Too Many Mclachlans to count…Highlanders to Canada : An Introduction to the McLachlans

I recently discovered some more information regarding my Mclachlan ancestors(McLachlan was spelt many different ways I am chosing to use this way)and going to talk about and introduce them in this post.

My Great Great Grandmother was a Mclachlan. Her name was Mary but also went by Ellen(I suspect this was a 2nd name and also may to avoid confusion as her mother was named Mary as well). She was the son of Duncan McLachlan and Mary Mckechern. Mary Mckechern’s parents and family are currently unknown as the marriage information I have doesn’t provide parents name.

Duncan was born in about 1823 in Kilmeny, Argyll Scotland to William and Christina (Nee Bell)McLachlan. The McLachlans immigrated to Canada sometime in the 1830s with 5 children and later 2 more were born in Canada. (I am assuming all the children came with them to Canada as they were all young to care for themselves)

The children of William and Christina are:

Born in Kilmeny Scotland

Margaret 1825

Duncan 1823 married a Mary Mckechern

Flora 1828

Donald 1830

John 1832 married a Mary McIntyre (1st)and Isabella ? (2nd)

Born in Ontario Canada

James 1837

Mary 1840 married to William Currie

As Always, Thanks for reading

ancestrychick

Searching and Struggling, some tips to help to get results

I got a subscription to Family Tree Magazine for Christmas and just got the first issue this month.

The issue I got was all about the different sites, databases etc that are out their for researching family history. I found some good tips in their that I had either forgotten about or didn’t know about.

Here are some tips for you:

1.  Using wildcard characters such as * or ?. This can take some playing around as you have to figure out what the resource you are using prefers as wildcards. Usually looking in the help section, can give you an answer to what wildcard characters that resource will use. I have used this method myself and has provided me with some very different spelling of a last name that would have never thought of. I did with my family name Bonazew in Ancestry and ended up finding family members having the last name spelt Bonazeau. They went from Ukrainian to French or mostly likely a spelling error or guess from the person who originally took the record. I think maybe they just wanted to pretend to French.

2. If your relatives were of different ethic background, sometimes their names were anglicized at some point. Finding a resource that given the equivalent names is a good place to look or asking a family member. Sometimes even just googling work. One good website is Behind the Name. This site covers names in many different languages and give various versions of the name when looking up a name.  It also have a surname version and a name translator(only work for english into another language).

3. Knowing what name an ancestor went by can be hard especially if you are unsure of the full name. I know that for example in many cultures sons were often named after their father, so often in order to avoid confusion sons would go by a nickname or their middle name. One of my  Grandpa’s actually had an uncle who was named after his father but went by a nickname of his middle name.

4. The not so reliable method is to use guessing. This is a time-consuming method and require you to have some information to start with. This does pay off, so it’s not one to discount. What I do when guessing, using information I already have and make an educated guess. For example, using my great grandpa James Alexander Smith in trying to find his parents. I’ve searched for his father using the last name, birthplace Scotland(I know from a census that James said his father was born in Scotland ), lived in Port Elgin Ontario(This is where James was born), Years I try around the 1850s as this when James was born.

5. The last tip I have is just simply asking those in your family what they know, you can be surprised by what information family members have or are willing to share. This tip working very well as a starting point if you have nothing or very little to go on.  I suggest starting with basic questions such as names, dates, places. I would write done the information that you collect in order not to forget or lose it. Family gatherings are good places to ask questions I find as families like to talk about the past.

As always thanks for reading

ancestrychick

 

Some more about James Yuill and his Scottish Roots

I have finally managed to trace James Yuill’s family in Scotland.

James Yuill was born in Rutherglen, Lanark(Present Day area of Glasgow) in around December 4 1774  to John Yuill and Agnes Eadie or Addie.

John and Agnes married 23 July 1769 in Hamilton Lanark.

They had 5 children(that are known).

Margaret born June 1772

James born December 1774

William born March 1777

Gavin born February 1779

Thomas born February 1781

I believe that James was a solider at sometime working in England and that his brothers Gavin and Thomas were soldiers sent to Canada as well.

I am still looking into the family, so will post more information as I cross across it.

As always, thanks for reading

Ancestrychick

James Yuill Family Information

This post is about the James Yuill family.  I have attached to this post at the end, a link to a PDF that provides names of James Yuill children birth/date dates and their spouses name.  Some of the information is estimation and is awaiting sources for confirmation but majority is from sourced information.

James Yuill was  the head of a large family and was from the Glasgow area of Scotland. He married Barbara Colton in 1793. It is believed he was a weaver.  He and Barbara had 10 children all born in Scotland or England.  They emigrated to Canada is 1821 with 8 of their children. Mary Yuill was mostly likely married already when they left and John Yuill I am not sure why he stayed behind as he was still only a young one.

They came to come Canada on the either the Charles Canning or Commerce.  They ended up in Ramsay Township near Ottawa area in Ontario Canada.  The township no longer exists.

James Yuill ended up being a farmer and it is believed he died in the 1850s in the town of Almonte.

Here is the link to the PDF with basic information on James Yuill and his family  James_Yuill_Family

As always, thanks for reading

AncestryChick

Did my ancestor really do that ?, finding out the occupations of your ancestors.

One’s job doesn’t define one’s self but finding out an ancestor’s occupation can be quite interesting.

Most of my ancestors were farmers in Canada, running the old family farm. The surprising thing is that before some of them came to Canada they were not farmers.  I would say the foray into farming was more of a necessary and sign of the times.

My Scottish ancestors before they came to Canada were believed to be weavers and one was a shoemaker.

My English ancestors on the other hand were quite poor and generally worked in selling used items but I admired that they did what they had to keep the family going.

My Welsh ancestors were farmers originally but my Great Grandpa was working in an aluminum factory and had health problems so he brought his family to Canada. In Canada, he worked on farm,had his own farm, caretaker at the local rink and these are just some of the various jobs he did to keep his family going.

I find that occupation is one of the things I looked at on the census, I find just looking at that can give a great insight into my ancestor background.

Another place to find occupation is death records will if someone die young and were still working, may list the occupation.

There is also directories such as Henderson’s directory(which is only the Canadian prairies provinces I believe) but there is similar ones for other provinces or US States.

As always, thanks for reading and have a wonderful holiday season

Ancestrychick

Born a Smith, Lived as a Smith and Died a Smith, The Introduction to My Smiths

Today’s post is all about my Smith family.

There is actually two Smiths families that I am going to blog about.

Smith Family number one is the one I know the most about so I will start with them.

The Father of this family was a Mr. William Smith born in Somewhere, Scotland, I don’t know were in Scotland, he is originally from.  He married a Ann Fraser( Born in somewhere, Scotland as well) either in Scotland or Canada. I have been unable to find any marriage records for them. As their first child was born in Canada, I strongly suspect they were married in Canada.

I don’t when they came to Canada, only that they were living in the Huron Ontario area in the 1860s-1870s.

They had estimated a 11 children, so of the younger ones I have found I suspect might be grandchildren not children.

There children were:

John Smith

Donald Smith who lived almost to a 100 in the 1930s

Faquahar Smith married to a Yuill

Janet Smith

Catherine Smith

William Fraser Smith married Barbara Yuill (My line)

Agnes Smith

Angus Smith

Andrew Smith

After Andrew, I am not fully sure if these are children or grandchildren,

Helen Smith, George Smith,Sarah Smith

William and Barbara Smith ended up Manitoba in the Portage La Prairie area, I believe that they travelled to Manitoba with Barbara extended family. I will do a post with more on the family itself at a later date.

Now for Smith family number 2  which very little is known.

My Great Grandpa was a James Alexander Smith born in Port Elgin Ontario to a mother born in England and a father born in Scotland. He always identified as Scottish on censuses. He came to Manitoba at the age of around 16, alone as far as I know and ended up in the Portage La Prairie area. He married William Fraser Smith’s daughter Agnes Smith (hence the blog title)

I know that James had at least two other siblings most likely younger than him mentioned as still living in his obit in the 1940s. Their names were Mary and John.  I think there maybe a family surname of Bell connected with James or I am curious to see if there is any connection with the name Ernest or Edward.

As always thanks for reading

Ancestrychick

Why I research my family tree

I’ve always had an interest in history since I was little, I’ve  always read books set in the past.  I still read history books and I love historical sites, I much prefer to visit a place for its history and culture then being a tourism haven. The little information i knew, just sorta sat there, slightly nattering away but not of super importance.

I would say that my journey to really research my family history started in 2011.  My aunt died in 2011 and it really weird to say that a death started it all, but I do believe that it takes something like a death to lead to something like finding your background.

I always had some information not a lot but some, but once I really took the time to research and find out, it so to speak drew me in more and more.

To me, It finding out those stories and those connections that bring the actual names you are seeing to life or to understand  why someone was the way they were. I remember looking at a voter lists from the 1800s and seeing my Great Great Grandpa on it, i just gave a feeling of what I would call pride. He was a poor man and mostly likely not very educated but just to see that he was on a voters list just show that he felt he cared about politics. It was just insight in to someone I will never truly now. The same man interesting enough was a single father in the 1800s as well.

It has always been thought in my family that the McDougall were from the highlands of Scotland, well-doing my family research, I found out that no they were from the Scottish Borderlands as far back as I have traced.

With my ever-expanding family tree, I feel like I find more and more connections to interesting people. I think those who really take the time to explore their family history do as a bit of a self journey.

It helps to explain the who and the why and can be uncomfortable at times but incredibly enriching and I think it can bring families closer and open up your family network.

Sometimes all you need to do is take a chance…..

As always thanks for reading

ancestrychick

Keeping all those Williams, Marys and Johns In Order. Name patterns in the United Kingdom families

Anybody who is researching their family tree, comes across this problem in many different cultures I would suspect.  It’s sometimes hard to keep all those same names straight and connected to the right family. It was very common for sons to be named after their father or grandfathers. It was also common for a mother’s maiden name to be used as a middle name as well.

For Example,

Father-William Jones   Mother-Helen McCall

Son-William McCall Jones

The tricky part is William may have siblings that chose to call their sons William too. So you may end up with say 4 William Jones. I recommend always using the full name such as William McCall Jones. It makes it easier for to you and others to know what William you are referring to. Nicknames are also another choice but I still suggest using full names as  many others researching may not know the nicknames.

It is helpful in researching your family tree to know naming patterns as it make easier to be sure that family you are finding is the correct family.

I have come across some odd names in my family tree when people have used last names for naming their children. My favourite is still one of my great grand uncles who was gifted with the same first and last name and as for most of his life went with a nickname (can’t blame him, was a unforunate name to be used as a first name).

I am planning do a post in the near future on names and the different spellings you can come across.

As  always thanks for reading

ancestrychick

Unique gift ideas for the genealogist or history lover in your family

I thought I would post some suggestions for gift ideas for the history or genealogist lover as the holiday season is fast approaching.

1. Family Tree Chart- this is a chart usually that one can fill out themselves and have a chart in the end that traces one lineage.

Here is a link to one that I myself would like: Family Tree Chart  -this one is relatively inexpensive

2. Ancestry membership this could be great for someone wanting to start researching their family tree and even for someone with an account already to help them continue to research or upgrade to have more access to records.

Here is the link to AncestryAncestry Canada(there are different country versions, make sure you pick the right country)

3. Continuing with the membership idea, Membership in a local historical or genealogical society. Most of these are not that pricey and not always something someone would get for themselves. There is no link here as they are some many different ones, so I suggest researching yourself for one.

4. Subscription to a history or genealogical magazine- this can be a middle of road for price but again not something most people would get for themselves. Here is a few I would recommend:

Canada’s History Magazine– this a magazine that has been around for number years and is very well-known. It was formerly called the beaver. I would highly recommend this magazine as great source for Canadian history.

Family Tree Magazine– I have picked up a few copies of this magazine, It does tend to be more US-based but does hold some good tips etc for researching family trees.

5. Books- I work in the library field so books are a given for me on any gift list. I would recommend finding out what history your giftee is interested in and maybe checked out some recommended book lists such as Canada’s History 2013 Book and Gift Guide. For the genealogist I would recommend finding out if there is a family history book or maybe book about a specific area that their ancestors are from. A site I would recommend is Global Genealogy- they have books from all over and they also do sell other genealogy related stuff.

6. Family Tree Software-I purchased for myself Ancestry Family Tree Maker in particular because it can do reports etc and it links with my ancestry account so it make it easier than having to start from the beginning again. Here is a link to information about Family Tree Maker

Hope this gives some good ideas

As always thanks for reading

ancestrychick

Photographs and what secrets they can hold…

Whoever said a photograph is worth 1000 words, I think was wong. I think a photograph is priceless and can open up so much information in researching your family tree.

I stumbled upon a photograph on ancestry.ca of a random lady and I just knew looking at the face in the picture, she was some relationship. The similarity to certain facial features on my Grandpa, was just dead on. It lead me down a path to trace some much of my grandpa’s family.

If one is interested in genetics, it helps to narrow what side of the family those features are from.

I have a photograph of my great great grandparents as young parents with one of their children but comparing that photograph to the one I have of them as grandparents, some similarities are there but one would not even think they are the same people in a way.

I was lucky enough one summer to visit a small rural museum that holds family pictures of my great great great grandparents and their children. Seeing the similarities in the faces to relatives today, just creatives such a personal connection.

I feel like looking at the expressions in the pictures, just creatives a desire to know what they were thinking. To me photographs are like the family stories, they can hold so much information.

Thanks for reading

ancestrychick