As clues the family related statements in Alexander Mathison's letters leave a lot to be desired. The statements are vague and assume reader knowledge. That's knowledge that may be hard to come by at this late remove from events, but I'm determined to see if the information he wrote down will take me further back in my family history search.
I'm particularly interested in the maternal side for Alex. I know that his mother was Ann Ross but that's where I'm stalled. Ann Ross is the furthest back that I can get my matrilineal line, the one that mitochondrial DNA comes from. I'd like to be able to push this line further back. It's a search complicated by the fact that women's names were often hidden behind those of their husbands, although that was not as much of a problem in Scotland. Skye records also seem to be less readily available but maybe I need to look beyond the regular sites such as Ancestry and FamilySearch. Now though further research will come later after compiling the letters' clues.
Alex credited one person for connecting him to his sister, Margaret, who he tracked down after 40 years. That person he called Mrs. Clark, only giving her the first name of Mrs. Angus Clark. A Sarah A Clark also merited a mention but closer scrutiny confirmed her not to the Mrs. Clark I'm looking for but a relative. Intriguingly Alex stated at one point: "Mr. McPherson was Mrs. Clark of Owen Sound's father. She is our second cousin." So it looks like researching Mrs. Clark's line would actually be widening my own family line.
The letter holds further clues in that Alex stated that Donald McPherson, who he named as Mrs. Clark's father, came to Canada a year or two after the Mathison family. I presume that this refers to their migration from Prince Edward Island rather than the longer voyage across the ocean from Scotland. The McPherson name also echoes a clue I found earlier.
On a visit to Ottawa years ago, research in the National Archives of Canada yielded information from the Thomson family papers. Included were interviews done in the 1930s with Tom Thomson's sisters. Among the family reminisces from one of the sisters, Minnie Henry, she dropped the information that her grandfather Matheson's mother was a McPherson and her father, a Dr. Wm Ross. My notes have a question mark after the Dr. so that may not have been clear.
Minnie herself, merits a mention in some of Alex Mathison's letters as she was his niece and one of his correspondents once contact had been re-established with his family. Her interview adds to the family story I'm attempting to piece together from his letters. It's information that will strengthen the basis of this family story. It's also confirmation that I'm on the right track as I commence research into the McPhersons as a way to take the line of Ann Ross, my 2 x great grandmother, back further.
Sources:
Letters of Alexander Matheson, 1895 – 1920, personal family
papers
National Archives of Canada – Tom Thomson papers
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