Wordless Wednesday - Jessie Paterson White

Jessie Paterson White

In an envelope of photos that I received from my aunt and uncle, I found a few with names on the back.  This happened to be one of them and I knew exactly who this was.  Jessie Paterson White would be my 1st cousin 2x removed. Her parents were Ann Paterson and John White.  She was born June 10, 1877 in Airdrie, Lanark, Scotland and died December 12, 1943.  It seems that she never married.  Her family in Scotland and her uncle's family in Canada must have stayed in touch.

Sympathy Saturday - The Patersons in Scotland

My second great grandparents, Johnston Paterson and Catherine Muirhead were married in Glasgow, Scotland on July 2, 1837.  I found the following children born before the the introduction of General Registration in 1855 in the 1841 and 1851 census.

Johnston Paterson, circa 1838

James Paterson, circa 1840

Catherine Paterson, circa 1844

William Paterson, circa 1846

Ann Paterson, circa 1849

Francis Paterson, circa 1851

Edward Paterson, circa 1853

Johnston and Catherine had a daughter, Elizabeth, born August 20, 1855.  Now, this is a bonus year for the family researcher.  The Scottish 1855 registration has extra information, such as how many children living and deceased.  Here's were it was really sad to read.  Elizabeth was Catherine's 10th child.  So not counting little Elizabeth, in 1855, Johnston and Catherine had 4 boys and 2 girls living.  3 boys are listed as deceased.  One is probably James, as he is on the 1841 census but not the 1851 census.  So I'm missing two boys. I think that they may have died in Glasgow before the family moved to Airdrie about 1845, as they are not mentioned in the Monumental Inscriptions from Wellwynd Churchyard in Airdrie, Lanark, Scotland. 

Erected by Catherine Muirhead in memory of her husband Johnston Paterson who died 20th April 1891 aged 75 years.  Their children, George H died 29th February 1860 aged 2 years.  Elizabeth died 1st March 1868 aged 2 years.  Edward died 22nd April 1868 aged 14 years.  William died June 1870 aged 24 years.  The above Catherine 23rd August 1897 aged 73 years. 

After 1855 Johnston and Catherine have two more children:

George Hunter Paterson born December 27, 1857

Jessie Paterson born September 1861

They lost four more children after 1855, most of them before the age of 14.  How terrible for parents to see seven of their twelve children die. Of the five children that survive:

Johnston vanishes, his whereabouts are unknown at the time of Johnston's and Catherine's death. (This requires more research.)

Catherine marries John Greenlees in 1894. They have no children.

Ann marries John White in 1872 and they have seven children.

Francis marries Ewenina Kennedy in 1881 and Elizabeth Danskine in 1883. He has eight girls and one boy, (my grandfather).

Jessie never marries.

Out of twelve children, Johnston Paterson has one grandson to carry on the family name of Paterson-my grandfather, Johnston Cumberland Paterson. 

Workday Wednesday -Bank Treasurer

One of my best discovers has been finding out an occupation that my 2nd great grandfather, Johnston Paterson, had later in life. I found a book through google books while searching for "Johnston Paterson" and Airdrie, Scotland.  One of the first results was a little snippet of a book by James Knox called "The Triumph of Thrift: The Story of the Savings Bank of Airdrie".  It gave just enough information, that I was sure this was my 2nd great grandfather.  I found the book on Abe Books at a reasonable price, and ordered it.  What an exciting find.  There was actually a chapter about him, Chapter XIII, pages 83 to 85, called Treasurer Johnston Paterson, 1878-1884.  If I had not found this book, I may have not discovered that he was a treasurer.  On the 1881 census he is listed as a house factor. 

It seems that the author of the book, James Knox, knew my 2nd great grandfather and work with him.  Johnston Paterson task of treasurer was to look after the cash.  I learned that he was of great moral principles, quite religious and very old school business. Interesting enough the author mentions that Johnston didn't trust the safes in the bank and carried the cash home each night to put in his own burglar-proof safe.  Now he must have been a tough character, as he would walk home in the dark of night with a heavily loaded stick as his protection. Johnston worked as treasurer from the age of 64-70.  But it looks like he consented to have that safe brought to the bank after about three years.  What a great look into a small part of my 2nd great grandfather's life. 

The author of the book, James Knox, is listed on the title page as the Manager of Airdrie Savings Bank; Hon. Sheriff-Substitute of Lanarkshire; Ex-Provost of Airdrie; Author of "Airdrie -A Historical Sketch". It is interesting to read the history of the bank, and about the people who worked for the bank.  There are a few photos, but too bad not one of Johnston Paterson. 

The Airdrie Savings Bank  was established in 1835 and is still in business today. It's the only independent Savings Bank in the United Kingdom.  

My Best Discovery in 2011

My best discovery in 2011 would have to be finding Aunt Betty.  In March of 2011, I posted the tragic circumstance of Vera Ellen Marsh Seaman dying shortly after giving birth to a baby girl.  Her daughter, Elizabeth Mary Seaman, was born November 3, 1920. I began my search by ordering records from Ontario, to discover the death date of the grandparents that may lead to an obituary. In the meantime I thought I'd look into Vera's brothers.  Causally looking through records online, I come across a border crossing record from Canada to the U.S. for her brother, Kenneth.  This is an amazing source, full of information.  It has dates of births, wife's name and maiden name, when and where married,  names of who is the travel party, why they are traveling, address of residence, name of his business and so much more. But most important his daughter's name and birth date. Mary Elizabeth born November 3, 1920. This has to be her.  Looking through more records, I discover that Kenneth ended up in Victoria, British Columbia and Mary Elizabeth Seaman marries Arthur Turner.  So I order death records and obituaries for Kenneth Seaman and John Turner.  After going over and over the information, I'm convinced that this is Aunt Betty.  But to really know, I'll need to talk to someone who knew her. I decide to make some cold calls.  Since there seems to be too many Turners in the area, I settle on calling the eight Seamans.  Prepared with a written prompt of what to say and encouragement from my husband, I begin to call.  The first Seaman is a very nice gentleman, who tells me a Seaman website. On to the next. After going through my prompt, I hear an elderly lady inform me that she knew Betty.  What excitement, someone who knew Betty. She is Betty's sister-in-law. She is kind enough to tell me all about Betty. Not only that, her husband (Betty's brother) calls me later to talk about Betty. Now the bittersweet part, that had us in tears.  Betty had just recently past away, while I was building up the courage to make the phone calls. She was 90 years old. 

Happy Holiday Everyone

 

May you have a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas Blog Caroling - Here Comes Santa Claus

I thought it would be fun to join in with the FootNoteMaven and the Geneabloggers in Blog Caroling. Caroling from the comfort of you own home in your jammies with a hot drink sounds like my kind of caroling.  

It was hard to choose my favorite carol, but I chose "Here Comes Santa Claus".  It reminds me of when I was a little girl and my family would join other family a the local community hall.  Lyrics would be passed around and everyone would join in with singing carols.  All the children would wait in anticipation for "Here Comes Santa Claus".  We all knew that if we sang loud enough Santa would come through the doors ringing his sleigh bells. Santa had a gift for each child of the community and knew us by name.  

 

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Dear Genea-Santa Letter

Thanks to Randy Seaver at Genea-Musing for encouraging us to take some time from Christmas shopping to write a Genea-Santa letter.

Dear Genea-Santa,

Hope you, the Mrs., elves, and all the reindeer are doing well.  I've tried to be good this year, at least genealogy wise. I've been trying to cite more sources and organize my mountain of loose papers. I'm continuing genealogy course to learn more techniques and how to find records.  I've help fellow researchers whenever possible. So if you could be so kind as to leave me a genea-gift,  I'll have freshly baked cookies and a cuppa hot chocolate for you and apples for the reindeer.  Any of the following genea-gifts would be greatly appreciated. 

     A subscription to Ancestry or Newspaper Archive.

     Archival supplies to help organize my photos.

     A great genealogy reference book for England, Scotland, Canada, or Finland.

     Will of Nathaniel Smith of Sturminster Marshall, Dorset and Margaret Viney, Widow of           Thorncombe from the National Archive of UK.

     Probate records from Leeds District Probate Registry for John William Smith, William Keen Warry and Mary Ann Warry.

I believe in Christmas.

Jacqueline

Happy 1st Blogiversay to Me

I can't believe that I've been blogging for a whole year.  It has been been an interesting experience and I learned a lot.  I've written 70 posts and had 1643 previews.  But of those 1643 previews, who actually read my blog, how many were interested in genealogy, or how many found a common ancestor?  Those are the numbers I'm interested in.  The best part of blogging is the hope that someone with a common ancestor will find my blog.  But even better would be for them to send me a message or add a comment.  I've actually had that happen this year.  A cousin in England found a common Smith ancestor and added a comment.  We had a great exchange of emails and information.  What was really interesting is that she lived in the same area that our ancestors had lived in.  She even sent me photos of a couple of churches our ancestor went to.  Exciting stuff.  So I will keep blogging.   If you read this and find a common ancestor - add a comment or send an email.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Workday Wednesday - Water Witch

I've come across a very interesting occupation of of my great grandfather, Donald Francis Belknap.  It seems that he had the very useful talent of being able to find water.  It's been called water witching, water divining, water drowsing,and just well digging. Relatives have told me that he was known for this unique talent.  So I wasn't that surprised to see his name show up numerous times in "Western Globe" from 1918 to 1938, and "The Farm & Ranch Review" in 1956 on the Peel's Prairie Provinces website.    

Most of the items I have found are D.F. Belknap advertising his services.  In all the ads, he guarantees to locate water or there is no charge.  He must have been quite successful at finding water, as there are numerous articles with mentions of whom he located water for and of his water finding abilities.

The most interesting article is "Water Diving" the the "Western Globe", April 11, 1935, page 1, Item AR00107.  In a reprint from a column in the "Bulletin" from Cowper, my great grandfather is interviewed about the mysteries of his water locating abilities.  The article states D.F. Belknap has located hundreds of wells in Alberta and British Columbia with his divining rod.   The divining rods are cut from hazel or willow, about three to four feet past the fork of the lower branch.  D. F. Belknap explains that the pull on the rod will over come the strength of an ordinary man.  It must have been quite the sight to see him in action.  In the article my great grandfather  says that his father had the same gift.  Now I wonder if this gift has been passed down. Who know, maybe I have a hidden talent. 

To read the articles go to Peel's Prairie Provinces website.