This is an attempt to let interested people know what is likely to have changed in my web pages and assorted online databases, eg at WorldConnect (LornaHenderson and LornaPotential ).

A copy of this in blog format, where you may add comments, corrections etc can be found in the GenBlog link above (and is more often updated, this version is in catch-up mode). An advantage of that format is also the ability to filter by "labels" ie the surname and place keywords I try to remember to put under each post, and also that I get notified if a comment is posted, unlike the guestbook.

I make no pretence of this log being a complete list of changes, just the points I remember to update these pages with. Items listed most recent first, and also exist on my GenBlog, which can be subscribed to as a feed, and filtered for topics of interest.
Love to hear about any relations, additions or corrections.

Dec 2009

31st: Where did the year go?
2009 seems to have vanished exceedingly fast. Not sure I've achieved much, but I've had a great deal of fun along the way. Many thanks to all who helped.

Ended the genealogical year by updating the neverending story to include this month's complications that have been added to my FAIRBAIRN research, with a hope that the dna project's findings may eventually resolve the questions asked.

All the best to you and yours, and may 2010 prove as interesting a year to all (only 5 hours left in 2009 here in kiwi-land).

29th: Some wedding!
I don't know who the James FAIRBAIRN was who married in 1737, but I think I'd like to know what this NAS Catalogue GD18/5415 refers too:
"Letters (2) to Sir John Clerk from James Fairbairn requesting money for his wedding and giving an account of the uproar which occurred on his wedding day"
(this being in the papers of the Clerk family of Penicuik)

28th: "Keeps Lodgers"
A new light was shed on one of the extended FAIRBAIRN family today.
I was trawling the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) Catalogue and came across this entry for Ann CURLE or FAIRBAIRN who had appeared in the 1841 Kelso census as "keeps lodgers":
The catalogue entry shed light on what sort of lodgers, reading:
"Petition and complaint in case brought by William Smith, Procurator Fiscal, against Ann Curle or Fairbairn, residing in Kelso, for harbouring vagabonds, vagrants and other idle persons"
Ann CURLE was married to Robert FAIRBAIRN, son of George and Janet (MURRAY) FAIRBAIRN.
The FAIRBAIRN Surname dna project is still looking for a proven representative of this family as we only have representatives from George and Janet's assumed son James (married Helen GOODFELLLOW and emigrated to Canada).

27th: Got a spare year or two?
That's how long I think it will take me to decipher the 1610 testament I've just downloaded from ScotlandsPeople! While researching some early FAIRBAIRNs in the Earlston Old Parish Registers (OPRs) I noticed that there were contemporary families surnamed FLAEBAIRN, rather than FAIRBAIRN, so became intrigued as to what had happened to them, and whether or not they were, or would eventually become, FAIRBAIRNs.
Noone seems to be currently researching anyone of this surname (FLAEBAIRN, and variants), and several appear as patron submissions on the IGI as FAIRBAIRN instead.
The document I refer to above is a 1610 testament of one Michaell FLAIBAIRNE, merchant, burgess of Edinburgh, which I have published on the Originals section of my web pages. Any hints as to what all it says would be most welcome!
It will take me a long time to work through it methinks, and makes the occasional word I cannot decipher in the Earlston OPRs a doddle by comparison.
e.g., what would you make of the occupation or designation of James fairbairn father of the Barbara baptized 11 Feb, second entry from the bottom of this extract from the Earlston OPRs? (they appear to have lived in fan(n)s, and I am assuming that the word I cannot decipher is James' occupation).
See blog image

24th: two shillings per horse
The latest (Dec 2009) Scottish Genealogist provides the information that back in Oct a new website was launched as a joint venture between the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland, and the National Archives of Scotland.
Check out Scotland's Places, I've already got myself sidetracked from the 1797 Farm Horse Tax Rolls, having found a family of RICHARDSONs buried in the wonderfully named Black Swamp Cemetery of Hampton Co., Sth Carolina. All because the Morebattle Horse Tax rolls mentioned a Revd W RICHARDSON, and I only knew about a James. The Rev W had two horses, so had to pay 4/-
I went fishing. Henry, son of Rev James RICHARDSON of Morebattle, is buried in said swamp (he married a Mary FRASER from Beaufort, which I'm assuming is the Sth Carolina Beaufort for now).
So far I've found Henry's daughter-in-law Mary Asinthe MANER, described as a "ladie farmer", and her son John Maner RICHARDSON as a rice planter.
Absolutely no idea if these RICHARDSONs are in any way connected to my RICHARDSONs (who were actually at Maxton), or the Revd W RICHARDSON, but they sounded intriguing.

Seasons greetings to you and yours.

22nd: Too much exercise
I've had too much exercise jumping to conclusions, with my only excuse being unfamiliarity with Quebec, Canada and all the Scottish and English town names that get re-used.
Earlier this year I mentioned finding a FAIRBAIRN/TAYLOR marriage where the bride's father was of Thurso.
I jumped to the conclusion this was Thurso, Caithness, but no, a descendant has just put me straight.
The Thurso mentioned was in Quebec, near Gatineau.

17th: On the trail...
Found out where Nora CARLAW fits (see post for the 15th). Her father was Errol Hastings MARSTON of Longueuil. So, if any of her family read this, I'd love to hear from you to find out more about her notes on file at the Wellington County Ontario Archives, particularly about the John FAIRBAIRN she gives as father of the David FAIRBAIRN who married Charity WALKER.

The "Quebec Connection" descendant chart has been updated to include any of the latest findings, and my WorldConnect db LornaHenderson has also been brought up to date.

15th: John found in action?
(Refer to previous posts dated the 10th and the 3rd)
Ross and I have been mulling over the implications of the newfound baptism of John to John Fairbairn of Grenville, and reviewing what we do and  don't know, and what the dna evidence tells us.
Then along came a copy of a document from the Fairbairn file at the archives of Wellington County, Ontario (thank you Duncan, you don't know what you started!).  It was undated, and unsourced, but was obviously a tree that I'd been given extracts from previously many years ago.
(I've included the tree on the DNA Project Patriarchs page, along with links to the dna project supplementary pages where you can find some commentary on the erroneous family linkages shown).
The archivist advises that it was catalogued in 1994, and submitted by a Nora CARLAW of Elora, now deceased.
From the document she would appear likely to be a descendant of David and Charity (WALKER) FAIRBAIRN.
Whereas the tree contains many errors of fact in linking up earlier generations, it has provided two very significant clues with regard to the family of what we had previously shown as David and Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN, namely that Jane's husband was a John, not a David, and gave his date and cause of death.

All of which has led me to republish the web pages for the following two Johns:
John, son of Archibald and Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN, and
John, son of "John or David" and Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN.

You may be interested in the discussion on the former John's web page.

I haven't yet bitten the bullet and merged the families, as there's still the puzzle over William and Aylsie (ELLIOT) FAIRBAIRN, given as parents to the William who married Jean (WANLESS), to re-evaluate the evidence for.

As the notes for John state, it would be really really great to find a proven direct FAIRBAIRN male line descendant of the families concerned for the FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA project to see what additional weight can be given to this re-evaluation:
"John or David" & Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN
Archibald & Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN
David and Jane (HERD) FAIRBAIRN
Walter & Agnes (ROBINSON) FAIRBAIRN

12th: What the English did to the Scots in 1545
I was ferreting around on the internet trying to validate a story of destruction of Yetholm by the English on the Scottish Borders in 1545.
Read all about one such expedition from near contemporary sources.
It contains a fascinating list of place names which can still be recognised (despite the ravages of the Earl of Hertford).

11th: Thomas Alston RICHARDSON found A (10th Dec) posting in my Guestbook from a SCOTT/RICHARDSON descendant has led me to find what happened to Thomas Alston RICHARDSON (See this post from 2007)
Given I didn't have him married, and couldn't find a marriage in Scotland, I was a tad surprised to find someone claiming to be a descendant, although I shouldn't have been, as I'd also been unable to find a Scottish death for him.
A quick web search led me to a Voluntary liquidation notice by liquidator Thomas Alston Scott in the 1919 London Gazette for him, described his company as:
T. SCOTT & CO. (CARDIFF) Limited, Bakers, Pastry Cooks, Confectioners, etc.
So, off to the 1911 census for Wales, where he was found. Looking at the Enumerators' lists for the census, his shop was about 3 shops away from the Public School, so I guess he sold a lot of sweeties to the local school kids.
(Brother George was in Wales in the 1891 census, so I guess I should have looked there anyway before now.) Good to hear from you Steve, (a 5th cousin, sharing Robert RICHARDSON and Margaret RUNCHAMAN).

10th: What do you make the forenames of this squiggle as? He is enumerated in the 1852 Hull, Quebec census, a few entries below Jane FAIRBURN (aka FAIRBAIRN) with her assumed sons James (later married Mary SMITH, Jane's niece via her sister Agnes SMITH nee WILLIAMSON) and John (married Sarah DAUGHTERTY and moved to Stillwater, Washington). We'd like to prove that he is Jane's son, hopefully with an extant death cert or obit. that conclusively states whether Jane was married to John or David FAIRBAIRN. New information found (see David or John revisited below) re John's son John has led to a re-evaluation of supposedly known information for this family. With records indicating that there was both a John and a David in the area, and assorted records assigning their assumed families indiscriminately between the two, and often with the wife for both being Jane WILLIAMSON, it's been an interesting exercise. The jury is most definitely still out, but tending to Jane being married to a John, who seems to have died in 1847, from a fall from a horse if newly received information is accurate. Children Agnes, James and John rather look like they belong to John and Jane, with possibly Archibald (marr. Margaret GRAHAM) and William George (marr. Sarah FARRELL) belonging to David and wife unknown.. David marr. to Charity WALKER could belong to either, but I'm currently leaning towards him being John and Jane's! Anyone with hard facts about these families? The family information is rather contradictory, one even throwing an Archie in as married to Jane WILLIAMSON.
8th: Honor becomes Hannah, and Fanny was/is Sarah
Oh I wish our relations made things slightly easier for us by having one name throughout life!
Sarah COMBELLACK's 1879 Bristol birth cert has turned up, and yes, she has to be the Fanny with Henry and Flora COMBELLACK in Llandaff, Cardiff in 1881 and the Sarah with Charles H CHARLES, widower, in Plymouth in 1891.
It shows her as the dtr of Charles Henry COMBELLACK, miller, and Hannah (sic) formerly DAWE.
So, unless Henry married a Flora between 1879 when Sarah was born, and 1881 when he shows up in Wales with wife Flora, I currently think Flora is just another name for Honor/Hannah, after all she has to keep up her side of the name-changing equation, given how many names we've found her husband had.
So, I've removed Flora, and shifted Ada and Sarah/Fanny to being daughters of Honour, and republished Honor's web page (or should that now be Hannah's web page?

3rd: David or John revisited

What was the Latest Update, re John and Sarah (DAUGHTERTY) FAIRBAIRN back in March rather looks like it might have just been upturned.
Today I stumbled across a Quebec 1834 baptism (born 1833) that just has to be him, and may well overturn my sceptism as to the accuracy of his marriage and death certs.
I'm mulling over the options and implications, but for at the moment, he stays as a son of David and Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN. (My currently favoured revised theory is that there's a brother John for David and William.)

Re the blog entry for 27th Nov: the Flora DAWE mentioned didn't marry either a COMBELLACK or a CHARLES, so it's back to the drawing board.

And for those interested in COMBELLACKs, I've kickstarted a COMBELLACK Surname DNA Project to help any of you wishing to explore further the inter-relationships of assorted COMBELLACK trees. Supporting web pages etc yet to be developed, but the basic join link is active.

Nov 2009


27th: Fanny/Sarah - Honor/Flora revisited
Liz has provided a certificate that has both a COMBELLACK and a CHARLES mentioned, even more evidence for the prosecution that her Annie CHARLES was Annie COMBELLACK.
This led me to get a bit more determined to identify Ada and Fanny/Sarah, and see if Sarah was indeed Fanny or yet another mystery in the family.
There's a Sarah COMBELLACK birth registered in Bristol 1879 which would sort of fit with Sarah's age in 1891, and make it highly likely she is the Fanny of the 1881 census.
So I turned my attention to the Honor/Flora mystery again.
Still being investigated but I've found a promising looking lead in a marriage of a Flora DAWE in Bristol in 1878, which fits by time and place. The FreeBMD index shows that the page has a mismatching number of bridges and grooms, and of all the marriages in Bristol that quarter, none are obviously Nicholas/Henry COMBELLACK or Charles Henry CHARLES, so the images will be searched.

DNA work of late has been on assorted FAIRBAIRN families to add a couple of lineages to the Patriarchs page - not yet published, but they will be that of John FAIRBAIRN and Margaret DEANS, in the hope we can prove John is indeed the son of Alexander FAIRBAIRN and Isabella ATCHESON. Also that of the engineer Robert FAIRBAIRN of Eckford, who married Elizabeth YOUNG and moved to Liverpool then vanishes DNA candidates being sought.

22nd: The FAIRBAIRN Surname DNA Project just got even more interesting. Check the project diary for the links to those involved etc, but basically, an IRWIN descendant has just popped up as a 64/67 match to his closest FAIRBAIRN, an exact match to an ELLIOTT, and is only 1 marker off the modal values for all of FAIRBAIRN Lineage 1 (the Scottish Borders FAIRBAIRNs who are all looking to be related in some degree or other).
Given his supposed IRWIN line dates back to a chap born 1815 in Illinois it could be an interesting, but probably inconclusive, investigation.

Lorna's Links have been updated to include a nifty online latitude/longitude utility that can give you lat/long values for a point you've clicked on, and convert between decimal and degrees/minutes format values.
Given that the new bing maps (was Virtual Earth at live.com) seem to have hidden the bits I used to use for determining such things, I'm finding this link very useful when working with maps for my web pages.

Work of late has mostly been on trying to find FAIRBAIRN descendants of families wanted for the DNA proejct to (dis)prove assorted theories of where they may, or may not, fit.
These include the Robert of Eckford, a civil engineer, who moved to Lancashire, and his children moved to London, and descendants to the usual places around the globe, and include William Ewart FAIRBAIRN, of Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife and Shanghai police fame; and an interesting set of nurserymen/seedsmen of the Chelsea and Clapham area (and Oxford) who may or may not be related to each other, but one set of whom are rumoured to have come from the Scottish Borders back in the mid 1700s.

19th:The BAIN descendants chart has been republished to include a few more of the family of Catherine McKENZIE and James SHEARER who emigrated to Toronto in 1887/8.
I've just noticed that she has never been included in my WorldConnect db LornaHenderson, so this will be remedied next update (dtr of Janet BAIN and James McKENZIE Clashmaharribeg, Lybster).
Still two of them to be accounted for, a Lizzie found in the 1881 census but not later (and there was an Elizabeth Jane born several years later in Canada), and identification of the informant for Catherine's death.
By elimination she is probably dtr Janet as Mrs James BRUCE, but I haven't found her marriage as yet. Whichever daughter she was, she was living at 96A Ashburnham Rd Toronto in Jul 1929.

15th: Great to hear from Bridget again re assorted TURNBULL/GRAHAM snippets.
She kindly sent me both a photo of the Canonbie headstone of Robert & Helen TURNBULL, and the obit of my 2*great grandfather James TURNBULL, which had appeared in the Carlisle Patriot - and very fulsome it was too. (I've now remedied the oversight that he had missed being published on my web pages).
The obit completely confirms that I've correctly identified his brother John as the one married to Isabella MARTIN, as the copy of the "Huirangi papers" obit has an addenda: "Mr Turnbull was a native of Haithwaitegate near this city and brother of the late Mr John Turnbull of White Close Gate".
In addition Bridget sent a transcript of the death notice for Frances SCAIFE (nee GRAHAM) which confirmed my suspicion that she was the 1856 death registration in Penrith.
Fossicking around as a result of these I've now found the original of the marriage of Jane GRAHAM and John SCAIFE (parents of the above Frances' husband William SCAIFE) in St Bennet Grace Church, London, and see not only was the date different to that I had entered (15th March not Sep), but that the witnesses included a Jane BATY and Richard GRAHAM.
I assume the latter is her brother, but who is Jane BATY, presumably also so far from her Cumberland home?

14th: Oh the joys of "researchers" attaching people to their trees on the strength of Ancestry's hints without checking the sources. I've just noticed that OneWorldTree, Ancestry's attempt to do what OneGreatFamily do rather better, has assigned a son Robert (born 1811 Anderston) to my John and Catherine (GRAY) BAIN, and he now appears in several trees, many of which erroneously include rather a lot of the descendants of John and Catherine as their relations.
I checked why Ancestry seem to think he belongs to John and Catherine and see that if you examine the sources, they've taken the data from two tree submissions, one being the Rootsweb tree of mine that they pinched many years back (and which I can no longer access to correct in any way shape or form - for the current version, see WorldConnect db LornaHenderson). That tree shows a male born 1826 to John and Catherine.
The other tree source is that of a Robert born 1818 Anderston Scotland to a John and Isabella (MacDONALD) and married to a Barbara FERGUSON, and dying in Polk, Minnesota in 1904.
Whereas John and Catherine have a large gap in their children that he could fit in, the Anderston Scotland Robert has siblings born in 1820 in Anderston when John and Catherine had Elizabeth up in Caithness, so it seems rather unlikely he fits with John and Catherine at all.
Check the sources!

13th: One result of the correspondence with Sheena was a re-examination of the family of Diana Berry BAIN and Donald SWANSON. (Their son John SWANSON married a relative of Sheena's).
My initial data on the family had come with two sons for Donald and Diana, John and Alister. I'd never been able to confirm Alister's existence, and have now decided that he is probably Alexandra Mowat SWANSON, John's son instead, as Sheena advised he was also known as Alistair.
Sheena's family story also assigns a son John George Waters SWANSON to John and Alexandrina (Alice) SWANSON, John being Diana's son. The 1916 Manitoba census does show a John G SWANSON in the family of John and Alice SWANSON, who may or may not be this family - the doubt being that Alex M seems to have turned into an Alice T.
I found a London Gazette entry (Nov 1945) mentioning a Capt John George Waters SWANSON of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps being recognised for gallant and distinguished services in Italy who seems a likely match.

My WorldConnect database LornaHenderson has been updated to include the latest round of updates, as has OneGreatFamily.

12th: Prompted by the correspondence with Sheena, I became curious as to why the Wilma MacDONALD who married David OAG, had Finlayson as a middle name. Interesting journey.
I nearly stopped looking once I'd hit her grandparents as they were living in the Orkneys rather than Caithness, but then noticed that her father said he was born Pulteneytown, so I persisted one more generation "just in case" there was going to be a connection. David FINLAYSON, born Pulteneytown in 1827 turns out to be the son of a cooper William FINLAYSON born Bower. At which point my mild curiousity went up a notch or two.
William, wife Catherine (LIDDEL) and family had moved to Whitehall, Orkney by 1841, and were still there in 1851 but then they vanished, and I couldn't find a death for him at all. Nearly gave up, thinking he might have died between 1851 and 1855, so not in civil registration.
Idly searched ancestry for his son Neil and found his death at age 90 as Capt Neil FINLAYSON in Toronto.
Yes, William, Catherine and family had indeed vanished from Orkney (apart from David who stayed behind). They'd emigrated to Trafalgar, Halton Co, Ontario along with a David who looked like he might be William's brother.
That led me to the Bower baptisms of a David and William children of James and Elizabeth (COGHILL) FINLAYSON of Stemster. Someone must be researching this family as there are patron submissions on the IGI, but I've not yet figured out who they are to see what conclusions they may have reached working back from James and Elizabeth in Bower.

9th: More buses:
I think I've commented before about the bus saying: nothing for ages, then along come two at once?
I've been working on a FAIRBAIRN family with Eckford connections to try and find candidates for the FAIRBAIRN dna project.
My attention strayed, as it often does, to a different Robert FAIRBAIRN I'd found in the wonderful London records now more readily available.
One of the sons was from Yoxford, Suffolk, a place I'd never heard of, and obviously none of the census enumerators had either as it variously appeared against his name as Yufford, Foxford, as well as the more often listed, and presumably correct, Yoxford. Then along came an email (or two, or three) from Sheena about a mutual interest we have in the family of David & Johnina (BAIN) Oag. Sheena and I aren't related, but are both connected to this family, one way or another.
So, once again, I checked off what additional info had come my way, and looked to see what else might be found. This time, I found a new ancestry tree had been posted dealing with a branch of these BAINs that I knew had New Zealand connections but had never tracked down.
I have now confirmed the marriage of the additional NZ BAIN link, that of Albert Victor KEABLE and Hughina Bain MATHIESON. Not entirely sure how ever they came to met up and marry in Caithness as Albert gave his address as of Heveringham, Yoxford, Suffolk. With a more accurate spelling of Albert's surname, I am now in contact with one of the descendants, and in the process have tied up several other loose ends.

7th: Back to the BAINs and their multitudinous descendants.
Bobby has been in touch with a descendant of William MOWAT and Alexandrina BAIN, so I had a quick check on what new snippets might be found.
Filled in the line down to this newfound rellie, and also found several marriages for the rest of William and Alexandrina's family. BAIN descendant chart updated, as will be my WorldConnect db LornaHenderson sometime soon. The only new surname that added to the tree was BURRETT, all the rest of the newfound spice were the usual Caithness suspects: GUNN, DUNNET, SUTHERLAND, ROSIE.
Investigated the ROSIE a little further, and sure enough there's a connection.
The Alexander ROSIE I've just added in as husband of Margaret MOWAT, was the son of Angus & Jean (BREMNER) ROSIE.
Angus had a brother George (their parents are Alexander ROSIE and Elizabeth SHEARER), who married Annie SWANSON. A dtr Jessie married Alexander John BAIN, another of our BAIN twigs.
These linkages will show up next WorldConnect update.

5th: Round the (Andrews) mulberry bush.
Prompted by an email from an ANDREWS relation/researcher asking about a London branch of our family, I started checking what I did and didn't have them (the family of Abraham ANDREWS and Mary Ann CHANT).
I reminded myself that their son John had married a mysterious (to me) Emily someone and decided to figure out who she was, given census data showed her as born Odcombe, Somerset.
With all that wonderful new info on London marriages and baptisms etc now available on ancestry, I quickly found the marriage of John to Emily, only to see that her father was supposedly a carpenter, one John ANDREWS!!
I spent rather too long investigating an Emily Ann ANDREWS born 1850 to a John and Anna (HILL) ANDREWS, whose extended family did occasionally have Martock connections, but basically this John had the wrong occupation and just didn't feel right.
Rather belatedly, I then checked the deaths and found what looked like their Emily Ann had died back in 1851, so back to the drawing board.
This time I started by searching births of Emmas and quickly lit upon the 1850 Emma Q4 reg. Yeovil. And also very quickly, realised that I had her in my database all along as the illegitimate dtr of Tabitha ANDREWS nee HUNT, later ROBBINS, who had married John ANDREWS, brother of the above Abraham, and of my 2 greats granddad Simon ANDREWS, and been left a widow back about 1845, 5 years prior to Emma/Emily's birth.
What goes round comes around, all mysteries get solved eventually.

Oct 2009

28th: Anyone got a stray George Henry WARE, jeweller?
With all the Devon families getting a bit of a look in at the moment, one that got more attention was that of Nicholas WARE and Margaret King CREBER (those darn rabbit farmers). I'd "parked" a mysterious May WARE, grddtr with Margaret in 1881.
With the arrival on ancestry of a heap of London records I went searching, and found a marriage for her (to Alfred Edward GRIMES), which told me that her father was George Henry WARE, jeweller. Not a known (to me) son for Nicholas to either wife.
However, he can well fit in between Richard and Margaret Annie. But I can't as yet find him anywhere to confirm this.
The relevant Devon descendant charts have been updated:
BARTER, KING, DAWE, CREBER

26th: You've got to feel sorry for this chap and his family.

A Canadian death cert. I've just read (Samuel METHERELL 1894, Lindsay, Victoria Co, Ontario) gives cause of death as "diarohia with melancholia".
Haven't yet placed him in the HELSON/METHERELL families I'm currently filling in gaps on but he has to connect somewhere, given two of the dtrs of Thomas HELSON and Elizabeth PEEK both married METHERELLs, and many of them ended up in Victoria, Ontario, mostly around Mariposa.

24th: How to defeat a census enumerator.
Having uploaded some updates to OneGreatFamily , I reviewed the families concerned (those of the last few posts) to see if anyone else was researching them.
Lots of "conflicting information" symbols showed up, along with several greyed out boxes on the descendant charts which showed that someone else had more people in the tree than I did (or insufficient information on our respective records for OGF to have merged them automatically).
One family I strayed into checking was that of Ann HELSON, dtr of John and Elizabeth (HORTOP) HELSON, whose son Aaron I thought had married an Emma, but the investigation of same hadn't ever made it to the top of the growing pile of Round TUITs.
The first record I checked was the 1881 census, at Wimsdon, North Petherwin, Cornwall, and two of the dtrs were listed merely as M.E. and H W F. MEHTERAL.
Birth records eventually unearthed showed M E as Mahala Elizabeth, and H W F highly likely to be Hephzibah Florence.
I concluded that the names were just too much for the enumerator to spell!

(OneGreatFamily are having a cut price sub offer for a few more days if you're interested)

21st: And Charles Henry CHARLES again: but this time, the father.
Finally found the family of Nicholas/Henry COMBELLACK/CHARLES and Honor/Flora in 1891.
After being in Cardiff in 1881 (as Henry and Flora COMBELLACK), Henry has returned to England and is living in Plymouth as Charles H CHARLES, widower, with Annie, Mary and Ada with him, and a Sarah who may or may not be Fanny from 1881. Next household schedule, same address, is for Henry and Fanny CHARLES (the son, subject of the previous posting, Fanny looks like she remarries in 1897 to a Joseph George JURY, Henry having died in 1893).
Still can't find either Honor's death, nor marriage or death of Flora (if she exists and isn't Honor), and would very much like to find the births for Ada and Fanny/Sarah, supposedly in Bath to figure out if their Mum was Honor, or possibly Flora.
Anyone out there with a mysterious Ada or Fanny or Sarah CHARLES or COMBELLACK?
DAWE descendant chart updated.

21st: Charles Henry CHARLES: What a mouthful.
With the hint that the COMBELLACKs may have become CHARLES, and the now knowledge, that the Military records on ancestry labelled as 1914-1922 actually also include earlier service records, I searched them for CHARLES instead of COMBELLACK.
Up popped one Henry CHARLES, of Devonport, born abt 1866, so I read his record.
He enlisted on the same day as Edmund John CHIVERS, for the same Corps.
Next of kin given as father Nicholas of Plymouth, crossed out and "wife Fanny with him" written in.
Fanny later identiifed as the Fanny Grace JEWELL, whom he married in 1890 at Mutley Wesleyan Chapel, Plymouth.
I believe this is Charles Henry COMBELLACK, and the C H CHARLES witness to the marriage of Edmund John CHIVERS and Annie CHARLES.
Just as well he only alternated between surnames beginning with C as he had a tattoo H C on his arm.

20th: COMBELLACK or CHARLES?
The power of pooling information was very evident today.
The name Charles obviously had some significance to the COMBELLACK family of Nicholas and Honor (DAWE) COMBELLACK.
Two of their sons had led me a merry dance as I tried to convince myself that Isaac Daw COMBELLACK was one and the same person as Isaac Charles COMBELLACK, and ditto for Richard Thomas or Richard Charles COMBELLACK.
Not to mention as to whether or not Henry in Wales in 1881 was actually Nicholas.
Yes to all of the above.
I still don't know the significance of Charles as a name to the family, BUT today I was contacted via the Ancestry message service by a Liz investigating her ancestor, an Annie CHARLES who had married an Edmund John CHIVERS in 1891, giving her father as one Henry CHARLES, and a witness being a C H CHARLES.
Her research had led her to Henry and Flora COMBELLACK in Wales in 1881 (family story about runaways, millers, gardeners and name changes from COMBELLACK to CHARLES).

With these hints, I have now found what looks like Nicholas aka Henry COMBELLACK aka CHARLES in Roath, Cardiff in 1901 as a widowed gardener, Henry CHARLES of the right age, birth place Gwendron, Cornwall, which I guess could pass as Welsh for Wendron .

Still can't find them in 1891 though.

Had a great deal of trouble finding Annie and Edmund anywhere beyond the marriage entry on FreeBMD, but eventually confirmed that it did rather look like she was the Anna, dtr of Nicholas and Honor as the 1911 census shows her as born Helston, Cornwall abt 1872 (Anna was Dec 1871 Sithney, Helston).
Edmund's military service record was very interesting reading (joined up in 1884, served until 1907, seeing service in Egypt and Sth Africa, and ended up being discharged from Ireland, getting a whole 5 pounds for his long service and good conduct over 23 years and 75 days service.
The only injury noted on his record was a head injury from being thrown from his cart when his mule shied at passing soldiers - in Aldershot.
So far this was all only circumstantial evidence of the right Annie, but the service record neatly lists all 5 of his children and adds considerably more circumstantial evidence in that one son was named Phillip Isaac Nicholas CHIVERS.
Phillip being Edmund's father, Isaac being a good DAWE name, and Nicholas being Annie's father.
I'm convinced. Now to see if C H CHARLES can be found and confirmed as Charles Henry COMBELLACK.
19th:Update time
Thought it time to publish some of the updates from the last few weeks.

WorldConnect Database LornaHenderson has been updated.
Main changes are in the Devon families mentioned over the last few postings:

In addition I've incorporated all recent changes into OneGreatFamily , as usual. I was interested to note the results of an informal survey that Dick Eastman carried out recently that question 12 about usage of on-line genealogy programs showed that of those answering this question (admittedly not a large number of responses), most used OneGreatFamily, so it can't just be me that finds it useful.

17th: Honor confirmed:
While adding Gladys ROWE into the copy of the tree I keep on Ancestry I deviated into attaching some available census data to Isaac Smith DAWE.
One thing always leads to another, and as Isaac and Betsey had grddtr Honor GALE born Marystow living with them in 1851, I also included her in the ancestry tree (where I can link to sources found there) and realised I'd never confirmed my suspicions from 2006 that she had married a John CREES. Back then FreeBMD could only provide a John CREES(E) who married in 1863, but no matching Honor. Which is now explained as they actually married in 1870.
There are a couple of trees researching this family from the CREES side, so I am reasonably happy that the id is correct.

16th: Definitely time for the Devon families:
Must be something in the air at the moment, with all this activity on the Devon branches of my tree.
Next WorldConnect update will include several more of the COMBELLACK family of Honor DAWE as several certificates have arrived to confirm my suspicions as to who married whom apart from Emily Jane where I drew a blank. The Emily Jane who married Hugh NICHOLLS was the dtr of Richard Toll COMBELLACK instead of Nicholas as I was hoping she would be. So her fate remains unknown beyond 1881 when she was in Bristol with brother Richard. And while all this activity was going on, yet another wonderful email arrived asking if I had any interest in a box of WILMERING memorabilia that included several photos letters and newspaper clippings relating to the family of Gladys ROWE and Norbert WILMERING. Thank you so much Bart, for sharing this little treasure trove.
Norbert is a relation of Bart's wife, and they had contacted a relation who had saved these boxes of memorabilia from an elderly WILMERING relation. The newspaper cuttings are in a grocery store's ledger book which begins in 1868, but was later used by Norbert's grandmother for the family clippings.
I feel yet more updates coming on!

13th: Let me count the ways...
How many variants can there be for finding the surname CREBER in the indexes?
A couple of marriage certs for Richard CREBERs turned up today, ordered after I got confused about the identification in 1841 of who Eliza was with.
(Eliza is the one from the other day's entry, who married Robert PEARCE, and sister of Henry CREBER, all of whom ended up in Ontario). The best 1841 candidate was of a 21 yr old Eliza with a Richard (34) and Mary (35) at Yealamade, Sheepstor.
However, that Richard doesn't exactly look like her brother Richard, as he is more likely to be with wife Mary (GILES) at Welltown, Walkhampton. The next most likely candidate, a cousin Richard, son of James CREBER and Agnes SPRY was married to 1st wife Margaret at the time (2nd wife Mary BALL didn't come along until 1844) and they appear at Huckworthy Bridge, Sampford Spiney as expected.
Looking at the other Richards in the timeframe led me to the 1801 Richard son of Richard CREBER and Elizabeth SPRY and I noticed that some ancestry trees provide him with a wife and family in London.
Took me a while to verify this, beyond the easily found, but inconclusive, marriage record to Elizabeth WARE.
Census data indexed them as CREBO (1851), ALBER (1861), COLBER (1871), and yes, one states he was born Walkhampton.
Yet another musical CREBER family, as Richard, and son Samuel are both enumerated as pianoforte makers.
Son Samuel added to the count, by being enumerated as CREVER (1861) but indexed as BREVER.
However, that didn't solve my mystery of the Sheepstor 1841 census Richard and Mary.

Creber, Barter and King descendant charts has been updated to include a few more twigs, as has the DAWE descendant chart, and a page for Honor DAWE (marr. to Nicholas/Henry COMBELLACK) has been added.

9th: Still no matches:
Given Family Tree DNA have just announced some greatly reduced mtDNA testing prices (yes, I've ordered the new Mega, full sequence mtDNA for myself), I also thought it was time I checked whether or not anything had popped up lately re the HENDERSON dna.
No, Bill and Russell, still show as the only matches each has in the entire FT DNA database. Some day, someone else will test that will match and give me some leads as to where Archibald may have come from.

4th:Happenstances galore:

Do so love it when assorted threads all come together.

A message arrived from ancestry accepting a correction I'd lodged some time ago so I checked to see who it was. As previously advised, I have loaded the basic ancestral tree onto ancestry (suspect the link will only work if you have a sub, or are accessing it via a library), and am adding connected people as I research them and find source data. So, given the correction was for a connected person, I added them to the tree, added the source I'd previously viewed, and connected them up to the previously loaded common ancestor. This led me to review where I'd got to with the family of Richard PEARCE and Mary HELSON. Putting the hints ancestry provided together with checking now more readily available sources, I've finally solved a long standing mystery (to me anyway, others may well have solved it long ago), AND connected up two previously separate branches of my Devon families. As I checked off the family of their son Robert, and couldn't find Robert and Elizabeth's son Richard anywhere in Canada after 1871, it dawned on me that I may have solved the mystery about the Mary PEARCE who married John OXENHAM and moved to Michigan. I now believe I've found the final proof (or sufficient additional circumstantial evidence) that she was indeed the dtr of Richard PEARCE and Mary HELSON.
John and Mary's dtr Betsy OXENHAM married a Richard H PEARCE/PEARSE/PIERCE, and shortly before their marriage, both had appeared in a Michigan Census as niece/nephew of John & Grace KEAGLE (that's still a mystery for another day).
Richard looked like he might be the son of a Robert & Eliza PEARCE in Belleville by 1851
I didn't have enough additional information at the time I last investigated this.
Coming to the family from a completely different angle this time, I landed on Eliza or Elizabeth CREBER, dtr of John and Ann (WORTH) CREBER as one of the hints ancestry provided and found that at least one tree thought she had married Robert PEARSE and emigrated to Ontario - yes Belleville. Guess I'll have to re-check the family of John and Ann (WORTH) CREBER however, as I had assumed she had died young, given there was a later baptism in Walkhampton of an Eliza to John and Ann.
Either it's a different John and Ann, OR someone was telling porkies, and the 1829 Eliza is actually a dtr of a dtr? I do admit I was a bit sceptical about adding her to the family, as Ann would be abt 51 by then.
It looks fairly clear that the 1821 Eliza or Elizabeth is indeed the one in Belleville, but I'm basing that mainly on two facts.
A son named Worth in one census (and William in the next), and that they were living next door to a Henry CREBER of an age and birthplace to be her brother Henry CREBER, whom I'd lost in England after a possibly 1841 sighting at Sampford Spiney with what looked like his cousin Richard.
So two found families for the price of one census entry, and the descendants of the HELSON/PEEK/ALGAR families matching up with those of the BARTER/KINGs.

I've updated the CREBER and PEEK/ALGAR descendant charts to include these new twigs, as well as adding assorted source data to them on the ancestry tree which may help others find more, given the variations in the indexing for these surnames: PIERCE, PEARSE, PEARCE, CREBER, CHEEBER, CHUBER, CREBAR just to name a few I can remember from today.

Next WorldConnect database update will include shifting some of the above people into my main database from LornaPotential, which holds those I've researched in some way and suspect they'll connect, but lack sufficient proof.

Back to the COMBELLACKs next, as Alan has kindly provided a copy of his data for me to work thru.

3rd:Nicholas vs Henry
Fully convinced that Nicholas COMBELLACK is the Henry with Flora in Cardiff in the 1881 census.
Alan sent me a copy of Isaac's marriage cert to Annie PUGH, which shows his father as Henry (by now a gardener, not a miller, even though it was probably as a miller he shifted to Wales).
He had been provided it by a previous researcher of this family also hitting the same puzzles.
I still need convincing that Flora is Honor though, given the gap in the children's ages, and the fact I cannot find the birth registrations of the youngest two as yet.
Mind you, looking at a badly written Flora in that census, I did wonder if it was someone's mistranscription onto an enumerator's sheet of another poorly written misspelt Honor.

1st:Finally found a couple of links I was missing in the family of Nicholas and Honor (DAWE) COMBELLACK to convince me who all these variously named people were:
Richard Thomas aka Richard Charles aka Richard marr. to Annie WOOD living Penzance
and
Isaac Daw aka Isaac aka Isaac Charles marr. to Annie PUGH and living Cardiff (buried Thanet)
have all been combined into the family of Nicholas and Honor, who may, or may not, be Henry and Flora in Cardiff in 1881.

For the curious, the links that finally convinced me were a couple of War Graves, and War memorials. Isaac's burial in Thanet records him as Isaac Charles, son of Nicholas and Honor and husband of Annie Pugh COMBELLACK of Roath, Cardiff
and Richard James, died Mesopotamia 1919 is shown as son of Mr and Mrs R T COMBELLACK of the same address as the Richard Charles COMBELLACK who married Annie WOOD.

My Rootsweb WorldConnect database LornaHenderson has been updated to reflect all the latest findings.

Sep 2009

29th:Confusing COMBELLACKs
This family is proving MOST intriguing to research. There are so many alternatives online, with different parents, different names, and they are particularly elusive in census records beyond 1871.
Found one note that said Nicholas and Honor(DAWE) COMBELLACK had moved to Wales where they became Henry and Flora. Certainly Henry's age and occupation fit, as do the oldest two children enumerated with them in Cardiff. But why suddenly say they were all born Bristol? Talk about re-inventing yourself.
Given the age gap between the two oldest children and the two younger ones, I'd guess that Flora might be a second wife, but if so, I've been unsuccessful to date in finding the marriage to Flora, or death of Honor.
I've posted some of the contradictions on the COMBELLACK message board in the hope that someone can chime in with evidence from BDM certificates and will keep digging.

As recent changes will show up on the DAWE descendant chart, it has been reloaded.

28th: Third time lucky:
I should have gone back to basics with Ellen Maud SKEWES. Instead, I compounded a problem.
No wonder I couldn't find her in 1901.
The Henry James H SIMMONS marrying in the 1894 qtr must have married the other bride.
Alan set me straight, pointing out he'd been told she married a Walter Hammond NALL.
Sure enough, he was the other groom that qtr.
Still took me a while to find them in 1901. Failed completely using findmypast census searches, but eventually found them on ancestry indexed as RALL (correction lodged) at Bere Alston.
Walter was a Congregational Minister from Sheffield, and they appear to have one dtr Edna Doris, who may or may not have been known as Doris (tentative id in 1911 census).

Check out the McADIE DNA Project Diary for some activity re assorted Watten pedigrees.

21st: The Blog version of this research diary has changed location and is now fully hosted on blogspot. Main reason for this shift is to enable better searching - use the search box "powered by Google", rather than the one at the top in the blog navigation bar which I've never had much success using.

Continuing the METTERS/SKEWES family updates.
Found an old "to do" note to myself to check out Ellen Maud SKEWES again, and as a result I've removed the son I had assigned to her and assigned him back to the other Henry and Ellen SYMONS/SIMMONS. Interesting that both Ellens were born Bere Ferrers, however the Henrys were Henry William SYMONS and Henry James H SIMMONS. Still looking for the latter Henry and "my" Ellen after their marriage in 1894 though.

Big Brother has been updated, so all trees should now show be latest versions.

20th: As part of the attention being given to descendants of Richard MATTERS and Patience PIKE at the moment, I reviewed their son William supposedly born Aug 1796 Bere Ferrers.
I had, from data originally supplied to me, and not independently checked, that there were two Williams in the family, one 1783 and another 1796, so I'd assumed the first had died.
Today I checked the family off against the Bere Ferrers baptisms and came to the conclusion that there was only one William, the 1783 one, who hadn't obviously died young (no burial up to 1805). So, I've deleted my second William from the family. Thought I'd found him in Tavistock with wife Ann in a couple of census records, but eventually discounted that identification as he thought he was born Bridestow.

19th: My WorldConnect database LornaHenderson has been updated to include recent activity.

Mainly this has been on Quebec FAIRBAIRNs and the HUDSONs, thanks mainly to Adeline who contacted me questioning the reported HUDSON/FAIRBAIRN links which most sources show as two sets of siblings marrying siblings.
I think we both ended up satisfied that the family records looked correct, and that her HUDSONs were a different set, despite family stories from descendants of the FAIRBAIRN/HUDSON lot.
As a result of the activity, several Quebec FAIRBAIRN marriages were also checked off, and assorted related census data checked, including a couple of quite modern ones which show a FAIRBAIRN/TAYLOR marriage where the TAYLOR side of the equation has a link to Thurso which rather piqued my interest, given my TAYLOR connections from Caithness (not yet investigated, but if anyone knows anything more about a William TAYLOR from Thurso who may have emigrated to Quebec and can elucidate, do get in touch).

Another rash of activity was prompted by Alan of Christchurch contacting me about Daniel Hodge SKEWES, brother of his ancestor. This made me realise that I'd never finished processing the Bere Ferrers headstone photos I'd taken back in 2006, so several of the METTERS family this Daniel married into have also been updated (ongoing). He also answered my un-investigated question on how come Daniel's son Samuel was a Samuel Dawe SKEWES, although as yet, neither of us know anything about the DAWE connection beyond Alan advising me that Samuel's mother was an Anne DAWE who died aged 32.
One of the connected family that I'm not having much joy in finding is John COURTIS son of John and Mary (TOLL) COURTIS, (who both died young their headstone in Bere Ferrers shows them both dying on 28th February, one in 1863 the other in 1866). Eldest known son is John Humphrey or Humphries COURTIS, who disappears after the 1861 census, but may be the John H COURTIS in Lewisham, London with a wife Nellie, "living on means" and born Tavistock.
Certainly some of his siblings are enumerated as born Tavistock once they've moved away from Devon (sister Mary Ann CHEAL nee COURTIS)

And after many years of using ancestry.com but avoiding trusting my data to them beyond the above RootsWeb World Connect databases, I've given in, despite their terms and conditions of what they can do with your data. (I got the pip with their OneWorldTree which merged in ridiculous data and made it look like mine, at least now it looks like any merging will be only at my request!).
So, I've uploaded a very basic tree of my direct ancestors and their siblings, and as I research assorted relations, am adding to it with the attached census and BMD data, or whatever I find on ancestry.
As a result the tree is very much a subset of my total data (as are all my online trees, some more than others), but newly added information will be attached to source images. It may not always be clear how the research connects to the ancestors as I may not have got round to linking them up with the connecting people however!

OneGreatFamily continues to be updated with more completely and more regularly and contains slightly more people than the WorldConnect db, with all their BMD data but no attached sources as I still love their merging of families into one huge tree, although some of the outer edges can be a bit suspect most of the merges I've checked off do look quite kosher, and have provided several good leads.

9th: Another chuckle from some general searching in some online newspapers using Thornham as a keyword.
Up came a completely unrelated Thornham in this marriage entry reported in The Manchester Times and Gazette (Manchester, England), Saturday, November 3, 1838; Issue 528.
"On the 25th Ult. at Prestwich Church, Mr Samuel Cheetham, manufacturer of Shaw, to Miss Schofield, of Thornham, after a tedious courtship of fifteen years."

Reason for looking?
The ALGAR family of Devon is taking up most of my research interest and time at the moment.
One descendant was an Elizabeth (dtr of Samuel & Wilmot ALGAR), who is shown on the 1920s chart as marrying farmer William MEDLAND.
Extracted records from the IGI provide them with one dtr, Elizabeth Algar MEDLAND.
A tree on Rootsweb, and the IGI provide a marriage of Elizabeth MEDLAND to a William PEARSE, 1811 at Ivybridge, (both of Modbury, witnesses William PEARSE and John MEATHREL), and four children, the eldest being William baptised Ermington 1813, another being Henry Medland PEARSE.
Census records provide a likely candidate for this 1813 William who mostly says he was born Modbury, but by 1891, reverts to saying he was born Ermington.
If he is the right chap, this is the PEARSE family of Thornham that handily feature in many documents extracts of which appear online on the UK National Archives website. Linkages above remain to be proven but the dates and places fit, including an 1826 marriage of William PEARSE to Catherine Charlotte HOOKEY which post-dates Elizabeth Algar nee MEDLAND's 1824 death, and this couple's presence in the 1841 census at Thornham, with William's assumed son William born between 1811 and 1816.
I do admit to some doubt however in that there's also a lease from Samuel & Elizabeth PEARSE to William PEARSE, carpenter of Yealmpton. If this is some property being kept in the family, William's occupation should be farmer, as the two generations of Williams were farmers of Thornham, and the next William (William Henry Dunning PEARSE, born 1847) a bank clerk.

Also found several more earlier ALGARs in New England, but this time voluntarily. Brothers Andrew & Arthur ALGAR, of Richmond Island in Maine by 1635ish (from Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33, by Robert Charles ANDERSON)
Data relating to these families is also recorded in a history from the other side of the Atlantic in The New Maritime History of Devon: From early times to the late eighteenth, found on Google books.

3rd: Still digging around on ALGARs.
Had a chuckle at one discovery. Found one Arthur ALGAR part of a "transport" to Virginia in 1731 after being convicted at the Devon Assizes.
I then found another site recording the earliest ALGARs in America, amongst whom was one Arthur ALGAR who "emigrated to Virgina in 1731". This may, or may not, be the Arthur baptised 1693 to Andrew and Mary (CURTIS) ALGAR in Yealmpton.
The ALGAR chart has been updated with a few more checked out baptisms (still mostly from the IGI as I check off the 1920s chart Richard kindly sent me a copy of, but supplemented by assorted leasing transcripts on the UK National Archives site, and web searches).

Aug 2009

29th: The PEEK surname link to a descendant chart has been replaced by a Peek/Algar page with charts for both surnames. It's been an interesting exercise fossicking around in assorted lease agreements held in the Devon Archives and swapping notes with Richard up the road on who belongs where.
My knowledge of the area around Newton Ferrers, Yealmpton, Ugborough is growing somewhat.
I do wonder how on earth Elizabeth ALGAR of Newton Ferrers met up with Richard PEEK/PYKE of Walkhampton!

28th: My main web pages have been fully reloaded, others will follow as time permits.

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

27th: With a couple of separate sets of information and new contacts re the extended PEEK/HELSON family of Devon it was time for a catch up.
Thelma left a note in my GuestBook. She is related to Elizabeth THOMPSON, wife of David COOPER, son of Ellen Jane HELSON (Ontario) and provided a couple of family write-ups from the ?1970s? and a photo of Ellen and two of her sisters.
Peter on GenesReunited found me and provided a link to his tree which is the line from Thomas HELSON and Elizabeth PEEK via son John (married Elizabeth HORTOP). All of which reminded me that I don't think I've ever mentioned the local ALGAR link that surfaced back in May and led to an interesting exchange of emails with Richard, a 5th cousin twice removed who lives just up the road.
It led to a re-examination of my 5*great grandmother, Elizabeth ALGAR, wife of Richard PEEK, who appears in the tree as Mrs Elizabeth ALGAR, from my interpretation of their marriage entry in the Walkhampton Parish Registers.
Richard disputes the Mrs, given that he's sure he can claim Elizabeth as sister to his x greats grandfather, Samuel (and take Samuel's line back several more generations, mostly in Yealmpton).

PEEK descendant chart updated, as is Elizabeth PEEK nee ALGAR's page.

Also updated OneGreatFamily with the last few weeks of updates to anyone already on-line in any of my databases or web pages.

26th: Time for a catch up for the databases on-line at WorldConnect: LornaHenderson and LornaPotential have both been updated, but may not appear in index searches for a couple of days, so if you want to check anything there, use the links in this post.

LornaHenderson contains basic BMD data on all rellies and those connected to them (no data published on the living, who may not even appear in this database at all). LornaPotential is also basic BMD data only, but for families that may, or may not, connect to my assorted families.

All source data available on request, or, check my web pages to see if anyone you are interested in has been given a page of their own there, with sources.

23rd: Brief flurry of activity on some of the Devon DAWE families, prompted by emails to/from Val and a long overdue filing session.

Main family to benefit from the attention was one of the many Isaac DAWEs as I tried to find the family in 1911, not always successfully. It makes sense that the Isaac married to Amy FOLLETT, and Thirza STEVENS, is the 64 yr old whose death is registered Dartmouth 1917. But if so, where on earth was he in 1911? Found several of the children, but as yet, no Isaac.
NB Val provided the information that Amy didn't die in childbirth as I'd thought was likely, but was kicked by a cow, his narrative has been updated.

The DAWE/DAW Surname dna project would very much like to recruit a representative of (m)any of the Devon DAWE/DAW families to see how they may inter-relate, and whether or not those in Newfoundland are our (distant) relations.
All you have to be is a direct male line descendant of any of the Devon DAWE families, the more the merrier.

Read all about dna testing, and see the existing Newfoundland family at the Summary pages on the WorldFamilies network, and supplementary information on the DNA Projects Portal pages.
(Other projects have had great success in both proving and dis-proving relationships not able to be determined by paper trails).

22nd: Think I might have to conclude Dorothea Beatrice GOULD is NOT Dora Myrtle FAIRBAIRN.
I've found a curious death record at Adlophustown, Lennox Co, Ontario of a Dorothea Beatrice GOULD (indexed as Serethea Beatrice), supposedly aged 6, in 1907, informant one Thos J GOULD of E 17 Con 4, which just happens to be exactly where Thomas James GOULD was living in 1911. But 6!! Dorothea should be 22 in 1907 (ancestry's transcribers interpreted the age as 67, but the line below is 58y, so I think the 7 of the 67 is actually "y").

This family really doesn't know their birth dates.
In 1901 Thomas James GOULD with second wife Celia Ann (OLIVER) and family show their children as: Florence M 7, being born 23 Jul 1883 (actual birth cert shows 23 Jul 1893, so the 7 and day/mth were correct); Roy E as 5 born May 19 1885 (cert. is Ernest Roy born 19 May 1895); John B as 3 born 1 Jun 1887 (John Bogart GOULD's birth was registered 1 Jun, but the cert. shows his birth date as 12 May 1897); perhaps the enumerator thought he was doing the 1891 census? I've rechecked the image, it was definitely the 1901 I was looking at. By 1911 normality was resumed, Dorothea not with them, and no marriage, or other death record obvious in Ontario.

So back to the drawing board and trying harder to interpret the "squiggle something daughter" on her 1901 census entry where Dora is enumerated with Mary FAIRBAIRN (nee STRAIN).

19th: Those two lone FAIRBAIRNs in Brant's database that I mentioned the other day have revived my curiousity about Dora Myrtle FAIRBAIRN.
Brant kindly provided Dora Myrtle HART nee FAIRBAIRN's obituary, which reinforces that, as her marriage cert shows, she thought her name was Dora Myrtle.
I've placed a post-it against Dora on the online Rootsweb database of Rita in the hope that someone may be able to shed some light on this mystery (Rita's 2003 email address bounces, but there appear to be quite a few living descendants, so someone out there might have an answer)

I'm interested in what anyone may be able to tell me about the family of Franklin HART and Dora Myrtle FAIRBAIRN of Fredericksburg, Ontario.

I'm working on a theory that Dora Myrtle is actually Dorothea Beatrice, dtr of Thomas James GOULD and Agnes Bush FAIRBAIRN.
Agnes died 3 Dec 1886, and dtr Dorothea Beatrice appears with her father Thomas in 1891 (as 5 yr old Dorothea B) and 1901 (Dorah D 15 b Jun 27 1885).
If she and Dora Myrtle are one and the same, how come she also appears with Mary nee STRAIN in 1891 (as dtr Dora FAIRBAIRN, 4) and 1901 (as "something" dtr Dora FAIRBURN, 13 b 27 Jun 1886 or 1887).
The "something" may be an abbreviation for adopted?.

I can't find any other way of explaining Dora Myrtle.
Her marriage cert to Franklin HART shows her parents as James FAIRBAIRN & Mary STRAIN, ie Agnes Bush FAIRBAIRN's parents, but she patently cannot be the dtr of Mary FAIRBAIRN nee STRAIN, although she could be her grddtr.
The puzzle is how come a Dorothea Beatrice can turn into a Dora Myrtle, and show up in two places on two separate censuses.

If they aren't one and the same person, who on earth is Dora Myrtle (the Myrtle only shows up on her marriage cert to Franklin, and her obit as far as I can tell) who appears to share the same birthday and month, and probably year, as Dorothea Beatrice.

So, I'm hoping for some family knowledge and someone who may be able to explain all this.
My interest is the FAIRBAIRNs. I've been trying to find more proof of my assumption of where Archibald James FAIRBAIRN, married to Mary STRAIN, fits into the picture, and one way of doing that is to find descendants who may have either family stories, or be willing to represent his line in the FAIRBAIRN dna project (he himself appears not to have had sons, so his particular line is a literal dead end as far as dna testing goes, but someone might be in touch with cousins).

18th: Slight digression from the 1861 Ontario census.
Brenda drew my attention to a ROWE tree on GenesReunited that had Bickleigh connections.
The family (that of John ROWE and Mary WALTERS) has been sitting in my LornaPotential database for a while, to no particular conclusion as to whether or not their proximity to Matthias and Ann (KING) ROWE at Hele in Bickleigh was coincidence.

Jury still out, but next update, more of the names and dates will have been checked off and included. Unlike my ROWEs, who travelled one way to New Zealand, this family came back to England, after a soujourn in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

17th: Some time ago I'd noted a Donald FAIRBAIRN entering the States in 1917 with wife Mabel, giving as his "address whence came", that of his brother Archie in Vancouver.

My genealogical ears prick up when I spot unknown Archibald FAIRBAIRNs, but at the time I couldn't place him, or Donald/Mabel.

Happened upon them in my database again today and decided to see what additional information might now be available.

Turned out to be a red herring as far as an Archibald immediately able to be connected to my known FAIRBAIRN families was concerned, but did allow me to connect up three other waifs and strays I'd noted in passing, as being one and the same Archibald.
"Brother Archibald" turned out to be Archibald McDonald Duff FAIRBAIRN, and Donald was St George Donald Frere FAIRBAIRN, both born Sth Africa, sons of William Archibald Shaw FAIRBAIRN, born c 1850 East London, Cape Colony (Sth Africa) and Anna Georgina SMITH born Jamaica. Although not my immediate family, I'm curious to know whether or not their forbears were from the Scottish Borders, and whether or not there are descendants who may be interested in the FAIRBAIRN dna project, given how inter-related such families are proving to be.

15th: Bobby's preliminary dna results are in, so the DNA Projects Portal site now includes the first BAIN kit, yet another of my main lines represented.
Way too early days to say where that will lead, but no immediate matches to others in the project already.

See also the other DNA project diaries to keep track of what's changed there, mainly the FAIRBAIRN one as several pedigrees have been added over time, and more results are now in, adding to the jigsaw of the Borders FAIRBAIRNs.

11th: Stumbled across Brant's forest with its two lone FAIRBAIRNs that looked a bit familiar.
And so it proved, and provided a wonderful new contact, Jim, with his local knowledge of the Napanee/Lennox & Addington area. (He has a connection to Peter Nelson KELLER, whom I've just found married to Mary Catherine FAIRBAIRN.)

All of which spurred me on to seeing how many of my Ontario relations and connections might be able to be found in the 1861 census now that it is more readily available.
Could take me a while, after a couple of days I'd only winnowed the list down to some 630, and I'm always prone to being sidetracked.

9th: I'd either not looked, or not found, Helen, dtr of James and Joan (FORSYTH) FAIRBAIRN in the 1841 census until now.
Whilst looking for something else, I happened across a proclamation for her marriage to Robert "SAFLAY" in the Peebleshire OPRs (Traquair) "Robert Saflay of the Parish of Melrose, Helen Fairbairn of this parish".
Having previously been satisfied that they had married in Melrose, I'd not looked further afield.
Spurred on by this find, I searched Peebleshire 1841 census, and found her as a female servant at Cardrona House (James & Elizabeth KER), supposedly along with an Isabella and Mary FAIRBAIRN as well, according to Ancestry transcriptions.
However, FreeCen says the latter are THORBURNs instead. There was an Isabella FORSYTH, not born county, with her though, possibly a cousin?

7th: Realised that I'd not entered all the known (to me) children of Archibald & Jane (BLAKEY) FAIRBAIRN when I first started tracing them. A dtr Jane and son John show up in the 1861 Ontario census, and when reviewing other data, I realised there was also a dtr Helen or Ellen, born 1848 back in Cowpen, Tyneside, fate beyond the 1851 UK census as yet unknown.
They'll show up online next update.

1st: As I worked thru the Surrogates Notice I realised that it referred to a nephew of Barbara's that I'd assumed had died young. Last year Betsy had thought she might have found William George son of James and Elizabeth (O'CONNELL) FAIRBAIRN as a riveter in Detroit in the 1880 census.
At the time I couldn't find him to work out whether or not I agreed or disagreed, but now, with the Surrogate Notice implying that he was still alive in 1896 I became rather more determined, and found suitable candidates in Buffalo, Erie Co, NY 1900, 1910 and 1930, but so far 1920 eludes me.
I am now convinced the 1880 riveter is our William, particularly as the 1871 Canadian census is now more readily available and the full images are available instead of just a heads of household index and he was indeed in Canada with his parents then.
This has added names like Lillian (MARK), Anna, Lester, Edmund, Marion, Eugene and Evelyn to the descendants of James and Joan (FORSYTH) FAIRBAIRN, along with the ever present William, James and Robert names. There may, or may not, also be an Ermina.
So, if you recognise any of these names with Buffalo connections, we would love to hear from you (particularly if you are FAIRBAIRN son and willing to represent this line in the DNA project as we still don't have a representative of a line with a fully confirmed paper trail back to Archibald and Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN to support our inferred dna signature for Archibald.

The Portsmouth CHIPP/WARE updates will appear in my next upgrade to Rootsweb db LornaHenderson. Yet another instance of two sisters marrying two brothers. Thanks Helen for bringing this to my attention, and Colin for his ancestry tree (with photos).

Jul 2009

28th: What a wonderful happenstance find today.
Dick Eastman's newsletter mentioned the Fulton History site and its newspapers.
So I popped in a search for FAIRBAIRN and Delaware to see what would pop out.
By some miracle of modern technology, one of the items I got was a Surrogate's Court Notice for a list of people, presumed to be beneficiaries of Barbara FAIRBAIRN otherwise known as FAIRCHILD, requesting their attendance at the probate of her last will and testament.
Managed to identify everyone listed, and as a result, also realised I'd not found some of them in later records. The family of Thomas & Anna SCOTT have now advanced to 1920 for Anna and two of the daughters (Vernona/Verona, and Beatrice) but lost them all again after that. Also added a husband and child for Viola (George C and Kenneth G HINMAN respectively) by the 1930 census. In the 1910 census George says he's been married 4 times, in 1930 he says he was first married at age 28, which makes him marrying 4 times between about 1906 and 1910. And in what looks like his death in Connecticut in 1950 the index says "never married", but wife Viola's death in 1964 shows her as widower, husband George.
Nothing like a good mystery - anyone out there interested in George C HINMAN, born NY about 1875/8, foreman in sewing machine factory. Parents either both b NY, or father b CT, mother b PA.

27th: Big brother, my main family tree web site, has been updated. Needed to fix a few broken links, realised I hadn't included my McADIE direct line as yet, despite linking to it from the McADIE Surname dna project pages.
This update should also improve some of the Google map links from the place index. I understand that Google changed something that made the links not open at the correct place, and an update has been provided from John Cardinal of Second Site (developer of my web page generation software) that should overcome this until Google come up with a fix.

Other updates that may show:
A few extra twigs on the tree of James & Mary Bell/Mabel (THOMSON) FAIRBAIRN.
Thanks to the efforts of Gordon in BC and Andrea, and Facebook, a couple of the mystery lines have been advanced, Robert Henderson FAIRBAIRN having been confirmed as the one in Vancouver in 1958, and finding that his son moved to Denver.
Still looking for his brother John's son John Douglas FAIRBAIRN however.

Pending updates include the line of David H COOPER, a PIKE/HELSON descendant (see Guestbook), and some updates to the Devon line of Fred WARE, thanks to MyHeritage SmartMatching.

22nd: Spate of activity on Peter's tree as he has become curious about his maternal side of the family.
The GRAINGER pages have therefore had some preliminary updates in the hope of winkling out someone who knows something about the family of Thomas A GLOVER of Worcester. If I've identified the correct Thomas in 1911, his family were actually glovers by trade.

16th: Probably time I updated Big Brother again, seem to have got sidetracked from keeping my main pages updated.

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

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

8th: Wouldn't you know it. As soon as I decide there's a lull on updates to the visible, published, data, along comes a bunch more, just after I've updated the online databases!

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

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

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

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

7th: Don't seem to be keeping very good track of just what updates have been done for reporting them here, but regardless of whether they've been noted or not, all updated data will now be included in the full update of all the BDM data I've just run for my: World Connect databases and the last three months of updates have been updated to OneGreatFamily where they will automatically be merged with any existing families there (and any differences with either my earlier data, or that from any other researcher for the same person, highlighted for further investigation, I do so love that feature).
My submissions to OGF only include the same data for those of my database that I publish online somewhere else, eg my web pages, the WorldConnect databases above, and some of the data from the Patriarch pages on the summary dna pages on the World Families Network dna projects (generally only the earlier generations in this case, and where I've checked off the data first as best I can, and they belong to linked families I'm particularly interested in), but there they get combined with other researchers' data and inter-connected families show up easily.
There were 685 of these in the last 3 months it appears.
To make sure that every "family" that had been updated had enough information to enable the matching logic on OGF to slot them into their rightful places rather than leave them as orphans never to be found again, I made sure that all families had two generations with spice/parents as applicable included. This resulted in about 830 people being sent to OGF this run.

2nd: The results from the recent FamilyTree DNA discount promotions are starting to trickle through (some from batch 309 and 312 have both arrived, but a particular result I'm waiting for in batch 311 is still not evident).
Check the assorted dna project diaries (listed on the DNA Projects Portal blog) to see what has changed, eg our first McADIE result has started coming in, one of the FAIRBAIRN results has shown quite a close connection between two families not linked by a paper trail.

Jun 2009


21st: 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.

20th: Brenda has turned up an unexpected connection between her ancestors that makes some of the Taranaki families even more inter-related than before, albeit distantly.
On her RIDDLE forebears she turned up a family of MATTENLY (or MATTINGLYs) whose descendants married into one of her husband's, and my ROWE family, that of Frank COLLINGS' daughter Joyce who married George F GIBBONS. The same MATTENLY family also track down to Brenda.
The linkages, but not full trees, will be included in my WorldConnect database LornaHenderson in due course.

13th: I was stuck on my TURNBULLs, and had been contacted by a chap with an interest in Peter's GRAINGERS (in America rather than Worcester by this stage). Names like Canute, Ebissa, Quendrid, are rather more interesting to search, and excepting the vagaries of indexed versions of their names, mostly findable. Peter's GRAINGER pages have therefore been updated with a few more twigs on the charts.

11th: Anyone still thinking about joining in the fascination of dna projects but put off by the cost, now is an excellent time to jump in.
Family Tree DNA are offering a great discount on their Y-DNA37 test, throwing in an mtDNA test for less than the usual price of just the Y-DNA37 and significantly less than the usual price for this combined test.
37 markers is a good entry level for genealogical purposes, and can always be upgraded to 67 at a later stage if interesting matches ensue.
Find your surname of choice, and join the relevant project.
The ones I have an interest in are all on the DNA Projects Portal, but a search at either the World Families Network pages, or Family Tree DNA will give you more options.

10th:Confirmation received that Douglas Maes TURNBULL did indeed marry Madeline Hilda IZON in Hartford, Northwich, Chester, in 1914.
Didn't have a great deal of success with any subsequent sightings, other than a possibility of her being the Mrs Douglas TURNBULL arriving back into the UK from Montreal, with 3 yr old son Eric, UK address being Hempstead, Herts, future inteded residence "foreign".
Thought a name like IZON, father John Parnell IZON, might be reasonably easy to trace back a little way out of curiousity, but there are rather too many of the latter around for any certainty of identification.

8th: A descendant of David and Johnina (BAIN) OAG has found me, and provided some updates for her branch of the family (many thanks Lindsay). This revived my interest in attempting to verify, yet again, exactly how many children Johnina actually had.
I have been told 13 survived out of 22, and have (had) 22 names/dates, but I haven't managed to verify 3 of them. This latest contact makes me think that John born 8 Mar 1910 is one and the same as Jackie supposedly born 15 Mar 1911 (unverifed), especially when you realise that Hugh was verifed as born 15 May 1911 (bdm 43/145) and the only John reg. 1911 in Wick was 43/74, so unlikely to be a twin. The clincher for me being that Jackie died 1961 and the only death registration that matches is a John of the right age. So, my version of the family has shrunk by one child, and I'm still trying to verify the births of a Christina, supposedly married to a James someone, and of Janet supposedly married to John someone.

Any advance on 21 for poor Johnina, and married names for Matilda, Christina, Janet?

Bobby also provided some updates to descendants of John and Elizabeth (CLYNE) BAIN.

Of all of the above very little will be visible on the web pages, apart from the BAIN chart, which has been updated.

May 2009

30th: Prompted by Karen's STEPHENSON letters I realised I'd not looked for the more modern day twigs of the TURNBULL family in the 1911 census.
Only had partial success with that, but did obtain several sightings of Sir Robert's son Noel and wife Ivy Florence on assorted passenger lists travelling to/from Marseilles, Madiera and England over the years (and finally found Ivy's surname - Burborough).
Have not yet determined whether or not Robert's brother Walter Maes TURNBULL's family has any surviving descendants but should shortly know whether or not Walter's son Douglas Maes TURNBULL is the Douglas marrying a Madeline Hilda IZON in 1914 or not.

28th: Just like the buses! Nothing in the guestbook for a while, then 2 postings come along at once.
One from Karen drawing my attention to a book of memoirs of David Stephenson, '50 years on the London and North Western Railway' (McCorquodale & Co. Limited, Cardington St, Euston, N.W. 1891, ed Leopold Turner), which she had found on-line. Included in it are several letters to the Rev. Robert TURNBULL from David Stephenson, and also some mention of "Bob" the lodger with the Stephenson family in Nuneaton. That takes some family knowledge to translate! "Bob" is the Rev. Robert TURNBULL's son Robert, later Sir Robert TURNBULL, Superintendent of the Line for the LNWR.
In the 1871 census he was indeed shown as a visitor (19 yr old railway clerk) in the household of David STEVENSON (49 yr old railway manager). David's family included a 6mth old daughter Edith, Karen's great grandmother. Small, inter-connected, world.
Thank you for bringing that to my attention Karen, look forward to hearing if there are more unpublished letters that may have survived between the STEPHENSONs and the TURNBULLs.
The other was from Karina in Winnipeg letting me know what had happened to a twig of the inter-connected ROWE/DAWE tree. Updates to the charts will appear next time I publish.

17th:Realised that in my last web page update that I'd forgotten to check and upload the page for John FAIRBAIRN of New York. Now remedied, as is the incorrect chart that was attached to Archibald and Jane (BLAKEY) FAIRBAIRN.

Currently working on Emma dtr of William George FAIRBAIRN and Sarah Ann FARRELL. This being prompted by Betsy trying yet again to find out what happened to her William George, and my finding this William's death cert in Michigan instead.
I'd been putting off investigating Emma further for quite some time, as the data I had was contradictory. It still is. What a woman. I'd previously discounted an id of her as being the one married to John Noble CARRUTHERS 1888 Otter Lake, Pontiac Co, Quebec, as the info I had at the time said that one was an Emily Marion born in Cavan Co, Ireland in 1869, instead of the 1863/4 Ontario or Quebec I had for Emma (7 born Ontario in 1871) or Amma (17 born Quebec in the 1881) at home with her parents.
So far for the Emma with John Noble CARRUTHERS I've added a birth date of Feb 1847 Ontario (1911 census Saanich), Feb 1854 Canada (1900 Bear Creek Twp, Emmet Co, Michigan), and the expected circa Mar 1865 Ontario (1901 Victoria, BC). The 1869 Ireland apparently comes from her 1948 death cert in Portland, Multomah Co, Oregon!
Even Reby adds to the confusion for the family as she apparently has Emma and her sisters Jane E and Anna with dates in the right relationship but 10 yrs out. I guess I'll give in, now that at least one of the records with John has a plausible date/place, and add Emily Marion into the Quebec FAIRBAIRN family. She fits in well by the criteria of never knowing, or giving, an accurate age or date of birth!

15th: Remember how I claimed to be related to the Hound of the Baskervilles ? (Hounding ROWEs, Baskerville Connection, and Elementary my dear ROWE)

Here's the hotel, and a story about the recent family reunion: Duchy Hotel ROWE family reunion

14th: Betsy has made contact with a branch of our FAIRBAIRNs (descendants of David F. and Jane HERD) in British Columbia. This prompted me to review what records I hadn't yet checked for this line.
Missing was the now available 1916 census for Saskatchewan, so I've finally found the names of the 3 in the family I knew I was missing.
The FAIRBAIRN chart from Archibald and Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN has therefore now been updated.

FamilyTree DNA have advertised an upgrade promotion. Those eligible should receive an email with more details and a link to order at a discounted price (I've yet to see such an email, but the flier I received as an admin says that is what will happen). The promotion runs for a week and should be a good chance to upgrade where we would very much like to see what happens in some specific markers.

Check out the FAIRBAIRN DNA Blog for more results for the New York connection, which is looking good!

13th: Don't you know it!
The minute that you run a major update, new findings always hove into view!

I'd been avoiding checking the newly available online (from ScotlandsPeople) Scottish OPR Deaths and Burials as I knew
a) they were very sparse records
b) often didn't have much conclusive details
c) that I'd get sidetracked from all sorts of things as a result.

Not even sure why I decided to check for something today, but for whatever reason I've started looking at some of the Roxburgh FAIRBAIRNs, and have already found the burial, or at least the mortcloth payment, for Archibald FAIRBAIRN of St Boswells, and a rather more puzzling, but very informative, entry for Margaret PURDIE nee FAIRBAIRN and her son William, in the Melrose OPRs.
The least of the puzzle is trying to figure out where the family was in 1848, so if anyone can point me to what I interpret as Cairlion, presumably in the Parish of Melrose, I would appreciate it, as my web searches to date only bring up Arthurian references to Cair Lion.
The more major part of the puzzle is that it clearly states that son William PURDIE died the day after she did, and was aged 23, which age is plausible as Margaret and Charles PURDIE married in Melrose in 1821.
However, I already had a son William for this couple, whose 1864 marriage cert to Ann ROBSON says he was a 19 yr old shepherd, so born c 1845/6ish. Census data mostly corroborates this, although the 1901 transcription on ancestry does imply 1843ish. Whichever you believe, all point to a birthdate prior to the death of an older brother William in the family.
A closer search of the IGI showed I'd missed a couple of baptisms in Melrose for the family with mother Margaret spelt as Margt. The relevant FAIRBAIRN chart has been updated.


12th: In the last couple of days Ed has brought to my attention that one of his New York FAIRBAIRNs had not died young and without a family, as previously thought.
He'd found a reference in the 1933 Catskill Mountain News archives referring to Delacey FAIRBAIRN having visited "home", aka Margaretville, from Floral Park, L.I. New York.
Research added a wife (Ernestine SHERBER) and two children, Marie and James, and showed that by now his surname had morphed into FAIRBEN.
Earlier references in the same newspapaer archives showed this spelling as early as 1884.

It was therefore finally time to get all the last couple of months updates to the database published, so the Rootsweb WorldConnect databases LornaHenderson and LornaPotential have been fully reloaded with whatever research has added in that time.
The main tree change was probably bringing the New York FAIRBAIRNs in from LornaPotential into LornaHenderson as they are definitely related, as per findings from the FAIRBAIRN DNA project, but there have been a heap of others.

PS It does rather look like that although we've found a branch of the FAIRBAIRN tribe, we have also tragically lost one of the younger ones. It has not yet been proven that Keith G. FAIRBEN of Floral Park, one of the ambulance people who lost their lives on 9-11, is definitely a descendant of Walter Delacey's, but place and dates make it likely.
6th: What with the number of changes of late, the exciting developments out of the Fairbairn DNA Project etc it is time I did a full site update. The newly released version of Second Site, allows me to easily include some additional information on people not included on the site with a page of their own. The main change as a result of this is that below each person's page, if they have family, lifespan dates (mth/year only) now show.
Big Brother has therefore had a full refresh. If I've missed some links somewhere, please let me know.

Apart from a general tidy-up the main changes that I can remember are: I see that there's a clutch of "Recent changes" shown for the LOCKIE/RUNCIMAN family, but they can be ignored, I was simply attaching a source document and tidying up some source citations, no new information involved.

5th: Johnnie comes marching home: Well "Johnnie" actually left Scotland prior to the American Civil War, and in fact had been in NY State for nigh on 20 years before becoming embroiled in it even.
The Fairbairn Surname DNA Project Diary has the details on the latest findings that explain this comment more fully, but basically, I think we're well on the way to welcoming the John son of a Walter FAIRBAIRN of Roxburghshire, who was in Delaware Co, NY by at least 1841, probably earlier, into the family of Walter and Agnes (ROBERTSON/ROBISON) FAIRBAIRN.

Nearly three weeks since a post must be a record for me. Been busy doing lots of things, but the main one was testing for a new release of Second Site 3, the program I use to generate my web pages, particularly for the newly introduced component of it to cope with dna results and charts. The preliminary result of the changes can now be seen in the DNA Projects Portal Lineages section where most of the surnames recorded there now have a dna section on that site instead of referring you off to other sites.

Whatever else I've been up to will eventually surface in the web and online database updates that will follow in due course.

Apr 2009

18th: Further to the new FAIRBAIRN dna results, from yesterday, I've updated the page for the Archibald who married Janet SCOTT.
Still want to find a representative for the dna project down from Archibald's assumed brothers Walter, marr. Agnes ROBISON/ROBERTSON, David, marr. Jane HERD, and James, marr. Joan FORSYTH, to prove this Archibald is really their brother, not to mention the much more speculative "brother", Robert, marr. Kate (SCOTT?). Must be someone out there willing to help out.

17th: Addenda: Met up with one of my NZ BAIN "cousins" today for the first time. Apart from it being good to actually meet, it was also rather interesting to find out how we were connected to his wife via a different branch of Caithness BAINs. A couple of years ago they had met one of her relations at Spittal. Donald had mentioned blacksmiths and McBEATH connections, so I assumed it would be the South Calder BAINs, and so it turned out. John BAIN (1799-1882) who married Helen McBEATH, whose family connect several times over to my/our BAINs in the GRAY and TAYLOR families. Further details on those that connect to my forest can be found on my WorldConnect db LornaHenderson.

17th: More Fairbairns of course.
Today I received the preliminary dna results for Doug, a descendant of the miller Robert FAIRBAIRN of Vegreville, Alberta, son of an Archibald of Scotland and Jane of England. 12/12 with the presumed descendant of my Archibald and Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN via their son Archibald.
This latter Archibald had a son Archibald baptised in St Boswells in 1813, whom I had assumed, until recently, to have died prior to 1841.
However I had been researching more Ontario and Alberta FAIRBAIRNs and one lot led back to an Archibald and Jane (BLAKEY) whom I thought just might be the couple marrying in Tynemouth in 1841. That marriage cert showed Archibald as son of a gardener, Archibald. Age fitted, occupation of father possible, but not previously known.
Only 12 markers so far, but a perfect match with the representative of the line of Archibald and Janet (SCOTT) FAIRBAIRN, which Archibald I believe is the son of my Archibald and Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN.
Oh it would be so good to find a known, proven representative of Archibald and Alison to truly confirm this, but for now, I'll rest on my laurels for a while at having proven another theory, and placed the Ontario/Alberta family in the overall tree.

Descendant chart for Archibald and Alison updated, more to follow, particularly on the DNA Projects Portal site (check the dna blogs for further data when it is available, there's a list of them on the overall DNA Projects Portal Blog).

16th: This comment being prompted by publishing the ROW data for a new member of the ROW(E) DNA project. As he had roots in Devon, I've incorporated him into the ROWE related pages of the DNA Projects Portal. There's absolutely no way we'll ever find a paper trail to prove any connection, which connection is most likely pre-genealogical timeframes, but nonetheless, on the markers so far, there is indication of a (very distant) connection.

Have been re-examining info I have on the family of Ralph Archibald & Helen (CROW) FAIRBAIRN, and the WIGHTs of Longformacus, both families being forbears of David RICHARDSON (no relation). In due course his data will be included on their respective dna projects (FAIRBAIRN, WIGHT) in the hope of finding participants, but again, I keep getting sidetracked.

15th: Poor Great Grannie. Her web page has been further delayed as I continued tidying up the NY FAIRBAIRN branch that Ed and I think (hope) will turn out to belong to my Walter and Agnes (ROBISON/ROBERTSON) FAIRBAIRN. Still haven't updated any of my online databases (everytime I get close, another set of relations or new information pops out of the woodwork and sidetracks me).
However, I have updated the NY FAIRBAIRN descendant chart to show where I've got too (they'd better end up related after all the work it took trying to find them in rather inventively indexed census records!). Not everyone has been "found", so this chart is by no means complete.

12th: Seem to have covered a fair breadth of the forest today: McADIEs from Caithness *2, one lot the potential London descendants, the other the Australian connection, including a link (I think) to a separate FAIRBAIRN family, that of George FAIRBAIRN and Virignia ARMYTAGE, yet to be explored; a newfound twig of my FAIRBAIRNs in Pennsylvania; more of the NY FAIRBAIRNs;

I can feel some updates coming on, but there's a few loose ends to tie up before it is worth republishing both WorldConnect databases: LornaPotential and LornaHenderson

In addition a pedigree was received, and posted, for the ROWE dna project, yet another family originating in Devon, and although only some of his results are in, there does appear to be a (very) distant match to my Devon ROWE family.

Great grannie's web page didn't get a look in.

11th: Back to the New York FAIRBAIRNs of Delaware and Ulster Counties. While trying, still unsuccessfully, to find Lucia FAIRBBAIRN, dtr of John Francis, aka Frank, FAIRBAIRN and Delilah in 1910 and 1920 I stumbled across an instance of a chap recorded twice in the 1920.
Hillis FAIRBAIRN shows up once with Frank and Lucia (AVERY) FAIRBAIRN as their unmarried son working on a railway section (census taken 22-24 Jan). With the next entry being the widowed father of his wife Olive.
And also, on 25 Jan 1920 at home with his wife Olive and son David J FAIRBAIRN, enumerated as FAIRBEN with occupation as laborer Nth D? Section.
Lucia was subsequently found when it was pointed out to me that I'd misread her birth date in the census. Once I'd corrected that, things fell into place rather better, even if she was enumerated as Lutia A and indexed as Luter in one of them! Updates to the published info will follow in due course.

10th: Still meant to be doing other things, but I couldn't resist checking for one of the FAIRBAIRN families in the 1911, that of Archibald Henderson & Fanny Waite (FAIRBAIRN) FAIRBAIRN.  The index showed them living in Gateshead but with slightly different names to those expected, so I shelled out for the image. 
Nellie has turned into Helen Douglas, born Ednam; John into John Douglas; Isabella from earlier census records has become Elizabeth (which does match her birth registration).<br>
The address of 73 Crossley Terrace allowed me to connect up the Edward FAIRBAIRN I'd found travelling to and fro between England and Canada between 1931 and 1936 (and possibly earlier) as Archibald and Fanny's son.<br>
This FAIRBAIRN family is an amalgam of that of <a href="http://familytree.lornahen.com/dcfairbairnjamesthomsonmabel.htm">James & Mabel/Mary Bell (THOMSON) FAIRBAIRN of Eckford</a>, and that of the Ednam blacksmiths.  Still working on getting a dna representative for this line.<br>

8th: As the lack of posts signify, I've been a bit preoccupied this week, annual accounts to get to the auditor, and other things interfering with the fun stuff in life.

Took some time out from that however to do a quick update to the descendant chart for John & Elizabeth (MILLER) FAIRBAIRN of New York, as Rosalie couldn't see where she fitted into the overall scheme of things. More updates to come as I realised I hadn't finished checking off several of them in the census records etc. We'll soon know if all this is work on relations rather than just potential relations as a dna kit is winging it's way to the lab. Not that I'll want to believe it if we don't get an immediate match as I've more or less convinced myself that this John is a son of my Walter and Agnes (ROBISON/ROBERTSON) FAIRBAIRN of Morebattle, given he fits a gap in the known children, and we're looking for a son John to make the naming pattern fit.

4th: Received a surprising email last night, from Lyall in Westport whose grandfather had land next to land called "Crebers" locally.
He was wondering what I could tell him about Harry son of John A CREBER and Adelaide DOIDGE, original owner of said land.
Given that I had him born in Victoria (1863), and his father dying in Victoria (1886) I'd simply assumed they'd stayed put in Australia. Which turns out to be far from the case.
An immigration record on the "Claud Hamilton" showed the family moving from Melbourne to Hokitika in 1866, yet his two known siblings were born in the 1870s, back in Victoria.
Mum Adelaide shows up in the 1893 electoral rolls as a Matron at Larrikins, Westland and a death of the right age is recorded in 1914.
Harry married a Mary Elizabeth KING at Westport in his mother's house in 1901.
Papers Past has turned up some delightful little snippets, including that H Creber, assumed to be Harry, was coming third in an egg laying contest (!) with his silver wyandottes in 1905 (15 eggs that week 109 year to date).
Mary Elizabeth looks like she died 1937; Harry's brother John Ambrose looks like the 1899 death of the right age; but as yet, Harry eludes us, not being obvious in either NZ or Victorian death indexes.
Also in the area, gold mining at Kanieri, is an Ambrose CREBER, who may, or may not, be Harry's uncle. This family had both a John Ambrose, and an Ambrose, in the same family, both baptised Whitchurch, Devon.
So, never believe anyone saying our ancestors never moved around very much.

Made time to review the earliest WIGHTs. Bye bye Janet SWORD, hello Margaret HOUD.

More updates in the FAIRBAIRN DNA Project - check out the Project Diary.

3rd: Given my WIGHT activity at the moment, I thought it was time to publish what I had on the supposed earliest WIGHT in my tree, James, marr. to Jennat SWORD. However, as I say on the page, reviewing them after a number of years, I have to admit I need to recheck the links given I have them as having two sons named James, and the youngest looks rather unlikely to be the parents of James who married Issobel THOMSON.

Also published, on the WIGHT Surname DNA Project, is an abbreviated chart of their descendants in the hope a representative may be found.

Looking at the gaps in my knowledge, I started trying to find what happened to Robert the son of Robert WIGHT and Janet SCOTT. And quickly realised why I appear not to have progressed far with that line. Can't find them after 1881 in England or Scotland, and as yet, nor in USA or Canada. All I managed to advance was to finally find his marriage to Mary, despite Scotland's People having indexed Robert as WRIGHT, instead of the WIGHT his certificate states (correction lodged), and changed her from UnknownSurname into Mary BOYD.

Web pages updated to include an introductory page for The Wights.

1st: The passing of Sinton WIGHT, mentioned on the 26th, made me realise that if I want to find dna representatives of most of my main families to find more links by using the science now available, I'd better make sure I find participants. But for WIGHTs, firstly a project was needed as none currently existed.
A WIGHT Surname DNA project now exists, and even has its first participant, not one of mine, but a transfer from the National Geographic Genographic Project, with very early Massachusetts WIGHTs from England (and an unusual haplotype).

Check the FAIRBAIRN DNA Project diary for some exciting updates. In a few weeks time we may finally find out whether or not Ed's and my theory about the John in New York whose father was a Walter FAIRBAIRN of Roxburghshire, is or isn't, a son of Walter and Agnes (ROBISON) FAIRBAIRN.
Depending on the degree of (mis)match, we may yet need another participant from the NY line, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, as it has taken so long to find a willing taker. Fingers crossed.

And yet more Caithness BAINs. Stuart has contacted me, presumably having seen the blog entries about the Manitoba BAINs the other day. His relations, although he's in England. Must be something in the spring air over the other side of the world at the moment, waking everyone up.

Mar 2009

31st: Contacted by Katherine about her William McADIE, wondering if he might be the William son of George and Elizabeth (ROSIE) McADIE in my database. Jury still out. I don't have anything certain about this William beyond 1841, although he may be the mystery, unidentified William in Victoria, Australia witnessing assorted events in his brother Robert's family.
I suggested that possibly her William was the son of the George, son of William McADIE and Susanna MULLICAN, but a descendant of that family pointed out that his William had died in Forres in 1865. Back to the drawing board, so just maybe a farmer's son did become an outdoors HM Customs Officer in England after all.

A lot of people obviously think it's time I was dragged away from Borders DNA projects and did some more Caithness research, or even some closer to home.

Next one out of the woodwork was an email from a much closer BAIN cousin who was wondering if I was the person he was looking for - had been in contact with his sister some years ago, had something to do with the Kapiti Genealogy Society. Yes on both counts. Back when I last tried to find him, no wonder I couldn't find him where I expected to in the Sth Island, he was living much much closer, just over the hill, in the same town, probably no more than 10 mins away from where I used to live!
Time to drag out Nana's old photo album and see what I can find in it for him for when we meet up in a week or two.

How I found his sister, and why, is one of my favourite "it's a small world" stories. Several years ago a BAIN researcher I was in contact with in Australia decided that a quest he'd been given was in the too hard basket.
"Find my WW11 BAIN penpal in NZ". I think I was given a forename, but that was it. I had one in my database of an age to be around at the time concerned, a 2nd? cousin of mine I'd never contacted, but knew where she was. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I decided to ring her and at the very least get a bit of the BAIN tree updated. However, it turned out that yes, she was the penpal concerned, and had vivid memories of sending off food parcels to London. End result, penpals back in contact and my tree a tad more accurate in the family of John BAIN & Margaret McMILLAN.
Donald advises that he and his wife were in Caithness a couple of years ago, and that his wife also has BAIN connections from near Halkirk. Curiousity aroused, but will have to wait until we meet. Apparently a different lot, with McBEATH connections at Spittal.

30th: Bobby asked if I thought the niece, Margaret McDONALD, shown living with William TAYLOR and Janet GRAY in 1841 and 1851 at Sibster, Halkirk might be the dtr of William McDONALD and Margaret GUNN.
That was indeed where I had also thought she might belong, but had never investigated further to see if there was any link to our Isabella McDONALD, first wife of said William TAYLOR.
So much more information is now more readily available, so I set off to solve the mystery. We were both wrong, as were the census records. Niece indeed! She was William's grandchild, illegitimate dtr of Christina (housemaid) with a George McDONALD, (merchant). No wonder I'd not found her in subsequent census returns before this, she died aged 29 in 1859. Another mystery solved, and a bit of the database straightened out. That particular family have real trouble naming their relationships correctly!

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

29th: As a result of yesterday's findings, I've updated the BAIN descendant chart to show where these MANSONs fit.
WorldConnect db LornaHenderson updates yet to come. Had to laugh at the effect of a Scottish accent on a Canadian census enumerator.
James and Catherine Isabella (BAIN) MANSON's son George Gordon was enumerated as Church G MANSON.
Looks like one daughter (Jane Elizabeth) died tragically young (10), and that the eldest daughter Ellen Alice, married an Edward BOYES. The above George may or may not have married an Eva ROBINSON, who also died young (22), but I don't have enough evidence for that leap as yet.

28th: Some years ago I unravelled some discrepancies about a couple of Catherine BAINs, one the dtr of James BAIN and Helen SUTHERLAND, the other the dtr of Donald BAIN and Maggie TAYLOR.
The latter died 1904, the former couldn't be found in Scotland.
I think I've found her.

While checking off some of the British Guianian FAIRBAIRNs who had emigrated to Manitoba, I strayed off into checking off what else I hadn't already checked against the Manitoba BDMs, and against the 1916 Canadian Census, available again now. (Interesting indexing on the FAIRBAIRNs, they were indexed as FAUBARIN, with a birthplace that clearly read British Guiana, but was indexed as British Columbia, took me a while to find them!).

In checking off the Manitoba BDMs, I re-discovered the family of James and Catherine Isabella MANSON in Brandon, whose 1891 marriage was indexed with Katherine as BARIE.
However, today's checking of a son's birth clearly showed her as Catherine Isabella BAIN, and a census showed her as born Jul 1866. This just happens to match the data for Catherine, dtr of James and Helen (SUTHERLAND) BAIN. Her husband James MANSON's sister Elizabeth married Donald BAIN, Catherine's brother, and descendants of Donald and Elizabeth (MANSON) BAIN had family letters that indicated a connection between the families, but didn't know what it was.
QED, a successful conclusion to the day.

Decided to branch out in my DNA studies, and add in another of my main research lines. I've applied to set up a WIGHT project. The pages are rather preliminary, as FamilyTree DNA haven't yet approved it as a project, but none currently exists, and it doesn't seem to be claimed by WHITE or WIGHTMAN as an alternate name.

26th: 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.

25th: My cup runneth over ..
...with yet more WINE(S).
Thanks to Mike, a descendant of the IRELAND branch of the WINES forest, I've been reviewing where I'd got too on some of the Sth Petherton WINES and related families.
Having tidied up and expanded his particular branch, that of William IRELAND, son of George IRELAND and Anna NAPPER, he added that one of William's siblings had married a Bert HILLARD.
I noticed in passing that one of the earlier generations of WINES had also married a HILLARD and idly searched for Bert's parents to see if there was a connection.
Haven't yet figured that one out as I found Bert's mother was a Susan WINES.
Which trail led me to Windsor Castle, and a census entry I'd extracted some years ago.
When looking for a different Mary WINES, I'd found a Mary WINES of Sth Petherton enumerated as a confectionery maid in Windsor Castle in 1881, on page 5 of the schedule.
Page one began The Queen, Head, widow 61, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and continued with HRH Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice, occupations listed as prince and princess, then a visitor, 43 year old widow, Eugenie, occupation given as "ex Empress of the French", etc etc etc.
I now believe that this Mary, confectionery maid is the above Susan's sister, and that they are both children of Thomas and Ann (STUCKEY or STACEY) WINES, Thomas being my 3rd cousin 3 times removed (well he was born in 1821 and I wasn't), and the son of Joseph and Jane (HUNT) WINES Always interesting to find the unexpected places one ends up following leads and hunches in this business. Next WorldConnect db update will show a few more branches, and several updated dates/places for the above lot.

Another of the FAIRBAIRN DNA kits has made it back to the lab.

21st: Casting around as a result of the DNA match on the RICHARDSONs, led me to review what I had on some John RICHARDSONs. Made me realise that I should get around to checking a note I'd made to myself about 9 years ago to check whether or not the tailor in Edinburgh, born Morebattle, was the son of John and Elizabeth (SHIEL) RICHARDSON or not. He was, despite an erroneous transcription of his age in the 1891 census which threw me off the scent for a while. Along the way I also combined two Alexander Blair RICHARDSONs sitting awaiting some attention. Couldn't find what happened to all of John and Ann (BLAIR) RICHARDSON's children, but most have been accounted for somewhere.
Son Adam may or may not be the one with wife Mary showing up in census returns down in Chester as a musician.
So, because of this, and whatever other updates I've made over the last month, I've reloaded my WorldConnect db LornaHenderson, and put the updates out onto OneGreatFamily .

Also added a few more people and places of interest on AncestralAtlas too.

20th: A descendant of Walter and Mary (FAIRBAIRN) LILLY has found me, and has provided some family obits which have allowed me to update some of the HAMLIN descendants in particular. Thank you Steve, good to "meet" you, they updates will show up in my WorldConnect db LornaHenderson next update.

17th: Another set of DNA results just in, the representative for my DAVIDSON line of John DAVIDSON of Chirnside, whom I've suspected of being illegitimate given that his 1900 death cert merely gives a mother's name (Ann COLLINS), and no father at all.
At least it does look like he was a DAVIDSON as there a couple of low level matches. Nothing to get excited about unless the matches' upgrade to 67 markers shows a great match, or a paper trail can be worked out to link an 1841 Earsdon, Northumberland DAVISON with presumed Scottish forbears, to my brick wall, John, born abt 1817 Chirnside, Berwickshire.
The DAVIDSON DNA project chap pointed out that our non-Davidson surname matches had a lot of Chisholm's, adding that this would suggest a ancient connection before the advent of surnames. The Chisholm's according to legend saved the life of one of the Scottish kings in the 14th century and were granted land in Inverness-shire. This area in Scotland was also the home of the Davidson Clan or Clan Dhai or MacDaibheid.

John has been my brickwall for many years, and some years ago I decided to see if the story that Nana told her little boy (my Dad Les), that the people living on Conroy's Gully on the back road into Alexandra, with the huge old walnut tree, were our DAVIDSON cousins.
The first part of the story was indeed true, yes a family by the name of DAVIDSON used to live there. Memory has played false with me however, in that I remember that my research led me back to an Aberdeen family, but no, it looks like they were of Muthill, Perthshire instead, with absolutely no obvious connection to John, so Nana was telling porkies.

Looking at the family again today reminded me that the research turned up another connection to the Bounty in that both this DAVIDSON family, and my Great Aunt's husband, Doug FLETCHER, were descendants of the THOMSON family, early settlers in Port Chalmers, Otago, NZ. This THOMSON family leading back to the HEYWOOD family of H.M.S. Bounty fame.

16th: Ralph's dna results arrived at last, and show a 34/37 match with a descendant of and Adam RICHARDSON, born 1835 New York of Scottish parents (ie rather distant, but definitely worth investigating).
Hardly a conclusive match, and certainly no immediate candidates spring to mind, but given Adam had a middle name of BROWN, just possibly he's a descendant of this family in my LornaPotential database: Adam and Margaret (BROWN) RICHARDSON, married 1788 Hawick, ROX.
I had researched them for possible connections to "our" RICHARDSONs because both families were from the Borders, and had ended up in Edinburgh, one in Lauriston Gardens, the other in Lauriston Terrace (I've not found out how close these streets are).
If there are any male RICHARDSON descendants of Adam and Margaret out there willing to test this theory out further, we'd love to hear from you.
Also decided to help out by joining the indexing project at FamilySearch.
Least I can do for all the help they've given the genealogical community over the years with their filming of original records. I'd been holding off in that I thought I might not be able to commit enough time to make it worthwhile, but a "batch" is a very manageable size, easily done in a few minutes (or at least it was for the two initial batches of Cheshire records I've contributed so far).

13th: Updated John A FAIRBAIRN's page to reflect the latest findings from the DNA project - check the project diary - which is showing a good match between John's descendant and that of his uncle William. So it looks like my theory that John, despite all the varying ages and birth places, and two misleading certificates (marriage and death), that he really is the son of David and Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN.
So, that's the relationship between the Hoquiam triangle proven, even if we don't know how the Sunderland side fits in.
Also updated the Neverending story, including changing the 11 years to 13, given it's been there a couple of years now.

7th: Realised I'd not finished working thru the Earlston MIs for FAIRBAIRNs.
Haven't found anything unexpected as yet, other than several of the Ednam blacksmith line's daughters seem to have lived in Earlston.

6th: Further to the posting on the 24th Feb: I was looking for likely (male) descendants of Robert and Agnes (BLACK) FAIRBAIRN, Robert possibly being a descendant of Robert and Agnes (LANDRETH) FAIRBAIRN. One line came to a premature end in WW1, that of the David son of David & Margaret (WHILLANS) FAIRBAIRN, as he died unmarried (but with a dtr Alison BELL aged 11 showing as a dependent on his military record).
But in the process I unexpectedly found a marriage back in Jedburgh of one of the Stody, Norfolk line of David (Snr)'s brother Robert. 1903 Jedburgh, David FAIRBAIRN married Eleanor FAIR.
Wonder why he went back to Jedburgh from Norfolk when I thought most of the family had moved south?
The dna project would like to hear from a descendant of David and Margaret (WHILLANS) FAIRBIARN to match against the recruit from his brother Robert's line (marr. Isabella WEAVER).

1st: Displacement activity time again. Meeting minutes are nowhere near as exciting as finding connections in genealogy.
This weekend's find was the St Mary's Museum in Ontario with a gallery of photos that included some of my FAIRBAIRN relations and their connections. Most were donated by a David WHITE, whom I did not have in my database.
I realised that I hadn't yet traced the children of Archibald James FAIRBAIRN and Mary McLEOD beyond the 1881 census.
The marriage of their daughter Jannet FAIRBAIRN to James Brine WHITE, was quickly found, as were the births of several children, including a David Cathcart WHITE, and an Archibald Fairbairn WHITE.
General web searches also found references to a David C WHITE as Mayor of St Mary's in 1944.
An email to the Manager of the St Marys Museum and Archive was responded too very quickly, confirming my suspicion that the two David WHITEs were one and the same person, and added as an aside, that the Brine in David's father's name was from his connection to a Tolpuddle martyr.
I really wasn't going to get sidetracked, as I thought these martyrs were further back in history, but no, James BRINE only died in 1902, and David was his grandson.
The Museum is currently housed in a building built by George TRACY, father of the Jane TRACY who married the above Archibald James FAIRBAIRN's father.

Feb 2009

28th: The marriage cert. for Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Jane BLAKEY turned up today.
It shows Archibald's father as yet another Archibald FAIRBAIRN, a gardener. There's an Archibald of exactly the right age, son of Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Janet SCOTT, born St Boswells, 1813.
I don't have father Archibald's occupation as a gardener however, more normally he shows up as the ubiquitous ag. lab., occasionally farm steward, and in 1841 when the presumed son Archibald married, the father shows as an ag lab at Greenwells Glenburney at Melrose.
As a descendant of Archibald and Jane FAIRBAIRN is in the dna project, if this hunch is correct, Doug (F-14) should be a very good match to Martin (F-1) our first project participant.
If he isn't, then I guess we need to keep digging to find distant cousins of both Martin and Doug to confirm their line's dna signature, or find another Archibald of the right age and place.
Anyone have any other Archibald/Archibald father/son pairs where the son was born Scotland around 1813?

26th: 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.

24th: Again, check the FAIRBAIRN ONS/ DNA Project Diary for the latest pedigree loaded, and the theory behind how they might connect to the lineage of Robert and Agnes (LANDRETH) FAIRBAIRN.
Would be good to prove that connection.

23rd: Check the Fairbairn DNA project diary for the links/details re the newly loaded pedigree - that of the family of Archibald and Jane (BLAKEY) FAIRBAIRN who emigrated from Northumberland to Ontario. One son, Archibald, moved to Parry Sound, another lived Orangeville, Wellington Co/Dufferin Co. Another, Robert, a miller, moved to Vegreville, Alberta, with descendants moving back to Ontario.

Archibald was a blacksmith, and the majority of the few available records, say he was born Scotland;
Probably complete coincidence, but the family of one other of the DNA project members were also in Orangeville, Dufferin Co at one stage.

I have now absolutely no idea where I was researching during the digging on the above, or who I was looking at, that led me to check for some updated details for the family of Abraham ANDREWS of Martock (then St Lukes, Middlesex), but next WorldConnect update there should be some more confirmed dates and places for the family.

22nd: While digging around in Ontario Fairbairns today (getting ready to publish the lineage of our latest recruit in the FAIRBAIRN dna project), I had to chuckle at a note on a birth certificate. Jenet FAIRBAIRN was born Jul 1883 (Oakville, Halton Co, dtr of Archiblad FAIRBAIRN and Mary Jane CAVANA) but the birth wasn't registered until March the following year, and was annotated:
"neglected to register owing to selection of a name for the child".
Don't know why they bothered giving an excuse, they only seem to have registered two of the family of at least 7 children.

21st: 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: 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: 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: 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 Barbara 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.

15th: Finally found proof that the HAMLIN family I'd been following around census records in Wisconsin was indeed the family of one of my FAIRBAIRN's. I'd not yet traced all of David and Jane (HERD) FAIRBAIRN's children and grandchildren. Their daughter Mary married a Walter LILLY and it is their dtr Jane I've been tracing and eventually found proof that the Jane F HAMLIN of an age to be her, was indeed nee LILLY. Many thanks to the kind person who transcribed the 1924 biography of her son James Harvey HAMLIN which appeared in a "History of Lincoln, Oneida, and Vilas Counties, Wisconsin", published in 1924.
I've not yet finished with the available records, but have updated the FAIRBAIRN descendant chart to show where I've got to on the newly included family. Added surnames include: HAMLIN, WENZEL, TARR, CLINE, and LEESE, so far; places Wisconsin (Lincoln Co, Oneida Co, Vilas Co) and Washington (Douglas Co, Chelan Co). As yet, I've not noticed anyone else researching this family.

14th: 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.

13th: The flurry of activity on the Caithness GRAY family as a result of Bobby finding and sharing his updated info on Ann SINCLAIR nee GRAY shows that several notes to myself several years ago to investigate whether or not Catherine GRAY's sisters married x and y have been proved to be valid hunches. We've done a lot of digging and swapping our finds over the last couple of days.
Another sister also survived well into civil registration times, living to age 93, Barbara GRAY, married James McGREGOR, lived at Baderyrie, Latheron.
That leaves the fates of sisters Elizabeth and Isobel GRAY to be determined.
For some time I'd wondered if Isobel was the one who married John SUTHERLAND, but that isn't the case. However, investigation of this did lead me to correct what I had on that family on my WorldConnect database LornaPotential, which will show these updates shortly (her parents weren't Alexander GRAY and Margaret SUTHERLAND, but David GRAY and Christian BAIN);
Newly connected surnames for my GRAY family now include: GUNN, more SINCLAIRs, MUNRO, BAIKIE, McLAREN; Places are: Thurso; Mid Clyth; Stemster; Lybster; Duffus (Moray); Charlestown (Little Dunkeld, Perthshire);
Mysteries: What happened to Mary SINCLAIR and Alexander GUNN, married 1860 Lybster, appear in 1861 census at Mid Clyth, then vanish.

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

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

12th: The over-zealous enumerator in the census entry mentioned yesterday is probably explained by a careless transcriber.
The mother, head of the household, is described as deceased shoemaker's wife, so there's probably a missing " for ditto in the "deceased daughter" being enumerated.

11th: I don't yet know how accurate the Ancestry Census transcription I've just seen is, but I've just found a Janet SINCLAIR enumerated with an occupation of "deceased daughter"!
This being part of the investigations into the newfound GRAY twigs that Bobby put me onto. I don't think she's the Janet I'm looking for however.
The family being researched is that of Ann, dtr of Donald GRAY and Janet SUTHERLAND, and sister of the Catherine GRAY who married John BAIN, married a James SINCLAIR. Bobby found her 1857 death certificate and I'm fossicking to see what else I can find.
So far the extended family includes McGREGORs, and another SINCLAIR family.

10th: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.

9th: Something I've always loved about this hobby is the thoughtfulness and kindness found within the genealogical community, with most people sharing their finds and helping out.
Today this was exemplified by two emails which arrived in my inbox overnight from one of the lovely people who belong to Find A Grave (wonderful site where you may often be able to find headstones in far distant cemeteries).
He had photographed the headstone of George E & Eda M (CRAWFORD) HENDERSON, and then gone on to do some research about them, found my WorldConnect db and brought the headstone photo to my attention. Not only that, but suggested that I also look in the same cemetery, Mountain View Memorial Park, Barstow, San Bernardino Co, California, for their son George C HENDERSON. He hadn't submitted the latter's headstone photo, but the lovely people who had, also had his obituary listed, which has enabled me to track down at least some of the descendants on Facebook. Don't yet know if they are at all interested in their HENDERSON ancestry, time will tell.

Another recent story is that of the far flung impact of a casual comment after a committee meeting last week. One member mentioned that his family solicitor was a FAIRBAIRN, and he'd mentioned to him that he knew someone (me) heavily into researching FAIRBAIRNs.
At this point in the story I was privately a bit dismissive as very few of the FAIRBAIRNs in New Zealand appear to come from the Scottish Borders families that I'm researching most heavily. He then mentioned that the chap concerned had been born in Samoa. Likelihood of connection didn't rise at this point, but I did remember that many years ago I'd squirreled away some information about a James FAIRBAIRN of Glasgow who had been a policeman in Samoa. Again, no known connection, just information that may well come to be of use later. And so it turned out.
I pulled out the information and re-examined it for further clues, "just in case".
Sure enough, this was the solicitor's father, and I found sufficient information to identify James' birth in Govan in 1901, shortly after the Scottish census for that year. By now you'll have guessed there's a point to this story. No, at the time I'd squirrelled away the information I had no known interest whatsoever in Glaswegian policeman. But time moves on. Descendants of the family of James and Mary Bell/Mabel (THOMSON) FAIRBAIRN had moved to Glasgow, and yes, this James was one of them.
I've been searching all over the world for this family, found descendants in Washington State, Brisbane, Leicester, knew some had emigrated to Canada, and only recently had found one of them in Saskatchewan in the 1916 census on the FamilySearch Record pilot (which resource seems to have vanished now, so timing was everything there). But no-one ever knew any had come to NZ, let alone were living in my next door town.
Alf and I have now met, and he has provided some more leads for families in the States, and we've swapped our known information. Now I have to work to co-opt him into the FAIRBAIRN dna project to determine whether or not, and if so, how closely, our respective Eckford families may be related.

8th: Not really sure what all I've changed since the last posting. Looking at the "Recent Changes" index from a rebuild of my Big Brother website I can see a clutch of Henderson updates, most of which aren't really visible changes, apart from Archibald, whose baptism entry gave me a new place to play with, Craigmill, which is now included on the map of Hatch Match and Despatch Events on the Henderson page. As I say in his blurb, I'd noted in the past that there was a Robert HENDERSON, Smith at Craigmill, which may or may not be significant as to Archibald's grandfather's forbears. The two Craigmill HENDERSON smiths are rather separated by time however.

Reasonably sure that the changes shown for 31 Jan and 5 Feb were cosmetic rather than real, but those shown for 7th & 8th Feb are real updates.

Behind the scenes Bobby has provided some updates to the BAIN family which are being investigated and will be reflected in WorldConnect db LornaHenderson updates in due course.

The FAIRBAIRN page has had a minor tweak or two, including the descendant chart of James and Mary Bell/Mabel (THOMSON) FAIRBAIRN being brought onto the site instead of pointing off to my WorldConnect db LornaPotential, in the hope that one day (soon?) we may be able to prove a relationship between James and my family of Archibald and Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN, given that both were involved with the Gateshaw Secession Church at Morebattle and lived for at time in Eckford Parish.

There were probably DNA project changes as well, so check out the respective project diaries (links at left).

Jan 2009

31st: Now I've always thought of tithes etc as divvied up after a harvest. This entry however implies that said one tenth was taken, literally, at harvest time! " ... this means the vicarage teinds payable from the produce of the lands and cot-yards.
These two men had so artfully arranged their stooks of corn that every tenth stook would contain the thinnest and poorest corn, to the prejudice of the laird or the minister when drawing their teinds."
This from the Records of the Baron Court of Stitchill 1685-1807

30th: Further results in for the Sunderland/Hoquiam side of the FAIRBAIRN "cousins" triangle.
Still a good match with the rest of Lineage 1. It will be interesting to see if Bill matches Roy more closely than Joe does, given their families, over time, have all stated relationships to each other.
Keep checking the Fairbairn Surname DNA Project Diary for breaking news, and send along any likely candidates to join the project. All welcome.

28th: Found this link when looking for something else.
The same site carries the story of the New Zealanders tragically killed at the station there in 1917.

26th: Preliminary results in for one side of the FAIRBAIRN "cousins" triangle - and a match (11/12 and 12/12), but interestingly a better match (so far) to the second group of FAIRBAIRNs in Lineage 1 than the family he is supposedly a cousin of.

25th: Anyone out there researching the HENDERSON family of
William and Marion (ROBERTSON) HENDERSON of Burnbank, Par. of Kilmadock, Perth? It's just over the parish boundary from the Bridge of Allan, Par. of Lecropt.
Ian has revived my attempts to find Archibald HENDERSON's parents and has independently come up with the same favoured contender as I did many years ago.
Well, by time and place, he's the only real contender in the surviving parish records around the area.
Pros: family has the right names, children named Archibald, David and Mary, in near enough to the right area, and definitely in the right timeframe.
Cons: farmers, not blacksmiths. No James obvious to account for the earlier smith at the Bridge of Allan.
Someone at some time in the past was researching the family as there are several patron submission on the IGI for them, albeit placing them at Burnbank in LKS and AYR rather than PER, but the dates match the real baptisms etc in Kilmadock, PER.

24th: Check the Fairbairn Surname DNA Project Diary for some updates.
Can anyone pinpoint the source of the "Genealogical Tree of Clan Fairbairn Compiled from the year 1563"? Picture of said cover attached to John's page on DNA Surnames to jog memories.

19th: William HENDERSON doesn't look like he likes photographers!
(Thank you for getting in touch, and sharing the photo Ian)

18th: While looking for something else, I happened upon the Californian death index entry in 1986 for Robert Howard FAIRBAIRN. Which surprised me somewhat as I had him dying in 1950, albeit with a bit of a question mark as he was mentioned in a family diary in 1955. With a bit more digging, and finally getting round to examining the rest of the Minnesota death certs that turned up, which I had coincidentally ordered recently, I came to the conclusion that there were 3 Robert FAIRBAIRNs in this family, only two of whom were actually in my db.
Father Robert Safley F. was the one who had died in 1950, instead of the 1935 I'd entered for him.
Son (from his 2nd marriage to Alice) Robert Safley F. was the 1935 death - rather tragic really, a 10 yr old who had an accident, which proved fatal, at his father's well drilling operation.
Older son Robert Howard F. (from his 2st marriage to Barbara FAIRCHILD, a cousin), has therefore to be the 1986 one. I hadn't entered the younger Robert at all as a census entry implied he belonged to Alice rather than Robert, but his death cert states his father as Robert.
So, if the census entry was wrong about Robert, they may also be wrong about his sister Lorraine too. She appears to have married a Wendell William McNEILL in Cottonwood Co, Minnesota, and died in Dakota Co, Minnesota.
Perhaps someone can confirm I've the right Lorraine? Mother Alice FAIRBAIRN, formerly BENSON nee COUSINS?

And to cap off the day, found an entry in my guestbook that added to the HENDERSON tribe. A previously unknown to me dtr to William HENDERSON and Marian Glen AITKEN.

Also brought a few more of the newfound ROWE branch up to 1901, the GLANVILLE connection (Frank Josephus Richard GLANVILLE married Sarah Ann PARSONS).

The three affected descendant charts have all been updated: Rowe, Fairbairn, Henderson.

17th: Check the SINTON DNA project diary for updates to that project. The Irish contingent are also a match!

15th: The Michigan marriages continue to intrigue. One lady was obviously used as a model by Elizabeth TAYLOR, as she, also an Elizabeth, married the same chap twice, 1893 and 1909, with their son recorded in the 1900 census under her maiden surname (WILLMAN), and in 1910 census under her regained married name (McCURDY).

Another of the FAIRBAIRN families really can't make up their mind whether their surname is LAMPSON or SAMPSON. Frederick LAMPSON's marriage is witnessed by his brother Robert SAMPSON. But I do assume these registers are transcripts of original certificates here as the handwriting does seem rather uniform, and accuracy of transcriptions does rather vary.
A sister Helen M is shown as marrying as SAMPSON with her father indexed as William R, the R presumably being a misinterpreted F from someone whose handwriting is as bad as mine.

14th: A somewhat confused William:
Between marrying Rosa KUHNLE in 1896 and Josephine MARCOTTE in 1904, William E, son of David FAIRBAIRN and Charity WALKER seems to have had a brainstorm about who his parents were. By his second marriage he says they are Wm FAIRBAIRN and Deviza WADE !!!
I'm fully convinced that the two marriages are the same William E FAIRBAIRN because of census data that places his children from the first marriage with William and Josephine in a later census, and William shows he's on his second marriage in 1904.

The Michigan marriages data also includes the marr. of Phyllis I LAMPSON dtr of Joan Helen LAMPSON nee FAIRBAIRN as well, Joan being the granddaughter of James FAIRBAIRN and Joan FORSYTH.

13th: Well, that serendipity from yesterday was a wonderful sidetrack.
Along the way I've found another son of David FAIRBAIRN and Charity WALKER married in Michigan (William E) and got sidetracked onto trying, unsuccessfully, to figure out who an Isabella Elliot FAIRBAIRN was, born Ontario 1850, married the Rev James Anderson Ross DICKSON (somewhere, possibly London Ontario), and lived Galt Ontario.
And it reinforced how useful it can be to squirrel away information that just might come in useful later.
William E, the son of David and Charity married a Rosa KUHNLE, who sounded a bit familiar. Sure enough, I'd found and saved, and obit for Rosa FAIRBAIRN nee KUHNLE last year.
While trying to solve who Isabella Elliot FAIRBAIRN was I also stumbled upon the baptism of an Isabella MITCHELL, dtr of an Agnes FAIRBAIRN and Alexander MITCHELL baptised in Chatham, Ottawa River Canada East by the same Minister who married David FAIRBAIRN and his first wife Prudential ARNOLD.
Haven't figured out who this Agnes is either, anyone know?

12th: Serendipity strikes: Got sidetracked by Dick Eastman's newsletter advising that the the Family Search pilot (http://www.familysearch.org/ select Search Records, then Record Search Pilot) had added a heap of images of all sorts of records, so checked out what might be of interest.
Think they've been there a while, but what I did find were indexed images of Michigan marriages 1868-1925.
Checked out the FAIRBAIRNs and found at least two of particular interest (so far):
David s/o David and Charity (Walker)'s marriage to Mina Schryer COOK (which I knew was somewhere in Michigan)
and one that I didn't know was there at all, last sighting being 1901 census in Ratho North, WLN, Scotland. Jessie D d/o Walter FAIRBAIRN and Isabella SCOTT found marrying a John JONES in Detroit in 1924, much to my surprise.

11th: Another ROWE descendant found me via Genes Reunited and enabled me to bring another of the Hounds of the Baskerville connection down to present day, well at least a couple of living people down the bottom of the chain. dtr of James ROWE of the Railway Hotel fame married a George MOORE. Looks like they alone provided almost the entire population of Dartmoor Prison warders, plus a few further afield in Notthingham, Middlesex & Surrey - thank you Rowena.
ROWE chart updated.

9th: Published the updated John & Helen (ANDERSON) FAIRBAIRN dna oriented patriarchs chart in the hope of finding willing participants to represent their respective lines.
Also check the FAIRBAIRN ONS/DNA project diary.

8th: Ross's hunch, back in 2003, from the 1841/2 Grenville census, that David, son of David and Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN was married earlier than to Charity, looks accurate. At that time the census merely showed how many people of what sex, age and marital status were in the household, and it implied that David and a young wife were in the house, although David and Charity didn't marry until 1845, and her age didn't match that of the other married female in the house besides Jane, David's mother.
While looking for something else, as so often happens, I stumbled upon a marriage in 1841 of a David FAIRBAIRN and Prudential ARNOLD in the Presbyterian Church records in the Drouin colleciton showing they were married at "Grenville, Ottawa" by William MAIR, Minister of Grenville & Chatham, witnesses were John BLAIR and John TOPLAND.
In the same set of records were David and Charity's marriage, and the baptism of their son David.

The FAIRBAIRN DNA project is looking set to examine more closely the "cousin" relationships that have so taxed my brain and genealogical inventiveness. William has joined as a rep. of the line of John A FAIRBAIRN Snr of Stillwater, whose son John A of Hoquiam is the one these relationships were all reported to: Angus s/o the above David and Charity (WALKER) F.; Albert who emigrated from Sunderland to Hoquiam, an unlikely choice about 100 years after John Snr's parents had left Scotland; and Walter to Clarissa.
How I currently see these relationships can probably best be viewed starting at the dna oriented descendant chart for David and Jane (WILLIAMSON) FAIRBAIRN, and from the charts listed on William's ONS page, not that his results are in yet, as the kit has only just been ordered, patience!

It is obviously a dna day today. We now have a DAVIDSON representative who has been enrolled in the DAVIDSON project (not one of mine), that just might help us break thru the brick wall of finding more about John DAVIDSON. Although I strongly suspect he was the illegitimate son of the mother Ann COLLINS shown on his death cert, his father was more as like a DAVIDSON given the naming conventions of the time.

6th: Brief flurry of corrections on the RUNDLE/FOREMAN portion of the ANDREWS tree (not online so the error has presumably not been propagated), thanks David and Brenda.
The DAW(E) DNA project now has a representative of the family of Isaac enrolled, but at the risk of never being thought satisfied, another is still sought, on a different line, to confirm whatever dna signatures result.

4th: Began checking off descendants of John FAIRBAIRN and Helen ANDERSON from Burkes Peerage against OPRs, BDMs, Census data and The Times in preparation to publishing an abbreviated patriarch's entry on the DNA pages oriented towards lines that may have a living FAIRBAIRN representative at the end of the chain who just might be persuaded to join the project and provide a dna signature for the family in order to test the many claims by assorted trees that "we are related to Sir William FAIRBAIRN", often without any proof. Representatives from eg the Rev Adam Henderson FAIRBAIRN's, schoolmaster William's and Sir William's line would be wonderful.

3rd: Updated the FINLAYSON DNA results page, and linked David and Donald on the patriarchs page back to the dna projects portal site for additional info.

2nd: Added a (small) rogues gallery of FAIRBAIRN photos to the FAIRBAIRN family page. It only includes those already on their respective person pages, but does include one new one, that of Mary Joan LAWLESS nee FAIRCHILD's from Jim in Florida (5th cousin once removed).
Thanks Jim, I'll get round to adding the rest of the LAWLESS line in some year, but I did make a start from your data, and some that I had from census data etc. already, but not added to the db.

See FAIRBAIRNs ONS/DNA project diary for some changes there from early records trying to figure out if there are any clues to be found on how to link the dna matched families (not a lot was the answer).

 
one name study pages:
surname pages: