The Tree of Me

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?

Lawrence Seabrook  1898 - 1951 This is the fourth post in  a series of posts over the next few years to remember all the men in my extended family who enlisted in World War 1. Originally I had identified 26 soldiers who enlisted between 20 August 1914 and 2 November 1918.  However, with more careful checking this number has now risen to over 35. Of these  five were killed overseas or died here in Australia. Lawrence Seabrook was the sixth son of William Alexander Seabrook and his wife Eliza Grant Lumsden of Hobart. Like the majority of the Seabrook family Laurie worked in the building trade. By November 1914, he had been apprenticed to his father as a bricklayer for 12 months and had been a member of the Naval Reserve. His enlistment papers state that he was 19 years old. However, his actual birth date was 10 November 1898, so in fact Laurie was only 16 years old.  This attestation paper was signed 30th November 1914 and Laurie was assigned to the Field Butchery. It appears as