Mary Campbell Harvie Findlay.....

[bonniegirl]

Hi. I'm a new member and trying to find out what happened to my maternal grandmother Mary Campbell Harvie Findlay. She was born on 6 April 1902 at Fullerton Street, Kilmarnock. Her parents were Alexander Harvie Findlay and Jessie Shand Gunn.

I know she married Robert Laing Cowper on 23 January 1923 in Dundee I think against the wishes of her family. She gave birth to my mother Doreen on 28 August 1929 and since then has disappeared. Mary abandoned my mother at an early age and mum was brought up by Robert her father, never knowing what her mother looked like or why she left them (no questions asked in these days).

Mary did not return to her parents - they may have disowned her. Her Father was the headmaster at Longforgan around 1914 onwards. She had 2 brothers William Alexander Findlay b.1905 in Glendoick Schoolhouse and Harvie Struthers Tudhope Findlay b.1914 at Longforgan Schoolhouse.

I was recently in contact with one of Harvie's sons (2nd cousin I didn't know existed), who told me that he didn't realise his father had an older sister!! But he did tell me that there was a sister called Doreen. I have tried to trace Doreen without success as a way of finding out about Mary. Any help with tracing her would be gratefully received

[DavidWW]

Hi bonniegirl

Welcome to TS!

You really need to pay a visit to New Register House in Edinburgh, or get someone to do that for you.

"Doreen" as a name is probably (I've been proved wrong before now!) relatively unusual so that finding the birth of Doreen FINDLAY should be a matter of a few minutes scanning the annual birth index for the likely period concerned.

Assuming that the birth can be found, it's then a matter of tracing forward to see if there's a marriage record or death record in Scotland. If there is a marriage record, then looking for children, and so on.

There's also a shortcut that might be worth a try. From 1974 onwards the death indexes also show the maiden name of the mother of the deceased. In other words, in this case, you would look for any death record where the registered surname is FINDLAY and the name in the column showing the mother's maiden name is GUNN. It shouldn't matter if it's a married female involved as there will most often be entries under both married and maiden surname of the deceased.

Have you also traced forward the other brother William Alexander FINDLAY ?

Partly because of experience of the difficulties, - not least time and cost - involved in tracing forward in the records in England and Wales, it's often not realised that tracing forward in Scotland is perfectly straightforward, and, SMITHs and the like apart , shouldn't take too much time or cost that much. Even for SMITHs, it's only a matter of a bit more time.

Starting from a late 1800s record, it should be possible to find some recent addresses for living relatives in a day's research, always assuming, of course, that there are such relatives.

The biggest problem can often be getting male lines past WWI. Once the tree can be brought forward to the first couple of decades of the 20th C, then it's just a matter of time to find any Scottish records that there are.

Despite my joking comment above, SMITH or similar can be just a quick if there is use of middle names, otherwise it just adds on up to a couple of days.

David

[bonniegirl]

Thanks David for your speedy reply and your suggestions.

To give you more background - I initially booked a 1 hour appointment with the registrars in Perth a couple of weeks ago to search for Mary C H Findlay (or Cowper her married name although they got divorced) in Scotland - either BM or D - no luck. What the registrar gave me was the name of the 2 brothers William and Harvie. After writing to Harvie's son that's when I found out about Doreen. Went to the registrars yesterday again and thought all would be revealed but no sign of her birth, M or D in Scotland.

All Harvie's son could give me was a sister called Doreen that he said went to London. Now whether this was her first name or not who knows

Yesterday I got the name of a daughter born to Mary's brother William who got married in 1966 and herself had a daughter and lives in Carnoustie.

About the New Register House in Edinburgh - is it the same set up as in local registrars. Does someone sit with you while you give them info? Or can you get access to the computers yourself and search? I think that Doreen would have been born Longforgan (Dundee) area between 1902 and 1914.

I was thinking of phoning the school at Longforgan to see if they keep any sort of records on former teachers but perhaps they would not give out this information.

Any more suggestions?

Thanks

[DavidWW]

.....snipped...........
About the New Register House in Edinburgh - is it the same set up as in local registrars. Does someone sit with you while you give them info? Or can you get access to the computers yourself and search? I think that Doreen would have been born Longforgan (Dundee) area between 1902 and 1914. ....snipped Thanks

At NRH, for £17/day, or £10 per half day if there are places available from 1pm, you get your own search place and unrestricted access to all the records!

David

[AndrewP]

About the New Register House in Edinburgh - is it the same set up as in local registrars. Does someone sit with you while you give them info? Or can you get access to the computers yourself and search? I think that Doreen would have been born Longforgan (Dundee) area between 1902 and 1914.

In New Register House, you do the searching yourself. Each person has a computer and a microfiche reader to use. The newer of two index systems onscreen is the DIGROS system - very similar to ScotlandsPeople, but has the indexes up to 2006 and certificates up to 2003 (maybe now also 2004?).

On arrival in the search room, you are asked if this is your first visit. If it is, then one of the staff will show you the basics of the computer system, and then you are free to search. If you need further help, the staff there are very helpful. If for any reason the image is not available on the DIGROS system, the whole lot is there on microfiche for you to use too.

The pages of an age to be on ScotlandsPeople can be printed out for 50p per page. For newer certificates, the print button disappears from your screen - these can be ordered separately for a higher cost - see the GROS website for more information.

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/famrec/h ... flet3.html

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

[LesleyB]

Hi Bonniegirl

For newer certificates, the print button disappears from your screen - these can be ordered separately for a higher cost - see the GROS website for more information.

...but you can take along paper and a pencil and take as many notes as you like.

Best wishes
Lesley

[joette]

Or for a small sum I think 25p buy forms for BMD & Census which you can fill in yourself & helpfully they are colour coded so great for filing.

[DavidWW]

Or for a small sum I think 25p buy forms for BMD & Census which you can fill in yourself & helpfully they are colour coded so great for filing.

It doesn't take more than a few minutes to create your own form, and print off as many copies as you want. 25p maybe doesn't sound much, but a heavy day at NRH could easily mount up in terms of cost ! Even more costly for a heavy week !

David

[bonniegirl]

Thanks everyone for the info on visiting Register House. We will plan a day off work and get searching!! Hopefully with a good degree of success.


BG

[hozier]

Hi,

I currently live in Longforgan Schoolhouse. I know people in the village who were also taught by Mr Findlay. If I can help let me know. I can ask around.

Best,

Alan