I gather that nearly all the links to pictures, trees and drawings etc are broken. I will do my best to restore them but it looks like each one needs put back individually so it is going to take quite some time. If you see a label which is wrong please let me know- often…

I have been exploring Dad’s DNA connections to people seemingly related through the Baxter family, many of whom disappeared from the records in Scotland. This has involved a little, if expensive, look at ScotlandsPeople but much more exploration via Ancestry. Unfortunately it has proven very difficult to locate birth records for many putative descendants. The…

Less than a year after the passing of Isabella McEwan her brother Douglas has left this world. I was able to attend his funeral in Glasgow recently and listened to a wonderful testimony about his life and his character. As the minister said, he touched many lives for the better as a Social Worker and…

The 1921 census has FINALLY been released by ScotlandsPeople, with the year almost at an end. I’ve had a quick look at the Douglas household (technically the Adam household) at 930 Argyle St just to confirm everyone was there. Grandad was a traveller for a wholesale stationer. This one is a surprise- Charles Douglas the…

The page on the descendants of Charles Douglas the Blacksmith and Jane Ann Clark has acquired a new member in the form of an illegitimate daughter to John Douglas; she was born in Glasgow in 1898. This girl went to Canada, married and had several children who have living descendants today!

I learned of the death of Isabella (Ishbel) McEwan this week, former librarian at the Mitchell Library and cousin of my late father. Ishbel was 90. She was an intelligent, articulate woman with a sharp mind and an eye and ear for detail. She was an invaluable source of information for me in my research…

After my visit to the Belfast City Cemetery a couple of weeks ago I have added a bit to the relevant page, including a photo of the unmarked grave of James Robert Brown in November 1918. He was one of many victims of the so-called Spanish Flu.

I’ve been at PRONI 4 or 5 days over the summer but most of my work has been focussed on my wife’s family. One thing I did try to do for my own family was to locate my great grandparents wedding at St Anne’s Church/Cathedral in Belfast. I waded through hundreds between 1892 and 1897…

I have been working for ages on a particularly tricky group, the Jacksons of Raffrey (especially the townland of Barnamaghery). After 3 or 4 days at PRONI wading through original documents and microfilm I have managed to untangle the Jackson family which is “right” for my wife.

I’ve added a little to the section on the Clarks. Next week I will be visiting Scotland for the first time in years and hope to visit Newtonmore.