Those places Thursday

 I'm gong to use some of my Those places Thursdays to share the scrapbook pages I have made for my heritage album

My Great Grandfather Patrick Shields. 

Tombstone Tuesday - Chrissie Lavery, Tricia Ely

My Grandfathers sister Chrissie Shields Lavery and her Daughter Patricia Shields Ely
I love their photos on this stone in Barone road Cemetery.



Christina Shields Lavery
7th March 1918 - 27th Jan. 2008
A Cherished Mother, Grandmother and Great-Grandmother
In Our Hearts & Memories Forever
Patricia Shields Ely
28th Jan. 1946 - 30th Oct. 2010
A Wonderful Mother & Grandmother
Greatly Loved and Missed By All

Those Places Thursday - Buckie

Going back in the Cowie and Smith lines the families seem to have always lived in and around Buckie.

This was my Grandparents house at 14 Cluny Terrace in Buckie. 

I loved this house 

Things I  remember.

The roses and mint plants either side of the path. 

The covered porch that you could go in either to the hall or the kitchen. 

The steep set of stairs in the middle of the house leading up to two bedrooms in the roof. 

The posh sitting room with all the ornaments the organ and the picture of the Gospel Ship

The box bedroom next to the comfy living room with Gran and Grandads chairs. 

The pantry and kitchen that seemed to go on for ever

The wee door to the shop in the back that Gran and Grandad used to run with it's own address. 

The sofas and dressers that opened into beds, 

and the amount of family that could fit a small house all at the same time. 

This one photo brings back so many happy memories. 

Surname Saturday - Smith

My Grandmother Hannah Cowie was a Smith before she married.

The furthest back I've gone on the Smith side is my 4th Great Grandfather Alexander Smith and his marriage to Jean Reid record in 1788. (second Smith on the page.)

The family was recorded in Rathven, Banffshire and many of them are still in the area.

I've not come across many misspellings for Smith, Smithe, Smyth, Smythe, Snith

Surname Saturday - Duncan

In Scottish the meaning of the name Duncan is: From the Irish name Donnchadh, meaning brown warrior.

I've not found any odd spellings in my Grandmothers Duncan line so far but on doing some research into names I have realised there may be more options out there to navigate than I first thought.

Some variations on Ancestry.co.uk - Duncan, Duncam, Duncain, Duncane, Duncaime, Duncambe, Duncana, Duncand, Duncen, Duncem, Dunccan, Dunccn, Duncaw, Duncean, Dunchan, Duncham, Dunchin, Duncian,  Duncin, Dunckan, Duncken, Duncn, Duncom, Duncomb, Dunbome, Duncomd, Duncome, Duncone, Duncoomb, Duncoon, Duncum, Duncumbe, Duncun,

Tombstone Tuesday

This week a stone from the Slaven side of the family.

This impressive stone is in the High Kirk Graveyard on the isle of Bute.

Lily Stewart (1860 – 1929) was the younger sister of Sarah Stewart (1854 - 1884) who was married to Henry Slaven (1855-1894).

When Sarah died Lily appears to move in to help with the family and although they never married she had a number of children with Henry Slaven her brother-in-law.

Thomas Slaven, Lily Slaven, John Stewart Slaven and Robert Stewart Slaven.

This remarkable stone is erected by her son John Stewart Slaven and manages to chart his family through the years.

Erected by John S Slaven

In memory of his mother

Lily Stewart died 6^th March 1929 aged 69

The above John S Slaven died 9^th July 1976 aged 47

Dearly loved husband of Elizabeth Miller who died 25^th Feb 1970 aged 84

Their son John died Johannesburg 16^th Oct 1990 aged 72

Their daughter Renee died 6^th Jan 2004 aged 82 

Dearly loved wife of Gerald Hughes died 5^th May 2004 aged 84 years

In loving memory of Harry Slaven who died 30^th Sept 1973 aged 58

Beloved husband of Betty Graham who died 7^th June 1993 aged 77 years

Surname Saturday - Shields

I've mentioned before about not getting overly precious with family name spellings and my Grandfathers line Shields is no exception.

My first Shields I have documented in my family so far is John Shields marrying Isabella Slavin in 1860. As he couldn't write he signed by an X and his name was written by the registrar John Palmer, witnessed by Andrew Black who was the Parish Priest.

Over the next few years the name crops up in the same family with different spellings, Shiells, Shiels, Shields.

Shields Name Meaning  Irish: reduced form of O’Shields, an alternative Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Siadhail ‘descendant of Siadhal’. Northern English and Scottish: habitational name from a pair of places in Northumberland and County Durham (now both in Tyne and Wear) called North and South Shields, named with Middle English schele ‘shed’, ‘hut’, ‘shelter’. There has been much confusion between Shields and Shield and their variants.

Shiels Name Meaning  Scottish and Irish: variant of Shields.

Spellings worth checking
Shiel, Shiell, Shiels, Shiells, Sheil, Sheill, Sheils, Sheills, Shield, Shields, O’Sheil, O’Shields