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

Those Places Thursday - Lewis

Researching the Mcleod line back with the help of information from other family members and hebridean connections has taken me back to Neil Macleod, also known as Niall Mhurchaidh Bhàin who lived from around 1756-1800 on Lewis in Scotland. 

He was from Mangersta, and left the village for Vuia Mhor. He was married to Catherine Mackenzie and they lived on Vuia Mhor where they raised a large family. Ten of their children emigrated to Cape Breton in the 1820s.

However two of the children stayed in Lewis both called John.

The elder John known as Iain Og married Mary Smith, also from the island, and continued to live there. John is said to have died on Vuia in his 60s, which must have been around 1840. The island was cleared then and his widow, his son John (also Iain Og) and a daughter left the island.

The younger John (1783-1869) was my 3rd great-grandfather. He married Margaret Macarthur and later married Marion Smith from Valtos, Uig.

He was a witness for the defender at the second hearing of the Lewis/Harris boundary dispute (his grandfather Murdo was a witness at the first hearing).

John and Marion lived in Balallan, Lochs as did their son Malcolm and his daughter Ann before she moved to work in Glasgow and married William Duncan. Ann was my great-grandmother.

I know some of the family still live up in Lewis and would love to visit sometime

Wordless Wednesday

Shields brothers and sisters

Matthew (1920-1995), Isabella (1901-1984), Annie (1904-1953), Charlie (1913-1975), Margaret (1906-1994),
Chrissie (1918-2009), Jenny Shields [ms Cunningham] (1878-1970), Maime (1898-1977).

You know I can't cope with the Wordless bit

Tombstone Tuesday

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

Charles McGowan Shields, Brother of my grandfather Matthew.

In Loving Memory of my dear husband Charles McG. Shields Died 5^th Dec 1975 aged 62 years, their granddaughter Carole Died 21 June 1987 aged 25 years His wife Grace Cordon died 7^th June 1991 aged 69 years.

This stone is in the Barone Road Cemetery on the Isle of Bute.