Arthur and Martha... I mean, Mary

I mentioned in my previous post that I'd like to know more about Arthur BUCHAN's next marriage as their children are mentioned in Roy Buchan's book 'From Peterhead to Passchendaele'.  He had married his first wife, Christian BUCHAN in 1857 who had died by the 1861 census.



Marriage of Arthur BUCHAN and Christian BUCHAN 1857


I located Arthur and his sons on the 1871 census who were now living with Arthur's new wife, Mary and their new half siblings - Andrew, Mary and Elspet. 

Arthur & sons with new family on 1871 census

A search of the IGI located a marriage between Arthur and Mary BRUCE in 1864 which I then downloaded.  Strangely, Mary's parents are not listed.



Marriage of Arthur BUCHAN and Mary BRUCE 1864

A further search of the IGI uncovered the births of their children, Isabella and Peter.  This Peter is 'Uncle Peter' who Roy refers to as "a shadowy figure who followed the family to New Zealand, arriving in about 1910". Auntie Isa was also mentioned in letters written by Roy's father and uncles during World War I. "a rotter who deserted his wife and children" (Buchan, R., From Peterhead to Passchendaele, 2003, p145).

I would say there's a whole new story there.


House Call

Whilst reading my copy of 'Your Family Tree' magazine, I came across a great resource for people with London ancestors. The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection includes an 1843 London map which you can transpose over google's current satellite map. This would have saved me a lot of time a couple of years ago.

I don't have many links to London in my tree. The only significant person in my tree to reside in London was George Wright PALMER and part of his family.

George was born in Portsea and his job in the Royal Navy caused him to move around a bit. For some reason, George was in London at the time of the 1871 census. He was living at 33 Marshall St with his first wife, Mary Ann and youngest son, Edward.

Palmer family in 1871 census

(click for larger image)

When I went on the hunt for this address a couple of years ago, I had to switch between windows and use educated guesses to pinpoint the locations. With Rumsey's site, I was able to search and quickly locate Marshall St in Westminster.

Here is a photograph I took of what I believe to be 33 Marshall St. I found it the hard way but using this map overlay it was so quick and simple.




Here is a picture I found of 33 - 36 Marshall St, taken in the 1960s (annoyingly from the opposite direction to my picture).

It's hard to say how long George and his reduced family lived at this address. Mary Ann died the next year and he married his second wife, Emily Jane FELLA in 1873. Tragically, she died just two years later.
I'm not often able to find detailed information on the houses in which my ancestors lived, which makes the details I found at British History Online even more special.

Most of these buildings [...] were erected in the 1820's by or under the supervision of Thomas Finden after the closure of Carnaby Market [...]. This redevelopment was uniformly planned, small in area and scale, but forming to-day an unusually pleasant oasis for pedestrians, and offering facilities for shopping away from the through streets. There is accommodation for shop-keepers over the shops, as well as for chamber trades such as tailoring. The least altered parts are the block bounded on the west by Newburgh Street and on the south by Ganton Street, and the two pedestrian courts west of Newburgh Street—Lowndes Court and Marlborough Court.
The prevailing form was the four-storey terrace house fronted in stock brick, two windows wide with plain window-openings, and a continuous plain parapet with stone coping. The windows, most of which have their original narrow glazing-bars, have stone sills. The ground floors were built as shops from the beginning, for this was the period of the planned shopping street...
The ground floors of Nos. 33–36 Marshall Street have thin pilaster-strips and a continuous entablature; space appears to have been provided for shop-windows but, except at No. 35, these spaces have only one domestic-size window each. The ground floors of Nos. 20–22 Peter Street are similar.

(From: 'Marshall Street Area', Survey of London: volumes 31 and 32: St James Westminster, Part 2 (1963), pp. 196-208. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41471 Date accessed: 10 January 2010).
(The bold font was added by myself for ease of reference).

Read 2nd part here.

Dumfries - Sheep Worrying

I have been searching The Scotsman digital archive this morning (searches are free) and found a tantalising snippet relating to my family history - or does it?

The Scotsman - 6 Nov 1879 - "DUMFRIES - SHEEP WORRYING. - On Monday, at Woodhead, Dunscore, a dog chased a flock of 92 sheep out of a field and... One was killed"

Woodhead 2006

My farming ancestors lived at Woodhead, Dunscore since at least 1824 when my great grandfather, James Brown, was recorded in the Crown Office Precognitions as a farm labourer there in 1824 (He had been accused of assault but that's a different story). From the 1841 census onwards, James is recorded as Farmer at that property until 1871. Woodhead played a significant part in my family's life until James died at Woodhead in 1873. This newspaper snippet was from 1879.

James Brown's death - 1873 (shows Woodhead as place of death)

As fabulous a resource the Scotsman archives are, I can't really afford to jump in 'willy-nilly', so I need to check if any of my family is still tied to the property in 1879.

James' third wife, Sarah (nee Douglas) survived him and the 1871 census shows more Brown's living on the property (ie., Woodhead Cottage, Woodhead Farm). This means that the easiest first step is to check the 1881 census to see if these Brown's are still at Woodhead. If so, then the article will at least be referring to my extended ancestral family.

Browns at Woodhead in 1871

A search of the 1881 census shows that his widow, Sarah and son, Samuel are also still at Woodhead in 1881. Another search shows that the William Brown who was living at Woodhead in the 1871 census, is still there in 1881. I'm unsure of the exact family relationship between my James Brown and this William but chances are high at least that the newspaper article will be referring in some way to the property part of my family owned at the time. This does not mean they will refer to my ancestors by name however, and as I'm a thrifty genealogist, I'm going to see if there are any other articles to do with my family before I invest.

I'm in luck though, as the Scotsman Digital Archives are having a special offer to celebrate Homecoming Scotland 2009 and prices currently start at £3.95 for a 24 hour pass (July only).