I cannot claim any credit for the research that this post is based on as it was supplied to me by Michael Ginn many years ago. My great great grandmother, Eliza Ginn, was born in Great Hormead, Hertfordshire in 1837 and Michael had managed to trace her ancestors back almost 400 years to William Ginn,… Continue reading Historic Event
Author: Emma Maitland
Brick Wall
The dreaded brick wall occurs when, despite much research effort over several years, the origins of an ancestor remain a mystery. In my own case, I’ve been pretty lucky as I’ve been able to trace most lines in my tree back as far as records allow, but there is one notable exception: my great great… Continue reading Brick Wall
Siblings
I have mentioned my paternal grandmother’s eleven siblings several times now, so I think it is time to introduce them. To recap: they are the children of John Clark and Barbara Ann McDonald, and all of them were born in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire apart from my grandmother, Flora, who was born in Maryhill. Although John and… Continue reading Siblings
Family Secret
I do feel a little guilty when I uncover the long-held secrets that some of my ancestors must have thought they had taken to the grave, but there is no denying that resolving these intriguing puzzles is an immensely satisfying aspect of researching family history. Inevitably, now that DNA testing is so readily available, such… Continue reading Family Secret
Migration
Given the long history of Scottish migration, it is not surprising that the Aberdeenshire branch of my tree includes several of the estimated two million Scots who sought a new life elsewhere in the 19th century. The harrowing narrative of forced moves following the Highland Clearances in the 18th and 19th centuries is well known, but my ancestors… Continue reading Migration
Letters & Diaries
Amongst the most precious items in my family archive are the letters that my great grandmother, Ruth Pursglove, wrote to my grandmother after she left home to work in service towards the end of 1913. Ruth was born on 8 November 1867 in Wyddial, Hertfordshire and this photograph shows her around 1890 when she would… Continue reading Letters & Diaries
Surprise
An early surprise was the discovery that I have double Maitland DNA as I am descended from two sons of James Maitland and Letitia Baker, somewhat confusingly making them my 3x and also my 4x great grandparents. James Maitland, my 2x great grandfather, was baptised in Blandford Forum, Dorset on 7 September 1799. He became… Continue reading Surprise
Challenge
Working out how my paternal grandmother, Flora Clark, ended up in Portsmouth, hundreds of miles from her family in Scotland, was one of the biggest challenges I faced when I began researching. This photograph, taken around 1919, is the only image I have of her. I knew that she had been born in Glasgow in… Continue reading Challenge
Overlooked
I have to confess that I have often been guilty of overlooking the women in my tree, partly because it is simply more compelling to follow the paternal surnames that stretch back through multiple generations, but also because the details of their lives so often went unrecorded, making them much harder, and outwardly less rewarding,… Continue reading Overlooked
Nickname
My great grandfather’s name was recorded as John Cox Clark when his son, Thomas, registered his death in 1912, which puzzled me as Cox is not a family name and it doesn’t appear in any other records. I think it was probably a tee-name, or nickname, traditionally used by the coastal communities of Aberdeenshire to… Continue reading Nickname
Sleuthing Notes 