My genealogy research diary. What changed, where, sometimes even why.
Filter posts by selecting a keyword of interest from the Labels under each post.
Unfilter by selecting the GenBlog link again, or using the back feature of your browser.

Friday, 28 August 2009

28th: Continuing in update mode

My main web pages have been fully reloaded, others will follow as time permits.

Full set of BAIN dna results now in. Too early to tell if we have an accurate DNA signature for the line of John BAIN (married Catherine GRAY) as there are no matches to other tested BAIN families (see full BAIN dna project).
We only have one representative for our BAIN line and would very much like a second line to be represented to confirm this dna signature.

Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, 15 July 2009

16th: Big brother updated

Probably time I updated Big Brother again, seem to have got sidetracked from keeping my main pages updated.

The main changes of late have been on the GRAY front, with the family of Margaret GRAY, newly confirmed as a dtr of William GRAY and Margaret SUTHERLAND.
A fair few of her descendants have been tracked and included in the GRAY chart, and I've also given Margaret a page of her own, purely to show I've identified Tormsdale, where her 1855 death cert said she was born.
This exercise did result in many updates to the MORGAN families of Thurso and Halkirk, but most of those aren't in my published data, and haven't resulted in any connection to Kathrin MORGAN being discovered.

Also a few tweaks in the HAMLEY tree thanks to Vikki who sent me a copy of Elizabeth HAMLEY nee ROWE's 1865 death cert. Given the informant was Charles HAMLEY, assumed to be her son Charles Baskerville HAMLEY, I checked where I'd got too in documenting his family too. Still cannot find dtr Selina Mary in 1901 at all, but did find her in Plymouth with husband, piano dealer Charles Frederick HOCKING in 1911 (no children with them). Earlier census identifications are complicated somewhat by there being another Charles & Selina HOCKING couple (in Cornwall) who married earlier. Will show up on the ROWE chart as a few added twigs.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, 8 July 2009

8th: Wouldn't you know it...

As soon as I decide there's a lull on updates to the visible, published, data, along comes a bunch more, just after I've updated the online databases!

Thanks Bobby, the GRAY updates will appear in due course.

Bobby saw my posting (page down to my one) on the Caithness.org forum asking for GRAY descendants who might be interested in proving a theory about two GRAY families in Watten, Caithness, by joining the GRAY DNA project.

He then acted on a hunch about a BRUCE in his tree, and sure enough, found an additional daughter for the family of William GRAY and Margaret SUTHERLAND.
There's a Margaret who married a William MURRAY and lived at Olgrinmore, Halkirk (1851).

Behind the scenes however, Harry and I have been having fun sorting out his STEPHENSON family of Edinburgh, formerly Kelso, Ancrum, Gifford, and as he's just found out, Cumberland, thanks to Sonia in Mississippi. I'm just tagging along for the ride as there's a WIGHT connection in there that one day we may prove is related to the other STEPHENSON/WIGHT connection that makes us distant cousins.

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, 17 April 2009

17th: Addenda - BAINs for a change

Met up with one of my NZ BAIN "cousins" today for the first time. Apart from it being good to actually meet, it was also rather interesting to find out how we were connected to his wife via a different branch of Caithness BAINs.
A couple of years ago they had met one of her relations at Spittal. Donald had mentioned blacksmiths and McBEATH connections, so I assumed it would be the South Calder BAINs, and so it turned out. John BAIN (1799-1882) who married Helen McBEATH, whose family connect several times over to my/our BAINs in the GRAY and TAYLOR families. Further details on those that connect to my forest can be found on my WorldConnect db LornaHenderson.

Labels: , , , , , ,

Tuesday, 31 March 2009

30th: McDONALD sorted

Bobby asked if I thought the niece, Margaret McDONALD, shown living with William TAYLOR and Janet GRAY in 1841 and 1851 at Sibster, Halkirk might be the dtr of William McDONALD and Margaret GUNN.
That was indeed where I had also thought she might belong, but had never investigated further to see if there was any link to our Isabella McDONALD, first wife of said William TAYLOR.
So much more information is now more readily available, so I set off to solve the mystery.
We were both wrong, as were the census records. Niece indeed! She was William's grandchild, illegitimate dtr of Christina (housemaid) with a George McDONALD, (merchant). No wonder I'd not found her in subsequent census returns before this, she died aged 29 in 1859. Another mystery solved, and a bit of the database straightened out. That particular family have real trouble naming their relationships correctly!

Found a Sth African site that had some useful information on it (http://www.ancestry24.co.za). Didn't find anything on my FAIRBAIRNs, but did find a bit more out about the family of the newspaper FAIRBAIRN there. Some of the family are on OneGreatFamily
and show John as being born Ledgerwood, BEW 1794, which raised my interest a tad. Any male FAIRBAIRN descendants out there interested in joining the FAIRBAIRN dna project?

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, 14 February 2009

13th: Caithness gets some overdue attention

The flurry of activity on the Caithness GRAY family as a result of Bobby finding and sharing his updated info on Ann SINCLAIR nee GRAY shows that several notes to myself several years ago to investigate whether or not Catherine GRAY's sisters married x and y have been proved to be valid hunches.
We've done a lot of digging and swapping our finds over the last couple of days.
Another sister also survived well into civil registration times, living to age 93, Barbara GRAY, married James McGREGOR, lived at Baderyrie, Latheron.
That leaves the fates of sisters Elizabeth and Isobel GRAY to be determined.
For some time I'd wondered if Isobel was the one who married John SUTHERLAND, but that isn't the case. However, investigation of this did lead me to correct what I had on that family on my WorldConnect database LornaPotential, which will show these updates shortly (her parents weren't Alexander GRAY and Margaret SUTHERLAND, but David GRAY and Christian BAIN);
Newly connected surnames for my GRAY family now include: GUNN, more SINCLAIRs, MUNRO, BAIKIE, McLAREN; Places are: Thurso; Mid Clyth; Stemster; Lybster; Duffus (Moray); Charlestown (Little Dunkeld, Perthshire);
Mysteries: What happened to Mary SINCLAIR and Alexander GUNN, married 1860 Lybster, appear in 1861 census at Mid Clyth, then vanish.

Also did some work on the Tongside GRAY families, whom I'm sure do connect in somehow, if only I knew how/where: Alexander & Margaret (SUTHERLAND) GRAY, who lived next to my William & Isabella (MANSON) GRAY, as did their respective descendants over the years.

Both Rootsweb WorldConnect databases are in the process of being updated, so use these links to access them until the indexing catches up over the next 2-3 days: LornaHenderson, LornaPotential.

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, 11 February 2009

11th: Seen it all now

I don't yet know how accurate the Ancestry Census transcription I've just seen is, but I've just found a Janet SINCLAIR enumerated with an occupation of "deceased daughter"!
This being part of the investigations into the newfound GRAY twigs that Bobby put me onto. I don't think she's the Janet I'm looking for however.
The family being researched is that of Ann, dtr of Donald GRAY and Janet SUTHERLAND, and sister of the Catherine GRAY who married John BAIN, married a James SINCLAIR. Bobby found her 1857 death certificate and I'm fossicking to see what else I can find.
So far the extended family includes McGREGORs, and another SINCLAIR family.

Labels: , , ,

Sunday, 25 November 2007

Nov 23, 2007: Hiding the McFADEN SINTONs

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

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

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

Labels: , , ,

Friday, 23 November 2007

Nov 22, 2007: Bit of a GRAY area

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

Labels: ,