Tuesday 22 February 2011

Isabella McFedries Fleming 1903-1995




ca 1950

Today would have been the the 108th birthday of my mother-in-law.

Known as Bel, she lived until a month short of her 92nd birthday.

She was born in Elbow Lane, Cumnock the first child of Hugh Fleming and Mary Cowan Wilson. She had 4 younger siblings and 3 older half siblings. When Hugh's first wife died he married his young cousin Mary.

Bel worked in a hotel in Ayr and she was married there to David McMeekin, a Cumnock coal miner who was 11 years older than her. They had 3 children, the youngest when she was 45 and her husband was 56.
with her sons in the 70s
They lived in Glengyron Row a miners' row on the hill above Cumnock until 1939 when they moved into the town.

What was remarkable about her that she was profoundly deaf from her early twenties but she could speak very well and was excellent at lip-reading. She would "listen" to her son's reading. She had trouble with modern words that she had never heard such as video which she pronounced as vidAyo and chiropodist which was CHERRypodist.

She was an excellent cook and expert at knitting and crochet. Widowed in 1973, she lived on her own until shortly before her death, supported by her daughter-in-law and grandchildren who lived nearby.

Most of all I remember her as a kind and funny lady who never bad-mouthed anyone. She had a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren who loved her dearly.

Thursday 17 February 2011

What's in a name?

I had an uncle Colin, my mother's brother and as a child I was tickled to find that she had an uncle Colin too. However family history research reveals (so far) 11 Colins and a Colina in the same line in New Zealand, Canada and Denmark. The first was Colin Sievwright born 1792 a surgeon who served in the Peninsular wars. I thought at first he was my great great grandfather, the poet, but turns out he was his uncle. I think Colin was an unusual name at that time. Colin the poet didn't name any of his sons Colin but his children did. They are all Colin Sievwrights with the exception of 2 Colin Shearers and 2 Colin Clarks. Colina Charlotte seems to have preferred her Charlotte middle name which made her difficult to track down but now think she married George Dixon as Charlotte C Sievwright.

I wondered where my uncle George (father's brother) got his middle name Herbert. It was after a younger brother of his father who died in infancy. And uncle Ted's names were Edward Colbourne. Turns out Edward Colbourne was the husband of his granny's sister Delilah Ball who lived in Dudley. One of her children was James Clifford Colbourne b 1896 which are also the first names of my father, though I think it more likely he is named after his uncle Clifford b 1894.

I think this is one of the most interesting things in doing family history - seeing names occuring in different generations. I've mentioned traditional Scottish naming patterns before. It helps confirm you have the right family in a census. It is particularly useful when there are unusual first names, however my Muirkirk Murdochs are all unhelpfully called Andrew, Alexander, George, John, James, Robert and William.

The English forbears have many biblical names Moses, Abraham, Hezekiah, Zachariah, Delilah, Samson, Emanual, Mark and Samuel.

But my all-time favourite is a distant ancestor of my Cumnock born husband - Marmaduke! Marmaduke McCrae b 1776 in Cumnock. I'm so glad he wasn't named after him.

Sunday 13 February 2011

Speids and Sievwrights

I made a visit to Angus Archives last November. It is situated outside Forfar in the grounds of Restenneth Priory. I wanted to have a look at the Speid of Ardovie papers.
I knew that there were various papers and artefacts pertaining to my Sievwrights although I didn't at first know the connection between the Speids and the Sievwrights.

Helen Catherine Sievwright (1842-1917) was the main beneficiary of the Sievwrights after the death of Marjory in 1874. She married Henry Speid (1821-1904) of Ardovie, who was 22 years older than her, some time before 1882 (birth of their only son Arthur.) I haven't found a marriage for them in this country so assume they got married in Canada. * They lived in Montreal and moved to Lennoxville, Quebec about 1893. The families must have known each other for some time as in amongst the papers in the Archives were photographs and some drawings Helen Catherine made of Henry and his sister Margaret at Ardovie in 1862 and 1863. I wasn't allowed to photograph anything unfortunately.

Helen Catherine was born in Canada the eldest of three daughters of Joseph Alexander Sievwright. He was in the Island of Demeraray according to his mother's will dated 1825. There is no such island at the present but I think it refers to Guyana. Joseph Alexander turns up in Halifax Nova Scotia in 1842 when Helen is born. I have no idea what he did for a living. **

Helen and Henry Speid had the one child Arthur Theodore Speid (1882-1974). He was well educated, a teacher and twice mayor of Lennoxville. He married the girl along the road Mary White in 1912 and they had 3 daughters. In 1919 he bought a house called Uplands (above) and set about remodelling it. He certainly made a lovely home. It is now a museum and is situated in Speid Street, named after him in 1929.

My tree

with thanks to fifth cousin Doris in Star, Idaho for info!

* married in St John New Brunswick 4 February 1880 - record found in Daniel F Johnson's New Brunswick Vital Statistics - taken from local newspaper reports

** more on Joseph in this post