN pages to see the maps, and have fun zooming in/out, panning around the world. Travel from your armchair.
A related change with the last site update is the places link. Again, if I've recorded Lat/Long coordinates against the places highlighted in the place index, then a link to Google maps and Virtual Earth, will show up under the place heading as a clickable G or L accordingly. You may have to use the map controls to get the best picture, and as the updated Abbreviations says, if you can't see enough detail on Google, try Live Search or vice versa. Some of the satellite pictures are quite spectacularly clear. I swear I can almost pick out my 3*greats grandparents' grave in the Morebattle Cemetery on the Fairbain map if you zoom in far enough in satellite view.

Oct 10, 2008: Do these names ring a BELL?

FAIRBAIRNs and BELL/THOMSON families. Wondering if it is complete coincidence that there are two FAIRBAIRN families connected to the same BELL/THOMSON family, or whether there just might be a link between them.
One family is that of the latest participant in the FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project, the other the subject of a Borders Family History Society Journal way back in Feb 1998 about Granny FAIRBAIRN the Bone-setter of Kelso - "Isabella (ROBERTSON) FAIRBAIRN 1859-1940".
The possible connection being made by adding 2 and 2 and probably getting 5.

Robert FAIRBAIRN, Isabella ROBERTSON's husband's lineage works back to a Robert FAIRBAIRN and Agnes JEFFREY, via a Robert FAIRBAIRN, writer in Duns (reputed father) and Ellen BELL.

Robert FAIRBAIRN and mother Ellen BELL are in the 1881 census with Ellen's sister Janet and her (2nd) husband John THOMSON at Kelso.

In 1901 Janet THOMSON nee BELL is at Kelso with a boarder, John FAIRBAIRN, 25 (he later married an Ellen THOMSON).

John's pedigree is now on the FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project Patriarchs page, with no known connection to Duns or Robert above.

Anyone actively researching Robert's family? Found part of it on OneGreatFamily
but the email address of the researcher (dtr of John M FAIRBAIRN, a journalist who emigrated to Australia) bounced.

Back to Meavy for a break. ANDREWS this time. I'd not taken the family of Henry Willcocks & Lydia (HELYER) ANDREWS beyond 1871 until contacted by Pauline, who has a family connection with them.
Merrily checking them off in census and BDMs and finally realised I was duplicating data. Dtr Mary Willcocks ANDREWS firstly married John SHILLIBEER, then remarried a Richard Henry BICKLE (I calculate they were 5th cousins once removed, or at least I did once I realised he was the son of John Creber BICKELL and Susanna HELYER).

Pedigree, and latest results, added to the ROWE Surname DNA project.

Sep 29, 2008: Bit of this, lot of that

Main changes of late:
Meavy DAWE families had a bit of a looksee for a reason which now escapes me. I can now see why I couldn't find a lot of them in the UK census records - a lot of them emigrated to America!
My main interest is how they may or may not inter-connect with the Buckland Monachorum DAWE families and assorted WILLCOCKS.
Some of those connected to people already showing up on my LornaHenderson db on Rootsweb will be added there next update to try and illustrate some inter-connections.

Forgot to mention a SCAIFE update a wee while ago.
Geoff contacted me via Curious Fox with info on the GRAHAM/SCAIFE connections from his SCAIFE perspective. This enabled me to merge two previously separate people in my db, one the son of Jane GRAHAM (whose husband I now know was called John), and the other the William who married Frances GRAHAM, Jane's niece.

Continued working on the family of John and Elisabeth(MILLER) FAIRBAIRN, where this John's father Walter may, or may not, be my Walter FAIRBAIRN. Would really love to find a representative of this line for the FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA project, particularly before the great discounts run out at the end of Sept (or one each from different branches in case there isn't a match first off)!
The other FAIRBAIRN sidetrack mentioned on the 21st (Bowmanville Robert F.)has been slotted into his rightful place as one of the John FAIRBAIRN/Elizabeth YULE line. I'll update the FAIRBAIRN DNA project Patriarch's page accordingly sometime soon.

Sep 21, 2008: FAIRBAIRN sidetracks

Not sure what all the major changes of late have been. Busy chasing FAIRBAIRNs around the records and getting sidetracked, ie business as usual.
One I got sidetracked onto was Robert Brinckerhoff FAIRBAIRN, married Juliet ARNOLD. I couldn't place him and noone seems to be researching the family so I had a dig. Warden of St Stephens Episcopal College at Annandale, NY for many years. Born in NY in 1818, father a William from Scotland who emigrated 1796 and was a publisher in NY. Anyone claiming this family?

Another orphaned family I spent some time on, and couldn't immediately spot any researchers for, was that of Robert FAIRBAIRN of Duns, Berwick who emigrated to Bowmanville, Ontario.
There are memoirs on the web written by his son James Brougham FAIRBAIRN, Postmaster at Darlington Mills (now Bowmanville) and brother of an MP Thomas McCulloch FAIRBAIRN. Possibly also connected with the inventor of mini-golf another Thomas McCulloch FAIRBAIRN.
I've added an outline pedigree to the DNA Patriarch's page.

What I was sidetracked from was finally getting round to updating my info (thanks for the prompt Ed) on the family of John and Elisabeth (MILLER) FAIRBAIRN of New York, John being the one with a father Walter of Roxburghshire who may or may not be my one. Would be great to find a participant for the dna project to test this theory out. I've included a chart for John and Elisabeth on my FAIRBAIRN pages, and will update the pedigree outline on the DNA project patriarchs page in due course.

Sep 12, 2008: "theory" ruined!

Several more twigs and branches on the assorted Canadian FAIRBAIRN lines have been tidied up a bit, some of whom will now appear on the FAIRBAIRN descendant chart, a lot more on the Rootsweb databases when I next publish them.

I'm getting a bit tied up and puzzled with the families around Hull, Quebec. Lose one, pick up another, can't make up my mind if they're the same David FAIRBAIRN or not.

My rather specious theory that all the FAIRBAIRN families on the Borders are related (well it was only based on a sample of 3 up till now), has been ruined as new results in for the FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA project show the 4th participant is from a different line - pages yet to be updated to show this.

Sep 8, 2008: What defines a "cousin"?

Earliest known ancestor for Walter is a John FAIRBAIRN, his son was John A Sr, married to Charity SMITHSON.
Clarissa is a descendant of David & Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN, David being brother of William (marr. Jean WANLESS) FAIRBAIRN (see FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA project for link to Archibald (marr. Alison CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN).
Census data shows Walter as "cousin" to Clarissa's father David, but also David as "cousin" to Walter's father William George.
Yesterday I stumbled upon a reference to papers donated to the University of North Dakota by a Lawrence D FAIRBAIRN, born Montana and decided to investigate. He turned out to be the son of Angus U(rquhart?) FAIRBAIRN, and therefore a descendant of David and Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRNs. Further web searches led me to assorted Eatonville papers of Washington State that reported the daily goings on of the community, including that Mr and Mrs John A FAIRBAIRN of Hoquiam had been visiting, John being stated as cousin of Angus.
No surprise there, John and the above Walter being related, as were Angus and Clarissa.
But when I added a search of my previous correspondence about Hoquiam into the mix, I was reminded that a couple of years ago Joe and I had swapped info on the family of John in Hoquiam, and Joe had said that his grandfather Albert's 1938 obit stated that John A in Hoquiam was his cousin. Albert had emigrated from Liverpool to Hoquiam early 1900s, his line works back to a Robert who married an Elizabeth TAYLOR in Newcastle on Tyne 1811 but came from Sunderland himself.
Given Robert's son John is demonstrably in England until 1851 at least, he isn't a candidate for the John A family.
So "cousins" is obviously a loosely defined term by current usage, and presents an interesting puzzle to solve.
FAIRBAIRN web page updated to include a descendant chart for the Cousins of the Cousins.
Once again, any dna project takers?

Aug 31, 2008: DNA sale extended

Family Tree DNA have extended their summer sale to the end of September, with very good discounts, so if you are at all interested, get in quick. To get the discounts, orders have to be via an appropriate project, so make sure you find the project and use the Join link for it.
I'd love to see a few more FAIRBAIRN lineages represented, not to mention all my other projects: SINTON, ROWE, RUNCIMAN, DAWE or FINLAYSON.

Back to Lennox & Addington, Ontario FAIRBAIRNs.
Does anyone know anything about the family of a William Albert FAIRBAIRN and Grace Helena LONG? They were around Camden & Centreville, Lennox & Addington, Ontario. Lost two sons in WWI, Bruce Wellington and Howard. I've found dtr Ruth married a Victor King William EDGAR, and son John Albert FAIRBAIRN married Henrietta Susannah BALSDON in the 1910s.
William Albert's 1905 death cert shows him to be the son of a Robert and Jane FAIRBAIRN whom I've not yet identified, but would love too.

Aug 26, 2008: Identifying John CREBERs

When working on Devon families around Walkhampton, Buckland Monachorum, Whitchurch etc, you just cannot avoid CREBERs. I've convinced myself that the Joan CREBER who married Henry TOOP is the one at Dotterbrook in Tavistock in 1841, with what looks like her father John. And that this John is the one who married Margaret GILES. John buried Walkhampton 1845, Henry and Joan (CREBER) TOOP buried Buckland Monachorum, 1844 and 1850 respectively.
Does anyone agree, or disagree, and if the latter, have you more evidence than I on where he belongs?

Family Tree DNA are offering good discounts for their tests until the end of August. Anyone interested in joining the FAIRBAIRN, SINTON, ROWE, RUNCIMAN, DAWE or FINLAYSON projects should get in quick.
If you do so, make sure you find the right surname project and use that to order the test or else the discounts wont be applied, eg a 37 marker test is $119 US, and a 67 marker includes the mt dna test for only slightly more than the usual 67 marker Y-DNA test, at $289 US.

Aug 23, 2008: FAIRBAIRN descendants wanted...

Still plugging away trying to find living descendants on a couple of FAIRBAIRN lines to try and prove my theory of a relationship to Robert FAIRAIRN and Kate SCOTT of Napanee/Richmond Ontario and to my Archibald etc.
Anyone out there a descendant of the family of Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Jane BLAKEY? From Northumberland to Ontario.
Son Archibald was in McMurrich Township, Parry Sound, another, Robert FAIRBAIRN married Martha HUSTON and settled at Vegreville, Alberta.
Another line of interest is that of William FAIRBAIRN and Katherine MORGAN.
Known sons: Archibald Goodison (married Lucinda ROBINSON and Margaret AULD, lived North Fredericksburg for a while); Robert (married Alberta GARRISON and last sighted in Qu'appelle, Saskatchewan); William (married Minnie ANDERSON), still in Richmond, Lennox & Addington, Ontario in 1901; Wellington.

Devon inter-related families strike again.
When I started checking further on the TOOP family (see 21st), I realised that further back up the TOOP tree most people with this lot in their online trees seem to think there's a John TOOP and Sarah WILLCOCK(S). This Sarah being of an age to the the dtr of Walter WILLCOCK and Mary MORRELL, and therefore more of my BARTER descendants. The BARTER connection being dependent on the correct id of the Ann BARTER who married Walter's father Walter.
Along the way I found another OXENHAM married in, and lost Thomas Reed DAWE. Anyone seen him after his 1872 marriage to either Ellen DAWE or Mary Gill WILLCOCK? This Mary Gill WILLCOCK is the dtr of Jane OXENHAM and Henry WILLCOCK, butcher of Horrabridge, and I stumbled on the family because Richard TOOP was with them in the 1851 census.
The other groom in the 1872 marriage page was a Henry LANGMAN, but at the moment I cannot find who married whom via census or death data.

Aug 8, 2008: Caithness to New Jersey?; More Ontario FAIRBAIRNs

Where does the time go? Mostly been working on Ontario FAIRBAIRN and related families, in no particular order: GRIEVE, WINDOVER, HUFF, COUGHLIN, HUDSON, RAYCRAFT, ASSELSTINE, FRENCH, FITCHETT, PAGE, VADER.
FAIRBAIRN descendants chart updated.

Sidetracked from FAIRBAIRNs to investigate Livy's theory that her x-greats grandmother Johanna/Jean KERR nee BAIN, d/o of a James and Ellen BAIN, just might be Johanna, d/o James BAIN and Helen ANDREW.
My initial worry was that if the age was right, she had emigrated to America as a 16/17 yr old - but with whom?
However, a 1924 letter from her younger sister Hannah in Wick, written to the American relations, clearly states that the sister didn't remember her as she had left so young, and I quickly found a dth cert of this Hannah, with the right address, that showed we had the right parents. As the letter also mentions Kate, implying she is Johanna and Hannah's sister, I presume Johanna emigrated with her elder sister.
This could well explain how I've not had much joy finding most of the girls in this family after about 1871.

Rootsweb WorldConnect db LornaHenderson updated (prior to this BAIN find). Also updated are the Rootsweb pages (after this BAIN find).

Jul 31, 2008: Found a home for Robert

For better or worse, I've decided that the Robert FAIRBAIRN who emigrated to Ontario who supposedly had children: Elizabeth, Alison, Jane, William, James and Robert, is another son of Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Alison CROSSER.
This is admittedly conjecture, but based on several bits of circumstantial evidence, a lot of which hinges upon Napanee as a place in common.
Would love to hear from anyone who can comment authoritatively either way, especially as I've also decided that the William who married Catherine MORGAN is his son William.
Webpages updated to include identified family to date in the descendants charts, and to give Robert a page of his own to outline some of my reasons.
Related surnames: FITCHETT, GRIEVE, STRAIN, MORGAN, HAYNES, and in the next generations: VADER (no not Darth), FRENCH, GOULD, ROBINSON, VINE, GARRISON, ANDERSON, HEFFERAN, FRISKIN, GILLESPIE, SMITH, PAGE

Jul 22, 2008: Ontario FAIRBAIRNs; DNA updates

Anyone know anything about a Robert FAIRBAIRN in Ontario from about 1828?
Scott sent me an extract from the Scots in Canada pre Confederation which showed a Robert born abt 1786 emig 1828, settled nr Selby, Lennox & Addington Co, with children including: William, James, Robert, Elizabeth, Jane, Alison (marr. David FITCHETT, lived Huntingdon Twp, Hastings Co)
Alison and Robert look like they were born Scotland, still trying to trace the rest of them, but the 1851 census shows Robert Snr and Jnr enumerated with a 22 yr old Esther, all born Scotland, along with an 11 yr old Robert born USA and yet another Archibald, aged 9 born Canada West (Ontario).
Sounds promising for a connection to my lot.

Newfoundland DAWEs are now represented on the DAW/DAWE DNA project. There must be some proven descendants on the Devon lines out there somewhere who'd like to take part!
Also progress on the FAIRBAIRN DNA project, the line of Robert FAIRBAIRN and Janet HOGARTH, whose son William married Isabella SINTON.
And another on the SINTON project. I'd been trying to find a suitable candidate down the line of John SINTON and Alison HALL, but in the end one found the project and saved me some effort.
Thank you Steve, I do so hope we get a match with the other Southdean SINTONs.

NB the WorldFamilies DNA pages are undergoing a revamp outside my control, so some links may not work at the moment, and some info is missing, will remedy soon.

Jul 14, 2008: Back to Wick

Updated David FAIRBAIRN's page, and the FAIRBAIRN chart to reflect the removal of Martha from the immediate family (see 13th).

The Border line that produced a Congregational Minister who was in Wick in 1891 (father living in Ormiskirk, Lancashire) has another Caithness connection. David Russell SCOTT's dtr married in Edinburgh to Lancelot CORMACK (educational publisher) whose father was born Wick.

Jul 13, 2008: Martha moved

Information newly to hand (from Joan G) has reduced the family of David and Jane (HERD) FAIRBAIRN by one. Martha, wife of George TRACY, brother of the Jane TRACY who married Archibald James FAIRBAIRN, turns out to be a JUNOR, not a FAIRBAIRN, according to her husband's 1871 Mt Morris obituary.
Wonder why the San Diego FH Centre who submitted the data on her and George to ancestral file thought she was a FAIRBAIRN? That in itself could be another interesting lead.

Jul 9, 2008: 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.

Jul 7, 2008: More HUDSONs

Another HUDSON day, with another breakthru, this time on the family of William HUDSON and Aylsie FAIRBAIRN (dtr of William FAIRBAIRN and Jean WANLESS). See the GenForum HUDSON board for the details.
I was somewhat puzzled how a family could be so definite about the exact birthdates of their two children, over two census records, when the dates are impossible for them to both belong to the mother shown (Mary), but that could explain how come George's birth isn't obvious in the Manitoba records under HUDSON, but there is a neatly matching one as George Eddy MISSIER, mother Dina, who is probably the Dana MESSIER shown as a daughter of Mary in the 1901 census.
Also finally found William & Elcy (FAIRBAIRN) HUDSON in 1851, at Wakefield, a few entries away from her brother George FAIRBAIRN, along with a couple more likely children, Robert and Jane.
William Jnr (marr. to Mary Louise previously MESSIER, nee GETDISS (?GEDDES) show up in the 1911 census in Masset, British Columbia, so followed the injunction to "go West young man".
Still looking for John and Caroline after 1901, although it looks like they may have moved to Brandon.

Jul 6, 2008: 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.

Jul 4, 2008: 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

Jun 29, 2008: Clergyman to Attorney to Newspaperman

Many thanks to the USGenWeb sites, and Betsy (yet again). Betsy found a History of Western Nebraska with a biography of a Robert H FAIRBAIRN, Jr which conclusively linked Clergyman Robert to newspaperman Robert, as one and the same person, his father. One more mystery solved.
Web pages updated, and Mary LILLY nee FAIRBAIRN included for good measure.

Jun 27, 2008: LILLYs of the field

FAIRBAIRN chart updated, yet again, to reflect latest findings, most updates were in the descendants of Mary FAIRBAIRN and Walter LILLY.
The id of Mary was definitely clinched for me when I found a "cousin" with them in 1920, one Lorraine E LEE, grddtr of Mary's sister Esther.

Jun 26, 2008: Herding more FAIRBAIRNs

Been busy chasing some of the FAIRBAIRN/SAFLEY family around in the census, and in the process, trying to figure out if I'd picked up the right Robert H, grdson of Robert and Helen (FAIRBAIRN) SAFLEY in the 1910 census. Decided that he couldn't possibly get from a to b between the two census days he appeared in (with parents James and Mary in Portland, Multomah Co, Oregon) on the 15th April 1910, with an uncle and aunt on the 21st (Brook Park, Pine Co, Minnesota).

Meanwhile Betsy had worked another of her miracles and found what looked like Mary dtr of David and Jane (HERD) FAIRBAIRN. She had also had made it to Mt Morris, Waushara Co, Wisconsin, where she pops up with husband Walter LILLY (married Huron Canada according to a patron submission on the IGI).

Jun 23, 2008: FAIRBAIRN to RUNCIMAN

Interesting journey today. Checked off a marriage cert for one chap, looked at the other one on the page and realised it was one of the FAIRBAIRN/CLAPPERTON lot. So off I went checking what I did and didn't have for the family from assorted census data. Decided to cross check one census against a marriage, so got the cert, and realised that I already had the groom in my database down my RUNCIMAN tree. James WALLACE, descendant of William MERCER and Janet RUNCIMAN, married Janet CLAPPERTON, descendant of George FAIRBAIRN and Janet PURDIE. No, they weren't related, but both are distant relations of mine.
The FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA project is growing - a descendant of the family of William FAIRBAIRN and May CARTER (married Greenlaw 1792) has joined, so that should be an interesting addition given where all the family lived - Greenlaw, Eccles, Earlston, Jedburgh, Bedrule, Ednam (with Dumfries, and Kirkcudbright thrown in for good measure).

Jun 22, 2008: Elsie found too

And Betsy found David and Jane (HERD) FAIRBAIRN's dtr Elsie too. So more of the family have been documented. Elsie married Joseph L BROTT, variously described as born Canada, Michigan or New York. Apparently has two children, so it does look likely that the 1850 census Jane is hers (still to be found after that census though).

Jun 20, 2008: Miles of Fairbairns

Think I've found David and Jane (HERD) FAIRBAIRN's dtr Jane in the States as well.
On the Waushara County, Wisconsin GenWeb site there are some marriages transcribed from the Wautoma Courthouse records, including an 1854 marriage of a Jane FAIRBAIRN and a Joseph PROCTOR. Census data shows that Jane was born Scotland c 1824, AND they lived in Mt Morris, Waushara County, which is also where David and Jane were to be found at one stage.
Dtr Elvira married a Joseph MILES and lived Dale, Cottonwood, Minnesota, then Garfield, Washington State.
Anyone got any obits to prove these connections?
Jane appears to have disappeared between 1880 (Dale, Cottonwood, Minnesota living with dtr and son-in-law) and 1900. I've not found Alvira (MILES) beyond 1900 (River, Garfield Co, Washington) as yet.

Jun 19, 2008: Tracing TRACY

Betsy and I have convinced each other that she has found yet another dtr for David FAIRBAIRN and Jane HERD. The Jane TRACY who married David & Jane's son Archibald had a brother George who is listed on ancestral file as marrying a Martha FAIRBORN, who just happened to be born St Mary, Perth, Ontario, 1834. Looks like another example of siblings marrying siblings. The circumstantial evidence includes the fact that in the 1870 census George and Martha have moved from Perth to Mt Morris, Wisconsin, which just happens to be where David and Jane are now living as well. A George and Elizabeth of an age to be his parents are also with them.
In 1870 George and Martha are shown with two children, Anna and George, both born Canada. Betsy excelled herself and found an Annie of the right age, with parents given as George and Martha, marrying back in St Marys, Perth, to a clergyman Robert O KELLOGG.
Darned if I can find the TRACY family in Canada in 1851 though, or anywhere in 1880. It looks as if Anna/Annie died in California about 1886 and their only dtr shortly before that.
In the process of ferreting around in Ontario records, several more twigs have also been added/updated on the Quebec FAIRBAIRNs (mainly the family of Clarissa Harlow FAIRBAIRN and Elihu Robert MARSTON, but several others as well).
Also found another dtr for the family of John FAIRBAIRN and Margaret SINTON, a Rachel popped up with them in 1851, and I later found her 1929 death in Blandford, Ontario.
Depending of course on when you are reading this, any of the links above pointing to WorldConnect wont necessarily show the updates, as I haven't uploaded them yet, but any pointing to charts on my domain web pages have been.

Jun 16, 2008: Attorney, Newspaper Publisher, ?clergyman?

Another successful conclusion to a few days searching. I've been trying to find what happened to Robert the son of David FAIRBAIRN and Jane HERD, and had been following a couple of candidates around Wisconsin and Iowa records, both Robert H FAIRBAIRN/FAIRBURN, one married to a Lucy, with sons Lewis D and Robert (1860 and 1870 census) and another married to a Sarah, with dtrs Bird and Ora, but with a possible son David from a prior marriage (later census records).
I'd given up trying to prove they were one and the same person and decided to go public on GenForum asking if anyone recognised the families and could help.
And 5 minutes later, decided to also check out, and post, to the Rootsweb Iowa board, which I searched for FAIRBAIRNs first. Didn't find any, but when I searched for Chickasaw I did find a link to the Iowa GenWeb pages, where I plugged in FAIRBAIRN to see what would come up.
Lo and behold, Robert H FAIRBAIRN pops up straight away, as Robert Hurd, or Herd, FAIRBAIRN, author of a 1919 history of the county, born Napanee, Ontario. So, what with his mother's maiden name explaining the H in the census records, and a birth place the same as sister Eshter, I'd found the right chap, despite the fact that he was an attorney and newspaper editor and publisher, neither occupation being typical in the family.
Haven't proven the Lucy link though.
Rootsweb LornaHenderson db updated, and pages added to the web for both Robert Herd FAIRBAIRN, and his father David.

Jun 11, 2008: Dashing soldier anyone?

Still sorting out FAIRBAIRNs, tracking them around Ontario, Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, California +++, and in the process wondering if some of the other Lennox Co, Ontario families are also connected, particularly any with connections to Napanee, where David and Jane's dtr Esther's obit says she was born (in 1840).
Added a couple more photos to the web, including an unidentified dashing young chap clad in tartan, in Hamilton, Ontario, and a lovely photo of James and Joan's dtr Barbara.
Thanks Betsy and Melinda, respectively.

Jun 6, 2008: 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.

Jun 5th, 2008: The army and John F. didn't agree

John, son of James and Joan (FORSYTH) FAIRBAIRN is now on the web, with what I suspect could be the reason for his name change from FAIRBAIRN to FAIRCHILD.

Jun 4, 2008: Orkneys to Edinburgh

GenesReunited has come up trumps again. A while ago I found another FAIRBAIRN twig had married a FOTHERINGHAM from the Orkneys. And there she was on GR. The descendant (Diana) has now been in touch, extending the family of James and Agnes down to present day (Hampshire mainly).

In the process of getting John, son of James and Joan (FORSYTH) FAIRBAIRN onto the web as Melinda has come up with a couple of photos and some family snippets that illustrate the relationship evidence.