Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Write a Limerick!

Thanks to Randy Seaver  at Genea-Musings once again for a great challenge.  This was so much fun, I did three.

There was an old man from Scotland,

Who passed on the name Cumberland.

With preservation in mind,

He thought he was being kind.

And found the whole scheme to be grand.

There was a young man of England,

Who lost all of his money at hand.

To start all over,

He wished on a clover.

And sailed away to a new land.

There was a young woman with a book,

For ancestors of the past she looked.

For an old mystery,

Based on family history.

And found old great granddad was a crook.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - How Many Surnames?

Another mission from Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings.

I use RootsMagic 5 as my Genelaogy Management Program.  I have 10,018 surnames in my husband's and my tree.  My Surname Statistics List is 32 pages long.  Of those pages about 20 pages list surnames that occur only once. The most common surnames in our combined tree are:

Foster        324

Warry        172

Chute         151

Danskin      150

Nichols       142

Sanford      134

Fuller         131

Belknap      127

Lutz           122

Randall      120

Morton       114

Landers      107

Knox          107

Smith         106

Bristol        102

Loomer        93

Palmer         86

Taylor          83 

Tupper         77

Morse          75

Davison        75

Baldwin        66

Stoddart       65

Gates           64

Cleveland     63 

Carpenter     63

Wheeler       60

Humbert       60

Whitman      55

Johnson       55 

Easton         54 

Paterson      53

Most of these surnames are from Robert's tree, which are marked blue, my surnames are marked red, and we both have some surnames that appear in both our trees, marked in green.

Fearless Females - Family Document

March 9 — Take a family document (baptismal certificate, passenger list, naturalization petition, etc.) and write a brief narrative using the information.

At 12 Commonside Street, Airdrie, Scotland in the home of William Danskine, the grocer, and Agnes Findlay a baby girl was born. On March 12th, 1858 at 7:00 pm, my great grandmother, Elizabeth Danskine was born. Her father, William Danskine was present and registered the birth in Airdrie on March 26, 1858 with the registrar.

Fearless Females — Diary, Journal, or Collection of Letters

March 8 — Did one of your female ancestors leave a diary, journal, or collection of letters? Share an entry or excerpt.

Last year I posted about an memory book of my grandmother, Dorothy Paterson (Warry).  Since this is the closest thing that I have to a diary, journal or letters, I'll share another page. 

 

There's so much

bad in the best of us,

and so much good

in the worst of 

us, that it ill

behaves any of

us, to talk about

the rest of us.

E. Norman,   Aug 1919

Fearless Females - Marriage Records

March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.

I have a marriage record for my great grandparents, Francis Paterson and Elizabeth Danskine.  They married June 11, 1883 at Commonside Street in Airdre, Scotland.  Francis was a widower, who work as a collector and treasurer clerk at the Gas Works, and Elizabeth was a spinster. Francis's parents were Johnston Paterson and Catherine Muirhead.  Elizabeth's parents were William Danskine and Agnes Findlay.  The marriage was witnessed by Francis's aunt, Kate Paterson, and Elizabeth's brother in law, John Aiken.

Fearless Females - Unique or Unusaual Female First Name

March 3 — Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern. If not, then list the most unique or unusual female first name you’ve come across in your family tree.

I have a unique first name in my family tree, I've not come across another Jacqueline or Jackie.   But I've come across a few unique names for females on my Scottish side. Although most of the first names are quite common, it's the middle names that make them unique.  Names such as Agnes Gilchrist Danskine and Jemmia Findlay Danskine. What a wonderful way to leave clues for the family researcher, by adding maiden names as middle names.

Fearless Females - Photo of Female Ancestor

Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo?

Marion Bryce White

 

Here is another photo from my envelope collection with a name written on the back.  Marion Bryce White was the older sister of Jessie Paterson White, from my earlier post.  She was born October 26, 1875 in Airdrie, Lanark, Scotland and died July 8, 1945.  Like her sister, she never married. I love the umbrella, hat, and overcoat.  Both photos seem to be taken in the street, as they walked.   Was a family member trying to a catch a photo, to send to the relatives in Canada?

Fearless Females - Favorite Female Ancestor

Thanks to Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist for Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts for March in honour of National Women’s History Month in the USA.  It's a great encouragement to write about our female ancestors, who sometime get lost in the family tree. 

Do you have a favorite female ancestor?  One you are drawn to or want to learn more about? Write down some key facts you have already learned or what you would like to learn and outline your goals and potential sources you plan to check.

What a hard choice to choose one as your favorite.  It's like choosing one of your children as your favorite.  Each of them are unique and have their own qualities. Since I've been trying to focus my research on my Scottish side, a female ancestor who intrigues me would be my third great grandmother, Ann Hunter.  She married James Paterson, a spirit dealer, in Glasgow, Scotland on June 5th, 1810.  They have the following children, all born in Glasgow, Scotland:

James Paterson born May 1, 1811

Francis Paterson born December 12, 1812

Johnston Paterson born 19 February 1819

Alexander Paterson born 3 August 1823

Mary Paterson born June 7 1826

These are the children that I know about, there could be more as there is a gap in some of the birth years.  I don't know much about Ann Hunter.  I'm unsure of who her parents were and when she died.  It seems that both Hunter and Paterson are a common surname and Ann, a common first name.  I think she may have born in Glasgow, as her marriage record states she is a resident of Glasgow. Maybe the clue to her father's name is in the naming of her sons.  The Scottish seems to have a naming system.  I'll continue my search by looking over the Scottish birth and baptisms index on Family Search.