Plattsburgh, NY
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
The Puckerbrush Award
June has been very busy at work so I have gotten behind in blogging. When I wasn't looking, I was awarded the The Puckerbrush Award - not once but 3 times! I want to thank Linda over at Flipside, Harriet at Genealogy Fun and Jessica at Jessica's Genejournal. I'm not sure how deserving I am of this prestigious award, but am truly honoured to receive it. Thank you.Because I am so late in posting this, everyone that I can think of to give this to has already received it. I've learned at lot about researching through reading everyone's blogs. Without all of you, I wouldn't have known where to start.
Happy Father’s Day – Douglas Sinclair Kay
When I was 2 yrs. old, my mother married my Aunt Helen’s brother, Douglas Sinclair Kay. My mom first met my step-dad when she was still married to my father, Allan Farrell. My father’s brother, Forbes and his wife Helen Kay lived on a neighbouring farm in Balcarres,
Saskatchewan. Doug (as he was always known) lived in Montreal and worked for Canadian Pacific Railway, working on the cross-country train. He would get off the train at Indian Head and go and visit his sister and her family. He became very good friends with my mom and dad. When my father passed away in 1962, it seemed inevitable that my mom and Doug would get married. They were married on December 21, 1963 and after a couple of days honeymoon, we all boarded a train for Montreal.
Douglas Sinclair Kay was born on October 31, 1927 in Lachine, Quebec to Adam Sinclair Kay and Clarice Salmon, the younger of two children. When he was 8 years old the family moved to the South Shore of Montreal, to St. Lambert.
While growing up, Doug was very active with the local sports clubs as well as Scouting, becoming a Scout Master for the St. Lambert Storer Troop. In 1957, he played hooky from work and took his troop to the Jubilee Jamboree in England. After he married my mom, he gave up scouting. He would say that 3 little girls were much harder to handle than 35 boys! Even after he gave up his scouting, he still kept in touch with “his boys”, many of who invited him to their weddings. One of his boys even named a son after him.
Although Doug never legally adopted my sisters and I, he always considered us as his own. Because I was so young when he married my mom, to this day he is my daddy.
We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but we never wanted for anything. If he could afford it, we usually got what we wanted, and he always paid in cash. Nothing was put on credit. He always said that if you don’t have the cash for something, then you can’t afford it and you really don’t need it – something I still follow today. He was never burdened with a mortgage because he had been saving for many years to buy a house (plus he got a really sweet deal on a house when the previous owner died!). We lived in that same house until I graduated from High School, when he sold the house and bought a duplex.
Because he was always careful with his money (but by all means not stingy), he was able to finally take my mom on a long overdue honeymoon back to Scotland in 1970. Three years later we all went to Scotland. My middle sister, Heather, was going with her school on an exchange so he decided we should all go (I even got to miss a month of school).
When I started school, I was enrolled in the newly established French Immersion program. Because my step-dad grew up in Quebec, he already knew French (albeit street French) so we would always have these secret conversations together, which would drive my mom and sisters crazy because they couldn’t understand us!
Having three girls to raise, you could say that my-step dad was a little over protective. Although he never spanked us (and believe me, we deserved it sometimes), just one look from him and we knew we were in trouble. When I was about 15 yrs old, I asked him what he would do if one of us came home pregnant (I think I was trying to see how far I could push him). He would say, “you’d see the fastest shot gun wedding you ever saw”! Needless to say, when at 18 yrs old I did come home pregnant, I was petrified to tell him. Well, there were no shut guns and tha
nkfully no wedding! He told me that if I didn’t want to keep the child, he would adopt it. This child was a part of his family and was not going anywhere else! When the time came for my daughter to be born, he was the one that was with me in the delivery room. After she was born, he would do everything a father would have done, from feeding her, to changing her and taking her for walks. The two of them were inseparable. And when I went back to school, I had the best babysitter.
My daughter and I lived with my mom and step-dad until my daughter was about 7 yrs. old, when I could finally afford to get a place of our own, even if it was in the upper part of the duplex.
When my step-dad was 58 yrs. he was diagnosed with a severe case of Parkinson’s disease causing him to take an early retirement. The next 3 years were extremely hard as the disease got worse. He was a big man, standing 6’4” and 250 lbs., and was always in the best of health, so it was heartbreaking to see this disease take from him what it did. His Parkinson’s had progressed very quickly, even quicker than the doctors had anticipated, and within 3 years of being diagnosed he passed away in 1989 at the age of 61.
Although Douglas Sinclair Kay was not my father, he was and always will be my Dad. Happy Father’s Day daddy – we miss you.
Saskatchewan. Doug (as he was always known) lived in Montreal and worked for Canadian Pacific Railway, working on the cross-country train. He would get off the train at Indian Head and go and visit his sister and her family. He became very good friends with my mom and dad. When my father passed away in 1962, it seemed inevitable that my mom and Doug would get married. They were married on December 21, 1963 and after a couple of days honeymoon, we all boarded a train for Montreal.Douglas Sinclair Kay was born on October 31, 1927 in Lachine, Quebec to Adam Sinclair Kay and Clarice Salmon, the younger of two children. When he was 8 years old the family moved to the South Shore of Montreal, to St. Lambert.
While growing up, Doug was very active with the local sports clubs as well as Scouting, becoming a Scout Master for the St. Lambert Storer Troop. In 1957, he played hooky from work and took his troop to the Jubilee Jamboree in England. After he married my mom, he gave up scouting. He would say that 3 little girls were much harder to handle than 35 boys! Even after he gave up his scouting, he still kept in touch with “his boys”, many of who invited him to their weddings. One of his boys even named a son after him.Although Doug never legally adopted my sisters and I, he always considered us as his own. Because I was so young when he married my mom, to this day he is my daddy.
We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but we never wanted for anything. If he could afford it, we usually got what we wanted, and he always paid in cash. Nothing was put on credit. He always said that if you don’t have the cash for something, then you can’t afford it and you really don’t need it – something I still follow today. He was never burdened with a mortgage because he had been saving for many years to buy a house (plus he got a really sweet deal on a house when the previous owner died!). We lived in that same house until I graduated from High School, when he sold the house and bought a duplex.
Because he was always careful with his money (but by all means not stingy), he was able to finally take my mom on a long overdue honeymoon back to Scotland in 1970. Three years later we all went to Scotland. My middle sister, Heather, was going with her school on an exchange so he decided we should all go (I even got to miss a month of school).
When I started school, I was enrolled in the newly established French Immersion program. Because my step-dad grew up in Quebec, he already knew French (albeit street French) so we would always have these secret conversations together, which would drive my mom and sisters crazy because they couldn’t understand us!
Having three girls to raise, you could say that my-step dad was a little over protective. Although he never spanked us (and believe me, we deserved it sometimes), just one look from him and we knew we were in trouble. When I was about 15 yrs old, I asked him what he would do if one of us came home pregnant (I think I was trying to see how far I could push him). He would say, “you’d see the fastest shot gun wedding you ever saw”! Needless to say, when at 18 yrs old I did come home pregnant, I was petrified to tell him. Well, there were no shut guns and tha
nkfully no wedding! He told me that if I didn’t want to keep the child, he would adopt it. This child was a part of his family and was not going anywhere else! When the time came for my daughter to be born, he was the one that was with me in the delivery room. After she was born, he would do everything a father would have done, from feeding her, to changing her and taking her for walks. The two of them were inseparable. And when I went back to school, I had the best babysitter.My daughter and I lived with my mom and step-dad until my daughter was about 7 yrs. old, when I could finally afford to get a place of our own, even if it was in the upper part of the duplex.
When my step-dad was 58 yrs. he was diagnosed with a severe case of Parkinson’s disease causing him to take an early retirement. The next 3 years were extremely hard as the disease got worse. He was a big man, standing 6’4” and 250 lbs., and was always in the best of health, so it was heartbreaking to see this disease take from him what it did. His Parkinson’s had progressed very quickly, even quicker than the doctors had anticipated, and within 3 years of being diagnosed he passed away in 1989 at the age of 61.
Although Douglas Sinclair Kay was not my father, he was and always will be my Dad. Happy Father’s Day daddy – we miss you.
Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a DADDY!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Madness Monday – Family Secrets!
Warning: This is going to be a long post!
I am currently reading the book Annie’s Ghosts by Steve Luxemberg. He writes about the shock of learning that his mother had a secret sister and his search to find out all he can about her (I highly recommend this book). As I’m reading it, I’m thinking, “how would I react in this situation?” Well, I have since found out!
When I first began my family research, I didn’t have much on my father’s side. I received a few names from my cousin on my paternal grandfather’s family – the Farrell’s – that have proven very fruitful. However, my paternal grandmother seemed to have just appeared out of thin air, that my grandfather wished for a bride and there she was! Actually, I did have a couple of tidbits – I always knew that she was called “Nellie” and she was born on April Fool’s Day. I never got to spend too much time with her because I lived clear across the country and we only visited maybe every 3-5 years. When she passed away in 1980, I was sent a copy of her funeral card, which gave her full name as well as her birth and death dates and where she was born (Ellen Devylin, b. April 1, 1892 in Euckenleck, Ayrshire, Scotland, d. May 22, 1980).
I tried searching on Ancestry for Ellen Devylin born on April 1, 1892 in Euckenleck. I soon found that her last name is Devlin and it’s Auchinleck (so much for accuracy on funeral cards!). I revised my search and still came up empty. I decided to try something way off base and used her nickname, Nellie, and the first entry that showed up was the 1901 Scottish Census showing a Nellie Devlin born about 1892 in Auchinleck, daughter of William Devlin and living in Auchinleck. O.K. that’s a possibility. I scroll down a little further and find another Nellie Devlin born about 1892 in Auchinleck but living in Sorn, Ayrshire (which is not too far from Auchinleck). O.K. now I’m beginning to think that someone is just playing with my mind – how can this same person be on the same census report living in two different places. I look at the file and see that this Nellie Devlin is the daughter of Peter Devlin. Turns out that Peter and William are brothers and they both had a daughter named Nellie born about 1892. By now I’m pulling my hair out. How can two brothers have a daughter born the same year and call them both the same name? Why are they doing this to me!! How am I supposed to know which one is my grandmother and why hasn’t my Aunt answered my letter of two months ago where I asked her for this information! I decided to give up for now and go concentrate on my mom’s side of the family – they were a lot easier to find!
I have a little tree up on Ancestry of my Farrell family and a couple of weeks ago I noticed a little green leaf next to my grandmother’s name. I clicked on it to see the “hint”. Someone is also researching the Devlin line and has a Helen Nellie Devlin born April 2, 1892 in Auchinleck. Well, that’s pretty darn close, especially the “Nellie”. I do know that Nellie is a nickname for Helen so my grandmother’s name could have been Helen instead of Ellen. The birth date is also nearly bang on. The Helen Devlin posted on Ancestry has a father named Peter (maybe I’m getting somewhere here, I think), but, and that’s a big BUT, this Helen had a child named Peter Gibb Devlin who died at 4 months old, father unknown (I kind of figured that with the same last name that the child was illegitimate). Frustration has fallen in my lap once again because “I know” that my grandmother only got married and had a family AFTER she immigrated to Canada.
I decided to continue to search, this time on Rootsweb and found someone else searching the Devlin line. He also had a Helen Devlin born April 2, 1892 in Auchinleck, whose father was Peter Devlin, with a child named Peter Gibb Devlin that died at 4 months old (father unknown). This was getting way too coincidental. But I just “knew” this couldn’t be my grandmother because she didn’t have kids until she came to Canada – or so I thought!!!
The time had come to pick up the phone and call my procrastinating Aunt! Here is how the conversation went:
Ring, Ring
Aunt Lily: Hello?
Me: Is this Lily?
Lily: Yes.
Me: Hi Auntie Lily, it’s Alana.
Lily: From Montreal? (I think I shocked her that I was calling because I haven’t spoken to her in 3 years)
Me: Ya, how are you doing?
Lily: I’m doing great (which was good to hear since she had a 7 by-pass operation 2 years ago). I bet you’re calling to find out when I’m going to answer your letter.
Me: Kinda!
Lily: I don’t know how much I can help, I think you have everything.
Me: Any little bit would help. What I was wondering, though, was if you remember what your mother’s parents names were.
Lily: Her parent’s names – no I don’t. (crap!). Your granny and her parents didn’t get along very well and she didn’t speak of her life before coming to Canada. I don’t know if you know this, but she had two little girls before coming here.
Me: What? (after picking myself up off the floor) Really?
Lily: Yes – and she left them behind when she immigrated.
Me: What? (picking myself up for the second time) Was Granny married before she came to Canada.
Lily: Oh no, but she did have a boyfriend and they were planning on getting married. See, you never know what you're going to find when you start searching (no kidding!)
By now I’m so stunned I’m speechless. I was hoping for her to maybe mention a little boy, but two little girls? She never did mention a little boy and I was too stunned to ask.
Apparently my grandmother had two illegitimate girls while still living in Scotland. She and her boyfriend were planning on getting married but this caused a problem with her mother. Because my grandmother was still living at home, with the little girls, her mother was getting money, my Aunt thinks possibly from the government. If my grandmother married or moved away and took the girls with her, her mother would no longer receive this money. This caused such a rift between my grandmother and her mother that my grandmother got so upset that she up and left. Not just the house, or the town, but the country – and left her two little girls behind. That must have torn her apart.
I asked my Aunt if my grandfather knew about this and she said no, that my grandmother kept this a secret during their 45 years of marriage. I assumed that she decided that she was going to start fresh in this new country and forget what was past. Not so - my grandmother kept in contact with her sister who updated my grandmother on the little girls and how they were doing, but destroyed the letters before my grandfather saw them. She carried this secret with her to her grave. My Aunt only found this out by accident in 1990 – 10 years after my grandmother died. On her way home from a visit in Montreal, she made a stop over in Winnipeg to visit her cousin, Nettie. While there, Nettie says to my Aunt “I don’t know if you know this, but I’m really not your cousin – I’m your niece!” Nettie is the child of one of these little girls that my grandmother left behind. She has been living in Canada for a long time and has been “posing” as my Aunt’s cousin to protect my grandmother’s secret (she would really be my cousin). All that time my grandmother knew that Nettie was her granddaughter but couldn’t acknowledge it for fear that her secret would come out.
My Aunt has promised to send me the stuff I requested as well as Nettie’s address so I can write to her to get the whole truth.
Since speaking with my Aunt I have managed to find my grandmother’s birth record, which lists her father as Peter Devlin (one mystery solved). Just out of curiosity, I searched for the death record of this Peter Gibb Devlin and I found it on ScotlandPeople. He is listed as illegitimate, mother’s name is “Nellie” Devlin, and grandfather is Peter Devlin. So, did my grandmother actually have 3 children before coming to Canada. Who are these little girls, how old were they when my grandmother left and who is the father (or fathers)? The questions are just coming from everywhere. Now the wait is on again for my Aunt to send Nettie’s address.
I just hope I don’t have to wait another two months. I don't think I could take it!
I am currently reading the book Annie’s Ghosts by Steve Luxemberg. He writes about the shock of learning that his mother had a secret sister and his search to find out all he can about her (I highly recommend this book). As I’m reading it, I’m thinking, “how would I react in this situation?” Well, I have since found out!
When I first began my family research, I didn’t have much on my father’s side. I received a few names from my cousin on my paternal grandfather’s family – the Farrell’s – that have proven very fruitful. However, my paternal grandmother seemed to have just appeared out of thin air, that my grandfather wished for a bride and there she was! Actually, I did have a couple of tidbits – I always knew that she was called “Nellie” and she was born on April Fool’s Day. I never got to spend too much time with her because I lived clear across the country and we only visited maybe every 3-5 years. When she passed away in 1980, I was sent a copy of her funeral card, which gave her full name as well as her birth and death dates and where she was born (Ellen Devylin, b. April 1, 1892 in Euckenleck, Ayrshire, Scotland, d. May 22, 1980).
I tried searching on Ancestry for Ellen Devylin born on April 1, 1892 in Euckenleck. I soon found that her last name is Devlin and it’s Auchinleck (so much for accuracy on funeral cards!). I revised my search and still came up empty. I decided to try something way off base and used her nickname, Nellie, and the first entry that showed up was the 1901 Scottish Census showing a Nellie Devlin born about 1892 in Auchinleck, daughter of William Devlin and living in Auchinleck. O.K. that’s a possibility. I scroll down a little further and find another Nellie Devlin born about 1892 in Auchinleck but living in Sorn, Ayrshire (which is not too far from Auchinleck). O.K. now I’m beginning to think that someone is just playing with my mind – how can this same person be on the same census report living in two different places. I look at the file and see that this Nellie Devlin is the daughter of Peter Devlin. Turns out that Peter and William are brothers and they both had a daughter named Nellie born about 1892. By now I’m pulling my hair out. How can two brothers have a daughter born the same year and call them both the same name? Why are they doing this to me!! How am I supposed to know which one is my grandmother and why hasn’t my Aunt answered my letter of two months ago where I asked her for this information! I decided to give up for now and go concentrate on my mom’s side of the family – they were a lot easier to find!
I have a little tree up on Ancestry of my Farrell family and a couple of weeks ago I noticed a little green leaf next to my grandmother’s name. I clicked on it to see the “hint”. Someone is also researching the Devlin line and has a Helen Nellie Devlin born April 2, 1892 in Auchinleck. Well, that’s pretty darn close, especially the “Nellie”. I do know that Nellie is a nickname for Helen so my grandmother’s name could have been Helen instead of Ellen. The birth date is also nearly bang on. The Helen Devlin posted on Ancestry has a father named Peter (maybe I’m getting somewhere here, I think), but, and that’s a big BUT, this Helen had a child named Peter Gibb Devlin who died at 4 months old, father unknown (I kind of figured that with the same last name that the child was illegitimate). Frustration has fallen in my lap once again because “I know” that my grandmother only got married and had a family AFTER she immigrated to Canada.
I decided to continue to search, this time on Rootsweb and found someone else searching the Devlin line. He also had a Helen Devlin born April 2, 1892 in Auchinleck, whose father was Peter Devlin, with a child named Peter Gibb Devlin that died at 4 months old (father unknown). This was getting way too coincidental. But I just “knew” this couldn’t be my grandmother because she didn’t have kids until she came to Canada – or so I thought!!!
The time had come to pick up the phone and call my procrastinating Aunt! Here is how the conversation went:
Ring, Ring
Aunt Lily: Hello?
Me: Is this Lily?
Lily: Yes.
Me: Hi Auntie Lily, it’s Alana.
Lily: From Montreal? (I think I shocked her that I was calling because I haven’t spoken to her in 3 years)
Me: Ya, how are you doing?
Lily: I’m doing great (which was good to hear since she had a 7 by-pass operation 2 years ago). I bet you’re calling to find out when I’m going to answer your letter.
Me: Kinda!
Lily: I don’t know how much I can help, I think you have everything.
Me: Any little bit would help. What I was wondering, though, was if you remember what your mother’s parents names were.
Lily: Her parent’s names – no I don’t. (crap!). Your granny and her parents didn’t get along very well and she didn’t speak of her life before coming to Canada. I don’t know if you know this, but she had two little girls before coming here.
Me: What? (after picking myself up off the floor) Really?
Lily: Yes – and she left them behind when she immigrated.
Me: What? (picking myself up for the second time) Was Granny married before she came to Canada.
Lily: Oh no, but she did have a boyfriend and they were planning on getting married. See, you never know what you're going to find when you start searching (no kidding!)
By now I’m so stunned I’m speechless. I was hoping for her to maybe mention a little boy, but two little girls? She never did mention a little boy and I was too stunned to ask.
Apparently my grandmother had two illegitimate girls while still living in Scotland. She and her boyfriend were planning on getting married but this caused a problem with her mother. Because my grandmother was still living at home, with the little girls, her mother was getting money, my Aunt thinks possibly from the government. If my grandmother married or moved away and took the girls with her, her mother would no longer receive this money. This caused such a rift between my grandmother and her mother that my grandmother got so upset that she up and left. Not just the house, or the town, but the country – and left her two little girls behind. That must have torn her apart.
I asked my Aunt if my grandfather knew about this and she said no, that my grandmother kept this a secret during their 45 years of marriage. I assumed that she decided that she was going to start fresh in this new country and forget what was past. Not so - my grandmother kept in contact with her sister who updated my grandmother on the little girls and how they were doing, but destroyed the letters before my grandfather saw them. She carried this secret with her to her grave. My Aunt only found this out by accident in 1990 – 10 years after my grandmother died. On her way home from a visit in Montreal, she made a stop over in Winnipeg to visit her cousin, Nettie. While there, Nettie says to my Aunt “I don’t know if you know this, but I’m really not your cousin – I’m your niece!” Nettie is the child of one of these little girls that my grandmother left behind. She has been living in Canada for a long time and has been “posing” as my Aunt’s cousin to protect my grandmother’s secret (she would really be my cousin). All that time my grandmother knew that Nettie was her granddaughter but couldn’t acknowledge it for fear that her secret would come out.
My Aunt has promised to send me the stuff I requested as well as Nettie’s address so I can write to her to get the whole truth.
Since speaking with my Aunt I have managed to find my grandmother’s birth record, which lists her father as Peter Devlin (one mystery solved). Just out of curiosity, I searched for the death record of this Peter Gibb Devlin and I found it on ScotlandPeople. He is listed as illegitimate, mother’s name is “Nellie” Devlin, and grandfather is Peter Devlin. So, did my grandmother actually have 3 children before coming to Canada. Who are these little girls, how old were they when my grandmother left and who is the father (or fathers)? The questions are just coming from everywhere. Now the wait is on again for my Aunt to send Nettie’s address.
I just hope I don’t have to wait another two months. I don't think I could take it!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Mailing Lists and How They Helped Me
I have seen recommendations from other GeneaBloggers about joining mailing lists to help in their research. I decided to check them out so I went over to RootsWeb to see what they had. I found one pertaining to one of my areas of research, the Scotland-Angus list so I decided to join. I haven’t posted anything as yet and so far the messages received, although very interesting, don’t pertain to any of my family. However, I did check out the archived messages and there was a very interesting post regarding the Dundee police force saying that if you had an ancestor who was a member of the force you can contact the Tayside Police force’s museum and they might have your ancestor’s work records.
The Tayside Police was formed on the 16th of May 1975 and is made up of a number of smaller City, Burgh and County Constabularies (namely Angus, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross), which over the course of more than 150 years have successfully merged together to form the present Tayside Police Force.
My great grandfather, Robert Burnett (my mother’s maternal grandfather), was a member of the Dundee Police force in the late 1890’s and early 1900’s. The 1891 Scottish Census lists him as a Police Constable and according to his death record he retired as a Detective Inspector. Unfortunately, I don’t have any record of when he joined the force.
Fortunately, the person who posted the message on the mailing list also gave the website to the Tayside Police Force. I logged on and found their History and Museum section, which gives a brief history. You can contact the museum by filling out an online form with your request. There is a warning on the site that the email is not monitored 24 hours a day. The form is only for contacting the Force Museum and comments will be sent directly to museum staff. I filled out the form with the details that I knew of John Burnett and hoped for the best. That was on May 23rd.
On May 30th I received a reply from the website co-ordinator saying that they had received my email and that it had been forwarded to the Museum Curator who may be able to help. So far so good – at least I got a response! The same day I got another email from the curator himself, Mr. Willie MacFarlane, saying that with the information I had provided he was fairly sure that they should have some record of my great grandfather and unless it had been removed from the file, there should be a black and white photograph of him when he joined the Force. He mentioned that he would attend to the matter on his next visit to the Museum. I was very excited to learn that there might be a picture of him as I don’t have any pictures at all of any of my great grandparents.
Today, not two weeks since my original request, I received a very exciting email from Mr. MacFarlane. He found my great grandfathers work record – a very detailed one at that. Here is what he provided:
Dear Alana:- Further to our emails to each other I now have some information on your great grandfather.
John Burnett PC No. 128 was 22 years of age when he joined the former Dundee City Police on 24th November 1884. Formerly he had been employed as a warehouseman. He was single and lived at 37, Stirling Street, Dundee. He stood at 5ft 9 and1/2 inches in height and was born in Kincardine-shire.
On 19th May 1898 he was promoted to Sergeant, and then on 3rd June 1908 he was promoted to Det Officer and then on 16th May 1914 he was promoted to Det. Inspector. On 24th November 1920 he resigned from the Force on medical grounds and was awarded a pension of £198 3/- pa. He died at Dundee Royal Infirmary on 2nd March 1923. His widow Helen Marshall or Burnett received a widow's pension of £40 pa.
John Burnett was clearly well thought of and in fact he received a reward of 5/- for his part in the arrest of a Sarah Milne who had stolen jewellery on 13th February 1896.
You will be pleased to know that we do have a photograph of John Burnett in uniform and once this has been developed I will sent it to you by land mail.
Best wishes
Willie MacFarlane Hon. Museum Curator.1
How exciting is that! I can’t wait to get the picture and will post it as soon as it arrives.
According to the 1891 Scottish Census Robert Burnett and his family were living at 5 Stirling St. and in 1901 were living at 36 Carmichael. However, they must have moved back to 37 Stirling Street, as that was his residence at the time of his death.
So, I’m going to join those other GeneaBloggers and recommend joining a mailing list. 95% of the time the messages may be irrelevant, but that 5% could just be the missing link you are looking for.
Source 1: Willie MacFarlane , " Constable John Burnett". e-mail to Alana Farrell, sent 04 June 2009.
The Tayside Police was formed on the 16th of May 1975 and is made up of a number of smaller City, Burgh and County Constabularies (namely Angus, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross), which over the course of more than 150 years have successfully merged together to form the present Tayside Police Force.
My great grandfather, Robert Burnett (my mother’s maternal grandfather), was a member of the Dundee Police force in the late 1890’s and early 1900’s. The 1891 Scottish Census lists him as a Police Constable and according to his death record he retired as a Detective Inspector. Unfortunately, I don’t have any record of when he joined the force.
Fortunately, the person who posted the message on the mailing list also gave the website to the Tayside Police Force. I logged on and found their History and Museum section, which gives a brief history. You can contact the museum by filling out an online form with your request. There is a warning on the site that the email is not monitored 24 hours a day. The form is only for contacting the Force Museum and comments will be sent directly to museum staff. I filled out the form with the details that I knew of John Burnett and hoped for the best. That was on May 23rd.
On May 30th I received a reply from the website co-ordinator saying that they had received my email and that it had been forwarded to the Museum Curator who may be able to help. So far so good – at least I got a response! The same day I got another email from the curator himself, Mr. Willie MacFarlane, saying that with the information I had provided he was fairly sure that they should have some record of my great grandfather and unless it had been removed from the file, there should be a black and white photograph of him when he joined the Force. He mentioned that he would attend to the matter on his next visit to the Museum. I was very excited to learn that there might be a picture of him as I don’t have any pictures at all of any of my great grandparents.
Today, not two weeks since my original request, I received a very exciting email from Mr. MacFarlane. He found my great grandfathers work record – a very detailed one at that. Here is what he provided:
Dear Alana:- Further to our emails to each other I now have some information on your great grandfather.
John Burnett PC No. 128 was 22 years of age when he joined the former Dundee City Police on 24th November 1884. Formerly he had been employed as a warehouseman. He was single and lived at 37, Stirling Street, Dundee. He stood at 5ft 9 and1/2 inches in height and was born in Kincardine-shire.
On 19th May 1898 he was promoted to Sergeant, and then on 3rd June 1908 he was promoted to Det Officer and then on 16th May 1914 he was promoted to Det. Inspector. On 24th November 1920 he resigned from the Force on medical grounds and was awarded a pension of £198 3/- pa. He died at Dundee Royal Infirmary on 2nd March 1923. His widow Helen Marshall or Burnett received a widow's pension of £40 pa.
John Burnett was clearly well thought of and in fact he received a reward of 5/- for his part in the arrest of a Sarah Milne who had stolen jewellery on 13th February 1896.
You will be pleased to know that we do have a photograph of John Burnett in uniform and once this has been developed I will sent it to you by land mail.
Best wishes
Willie MacFarlane Hon. Museum Curator.1
How exciting is that! I can’t wait to get the picture and will post it as soon as it arrives.
According to the 1891 Scottish Census Robert Burnett and his family were living at 5 Stirling St. and in 1901 were living at 36 Carmichael. However, they must have moved back to 37 Stirling Street, as that was his residence at the time of his death.
So, I’m going to join those other GeneaBloggers and recommend joining a mailing list. 95% of the time the messages may be irrelevant, but that 5% could just be the missing link you are looking for.
Source 1: Willie MacFarlane , " Constable John Burnett". e-mail to Alana Farrell, sent 04 June 2009.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Farrell or Fearghail
I have been doing most of my research lately on my father’s line – the Farrell Family. At this point I have only gone back to my great great Grandfather and so far I have found that we come from Ballyreagh in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. But apparently this is not where the name Farrell originates from.This Irish surname, with variant spellings O'Farrell, (O) Ferrall, and cognates O'Farrelly and O'Ferrally, is an Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic Ó Fearghail. The Gaelic prefix "O" indicates "male descendant of", plus the personal byname "Fearghal", composed of the elements "fear", man, and "gal", valour; hence, "descendants" of the man of Valour" (I like that!).
This great sept originated in the Leinster Co. of Longford and their chief known as Lord of Annaly resided at Longphuirt Ui Fearghaill (i.e. O'Farrell's fortress) from which the name of the county derives. So important was the sept that much space is accorded to them in the "Annals of the Four Masters". There were two main branches of the O'Farrell's, the chiefs of which were distinguished as O'Farrell Boy from "buidhe", meaning yellow or Golden, and O'Farrell Bane from ban meaning "fair" or "white". Several of the family distinguished themselves in the Irish brigade in France, and Sir Thomas Farrell (1827 - 1900), was a noted sculptor many of whose statues adorn the city of Dublin.
A Coat of Arms granted to the (O) Farrell family depicts a gold lion rampant on a green shield. The colour symbolizes Hope, Joy and Loyalty in Love. It also reflects the hopes, ambitions and aspirations of its original bearer. On the Crest there is a black greyhound springing from a ducal coronet.
The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Father Richard O'Farrell, which was dated circa 1615 - 1663, in Annaly, Co. Longford, during the reign of King James I of England and VI of Scotland (1603 – 1625).
Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
This post was written for the 13th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture , Irish Names, hosted by Lisa at Small-leaved Shamrock.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
What good are Census Reports?
My sister told me recently that when the last Census was taken a few of years ago, her youngest son balked out filling it out. His comment was "What good are Census Reports? It's just another way for "Big Brother" to keep his eye on us!" At 20 yrs. old, he is that cynical! She told him that it will help future generations to know more about us and how we lived.
A couple of weeks ago, I was at her house and updating her on things that I had found on our family. I was rattling off information that I had found using the Scottish Census Reports. Her oldest son was in the room and she turned to him and said "You see, that's what Census Reports are good for!"
When the next Census is taken, make sure you fill it out. And try to do it as accurately as possible to avoid giving headaches to your descendants when they are trying to find you!
A couple of weeks ago, I was at her house and updating her on things that I had found on our family. I was rattling off information that I had found using the Scottish Census Reports. Her oldest son was in the room and she turned to him and said "You see, that's what Census Reports are good for!"
When the next Census is taken, make sure you fill it out. And try to do it as accurately as possible to avoid giving headaches to your descendants when they are trying to find you!
Another Award - Wow!
I've been offline for a few days so was surprised to see that two geneabloggers gave me the Friendly Blogger Award. Thank you to Judith at Tennessee Memories and Robin at Where I Come From. It is very much appreciated.I know that this award has been going around for awhile, so I'm going to cheat and take the easy road out and present this to everyone who hasn't received it yet, as you are all friendly bloggers!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Our Prince
After four years of marriage, my mother and step-father didn’t have any children of their own, so they decided that they would try adoption. Since my mom already had three girls, they were hoping for a little boy. Back in the mid 1960’s there were a lot of restrictions with adoptions with regards to race, religion, etc. At the time the only boys that were up for adoption were either children of colour or children of the Catholic faith (we were Protestant), both of which my parents didn’t “qualify” for.Now at this time, I was about 6 or 7 years old and used to go to bed at 7:00 p.m. Because of his work shift, my step-dad only got home around 8:00 p.m. After about a year of trying to adopt, my step-dad called home one night and told my mom to keep me up until he got home as he had a surprise. He said it was a little boy about 9 weeks old. I was so excited because I thought,
finally I was getting a little brother and I wouldn’t be the baby any more. Around 8:00 p.m. that night in walks my step-dad carrying a cardboard box. I thought it very funny that my new baby brother would be in box! My step-dad put the box down on the floor and, to my surprise, out popped this little brown head that started licking me in the face. It was a new puppy and boy did he every look funny! He looked like an oversized sausage. I didn’t know it was because he was a dachshund and he was supposed to look like that. He was soooo cute and tiny and we called him Prince.My mom spent 3 months sleeping on the sofa training him. She trained him not to go on the furniture, not to go up the stairs to the second floor where the bedrooms were, and not to go in the dining room where we always ate. We had a huge front lawn with no fence and she even trained him to stay on the lawn. Not one paw touched the sidewalk without permission.
With the type of shift that my step-dad worked (he worked on the commuter trains), he was always able to come home during the day for a nap. One day he came home, took one look at Prince and said “come on boy, let’s go to bed”. That’s all it took – after all that training, he was now allowed to go upstairs and sleep on my parents bed. Next thing we knew, he was allowed up on the sofa. But that’s all my mom gave into – Prince was still not allowed in the dining room unless my mom gave the O.K. If we were eating dinner, Prince would sit on the edge of the doorway and not even his nose would cross that threshold. If my step-dad called him in to get a piece of food, Prince would look at my mom first and wait for her to give the O.K. and then he would slink in, take the food and then dash back out.
Whenever we would be playing outside the front of the house, Prince would always be out there too, sitting on the lawn. There were no concerns that he would run away. The only time that he was allowed off the front lawn was when my step-dad would be coming down the street. My step-dad would take the bus home whenever he came home during the day and he always had a set time to arrive. Mom would let Prince out the front to sit and wait. We always knew when my step-dad would be coming down the street because Prince would be sitting on the corner of the lawn wagging his tail so much you would think he was going to take off. My mom would wait a few minutes and then say “go on Prince” and Prince would take off down the street to meet my dad, give him a big Hello and then run back home to wait. It got to the point the neighbours all knew when my step-dad would be coming down the street just by watching Prince’s tail go.
My step-dad was a big hockey fan and Prince would always sit and watch the games with him. My step-dad would sing the National Anthem and Prince would sing right along with him. I thought this was so great to think we had a dog that could sing that I entered him
in a talent show put on by our local park. I watched as all the other dogs did these really neat tricks. When it came to my turn, I got up my courage and started singing the National Anthem expecting Prince to join right along. All he did was lie there and sleep! I was so embarrassed! I guess my voice just wasn’t deep enough. I should have gone with the "cookie on the nose" trick.When Prince was about a year old we got a kitten we called Mittens (she was allowed to sleep with me). For the most part Prince and Mittens got along fine, unless the cat was in a bad mood. If she was, she always took it out on Prince and would knock him upside the head with her paw! One day we found a stray kitten, that couldn’t have been more than 5 or six weeks old. Prince became very protective of this kitten. I think he was afraid Mittens would do something to it. He would let it sleep in his bed and make sure that it ate its food. We eventually gave the kitten to a little girl who’s cat had just got hit by a car.
Prince was my step-dad’s baby and they did everything together. As Prince got older, he went
deaf and blind and could barely walk because of his arthritis. After 17 years, we knew it was time to put him down. My step-dad took this very hard and couldn’t do it, so I was the one that had to take Prince to the vet. It broke my heart to have to leave without him. Prince wasn’t just a dog, he was the baby brother I never had.P.S. I’m still the baby of the family!
This post was written for the 13th Edition of Smile For The Camera - All Creatures Great and Small.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
One Lovely Blog Award
I was so pleased to read Jessica's Genejournal and see that she nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award. I haven't been posting too much lately so it was really nice of her to give me this. It's going to be tough to nominate 7 more - there are so many to choose from. My nominees are:Amanda at A Tale of Two Ancestors
Lucie at Acadian Ancestral Home
Miriam at AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors
Apple at Apple's Tree
Valerie at Begin With "Craft"
Claudia at Claudia's Genealogy Blog
Delia at Delia's Genealogy Blog
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