21st: New addition

Not all new additions to the trees are dusty old ancestors, welcome to a new SINTON descendant, Eloise Mary Francine on the 20th.

Coincidentally, I also had some unexpected updates to a early branch of the SINTON tree in that a FAIRBAIRN certificate I pulled from Scotlands People, which wasn't the person I was looking for, had on the same page, the marriage of one William TURNBULL and Elizabeth WEATHERSTONE (1884 Jedburgh). William's parents were Thomas TURNBULL and Jessie ROBSON, Jessie being the daughter of Isabella SINTON. So that led me to track a few more of this family through a few more of the records. Updates will appear in my db LornaHenderson on WorldConnect in due course.

10th: and then I continued...

I'm in the middle of tidying up my great grandmother, Helen Sinton WIGHT's future web page entry, having realised that I've never posted her on the web.
Doing so involves quite a bit of tidy up and re-checking of years old research against data now more readily available.
I had never before found Helen/Ellen in the 1871 census as she wasn't obvious in Scotland, nor in Northumberland, which latter place she apparently emigrated from.
All is now explained, probably along with a family story from my Great Aunt Millie, who was rather found of increasing the importance of her ancestors. Dear Aunt Millie used to maintain that Helen, her mother, was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother. A basic date check ensures that this is simply a complete load of rubbish, let alone that a farmer's daughter from Maxton in Roxburghshire was highly unlikely to hold such a position.

As with most family stories, there was probably a grain of truth in there somewhere, should we ever recognise it when it hit us.
Tonight it hit me. I found my great grannie, Helen Sinton WIGHT in the 1871 census, with the same occupation as on her emigration papers 4 years later. She is a housemaid in Belgrave Square - to William SCOTT, Baronet. (He's Sir William SCOTT of Ancrum, the 6th Baronet, and living at Ancrum, Roxburghshire, in the 1841 and 1851 census).

Poor Aunt Millie, I don't think she would approve of my demolishing her myths.

I've decided that this branch of the family had wanderlust. Helen travelled to London for work, and later emigrated, apparently on her own, to New Zealand.
I've previously also found that her mother Helen WIGHT nee SINTON, had travelled to America, as her photo was taken in Cleveland, Ohio, where she had presumably gone to visit her son William.

26th: Peter Sinton WIGHT

Sad to hear of Peter Sinton WIGHT's death today. One of the few of my Scottish WIGHT relations that I've actually met.
Back in 1995 I bowled into Denholm, stopped a passing stranger and asked if anyone by the name of WIGHT still lived in the village, explaining that Peter Sinton WIGHT, the brother of my great grandmother, Helen Sinton WIGHT, had lived there, but that was back in 1929.
The helpful lady told me that there was indeed a Sinton still in the village, and his brother, "and that's Sinton's daughter there, off to play golf".
Had to be related!
I went to the house indicated only to find that he was away visiting his son, but another friendly face popped out of the house across the way asking what I was after.
Turned out that he was the golf widower, the son-in-law. Who took me around the corner to introduce me to some other relations.
Not that I figured out at the time how they fitted in. Took many years before I did that, and even then it was only by chance that the daughter of this last household and I found out some time into some correspondence we were having about assorted Borders families, that she was the person I'd been looking for, having met her fleetingly back in 1995.
In 2006 we all met, on a swelteringly hot summers day.
Way back when I started all this genealogical digging, I really never thought that I would end up actually meeting living relations in Scotland. Seemed way too long a stretch given that Helen Sinton WIGHT (daughter of Walter WIGHT and Helen SINTON) had emigrated to New Zealand, on her own, back in 1875!!
R.I.P. Sinton it was good to have met you, however fleetingly.

26th: Jessie claimed

Rightly or wrongly I've decided that the Jessie SINTON of Southdean who married Donald McFADEN is highly likely to be the daughter of James SINTON and Barbary OLIVER.
I'm possibly inventing history here, but given that Barbary died in 1809, a few short years after her marriage in 1804 and Jessie's age consistently implies she was born about 1810, that just possibly, Barbary died in childbirth.
The place names connected with Jessie and Donald whilst still in Scotland also lead me to believe there is a close connection to these SINTONs.
QED.
Anyway, I've updated the SINTON chart to reflect this. It was bugging me way too much having Jessie floating around without parents when there just had to be a connection.

21st: Rosie update

Thanks to Helen, a 4th cousin in BC, the BAIN/ROSIE family has had a few snippets added. I took the opportunity to remove a stray David that had snuck into the family from another researcher as I cannot, as yet, find any corroboration he belonged to George ROSIE and Isabella BAIN.
Most of the updates will be behind the scenes into the realms of the living, and
thus not online.
In the process I received a cute picture of the 2 yr old Lucas, 7th great grandson of John BAIN, who shared his fair hair and blue eyes.

My WorldConnect database LornaHenderson has been reloaded.
This update was for any snippets on the above BAIN/ROSIEs, but also to bring the family of Donald McFADEN and Jessie SINTON across from my db LornaPotential into the rellies, even if we're unlikely to prove where she connects.

The BAIN and SINTON descendant charts have also been refreshed.

20th: Swapping ROX for ROC?

I'm growing a theory here. When James, son of Peter and Janet (Donaldson) SINTON died in 1855 his death cert implied that his son John was aged 45 and still alive. Over the years I've only really found one remotely likely candidate, in Ontario, and wasn't very thrilled that he'd be him at all.
Today I stumbled across a slightly too young John in Ross & Cromarty, a shepherd (right occupation for a farmer's son), who occasionally decided to say he was born in Bowden, ROX (well, ancestry says Bomden, ROX, and in one census Bowden, SEL). I've not checked the original to reassure myself that the FINTON, and SENTER names the family has been indexed as are really SINTON, but was intrigued enough by this chap to chase him thru the records to see where it lead.
He died in 1881 and his death cert. does indeed say his parents were a James SINTON and Margaret. However, I cannot turn his mother's maiden name into WILKIE. Nearest interpretation is GILLES, and even that isn't certain.

Anyone out there researching the family of John SINTON and Catherine CROSS of Kiltearn, Ross and Cromarty? Over the years the family were at: Leadgown, Contin Parish; Swordale, Kiltearn Parish; Boath, Alness; Associated surnames so far are ROSS and McKAY, with one daughter (a Rachel, a name significant in the family of James and Margaret) moving to Dores, Inverness; a son John moving to Bonar, Sutherland and the fates of the rest of the family yet to be discovered.

18th: ROBSONs (mis)remembered?

Looking at the ROBSON connection, if any, between Isabella Sinton and her sister Margaret:
Margaret had her brother-in-law George Robson living with her and her husband Thomas Robson; George's death cert shows his parents as George Robson, carter, and Margaret m.s. Pertis, the informant being George's nephew, Richard Robson of Maisondieu.
Isabella's husband was Richard Robson, and they lived at Maisondieu.
This Richard Snr's death cert shows his parents as Thomas Robson, blacksmith and Margaret m.s. Pertis (the informant was Richard and Isabella's eldest son Thomas).
Am I looking for one woman with two husbands or simply two Robson brothers who cannot remember their grandfather's name and occupation?
If I go for the 2 out of 3 aint bad rule, I found that Margaret's husband Thomas also survived into civil registration and his dth cert shows his parents as Thomas Robson, blacksmith and Peggy m.s. Pertis, with Margaret being the informant.
Wonder if Pertis is actually Porteous?

17th: Where things can lead...

I've been catching up on the family of Donald McFADEN and Jessie SINTON, and trying to figure out if I could find any clues as to where Jessie fitted into the Southdean SINTONs. My guess is as daughter of James SINTON and Barbary OLIVER, given the Oliver names in the children, but against this id is that there are no Barbara's in the known family, even if the second son is indeed James.
In the process, I decided to re-check James' baptism for any further clues. Nothing I hadn't already explored, BUT the next entry caught my attention rather more this time.
It was for the baptism of a John, son of a John DONALDSON & Elizabeth SMITH.
Given the SINTON activity, and that I'd never really explored anything at all about Peter SINTON's wife Janet DONALDSON, I decided to follow this family around to see where it might lead. Nowhere in particular, although I did find that John Snr was the son of a John DONALDSON and Margaret DEANS. They are probably not of an age to be Janet DONALDSON's parents (possibly John is a brother, or more likely a nephew), but it did lead me to my breakthrough for the day.
I looked at the gaps in the children of Peter SINTON and Janet DONALDSON, and thought I'd see if there might be a Margaret surviving into civil registration.
There was. One Margaret ROBSON nee SINTON. Haven't yet checked if there's any relationship between Margaret's husband, Thomas ROBSON, carrier of Jedburgh, and Margaret's sister Isabella's husband Richard ROBSON, but have expanded the SINTON tree somewhat by tracking Thomas and Margaret's family down to 1901.
Newly connected names: HERBERTSON, BAIRD, LITSTER, GIBSON; Places include Jedburgh and Kinross, with a spell in Kelvin. I've only found one daughter, Jessie ROBSON, who had two illegitimate children, a James DOUGLAS and a Margaret HERBERTSON. She also seems to have married a John BAIRD but I've no idea what happened to him, just that she reverted to using his surname and saying she was married in two census returns, but her death cert states she was single. The 1852 marriage entry for a John BAIRD and Jessie ROBSON doesn't have any real clues that it is the right Jessie, and they were certainly never together in a census.

14th: Check the original!!

The importance of checking the primary source was driven home (again) today.
A few days ago I mentioned a contact via Rootschat re the SINTON/McFADEN family whom I believe connect, somehow, to my Southdean SINTONs.
When following up on this connection, I realised that we had different wives for James McFADEN, I had Elizabeth LEADBITTER, Bev had Elizabeth ATKINSON.
Mine had come from matching up James with an 1860 Newcastle bride Elizabeth at the same volume and folio number (10b/152) on FreeBMD, Bev's from researching her ATKINSON family connections.
First up, my (slightly) closer inspection showed an Elizabeth ATKINSON marriage in 1860 in Northumberland, but to a John MARSHALL, and in Tynemouth, not Newcastle, this from ancestry's marriages 1538-1940.
I then checked FreeBMD and noticed that there was an Elizabeth ATKINSON marriage in 1860 Newcastle, but volume/folio of 10b/150, whereas I had James as 10b/152.
Thankfully I didn't rest there. Baptisms of Elizabeth ATKINSON and LEADBITTER were both on the IGI, the former matching by year and place to the Elizabeth wife of James in the 1871 census, whereas Elizabeth LEADBITTER was older and of Hexham, not Corsenside.
A further search of FreeBMD finally revealed that there were two entries for James McFADEN in 1860 qtr 1, and an inspection of the original image attached to the 10b/152 entry showed it had been incorrectly transcribed from 10b/150. A correction has been lodged, and my LornaPotential db entry has now attached James to his correct wife.
Would still love to hear from anyone who knows how Jessie SINTON may fit into the Southdean SINTON famlies.

10th: Revival of interest in BAINs

A descendant of Elizabeth BAIN's husband James SUTHERLAND's first wife has found my web pages, and suddenly discovered he has a whole heap of BAIN relations as well as the SUTHERLAND ones he knew about.
Good to hear from you Tim.

Found a conversation on Rootschat which I'd missed, re Jessie SINTON and Donald McFADEN. I'm fully convinced that Jessie is one of my Southdean SINTONs, but am at a loss to see exactly where she would fit. Good to "meet" you Bev.

17th : There was a (SINTON) Irishman and a Scotsman

Check the SINTON DNA project diary for updates to that project. The Irish contingent are also a match!

16th: Still avoiding tax returns

Ordered the Canonbie MIs published by the Dumfries and Galloway FHS from the NZ Society library to check out any more TURNBULLs that might be obvious there.
Unfortunately the only TURNBULLs there were the ones I already knew about, Robert and family, so no new TURNBULL mysteries solved, BUT, I did of course check the index for other surnames of interest, and the one and only FAIRBURN aka FAIRBAIRN turned out to solve a mystery of the varying ages for one Margaret, d/o Walter FAIRBAIRN and Grace ARMSTRONG. Easily solved, there was, as suspected, an earlier Margaret who died.
A couple of English certs have turned up and confirmed my guesses as to which death registration might belong to Walter FAIRBAIRN (of Haltwhistle, son of the above Walter - talk about synchronicity!), and Robert SINTON of Castle Ward, NBL.

12th: Mostly dna - SINTON match, HENDERSON lineage confirmed

Mostly a DNA day or two as a heap of results came pouring in.
SINTON and HENDERSON data in the DNA Projects Portal Lineages section have been updated to reflect the latest findings, namely that yes, there is indeed a relationship between the Jedburgh SINTON family of William and Isabella (SCOTT) SINTON and the Southdean SINTONs
As William's page shows, we'd love to find a distant cousin of the current representative of this line to help determine whether the differences in the dna signatures crept into the lineage before or after William.

The HENDERSON result is just a confirmation that we're working with the correct dna signature for Archibald - not that it helps us thru the brick wall, as there aren't any matches anywhere in the dna tested community as yet.

27th: DNA Wanted! Sintons

Continuing the SINTON review. Remembered about the family of James & Isabella (FLEMING) SINTON with their Southdean connections (well was prompted to do so by Margaret).
I've added them to the dna Wanted! SINTONs list, and to LornaPotential (or at least will do so, next update).

20th: Made it - at last

Check out the new SINTON page, and the recent changes.

In addition my main online BDM only database LornaHenderson has also been updated with the last month+ changes, including claiming a few more of the SINTON tribes, moving them in from LornaPotential.

The ROWE chart also now includes a few of the newfound Australian branch of James & Mary Anne (JESSOP) HAMLEY.

19th: ?another Canadian SINTON?

Still getting sidetracked from publishing the SINTON (and ROWE and HAMLEY) updates.
Everytime I think I'm nearly ready, I find something else to check.
In the SINTON case the latest was re-checking the dth cert of James, son of Peter and Janet (DONALDSON) SINTON to make sure that son John really was shown as alive in 1855 when James died.
He was, but where was he? There's a likely looking candidate in Lancaster, Glengarry Co, Ontario, married to a Jane.
I had noted this couple before but dismissed them as unlikely to be "my" lot with a dtr Sarah and son George (1851 census). Maybe I'd better review that. Anyone know anything about this family?
And of course in checking this John and Jane I found a Jane and a Robert SINTON (Turnberry, Huron Co) that piqued my interest (to no avail, couldn't immediately find them in earlier census data).

All that aside, the ROWE descendants chart has been updated to include a very few of the newfound Australian branch, many more to come when time permits. Many thanks for sharing them Jenny.

18th: Check originals!

It really does pays to check originals! In my SINTON data review I've been checking what original baptisms I can find on the OPRs, and as a result, corrected a couple of the Southdean places. Margaret, bless her cotton socks, had transcribed a couple of places as ending in ...head, eg Strangeburnfoothead etc. The actual entries, in both cases found, were headless, eg Strangeburnfoot (as in x at y had a son baptized).

Rash of new DNA results in today:
Further markers in for Doug, the representative of the James and Helen (GOODFELLOW) FAIRBAIRN line - see the FAIRBAIRN DNA Project and the blog for details on the matches (yes he matches Lineage 1, that of John FAIRBAIRN and Bessie FLINT et al, but it looks like things might get a bit complicated with different markers involved).
Also results starting to come in for the Peruvian contingent of the RUNCIMAN DNA Project. Again, see the both the project files, and the blog for more details, but basically, even at 12 markers, yes he matches the James & Agnes (HERIOT) RUNCIMAN lineage.
(And yes, I know that Google have put warnings on both of the blogs above that they are potentially spam, I have applied to get that designation lifted - yet again!)

Can anyone claim a James SINTON of Woodfield? William, son of James was buried Southdean 1814.
Still trying to get my updated webpages out there, with all the new SINTON connections documented.
This update will bring several lines into the SINTON charts shown on my web pages (eg the outline one on the Research logs portion of my site, and the fuller one under Big Brother, anyone interested in them needs to be aware that although I've done some work on the other lines, there are likely to be huge gaps in the families.
Even if someone is shown on a descendant chart on my web pages, they wont necessarily appear in my WorldConnect databases, as I only gradually add people to that as I check off BDM data where I can and set them to "publish".

15th: Southdean SINTONs

Nearly finished a fairly major review of the early Southdean SINTON portions of the tree.
My personal web pages haven't yet been updated, but I have updated the SINTON Surname DNA Project Patriarch's page with my current thoughts.
Can anyone place Clesleepeel on a map?

Oct 22, 2008: The Clesleepeel connection

Wont have much time to further evaluate the newly indicated SINTON connection for a fortnight or so, but a few quick checks on what I already have and what can be quickly added too, shows that there was a "son born to Jas SINTON of Clesleepeel" in the Southdean & Abbotrule, OPR on 4 Jun 1806. This is of an age to be the John marr. to Alison HALL who claims in the 1851 census that he was born at Southdean, and of Southdean when he married Alison in 1829. Other candidates are accounted for elsewhere, or at least most I know of are.
This father James is likely to be the James who married Barbary OLIVER in 1804, given that Barbara was of Clesleepeel when whe was buried in 1809, and this James' father is likely to be the James married to Janet OLIVER, given that he also was of Clesleepeel when he was buried 1802. (This is the family of one of my favourite death certs, Betsy WHITE nee SINTON, died "aged 96 of old age, 10 weeks duration" - Betsy was of Clesleepeel when she married John WHITE in 1801.)
Unfortunately, it is unlikely I'll ever prove any of this conclusively as they all died prior to civil registration and Abbotrule headstones aren't exactly plentiful if the photo on geograph is a typical view.
And as to how Peter and James relate?
There are two contemporary, or near contemporary James SINTONs in Southdean and Abbotrule who may or may not be one and the same person, remarrying, both are carriers: one having children 1755 thru 1760 (at least): Thomas, Margaret and James, wife as yet unknown; and the other marrying Janet OLIVER (?of Hobkirk) in 1762 and having children at Burnkinford 1763 and Strangeburnfoot 1765 thru 1769 and Burnkinfoothead 1772, dying Clesleepeel and buried 1802.
My Peter was a cattle dealer of Bairnkin when he was buried 1811. Assuming he was at least 20 when he and Janet DONALDSON married, he has to have been born around 1755 or earlier, so pre-dates the James and Janet (OLIVER) SINTON couple, but would fit in with the earlier James and ?? couple, most likely as the eldest son, given the first we know of is a 1755 Thomas.
Naming pattern of Peter and Janet's known children certainly indicates that his father is a James, mother possibly an Isabella.

In reviewing data, I have also combined two other Peters, both baker journeymen: one the reputed father of the Isabella SINTON (born c 1826, d. 1882) who married David HOPE, the other who married Marion KER in 1832.

Oct 21, 2008: SINTON dna match

21st: The SINTON Surname DNA project has come up trumps. It has proved a relationship between two Southdean families unable to be proven by other means. At 12 markers only, it is rather hard to determine just exactly how the families relate: those of John SINTON (marr. Alison HALL 1829, Southdean) and Peter SINTON (marr. Janet DONALDSON) d. Bairnkin, Southdean 1811, but relate they do, somehow.

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.

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.

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.

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.

May 16, 2008: Elizabeth AINSLIE revived

The SINTON chart has a few new twigs on it. I was checking off my recent batch of updates to OneGreatFamily and found a hint that led to some investigations in the AINSLIE family. One correction is that I had Elizabeth, dtr of Robert & Agnes (WELSH) AINSLIE, as dying on 19 Mar 1904. I couldn't verify that, and as it turned out to be her marriage day to Andrew McDOUGALL, I thought I'd better revive her.
The other main branch of the family updated was that of Agnes Isabella AINSLIE and James COMMON, who now have a few more children identified as I found them in the 1901 census. (Agnes is the above Elizabeth's sister).
Rootsweb pages about to be brought up to date after a 2 month lull.

May 9, 2008: SINTON/GIBSON twigs

While checking something else I noticed that I'd not found what happened to the family of Daniel & Maggie (Margaret Wilkie SINTON) GIBSON.
Didn't find them all, but several updates have occured, namely: Daniel died after 1881 as Maggie remarried, as a widow, in 1887 to Henry ROSS, adding yet another blacksmith to my extended family. They appear to have moved to Lanarkshire (Airdrie) from Falkirk. Son Peter died single in 1950, the informant being a Fred WARK (possibly of the family he was with in the 1901 census); David Irvine GIBSON died at Stonehouse in 1939, married and with at least one child, James Stewart GIBSON. His marriage to James' mother Sarah Brown STEWART shows David as a widower, so there's another marriage to find as yet; the 1891 census added another child to the family, another Daniel. With a large gap between the 1873 Jane Rae and this new Daniel, c 1882, there may well be others yet to be found.
Maggie died in 1897, after which Henry appears to have remarried as he pops up in 1901 with an Elizabeth as a wife, and several more step-children by name McGREGOR (as opposed to 1891 when it was his GIBSON step children that finally allowed me to find Maggie et al in that census.

May 7, 2008: "Easet"-ing it on the GRAHAMs

Today was a GRAHAM day as a bunch of certificates turned up. Some hits, one miss that turned out a near miss.
Can't seem to find the marriage of David and Jane, both GRAHAM. I therefore ordered the marr. cert of a Jane GRAHAM around the right time and place, but she turns out to have married a Joseph SINTON instead, son of James SINTON, gamekeeper (currently eluding me, although he's probably the one married to Ann IRVING).
Also in the batch was the marriage of John GRAHAM to Elizabeth GRAHAM, so I have pleasure in welcoming their family in from my LornaPotential database as John was indeed the son of George GRAHAM, farmer, and therefore assumed to be the one married to Easet CARRUTHERS (this id being aided by John & Elizabeth's first dtr being Mary Easet GRAHAM).
Elizabeth was the dtr of an Edward and there's probably another connection there as that looks like the family of Edward GRAHAM and Elizabeth BAXTER, with children William, Elizabeth, Andrew, Mary, this latter lady shows up as the inn keeper at the Graham's Arms in West Linton with niece Elizabeth as barmaid (dtr of John & Elizabeth above).
Back to identifying photos and attaching them to the right RICHARDSONs....

May 3, 2008: SINTON & TAYLOR updates

Jane TELFER/TELFORD nee SINTON has now been included on my web pages.

More info received from Peter, the descendant of Leslie Bowman CADELL & Agnes Taylor LYONS, which has brought that line down to the present.

May 1, 2008: Willing RICHARDSONs

Check out the updated Originals pages.
A RICHARDSON will has been added, although I've not yet linked hardly any of the people mentioned in the document (I'm still on the first page marvelling at how many houses she had to leave to her nieces and nephews).
This will is part of a bundle of photos and letters delivered today by Grace from Hataitai, quite a bonus really as I was only expecting the will. It's one of those coincidence things again. I rang her yesterday to tell her about being contacted by the grddtr of William Record RICHARDSON, only to be greeted by, "Lorna, I was going to ring you tonight, I'm coming out your way tomorrow and was hoping to meet you and give you the will to copy".
A most welcome surprise, and visit, I'll be busy scanning for a while now.

I'm even more convinced that Jane TELFER nee SINTON in Sth Australia is my Helen's sister. Same chubby face. I'll pop a page up on the web for her when I surface a bit more. In the meantime, a few of the new twigs will be on the SINTON chart.

Apr 29, 2008: SINTON surprise

An interesting couple of days working on my favourite trees, the Border WIGHTs and SINTONs.
Both arose from GenesReunited contacts, and although it has turned out that neither are conclusively linked, information has been updated, thanks to Stephen, for prompting more research on the families of John WIGHT and Jessie HOBKIRK, resulting in another child for the family.
Also to Bill, ex of Jedburgh, now in Oz for our SINTON correspondence, during which it turned out that I'd met his Mum back in 1995!
Was able to set him straight about some of his earlier SINTON connections (family of James SINTON and Isabella FLEMING, whom I've now added to the SINTON Surname DNA Project patriarchs page), and may even find someone to join the DNA project to see if they do or don't relate to my Southdean lot.

And just when I was settling back from a fun update session, in comes an email from Perth, WA asking if I knew anything about a Jane SINTON of Southdean who had married James TELFER.
Yes, but not much, just an 1836 marriage where Jane was of Southdean and James of Jedburgh. I'd not found anything further in Scotland for the couple. No wonder really as they'd emigrated, arriving Adelaide in 1839. The Jedburgh OPR added that James was a farm servant of Edgerston, in Jedburgh Parish and Jane of Dikeraw, Parish of Chesters (where the SINTON descendant Janet MATHER nee SINTON was from about 1810 thru at least 1841) and Verity provided the birth/death dates and children. This latter showed a 2nd son Peter and 1st dtr Jane, which, together with a birth date/place for mother Jane of 1812, Southdean, means I'm happy to welcome them to the family of Peter SINTON and Jane WIGHT, and look forward to learning more.

Apr 3, 2008: More happenstance - WIGHT/HALL

While looking for something else I happened to notice an 1858 death cert. for a Margaret WIGHT, mother's maiden name HALL and thought that might be interesting. Sure enough her parents were given as James WIGHT, joiner, dec'd and Isabella HALL, which matches the profile for her to be a sister to my Jane WIGHT who married Peter SINTON, although she could belong to one of the other James WIGHT/Isabella HALL couples. For now, I'll claim her as one of mine, because of the "joiner" occupation for James, and her birthplace of Jedburgh.

Mar 27, 2008: Gala Hotmatches - SINTON/LIDDLE

Noted a GenesReunited Hotmatch on the family of Janet SINTON & James Thomson LIDDLE today.
The researcher wasn't a relation, but made me realise there was more to be found on this family as I'd barely scratched the surface of available records.
SINTON tree updated as a result, as several descendants of Janet and James have now been traced forward in time. They seem to have mostly stayed around Galashiels, although I suspect Agnes moved south, given she married a David SPIERS, fitter of Poplar, Middlesex.
Interesting range of occupations amongst the siblings. Instead of them all being woollen weavers/piecers, power loom weavers, there was a blacksmith, a joiner, and a grocer, at least.

Feb 21, 2008: SINTON certs

A few certs have arrived over the last couple of days but I've been busy with a visitor, and my pv panel installation (now operational, wonderful watching all that power flowing into the house that has no ongoing cost attached - just need to add the windmill now).

Firstly the family of Francis Douglas SINTON and Margaret Alice RUNCIMAN has now been confirmed to have at least Isabella May (born Nov 1904) and John William (born Oct 1906), both with Francis Douglas' occupation given as Police Officer, and occuring at Acklington R.D. Both registered in the Alnwick Sub District of Warkworth, Northumberland.

Secondly - confirmation that James SINTON, son of gamekeeper James SINTON and Jane AINSLIE, did indeed marry Isaballa Mary EMMERSON.
These SINTONs are actually a different branch of SINTONs, with Southdean connections, Jane being the dtr of Robert AINSLIE and Margaret SINTON, "my" Southdean SINTONs.
Usual refrain applies, would love to trace present day SINTON descendants of this line to join the SINTON Surname DNA project and see if the families are connected. James traces back to a Thomas SINTON and Elizabeth HASTIE.
There were several males in the next generation from James and his brothers Thomas and Robert, so I live in hope. Places associated with them are Anfield Plain, Wooler, Alnwick, Newcastle, Castle Ward.

Jan 24, 2008: Lots of updates, incl. dna matches

Both databases on WorldConnect updated, so the links on the lhs of most of my web pages to "BMD Data on all rellies" and "Likely Rellies" will take you to the latest and greatest, including all the newfound twigs down the SINTON and FAIRBAIRN families.
You'll have to use those links to get to the newer names for a couple of days though as it will take a while for the indexing on WorldConnect to catch up.

On the basis of predicting children's names, I think there also has to be a Peter ROBSON somewhere around Roxburghshire, son of Richard ROBSON and Isabella SINTON.
Finally also managed to update the web pages. The newfound Isabella SINTON and Alison FAIRBAIRN are both included, and all charts now contain the current versions of the trees.

Exciting news on the RUNCIMAN Surname DNA project as well, yes, there's a match (admittedly only 12/12 markers at this stage) between the Wanton Walls RUNCIMAN family, as represented by David in Spain, and the Michigan family of William and Mary (BROWN) RUNCIMAN, as represented by Jerry.
Still looking for a representative of the family of William's cousin (or brother) James & Isabella (CARTER) RUNCIMAN.

And the accidentally newfound FAIRBAIRN relation in Dunedin lives directly opposite the couple who lived in front of my first "home" post University in Dunedin.

Jan 23, 2008; There had to be an Alison

Having been found by the descendants of the newfound (to me) dtr Isabella, to Peter SINTON and Janet DONALDSON, and having done a lot of digging around to find as many of the descendants as wanted to be found, I then went digging to find other researchers of the new names added into the tree: ROBSON, MABON, HILSON, TURNBULL, BRODIE, THOMSON, INGLIS, SCOTT, MIDDLEMIST, GRAHAM, TAYLOR, RENWICK, HUNTER, WAUGH.
On the Borders FHS site, the Surname interests came up trumps for TURNBULL and MABON. At the time I found the TURNBULL researcher and looked at the web page, I wasn't sure it was the same family, but a bit more digging, and bingo. A couple of Isabella's great grdchildren had emigrated to Canada after WWI.
For MABON I picked one researcher for no better reason other than she had a NZ address. Such decisions can be fateful.
This evening, I received a pedigree chart from Amanda, and completely forgot about checking MABONs further, as she was a FAIRBAIRN relation of mine from a daughter I didn't have, for Walter FAIRBAIRN and Agnes ROBESON/ROBISON/ROBERTSON, but I knew had to exist somewhere. In a family with several sons and daughters I was missing a son named after the mother's father, and a dtr named after the father's mother, but am no longer missing the latter. The former may well still be the John in New York with father Walter of Roxburgh, SCT, but DNA participants are yet to be found to aid this conjecture.
Figured out who Mary BUCKHOLM is (but not what happened to her after 1871), but the rest of the grandchildren of Richard and Isabella ROBSON are yet to be "fitted in".

Jan 20, 2008: Another Southdean SINTON !!

I'd often looked at the gaps between the known children of Peter SINTON and Janet DONALDSON and wondered if any more children would be found. The answer today is YES. A 5th cousin in Ayr has emailed to say he's a descendant from their dtr Isabella, who married Richard ROBSON, all previously unknown to me. So I spent a hot summer's day digging. The SINTON descendant chart has considerably more twigs on it now, and sometime soon I'll have to do a WorldConnect database update.
If anyone can claim or shed any light on, a Thomas R & Adam ARMSTRONG, or Mary and John N BUCKHOLM, all born Jedburgh around 1850-1860ish, and all supposedly grandchildren of Richard and Isabella's, I'd love to know what happened to them and whose children they are. So far they've eluded me beyond the 1871 census.

Jan 11, 2008: A DNA day

Another preliminary set of results came in for SINTON Surname DNA project, and thankfully had a 12/12 match with the earlier set. Which tells me that the two sons of Peter SINTON and Janet DONALDSON, and their sons in turn etc, were faithful, and thankfully also confirms everyone's research. So we have a good set of comparisons for when I finally track down other lines.
Also the preliminary 12 marker results on a HENDERSON (2nd)cousin. No exact matches on any HENDERSONs, but I note that scratching around in the ySearch database seeing what I could find that the closest matches did indeed appear to be Perthshire based, but at 10/12 markers, that's all fairly airey fairey, and definitely not conclusive. A Shetland one wasn't even in the running, so theory A that he may have come from the Caithness area may well prove to be only that, theory.

Dec 22, 2007: DNA results

A day for DNA results. Nothing as exciting as the FAIRBAIRNs completely unexpected match with the first SINTON set to arrive back, but one day maybe there will be. At 12 markers, about 1200 tested people share the same dna, but none of them are SINTONs, so any match is unlikely to be in a genealogical timeframe.

I've also had it confirmed that I'm unique. My mtDNA results are also back, with nary a match. The nearest did however have her earliest maternal ancestor from Cambridge, England, which is pretty close to Braintree, Essex where I think mine came from!

Dec 13, 2007: A DNA match! And a hunch confirmed

This DNA testing lark has already proved interesting. The first (partial) results are in, and already there's an exact 12/12 match. My sole FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA project testee matches with another Family Tree DNA testee by the surname of FAIRBURN. I await with baited breath to find out more about him. Hope his email address is still current.
And I would love to find more FAIRBAIRN descendants interested in this process to volounteer, particularly the Delaware lot down from John FAIRBAIRN and Elizabeth MILLER, who may be descendants of my Walter, and the William & Jean (WANLESS) FAIRBAIRN & David & Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN lot.

Another hunch proved correct. When told about James Percy SINTON being in the same orphanage as a Frederick Walter SINTON in 1891, Helen had ordered the latter's birth cert. She advises that he was indeed his elder brother (children of David and Mary Ann SINTON, descendants of William SINTON & Isobel BLACK). Neither of us have been able to find Frederick after this census, anywhere as yet. Sightings welcome.

Dec 9, 2007: Updated databases and success with SINTONs

Both WorldConnect databases have been updated: LornaHenderson and LornaPotential

You will have to use these links for about 24 hrs to access them however as they wont be available for searches until reindexed.
Found (via GenesReunited) a descendant of William SINTON & Isobel BLACK, one of the Southdean SINTONs I'd like to include in the SINTON Surname DNA project. Hope they can help make connections between the SINTONs.

Dec 8, 2007: Sorting out the Southdean SINTONs

Continuing right along with Southdean SINTONs.

This time on the family of Thomas SINTON and Elizabeth HASTIE who married and lived in Southdean, even though Thomas said he was "of Jedburgh".
Son James married Jane AINSLIE, grddtr of Peter SINTON and Jeanie WIGHT, making the family of double interest.
This increased the number of Northumberland policemen in the family by one, as it looks like son Robert switched from being a newly married Water Bailiff living with his wife's parents (1891) to a widowed police constable in 1901, with his widowed sister in law Margaret as housekeeper for his 4 children.
Full and brief SINTON charts updated as a result, World Connect databases will follow shortly as this also led me to solve a long standing mystery as to who on earth was the Elizabeth SINTON who married Thomas Henry STAWART, as per a SCT General board posting on Rootsweb back in 1998.

Florence indicated that they were the parents of her Richard STAWART who married Sarah MATHER in 1911 and emigrated to Canada in 1912. But as she had this Richard as born 1866, it had thrown the dates of my searches out completely.
I now believe that Richard is Thomas Henry's brother and that Elizabeth is the dtr of James above.

Dec 4, 2007: More Southdean SINTONs, and sad news

And still on the Southdean SINTONs, not that I've found any new branches to connect, but have found lots of twigs on the known relations. The main find was an interconnected family of HALLs.
Realised I'd not checked off the family of Matthew HENDERSON and Ann MATHER, and as a result found a couple more children, one of whom, Robert HENDERSON, married an Isabella HALL. Thought she sounded a bit familiar, and sure enough I already had her in the database. Her sister Margaret married William WALDIE, one of my WIGHT relations. And when I checked out her grandparents as well, I found that their (Margaret and Isabella's) uncle, Thomas HALL, had married Margaret AINSLIE, 2nd cousin to Robert HENDERSON. So I checked out one further generation back up the HALLs, bearing in mind that I do have some from around the area in the SINTON tree. No immediately obvious connection as yet, but with James HALL's parents being John HALL and Margaret SHIEL, I may well find another connection somewhere.
Very sad to note the death (in the latest Borders Family History Society Journal) of Margaret, one of my earliest SINTON contacts, a descendant of James SINTON and Janet OLIVER. Should the SINTON Surname DNA project ever hit paydirt and indicate a connection between her and my Southdean families, it would have been great to be able to share that news.

Dec 3, 2007: More SINTONs and TELFERs

Continuing Southdean SINTON tracing. Thought I was onto one of them in England, and with a child named John Isaac Barrow SINTON, I thought I even had someone who might be easy to find in records. Unfortunately he was easiest to find in a marriage and death record, registered a quarter apart in 1866, so that trail went cold far too quickly, both for me and for him I guess.
I did eventually find his parents in 1871, they'd been indexed as SANTON, and in 1851 as SENTER. I've no idea if this George is the descendant of William and Isobel (BLACK) SINTON, as I only know he's the right age and was born Scotland. Interestingly enough, by 1871, a nephew had joined the family, born around 1857 in the United States, but so far, he too has disappeared into oblivion before and after this one census.
I will be including a bit more of this family in my Rootsweb databases in the hope someone pops out of the woodwork, but so far it doesn't look like anyone researching this family has shared much/any data online.
Had much more success with the descendants of Cecilia TELFER nee MATHER. A lot of the family moved south into England (Yorkshire and London), then one branch at least (Robert & Ann Brown (DORWARD) TELFER), onto Canada, not that I'm having much luck finding them beyond the 1906 Alberta census.

SINTON charts updated: both the brief one here and the full SINTON chart on the main part of the web pages

Dec 2, 2007: Southdean SINTONs

Decided to continue hunting for other Southdean SINTON descendants to see who I might find still living and willing to participate in the SINTON Surname DNA project.
Sorted out several duplications in my database on the family of William SINTON and Isobel BLACK, some of whose children show up in census data as being born Southdean, even though their baptisms were in Jedburgh at the Associated Session Congregation or Free Church. Some day I might find out where all the Free Churches were in the area, perhaps that was the closest for them?
William and Isobel are the parents of both the Agnes SINTON who married Robert TELFER and of John SINTON who married Dorothy EASTHAM.
William TELFER, son of Agnes & Robert, married Cecilia MATHER, grddtr of Peter and Janet (DONALDSON) SINTON.
Several more twigs will therefore show up on the assorted SINTON charts as I've found a few more of them in censuses etc.

Nov 26, 2007: The WIGHT stuff...

The new New Zealand relation isn't a SINTON descendant after all, well he is, but of the Jedburgh SINTONs, not the Southdean ones. His connection to me being via his grandmother Christina Mary TINNING nee SINTON led me to jump to the conclusion he was a SINTON relation, but the connection is actually via Christina's grandmother Isabella WIGHT, dtr of John WIGHT and Helen THOMSON.
The contact has prompted me to fill in a few gaps on the tree anyway, so the WIGHT chart has been updated.

Nov 25, 2007: Counting down from 11

6 down, 5 to find. Robert found a couple more of the 11 children of Robert TAYLOR & Isabella Armstrong McGREGOR on his last visit to NRH, along with a few of the spice and a couple of grandchildren.

Oliver JOHNSTON's death remains unfound however.

And a welcome surprise in my Guestbook posted on the 23rd. Another line of SINTONs appear to be in NZ, a grandson of Christina Mary SINTON has left me a message.

And also a message from one of the Australian McADIE relations.
No rest for the wicked, or genealogically minded anyway.

Nov 24, 2007: Confirmed SINTONs

Three English SINTON certificates turned up today to confirm a few suppositions about the family of Peter SINTON and Mary SCOTT, including providing names for the children of Jane DERMONT and Margaret HALL, the successive wives of Peter SINTON, and that the Mary Elliot SINTON birth reg. Bellingham was indeed one of the family, not that I know what happened to her at all.

The SINTON chart has been updated.

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.

Nov 6, 2007:

Worked thru Cherie's SINTON updates, which of course prompted several other checks along the way. Next WorldConnect update will have several new places and some new dates added in.
Unfortunately Dawn cannot verify that Joseph LUCOCK's first wife was Agnes Gair HENDERSON's sister Ann, and there are at least 2 other candidates of the right age in the area. Looks like a cert. will have to be purchased after all.

Nov 5, 2007: While you're away...

Back from a short break recharging the batteries. Wonderful lot of emails to come back too as well.
Ta Dawn for the info re Joseph LUCOCK and Annie HENDERSON, his first wife, hope that we have the bases covered between us, you may have saved my having to buy their marriage cert. to prove she is his 2nd wife's sister. And ta for the info about their (short-lived) son.
Ta also to Cherie for the NBL SINTON updates. Great to come back to those.
And not forgetting Noel's photo of Robert McADIE
En route to, and in, Chch I took the opportunity to look up a couple of relations and a fellow (SINTON) researcher. Always much better meeting those at the end of anonymous emails.
My stated aim for the break was to catch up on lots of reading, and do a heap of overdue clarinet practice, the latter assuming that the hotel had reasonably soundproof rooms. I mostly chose suitable hours for the practice & did get a lot done, but did find that on the final afternoon I must have had some music lovers move in next door, they took exception to my attempts and knocked on the wall, oh well.

Oct 31, 2007: Mysterious SINTON death cert

Continuing down the emigration records has led me to check off all sorts of things en route. Found the death of James SINTON (s/o Robert SINTON and Jeanie PARK), which momentarily threw me as it shows his 1st marriage as being to an Elizabeth WILSON, with KIRKWOOD crossed out, whereas I have it as to Catherine FINLAY. His son has to have had that wrong, as I've received a transcript of the 1st marr. cert, and it clearly shows the same parents, with wife as Catherine FINLAY. Wonder who Elizabeth WILSON/KIRKWOOD is?

Oct 28, 2007: SINTON snippets

Nothing like being forced to re-examine your data. All this activity for the dna surname projects is making me look at parts of my db that haven't been examined for quite some time, and exposing all sorts of gaps that can now be filled.
Some of the SINTON updates that will appear next WorldConnect db update will include some dates and places on the Northumberland descendants of Peter SINTON and Mary SCOTT, a descendant of whom (from Northland) has just contacted me. Good to hear from you Mark/Cherie.

Oct 27, 2007: RUNCIMAN, FAIRBAIRN & SINTON family pages

Set up a FAIRBAIRN page along the lines of the RUNCI(Wo)MeN page, and updated the SINTON pages to include the other Southdean lines, and started tidying up links on the familytree and World Families Network DNA Surname pages.

Oct 26, 2007: New York New York?

Also chased around on the New York FAIRBAIRNs in readiness for contacting them re the dna survey. The ones I've previously been in contact with seem to have vanished. I have a gut feel that they really are a branch that belongs to my Walter and Agnes FAIRBAIRN, although they didn't follow the Scottish naming pattern (introducing several rather non Scottish sounding forenames), there are a number of Walters in the family and at least one Archibald, which is very promising. Included a few more of them in the latest update to my LornaPotential database on Rootsweb WorldConnect.
Also created a SINTON page along the lines of the HENDERSON and RUNCIMAN pages that already exist.

Oct 23, 2007: Michigan RUNCIMeN where are you?

Still trying to track down present day RUNCIMAN descendants of the Michigan families. Any of you reading this please check out the RUNCIMAN surname dna project to see why in particular I'm trying to find you!
Along with the RUNCIMAN project, I am also rather curious to see if the new DNA research can help link up some of the SINTON families. So, being a glutton for punishment, I've also set up a SINTON surname dna project and am looking for interested parties willing to participate.

Sep 29, 2007: Cor(ry), lots of updates

LornaHenderson db on World Connect updated with the latest HENDERSON findings and whatever other updates have been found in the recent past, including the CORRY bits below.

If anyone knows what happened to Robert JACK after 1910 I'd like to know. Thought I'd found him dying in Massachusets, married to a Catherine, but that chap, although born Scotland at the right time, he turns out to have emigrated 1926 (instead of 1908), was born Greenock and had a brother David, so didn't fit.

Decided to also clear out any backlog of unchecked web updates, so big brother has also been fully updated. Ignore the recent changes shown under 14th and 21st September, they were behind the scenes stuff.

Francis Douglas SINTON has been promised for a while, and John CORRY is a new addition prompted by the arrival of his will today, with lots of relationships spelled out in it. So that meant the Fauld place information also had a bit of a tweak. Still to get round to the Thomas SCOTT page I want to ouptut (his mother is the Margaret SCOTT nee CORRY referred to under John CORRY).

The other main change is to the Hendersons Galore page. I've included an extra generation on the descendant chart so more of the modern day HENDERSON descendants can spot where they fit. No dates or links for anyone not already included on the rest of the site. If anyone is uncomfortable with this I will reduce it back a generation again.

Sep 18, 2007: Confirmed PC

PC Francis Douglas SINTON did indeed marry Margaret Alice RUNCIMAN, and yes he was the son of John Gillies SINTON, Police Constable. 1894 Crookham, Dist of Glendale, NBL, witnessed by Richard LILLICO and Alice MOFFAT

Sep16, 2007 Cousin John SINTON

Still on the trail of PC Francis SINTON's descendants. RUNCIMAN family memory came up with a "cousin" PC John SINTON of Lynemouth, married to a Gertrude, with a son of unknown name and dtr Issy, John being likely to be born around the turn of the century (which coincides nicely with the places, dates I'm looking for).
Research has turned that into a 1930 marriage of a John W SINTON and Gertrude E ORMISTON, registered in Rothbury, and so far I've found a son John D, reg. 1931 Rothbury and a male born/died in 1932 reg. Morpeth. No sign of an Isabel as yet (up to 1944).

Sep 9, 2007: Scotts of the Fauld & PC SINTON

It is looking likely that I've picked the right Margaret marriage for PC Francis Douglas SINTON, but so far this is on entirely circumstantial evidence.
A descendant of Margaret Alice RUNCIMAN's aunt Susan Bell RUNCIMAN (marr. Robert MOFFAT) remembers a PC John SINTON, and wife, of Lynemouth visiting her great aunt and uncle at Millfield. She also remembers a son and a dtr, but I've no timescales for this as yet. Anyone with a stray PC John SINTON and family of Lynemouth sometime within living memory?

Bridget has shared some SCOTT of Cumberland research with me that looks very promising. It may not lead to conclusively placing Eleanor SCOTT (married Robert TURNBULL) but does have some interesting leads that link SCOTTs to SCAIFES of the Fauld (an Abigail SCAIFE and Thomas SCOTT, both of the Fauld, had an illegitimate son Thomas SCOTT in 1812), and throws in a BARNFATHER name as well. All yet to be further investigated.

Sep 4, 2007: A side-tracked day in Lorna's life

How I get side-tracked. Not that this is new information. Having found the toothless James SINTON, I looked at the rest of his family and realised that I'd nothing on his brother Francis Douglas beyond the 1891 census so I went looking. Found him living with Mum in Hawick in 1901, working as a laundry vanman. Some years ago I'd noted a PC Francis SINTON at Rothbury, NBL in 1920 injured in a "dastardly attack". But without any further info as to age, and not having any known Rothbury SINTON connections it was just filed info. However, I did find a 1904 marriage of a Francis Douglas SINTON reg. in Glendale, NBL. The brides on the same page were a Margaret BRYSON and a Margaret Alice RUNCIMAN, so he married a Margaret and is highly likely to be the Francis I'm looking for. With a move south from the Borders into NBL he was also looking good to be the injured pc. It wasn't a great stretch from laundry vanman to PC as his father was one. A web search turned up a few more details about the crime as being written up in a book "Tough Times & Grisly Crimes" by a Nigel Green, and Amazon turned up trumps with it being one of the books with a content search enabled. He had a page and a photo, and even better, it gave an age (and that he survived the attack, continuing as a policeman to retire at age 65). Looking good to be "my" missing Francis SINTON.

Setting that aside I decided to investigate the possible RUNCIMAN bride given my interest in that surname, and quickly found a likely match in the same area, tracing her and her family back through the census data etc. The family came from Scotland but had moved to Northumberland between 1851 and 1861. Working back from Margaret I quickly found that a couple of years ago I'd traced her grandparents around BEW and ROX up to 1861 for some reason I cannot now remember, and it was easy to connect up Thomas RUNCIMAN with wife Alison/Alice/Allais CURRIE to this Thomas & Alice RUNCIMAN in NBL. Not that I know she is the right Margaret for Francis as yet.

Decided to check out the theory by buying the marriage cert, so I'll know that answer in a few days.

And as I was putting in a cert. order anyway, I ran off a list of outstanding tasks where I was considering purchasing an English BDM cert. Up popped the query about a dth cert for William White HENDERSON of Cumberland. Which made me look at that family again.

William has a sister Agnes Gair HENDERSON, so I checked FreeBMD for marriages in a likely time period and place, and up popped an Agnes G HENDERSON marrying in 1919 to a Joseph LUCOCK in Cockermouth. Sounded likely. Off to GenesReunited (GR) to see if anyone had a Joseph LUCOCK of the likely age/place. Yes, one person did. Checked 1901 and 1891 census for Cumberland to see how many likely candidates there might be. At least 2, possibly 3. One was living with a blacksmith's family, so he seemed a highly likely candidate to trace back. GR came up with someone who looked like he was investigating that family too, so queries were sent off.

And about there my side-tracks came to a halt, apart from answering some of the daily mail miscellaneous contacts and info.

Few more snippets about the JOHNSTON family of Awamoko, with a FRIDD name thrown into the mix, so a search of the Cyclopedia of NZ to no avail for the new name.

Another HELSON contact popped out of the woodwork, so there's tomorrow's side-track, if you can call it a side-track, I've long since forgotten what I'm being side-tracked from, but the table is looking slightly clearer, so I must be finishing some of the things I start.

Sep 3, 2007: Toothless in Romsey

It's official. I've a toothless relative. Wonderful what you can find in Army pension files. I moved on from the RUNCIMEN to the SINTONs and came across James SINTON, stud groom of Ayr, born Earlston, last employer Mrs E C MacFARLANE of Fenwick Lodge, Ayr. Thought that sounded a bit familiar, and sure enough, he's one of the WIGHT relations, s/o John Gillies SINTON and Isabella WIGHT. His pension application for losing all or most of his molars in the army appears to have been declined on the grounds there was no corroboration in the office vetting the applications. Found a birth date for his dtr Christina buried in the mire of officialdom there, and now have the priceless information that he spent 3 days in Romsey hospital while on army service, suffering from "headache 128".

Aug 22nd, 2007: A Gretna marriage

Can't even remember how or why I started this trail today, but I found Cecilia THOMSON nee SINTON in 1841 where expected, in Castleton (as Celia). This added a Jessie into the family whom I am assuming is a dtr. Ancestry transcribed her age as 32 and James as 30, but FreeCen has 12 and 10.

Spurred on by this I tried to extend the rest of the family forward to 1901, with mixed success. Son James did indeed marry Elizabeth DALGLEISH, or so his 1899 dth cert says. The informant for his dth was a (new to me) son William THOMSON of Hawick. By naming pattern, he should be the 1st son, so pre 1874. Still to find the family, or James, in 1871.

The plot thickened. Found William's dth and then his birth, but his mother on both was a Mary DALGLIESH, not Elizabeth. Sure enough, James married Mary in 1861 and I couldn't find a marriage to Elizabeth, in either the Scottish or English indices. The two groups of children do indicate two families. Can't find Elizabeth in census data prior to 1881 with any certainty, but her 1898 dth cert indicates she's Mary's sister, & of extremely variable age in assorted records. She may well be the Eliza, 2 yrs younger than Mary, living with their uncle in 1851 at Bigholms, Langholm.

I eventually succumbed to the birth cert of a son from the 2nd "marriage" (can't stand a mystery that's easily solved). John Walter's birth cert shows his parents as having married at Gretna in Feb 1870. And yes, they appear on a list of Gretna Green marriages at Achievements and certainly do NOT appear in the English marriage indices for that quarter anyway.

Aug 11th, 2007

11th: Wight and Sinton charts updated and extended a generation downwards. This was prompted by contact from a person interested in Jane Wight SINTON, who married John MURRAY of Northumblerland, and from a posting in my guestbook by a 3rd cousin down the line of Peter Sinton WIGHT and Jessie Ellen DAVIDSON. Hope some updates to the tree result.
I've also been contacted by an Australian interested in the family of Jacob SPURR. Detals provided were scanty (no place data), but it looks very like Jacob, son of the Joseph who married Elizabeth HANNAFORD, with assorted LILLICRAP connections that may well prove to be inter-connections.
Not that I've finished fiddling with the web pages and tidying things up, but it's quite a relief to get back to the backlog of emails instead of staring at webpages and testing links to see what I forgot to change.