Searching beyond expected dates

 

                                                                            The BCGS library in Surrey, BC

I've been at it again, trawling through LDS films old style. We met for another day long session at the BCGS library to do research together. Well, maybe not together, as we're not all researching the same things but researching at the same time in the same room. This time I was scrolling through a digitized microfilm of Ontario church records for Puslinch. I was looking for baptisms of Clark children.

When trying to figure out the family of Angus Clark and his wife, Margaret McPherson, it had seemed that they'd had a least 16 children together. At least that was how it appeared when I checked the 1861 and 1871 census records. That was until I looked up Ellen Clark, the oldest child, to see if I could find her in the 1851 census. There they were in Puslinch, Angus Clark with his children, Ellen, Mary, Catherine, John and Angus but there was no mother as Angus was a widower. That changed things.

To find out more I was looking for the baptisms of all the Clark children, both the first wife's and those of Margaret McPherson, the second wife. The hope was that those records would show more than when each child was baptized. I wanted to find out the first wife's name and see when Margaret McPherson had come into the picture. That would give me a better idea of when the second marriage took place.

The records started in 1835. Perfect, the first child, Ellen, was 12 in 1851. According to my math, she would have been born about 1839. I scoured the images for the '30s - nothing. Knowing there were children born later I carried on. There were baptisms of Clark children listed in the 1850's, but not to the right parents. I continued on.

Morning had turned into afternoon and I was getting discouraged. None of the Clark children that I'd noted down were for the right couple. I paused a few times. Went downstairs to look for a book. Then talked myself into continuing on further. Then there was the entry I'd been looking for:

Not only did that entry provide me with the name for his first spouse but after that I was prepared to find other late baptisms for Angus Clark's children.

I searched on, expecting to find further baptisms of Angus's children. If he'd done it for one, maybe he'd done it for them all. There was one entry I made note of, one with multiple children baptized. It was so close although the father's name was Donald Clark rather than Angus. But the woman's name was Margaret McPherson. Maybe the minister had the man's name wrong or she'd given her father's first name in error. The fact that the birth dates for the children were out, that could be down to faulty memories, or another ministerial mistake. I didn't put much store by the minister's records. Not when he'd noted down that the baptisms occurred in 1866 when the last child was supposedly born in 1867. My hopes were high but it was not to be. A closer check of the children's names made me realize that it was not the family I was looking for. I guess I'll just have to keep on searching.

Sources:

LDS film 8130297 Ontario church records available on FamilySearch at affiliate centres

DNA update

 

I keep meaning to delve deeper into DNA research but to date haven't ventured very far. But a recent email from Living DNA offering a Viking upgrade caught my attention. A perusal of the Living DNA site showed more information about the upgrade and I wondered if it would be worth my while. Didn't my ethnicity on the site show Scandinavian ancestry that I'd related to Viking incursions into the Western Isles of Scotland?

Well, Scandinavia used to show up as 13.9% of my ancestry. In the current update to Living DNA's ethnicity results there was no indication that I had any ancestry from that area at all. Ancestry DNA's ethnicity estimate still showed 3% Sweden and Denmark, but then the ethnicity estimates of the various DNA testing companies differ widely.

Living DNA's Viking upgrade offer intrigued me so I decided to pay for it. Perhaps it will add some depth to my Scottish ancestry or a dash of the unknown. Then again, the Vikings in my family's past could come from other parts of my family tree. I was able to trace the roots of my colonial ancestors, the Tripps, from Rhode Island back to Horkstow, Lincolnshire. Trawling the internet I found reminders of Viking incursions on the east coast of England and vaguely remember studying the Danelaw in school. It will be interesting to find out my results.

DNA and the possibilities of its use in historical studies have long interested me. I read a lot of books about history and find that nonfiction accounts of historical events and people have become more readable over the years. Lately, many of them have included DNA as part of their findings in discussions about the origins of populations. But their references can be disappointing at times. I can remember picking up The Scots: A Genetic Journey anticipating an in-depth story of Scotland and its peoples. It was that but, unfortunately the only DNA information included was the male signatures from Y-DNA found in various regions. That's probably useful if you know the Y-DNA signature of your own line but limiting if it is your maternal line that you can trace back to the region. Now that Ancestry has brought out its ethnicity inheritance update and Living DNA its Viking upgrade offer, it seems there is an increased emphasis on population make up. Perhaps these new tools and further fine tuning of population DNA information will lead to books about history which include a wider range of DNA results in their population information. I know I would appreciate books written about genetic origins of populations I could relate to my own DNA results.

Sources:

Information about Lincoln https://www.visitlincoln.com/blog/when-the-vikings-ruled-lincoln  

Moffat, Alistair and James F. Wilson, The Scots: A Genetic Journey. Birlinn Limited, Edinburgh, 2011

A course to extend my research horizons?

 

                                                    Port Ellen, Islay a place of historic interest in my family history

Was it serendipity when I opened up one of the Scottish Genes blog posts that have been piling up in my email inbox to find that there was a course starting the next day entitled Scotland 1750-1850 - Beyond the Old Parish Registers? I'd been eyeing the courses offered by Pharos for a while wondering if they would be helpful. Finding that Pharos course the date before it started was so on target that it seemed like a sign.

I've found out unexpected things by taking courses. Back in the day before much of what we do moved online I signed up for a course about writing family history. The small cadre of students laboured away on their family stories. The teacher made sure that we were productive by getting us to read our stories to the class at certain points. It was through another student's story that I found out about the Regina Cyclone, an event that, until that point, was unknown to me. As that weather event happened just after my grandfather moved to Regina, I needed to know more. Research showed that the path of the cyclone tore down the street he was living on. That was something that definitely made it into one of my family history stories!

Of course, not all forays into genealogical education have led to stories like the one I was able to write after piecing together the effect that weather event had on my grandfather's life. Still, going through course material can suggest new avenues to investigate. Although the first exercise in the Pharos course which called for us to find online local histories of places of interest to our own family histories ran into a bit of a snag for me. About exploring Islay places I wrote: "When searching for the history of places on Islay you're just as likely to find the history of a distillery a the history of a town of the same name." Guess I'll just have to look harder. 

Changing research travel

 

                                                                                       A view of Edinburgh

Fresh from a European cruise in 2019, my cabin mate and I planned to travel together the following year. The 2019 trip had been a brilliant, combining genealogy research with visits to many historic places. There was lots to see as we went from Dublin to Belfast, then on to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Le Havre, Southampton, Guernsey and Cobh. The cruise was the major part of the trip but at the end we went our separate ways exploring other places of interest. I took a week long course at the Society of Genealogists before heading off to Leicester to find out more about the story of Richard III.

We wanted to continue the momentum in 2020, this time planning our side travels around a scenic rail tour in Scotland. That seemed a logical jumping off place since we both had ancestors who came from Scotland. Just like our previous trip, we planned to tack on side trips on our own. Our travel was postponed.

Now that things are opening up again in 2022, it's time to get back to planning. The focus of the trip is still the scenic rail tour although the itinerary has changed slightly. The tour company has altered it so that we're no longer going to Islay, the place so many of my ancestors came from. That's a disappointment but really it seems indicative of how travel and in-person research have changed.

I've just begun to look into the usual research spots in Scotland as we've decided to stick to one country as it seems more prudent. My plans for the 2020 trip included a clan gathering in Ireland and a trip to London. Checking now in Scotland, the usual research facilities have finally opened but restrictions make them a dicey proposition. Until May 4th the National Archives required a lateral flow test (rapid test) before using their search rooms. Thankfully that's been updated but a perusal of the restrictions in the reading rooms brings home the message that accessing family history information this trip will not be as easy or fruitful as it has been in the past. 

Sources:

National Records of Scotland visiting info https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/about-us/service-status