Happy Birthday to my 2nd great grandaunt, Margaret Dewar Ferguson, born February 6, 1862 in Kettins, Forfarshire, Scotland. She was the oldest of nine children to my third great grandparents, Peter Ferguson and Margaret McIntosh. I do not have a record of a marriage for Margaret, I am not sure I have searched the civil registration records on scotlandspeople.gov.uk, but that would be my next step in finding more about the life of Margaret. I would assume if she was married that it would be in or around Kettins, since her parents were still living in Kettins in 1881, according to the census. She does not live with her family at this time. The three different scenarios I have come across while doing research for Scotland relatives are that she could have married and moved, she could have become a servant to another household or farm, or she could have passed away. Searching in the Civil Registration index will answer these questions.
To Do:
1. search civil registration on http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ for a marriage or death record of Margaret Ferguson around 1881.
Links of interest
1. A Vision of Britain Through Time : Kettins
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Jeremiah White
Two Hundred and Forty Three years ago, my 6th great grandfather, Jeremiah White, married his second wife, Sarah. (He would eventually marry a third time after Sarah's death in 1769.) According to the Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 on newenglandancestors.org, Jeremiah and Sarah Thayer were married in Abington, MA on February 5, 1767. I thought it would be interesting to find some information on courtship in New England for this time frame (middle to late 18th century). Doing a quick search, I came across the Digital History website from University of Houston. They have a section on Courtship in New England, which suggests that around the time of Jeremiah's marriage, children had more of a choice than in the past as to who their spouses would be. They also mention the notion that "romance and love" had more to do with choice of spouse as the eighteenth century came to an end. Although, as Sarah was Jeremiah's second wife, perhaps he was looking for a spouse to care for the 9 children he already had with his first wife. I will have to see what connection he had with Sarah before they were married to better understand their relationship.
I also wanted to look a little bit into Jeremiah's parentage, as he is my direct line. After searching on Google books, I came across the following book : The Vinton memorial, comprising a genealogy of the descendants of John Vinton of Lynn, 1648: also, genealogical sketches of several allied families ... , which states on page 372, that Jeremiah was the son of Deacon Samuel White and Anna Pratt.
I love these old family history books, but I can never find the source of their information. I assume they got most of their information from probate records, which is where I will start to prove their relationship. Chamberlain's History of Weymouth book usually states the probate numbers, I will have to see if the White family is covered in this book the next time I obtain it.
To Do:
1. look in History of Weymouth book for White family
2. obtain probate information on Deacon Samuel White (of weymouth)
3. find land records for Deacon Samuel White and Jeremiah White
4. obtain Descendants of Thomas White of Weymouth, Mass., 1630-1907 By C. S. Williams
5. find more information on Sarah Thayer and relationship with Jeremiah - was there a connection between Thayer family and White family.
I also wanted to look a little bit into Jeremiah's parentage, as he is my direct line. After searching on Google books, I came across the following book : The Vinton memorial, comprising a genealogy of the descendants of John Vinton of Lynn, 1648: also, genealogical sketches of several allied families ... , which states on page 372, that Jeremiah was the son of Deacon Samuel White and Anna Pratt.
I love these old family history books, but I can never find the source of their information. I assume they got most of their information from probate records, which is where I will start to prove their relationship. Chamberlain's History of Weymouth book usually states the probate numbers, I will have to see if the White family is covered in this book the next time I obtain it.
To Do:
1. look in History of Weymouth book for White family
2. obtain probate information on Deacon Samuel White (of weymouth)
3. find land records for Deacon Samuel White and Jeremiah White
4. obtain Descendants of Thomas White of Weymouth, Mass., 1630-1907 By C. S. Williams
5. find more information on Sarah Thayer and relationship with Jeremiah - was there a connection between Thayer family and White family.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
New Approach
I would like to find the time to do more genealogy research, so I have come up with a new approach that hopefully will let me do a little every day. I created a calendar of birthdays and anniversaries for all our ancestors using reports in Legacy software. Every day that there was an event, I will try to find a little bit of information on that person or couple, even if it is to only create a to do list of things I would like to find and places I would like to look when I actually get the chance to go to a library or court. So, today is the anniversary of Josiah Torrey and Jane Shaw, married 188 years ago in Weymouth, MA on Feb. 3, 1822. Since I no longer have a subscription to any genealogy databases, I looked at some free resources, such as google and pilot familysearch. On the latter database, I found the 1865 Massachusetts census for Josiah and his second wife Mary Bailey. They also had living with them Josiah's son Prescott Torrey and his wife Lizzie and son Otis. This record did not really add more information to my tree, other than the fact that his son was living with him in Weymouth, MA in 1865. The one piece of information that I have been wanting to prove for this couple is that Jane Shaw's parents are Capt. Nathaniel Shaw and Jane Tirrell, as stated in the History of Weymouth book. I am sure that this parentage is correct, but I would love to obtain Nathaniel Shaw's probate as referenced in this book, which is my next step in proving her parents.
To Do List:
1. obtain Nathaniel Shaw's probate record : Norfolk Probate 16474
2. obtain Jane (Tirell) Shaw's probate record: Norfolk Probate 16451
3. obtain Jane Shaw (daughter) gaurdianship probate record : 1813 Weymouth Guardianship 16450 - Norfolk Probate
To Do List:
1. obtain Nathaniel Shaw's probate record : Norfolk Probate 16474
2. obtain Jane (Tirell) Shaw's probate record: Norfolk Probate 16451
3. obtain Jane Shaw (daughter) gaurdianship probate record : 1813 Weymouth Guardianship 16450 - Norfolk Probate
Monday, February 1, 2010
Antonio and Angelina Pompeo
Wow, it has been almost a year since I did some family research. I have been wanting to do more lately, but I let my subscription to ancestry.com and New England Historical Society lapse this year. I was recently reading an article about pilot familysearch though, and thought I would try it out as it has been a while. I was hoping they had indexed some registrations from Italy, as that is the least amount of information I have on my family line. I typed in some of my Italian surnames on familysearch and actually found something I have been looking for, not from Italy, but Massachusetts. I found Antonio Pompeo and Angelina Gagliardi's marriage record. Before this, I did not know if they were married in Italy or Massachusetts. The Massachusetts indices I searched in prior to this only went up to 1910, but the family search index goes to 1915. This is so exciting, as I was able to bring that line back one more generation, with Antonio's and Angelina's parents' names, including mother's maiden names. Antonio's parents are Croce Pompeo and Elisabetta Cappola. Angelina's parents are Ruggero Gagliardi and Lucia Di Lorenzo.
I also did a quick search to see if I could find any siblings for Antonio or Angelina, but I had no luck. In the past, Angelina listed her brother Cristoforo Gagliardi on a passenger list to Boston, but in my quick search on familysearch, I did not find any records for him. After looking more closely at pilot familysearch, I see that they do not have the Registrations for the area of Italy my family came from. However, they do have some registrations microfilmed at their library.
To Do List:
1. obtain microfilm from family History Library for Torre De Passeri for Antonio Pompeo and Angelina Gagliardi's birth records or their parent's marriage records - to find if they have more information on parents, such as place of birth.
I also did a quick search to see if I could find any siblings for Antonio or Angelina, but I had no luck. In the past, Angelina listed her brother Cristoforo Gagliardi on a passenger list to Boston, but in my quick search on familysearch, I did not find any records for him. After looking more closely at pilot familysearch, I see that they do not have the Registrations for the area of Italy my family came from. However, they do have some registrations microfilmed at their library.
To Do List:
1. obtain microfilm from family History Library for Torre De Passeri for Antonio Pompeo and Angelina Gagliardi's birth records or their parent's marriage records - to find if they have more information on parents, such as place of birth.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Hutchisons and Strathmartine
David Hutchison, my 6th Great Grandfather, married Ann Anderson on June 18, 1765 in Strathmartine, Forfar, Scotland. The marriage record states he is from Strathmartine parish, while his wife was from parish of Dundee, Forfar, Scotland. I was unable to find a record of birth or death for either David or Ann, as they were not require to register such information until 1855. As mentioned in the earlier posts, their son Thomas, my 5th Great Grandfather, was born in Murroes, and perhaps a daughter Janet, but by 1841, his son Thomas is back in Strathmartine, so I am not sure how long or why the Hutchsions were in Murroes, Forfar, Scotland. I did some earlier research into the histoy of Murroes, now I plan to look into Strathmartine.
I was able to find more records for David's son Thomas in Strathmartine. I know that he was living there in 1801, as his marriage record of July 28, 1801 to Catherine Sturrock in Strathmartine states they are both of that parish. Also, in the 1841 census, Thomas' occupation is an agricultural laborer in Strathmartine, and in 1851, he is a railway station keeper at Baldragon in Stathmartine. By the time his son William marries in 1857, Thomas' occupation is now a weaver, location not listed. However, from Thomas' death record of December 14, 1859, I do know he was buried in the Strathmartine churchyard. Thomas' wife, Catherine, died only two days later, Dec. 16, also buried in the churchyard. So it seems most of their lives were spent in Strathmartine.
There is a lot of historical information I can find that relate to Thomas' life. I first looked into the Google book online,The New Statistical Account of Scotland (pub. 1834-45), for the area of Strathmartine, which starts on p. 54. According to the book, the parishes of Mains and Strathmartine were combined in 1799, which is why they are most always listed together. There still remained two school masters for the two areas, and three burying grounds. So it looks as if Thomas and his wife Catherine are probably buried in the burial ground of where the old church stood in Strathmartine. This book also states that the church registers for Strathmartine only exist from 1783 on, as the school house had a fire in that year which destroyed the older records. Thomas was probably born around 1785, but his record of birth does not seem to be recorded.
The population for both parishes in 1801 was 1442, in 1831 it was 2011, with an average family size of 4-5 children. About 25% of the population in the combined parishes worked in agriculture, as Thomas did. The others were mostly tradesmen. According to the Statistical Account book, in the 1830s, there are 10 proprietors in these combined parishes, only 2 having mansion houses. I am not sure if this means that most of the agricultural workers are tenants to these land owners, but that is my guess. The close proximity of Dundee, in order that farmers may sell their grains and other food, has allowed these tenants to succeed, where other parts of Scotland have experienced decreased price and demand for such crops. This book also lists typical food that Thomas and his family probably consumed for this time period, which are fish, pork, sugar, tea. The main food for the poorer class for at least half the year are potatoes.
Also of note for this time period of the early 1800s, is the increase of Irish and Highlanders into the area, due to the potatoe famine and clearances of tenants from landowners. They seem mostly to have worked in the bleachfields and spinning mills, not very pleasant work. This probably would have been an interesting group to Thomas' family, as the book suggests "they are not of such habits as to improve public morals."
Something which would have been of great interest to the people of the area, including Thomas, was the new railroad from Dundee to Strathmore in 1825. Thomas would later work as a railway keeper, probably for Baldragon station, as that is the area they were living by the 1851 census.
Thomas' seven children, including my 4th great grandfather, Peter, would have gone to school at the expense of 14s to read and write. If they were also to learn math it would have cost L1, and to add Latin would be at an expense of L1 10s, according to this statistical book.
In the following book on Google, Angus or Forfarshire, the land and its people, descriptive and historical by Alexander Johnston Warden - 1884 , there starts a description of Strathmartine on page 282.
I was able to find more records for David's son Thomas in Strathmartine. I know that he was living there in 1801, as his marriage record of July 28, 1801 to Catherine Sturrock in Strathmartine states they are both of that parish. Also, in the 1841 census, Thomas' occupation is an agricultural laborer in Strathmartine, and in 1851, he is a railway station keeper at Baldragon in Stathmartine. By the time his son William marries in 1857, Thomas' occupation is now a weaver, location not listed. However, from Thomas' death record of December 14, 1859, I do know he was buried in the Strathmartine churchyard. Thomas' wife, Catherine, died only two days later, Dec. 16, also buried in the churchyard. So it seems most of their lives were spent in Strathmartine.
There is a lot of historical information I can find that relate to Thomas' life. I first looked into the Google book online,The New Statistical Account of Scotland (pub. 1834-45), for the area of Strathmartine, which starts on p. 54. According to the book, the parishes of Mains and Strathmartine were combined in 1799, which is why they are most always listed together. There still remained two school masters for the two areas, and three burying grounds. So it looks as if Thomas and his wife Catherine are probably buried in the burial ground of where the old church stood in Strathmartine. This book also states that the church registers for Strathmartine only exist from 1783 on, as the school house had a fire in that year which destroyed the older records. Thomas was probably born around 1785, but his record of birth does not seem to be recorded.
The population for both parishes in 1801 was 1442, in 1831 it was 2011, with an average family size of 4-5 children. About 25% of the population in the combined parishes worked in agriculture, as Thomas did. The others were mostly tradesmen. According to the Statistical Account book, in the 1830s, there are 10 proprietors in these combined parishes, only 2 having mansion houses. I am not sure if this means that most of the agricultural workers are tenants to these land owners, but that is my guess. The close proximity of Dundee, in order that farmers may sell their grains and other food, has allowed these tenants to succeed, where other parts of Scotland have experienced decreased price and demand for such crops. This book also lists typical food that Thomas and his family probably consumed for this time period, which are fish, pork, sugar, tea. The main food for the poorer class for at least half the year are potatoes.
Also of note for this time period of the early 1800s, is the increase of Irish and Highlanders into the area, due to the potatoe famine and clearances of tenants from landowners. They seem mostly to have worked in the bleachfields and spinning mills, not very pleasant work. This probably would have been an interesting group to Thomas' family, as the book suggests "they are not of such habits as to improve public morals."
Something which would have been of great interest to the people of the area, including Thomas, was the new railroad from Dundee to Strathmore in 1825. Thomas would later work as a railway keeper, probably for Baldragon station, as that is the area they were living by the 1851 census.
Thomas' seven children, including my 4th great grandfather, Peter, would have gone to school at the expense of 14s to read and write. If they were also to learn math it would have cost L1, and to add Latin would be at an expense of L1 10s, according to this statistical book.
In the following book on Google, Angus or Forfarshire, the land and its people, descriptive and historical by Alexander Johnston Warden - 1884 , there starts a description of Strathmartine on page 282.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Ballumbie, Murroes, Scotland
I did a quick search to see if I could find more information on Ballumbie, and found from The Gazetteer of Scotland website that the castle was ruined in 1682 and later incorporated into the stable block of Ballumbie House. Another description of Ballumbie Castle is at Historic Scotland website. More information on Ballumbie House, which pertains to the time period Thomas' father David would have been there, from the Historic Scotland website , is as follows: "Ballumbie House was built for David Miller in 1810 and sold to the McGavin family in 1847. The house was extended and embellished for the merchant Alexander Gilroy." Also, from Ancestry's Gazetteer of Scotland, written in 1847, the following statement is found on page 414, vol. 2, "the remains of the castle of Ballumbie, anciently a fortified residence, now the property of Lord Panmure."
There is also a good description from a book on Google, Epitaphs & inscriptions from burial grounds & old buildings in the north-east of Scotland..., which tells more of the history of Ballumbie's owners in the 1800s, starting with David Miller in 1810. It seems that at this time, Ballumbie is more of a description of an area, rather than a description of where David Hutchison may have worked.
All this Ballumbie information prompted me to find more information on Thomas' father, David, so I looked for his marriage record on Scotlandspeople.org. I was able to find David and Ann Anderson's marriage, but it is not listed in the parish of Murroes, but Strathmartine. The record also states that David is from the parish of Strathmartine, while Ann is from the parish of Dundee. So perhaps David was not living in the Ballumbie area of Murroes for long, as he seemed to be from Strathmartine before his son Thomas and possible daughter Janet were born.
There is also a good description from a book on Google, Epitaphs & inscriptions from burial grounds & old buildings in the north-east of Scotland..., which tells more of the history of Ballumbie's owners in the 1800s, starting with David Miller in 1810. It seems that at this time, Ballumbie is more of a description of an area, rather than a description of where David Hutchison may have worked.
All this Ballumbie information prompted me to find more information on Thomas' father, David, so I looked for his marriage record on Scotlandspeople.org. I was able to find David and Ann Anderson's marriage, but it is not listed in the parish of Murroes, but Strathmartine. The record also states that David is from the parish of Strathmartine, while Ann is from the parish of Dundee. So perhaps David was not living in the Ballumbie area of Murroes for long, as he seemed to be from Strathmartine before his son Thomas and possible daughter Janet were born.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Scottish History
I was reading an article in Family Tree Magazine on finding Scottish Ancestors. I have spent quite a bit of time on the Scotsland People Website as the article suggests, and have found many ancestors dating back to the 1700s in Scotland. I am sure I can find more information if I continued to search this website, but for now I thought I would concentrate on the history of where my ancestors came from in Scotland.
I started with Thomas Hutchison, my 5th great grandfather, on my Dad's side. He was born in Murroes, Forfar, Scotland between 1785 and 1791 - (now that county is called Angus rather than Forfar). So far I have not found too much information on Murroes, other than the top landowners and some other statistics from the following books on Google Books. The new statistical account of Scotland. (1845). Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood and Sons. and Warden, A. J. (1880). Angus or Forfarshire, The land and people, descriptive and historical. Dundee: C. Alexander &.. Here is a brief descripton of Murroes that was written in 1803 from the following gazeteer on the Genuki website : The Gazetteer of Scotland, W Chalmers, Dundee 1803 : "Muirhouse or Murroes, a parish in Forfarshire; about 5 miles from Dundee, on the road from that place to Brechin. It is of small extent, and the greater part is arable. There are several old castles viz, Ballumbie, the property of the Hon William R Maule; Wester Pworie, the property of Colonel Fotheringham of Powrie; Easter Powrie, the property of Mr Wedderburn; and Wester Gaigie, the property of Captain Guthrie of Guthrie. On the property of Colonel Fotheringham is a valuable marl pit. The parish abounds with freestone."
While I was searching for historical information, I did come across a website which lists parishes in Scotland, ScotsFamily. For the parish of Murroes, it states records were kept as early as 1698. I have Thomas Hutchison's birth listed between 1785 and 1791, which means I should be able to find his birth record in the parish registers. I have looked on Scotland People's parish records already, but was not able to come up with his birth record. I recently did a search for any Hutchison's born in Murroes for that time period, and only came up with one, a Janet Hutchison, child of David (Thomas' father is also David according to his death record). I then searched familysearch.org for the batch number of C113132, which is for the parish of Murroes for 1698-1819 for any Hutchins or Hutchisons and came up with nothing. Looking again at Janet's birth record, it states that Janet was born "in ground of Ballumbie". As stated in the history of Murroes above, Ballumbie is one of the castles of Murroes, so perhaps Thomas and his family lived and worked on the land of the Ballumbie castle or House, as in Thomas' death record of 1859, his father David (deceased) was listed as a farm servant. Thomas is also listed as an agricultural laborer in the 1841 census, although it is for the parish of Strathmartine, not Murroes. It could also be that Ballumbie is just how they described the area they lived in of Murroes, and perhaps just where Thomas was born.
I started with Thomas Hutchison, my 5th great grandfather, on my Dad's side. He was born in Murroes, Forfar, Scotland between 1785 and 1791 - (now that county is called Angus rather than Forfar). So far I have not found too much information on Murroes, other than the top landowners and some other statistics from the following books on Google Books. The new statistical account of Scotland. (1845). Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood and Sons. and Warden, A. J. (1880). Angus or Forfarshire, The land and people, descriptive and historical. Dundee: C. Alexander &.. Here is a brief descripton of Murroes that was written in 1803 from the following gazeteer on the Genuki website : The Gazetteer of Scotland, W Chalmers, Dundee 1803 : "Muirhouse or Murroes, a parish in Forfarshire; about 5 miles from Dundee, on the road from that place to Brechin. It is of small extent, and the greater part is arable. There are several old castles viz, Ballumbie, the property of the Hon William R Maule; Wester Pworie, the property of Colonel Fotheringham of Powrie; Easter Powrie, the property of Mr Wedderburn; and Wester Gaigie, the property of Captain Guthrie of Guthrie. On the property of Colonel Fotheringham is a valuable marl pit. The parish abounds with freestone."
While I was searching for historical information, I did come across a website which lists parishes in Scotland, ScotsFamily. For the parish of Murroes, it states records were kept as early as 1698. I have Thomas Hutchison's birth listed between 1785 and 1791, which means I should be able to find his birth record in the parish registers. I have looked on Scotland People's parish records already, but was not able to come up with his birth record. I recently did a search for any Hutchison's born in Murroes for that time period, and only came up with one, a Janet Hutchison, child of David (Thomas' father is also David according to his death record). I then searched familysearch.org for the batch number of C113132, which is for the parish of Murroes for 1698-1819 for any Hutchins or Hutchisons and came up with nothing. Looking again at Janet's birth record, it states that Janet was born "in ground of Ballumbie". As stated in the history of Murroes above, Ballumbie is one of the castles of Murroes, so perhaps Thomas and his family lived and worked on the land of the Ballumbie castle or House, as in Thomas' death record of 1859, his father David (deceased) was listed as a farm servant. Thomas is also listed as an agricultural laborer in the 1841 census, although it is for the parish of Strathmartine, not Murroes. It could also be that Ballumbie is just how they described the area they lived in of Murroes, and perhaps just where Thomas was born.
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