TalkingScot.com

Hi,
Growing up in Greenock, I would often visit my great grandmother Wilhelmina Hewitson Janets Rutherford (I’m named after her). She was born in 1874 in Whitechapel, England. My mother gave me some old photos of Wilhelmina’s parents James Rutherford and Margaret Hewitson. All I was ever told about them was that they were English. When I started my genealogy research it was thanks to a member on the old SP discussion board that I was able to get Wilhelmina’s birth record and also her parent’s 1873 London marriage record. Sadly the English marriage records only give the names of the bride and grooms father…..no mother’s names on the record. The record listed James Rutherford’s occupation as bag store clerk.

I always wondered what brought Wilhelmina to Greenock, Scotland……unfortunately I never asked her when I had the chance.

For about 10 years I searched English census and death records looking for James Rutherford and Margaret Hewitson, with no luck. I finally gave up several years ago and figured it was a brick wall that I was never going to be able to break down.

A few weeks ago I decided to get back in and do some more research. Since I hadn’t been able to find these people in England I decided to take a chance and search in Scotland for Margaret Hewitson, with Rutherford as other names used………and guess where I found her death record?……..in my hometown of Greenock. Boy did I ever feel like a fool. Here was the death record of Margaret Hewitson married to James Rutherford , bag store clerk. From her death record I was able to find her parent’s marriage record and then I found her mother’s death record which took me back two more generations. Found them on census records and discovered that the Hewitson’s originally came from Troon, Ayrshire.

So now I know the answer as to why did my great grandmother come to Greenock……..she came to her grandparents.

Moral of this story for me was……if you can't find them, think closer to home!! Now I’m on a mission to find the Rutherfords.

A very happy Ina

It is always good when you get a breakthrough like that! Sometimes it helps to have taken a break from the problem for a bit, as you did, and come at it afresh. Congratulations on finding them! =D>

Best wishes
Lesley

Well done, Ina. =D>
Very pleased for you.

Best wishes,
Meg

Hi Ina
That's fantastic. Maybe our genealogy motto should be "Never Give Up" You followed De Bono's notion of Lateral Thinking and it paid off =D> =D> =D>

Russell

Great stuff Ina, only hope I can turn up something similar on my Mclarens. Shows you never give up!
Cheers
Bertha

Well done Ina It always gives me hope for those brick walls in my own tree, when I hear of someone else smashing one down!

There's a lot to be said for having a fresh look after a break. For me, it seems to clear my brain of all the muddly, piled up possibilities and other stuff that got in the way the last time I searched.

Except for one couple...my gg grandparents who were either dropped here by aliens, miraculously spontaneously appeared in 1870 or just lied outright about their names, parents' names and places of birth! No matter what I do, I just cannot find any likely suspects!

That's wonderful, Ina. Well done! =D> =D>

Regards,
Anne H