The Tree of Me

My 5g grandparents John Milroy and his wife Jane McCarlie are buried in Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire, Scotland. I had seen a photograph of their headstone but I just had to see it myself. The short drive from Stranraer was along narrow county lanes. Unfortunately it began to rain but I was not to be deterred. Almost at Stoneykirk Stoneykirk My previous research on Google maps had shown that St Stephen's Church and graveyard was tucked away behind two houses in Stoneykirk. St Stephen's, Stoneykirk, Stranraer Unfortunately it began to rain and became quite miserable so we were forced to abandon the search for John and Jane. If I had been able to access the image I had of the headstone it would have given me a clue to its specific location. My plan (unbeknown to my husband) was that I would return early the following morning before we caught the ferry to Belfast. The headstone was easy to locate the following morning. It had been on my husband...

Last year, I travelled overseas to a wedding in Paris. Afterwards I simply had to continue with my genealogy research, but where to go? As Ireland was going to be one of the stops and the ferry from Scotland to Northern Ireland leaves from Portpatrick, the nearby towns of Stranraer and Newton Stewart had to figure in the itinerary as my father's Scottish ancestors lived in this area. As soon as we arrived in Stranraer, I immediately went to the local museum and purchased a copy of Memorial Transcriptions in Stranraer, 2 Sheuchan Cemetery. The Sheuchan Cemetery is located in Leswalt High Road, Stranraer alongside the High Kirk. High Kirk, Leswalt High Road, Stranraer The index revealed names from my Fleming family so I was delighted to discover that my great, great, great grandmother Jane Milroy and her husband James Fleming were buried there. The visible gravestone map in the booklet showed exactly where I would find the headstone. Fleming family headstone, Sheuch...

Each year I try to give myself a genealogical treat. This year it is a one month subscription to the British Newspaper Archive . For the next month my research will concentrate on what goodies I can discover on this site. This morning I discovered the birth announcement of my great, great grandmother Jane Smith Fleming who was born in Princes Street, Stranraer, Scotland on 29th October 1853. Dumfries and Galloway Standard, Wednesday 2nd November 1853, p. 4 This Google Map view shows the end of Princes Street with Loch Ryan in the distance. I wonder what changes there have been in the street in the past 160 years? I have previously blogged about Jane McColm's (Fleming's)  death  and the about the fact that she had 2 death certificates .  I wonder what else I will discover?

This is week 15 of   Shauna Hicks  challenge for 2014.  Shauna said that t his blog challenge is to stimulate my own genealogy blogging efforts in 2014 by focusing on a different kind of genealogical record each week. I wanted a challenge that reflected my own archival background as well as my own genealogy interests and there are probably lots of other records that I could have included. The challenge has an Australian focus but most of these records will be found just about anywhere in the genealogy world. The challenge for this week is civil registration and certificates. My post is going to be a repeat of an earlier post as it's easily the best story I have about certificates. My great, great grandmother Jane Smith McColm has 2 death certificates. When she died on 22nd January 1888 just 3 weeks after giving birth to her 7th child, Ethel Peel McColm, her husband Malcolm obviously didn't know where to register her death. Sound strange to you? Jane died at the...

This week is week 7 of  Shauna Hicks  genealogical blogging challenge for 2014. Shauna has said that  this blog challenge is to stimulate my own genealogical blogging efforts in 2014 by focusing on a different kind of genealogical record each week. I wanted a challenge that reflected by own archival background as well as my own genealogy interests and there are probably lots of other records that I could have included. The challenge has an Australian focus but most of these records will be found just about anywhere in the genealogy world.  I am hoping that this challenge will provide a focus for my blogging efforts this year. For many members of my family I have been fortunate to gather detailed information which has allowed me to know these people much better. However, for others the only records that seem to have been left behind are simply dates of birth, marriage and death, where they came from, where they lived in Australia and how many children they had....

My great, great grandmother Jane Smith McColm has 2 death certificates. When she died on 22nd January 1888 just 3 weeks after giving birth to her 7th child, Ethel Peel McColm, her husband Malcolm obviously didn't know where to register her death. Sound strange to you? Jane died at the Railway Yard at Wallangarra on the Queensland-N.S.W. border. (I've just realised that the postcard I purchased a couple of weeks ago, has further meaning.) What did her husband do? He registered her death in both Stanthorpe (Qld) and Tenterfield (N.S.W.) It is very interesting to compare the two death certificates. The first one I discovered was the N.S.W. one. This stated that she was 40 years old and came from Wigtownshire in Scotland. Her father, James Fleming, was a druggist and her mother was Jane Milroy. Jane was married to Malcolm McColm and had no children. She died of puerperal fever. I wasn't happy with this certificate. I knew she had children - my great grandmother was one o...