Broken the 1800 barrier

[sheilajim]

Hi Everybody

I have finally broken the 1800 barrier.

I started researching my ancestors, in late June 2005. I have had some success, but couldn't find any records of any of my ancestors being born prior to 1831. I was starting to think that they had dropped out of the sky sometime around 1830.

My breakthrough started in December when I finally found the Death Cert for my 3 or 4X Gt Grandfather John Dunn McDonald. His parents were listed as Archibald McDonald and Christina Dunn.

For some reason I couldn't find his birth Cert. although I tried.

Then last week, I casually put in the names on the IGI, and came up with a marriage for Archibald McDonald and Chirstan Dun.
This was entered by an member of the LDS church.
Using this new spelling, I found my 3 or 4X Gt Grandfathers Birth Cert, then the Birth Cert of his parents who were listed as William Dun and Margret McNab.
Running a parent check on the IGI, I found that they had 10 children and were living in Fintry, Scotland, at least from 1763 till at least 1806. I then found them on SP.

Sorry to ramble on like this, but I am so excited at my find. It just goes to show that you can't give up.

Regards

Sheila

[DavidWW]

Sheila

Brilliant to hear of your breakthrough

A rather neat example of how the "fuzzy" search engine on the familysearch.org site and IGI can be helpful in generating variant spellings for both given names and surnames, as is also the case with the 1881 census CDs...........

As well as a very neat reminder of the absolute need to consider spelling variants, including the value of investing time in learning how to use wildcards on ScotlandPeople and other websites.

David

[sheilajim]

Hi David

That is true about the variances in spellings, and the importance of using wildcards. I wonder too though, if names are also being added. For example in one ancestral aunt,(if you can call an aunt ancestral) I knew which shire she was born in and her date of birth (1898), but couldn't find her, on SP, till one day four months later, I tried again, and there she was.


Sheila

[DavidWW]

Hi David

That is true about the variances in spellings, and the importance of using wildcards. I wonder too though, if names are also being added. For example in one ancestral aunt,(if you can call an aunt ancestral) I knew which shire she was born in and her date of birth (1898), but couldn't find her, on SP, till one day four months later, I tried again, and there she was.


Sheila

Are you 100% certain that you repeated the exact search

It's possible that a record that had been missed had been added, but I'd suspect the other possibility.

David

[sheilajim]

Hi David

I am not 100% sure of anything. I only know that I tried to find her over a period of about a week with no success, then some months later I tried again and there she was. She was one of my first searches, so I may have made a mistake.

Regards

Sheila

[Jinty]

Congratulations on your find, I know the feeling. I am a direct descendant of the Dun/Dunn family of Montrose. My tree starts with William DUN married Mary GORDON 1776. Thereafter their children are named DUNN and some will tell you that the alteration is a "vile corruption" of the name; I suppose because of pride.
Have you checked the Dun website www.dun.org. The website owner is very friendly and helpful. When I first started searching my ancestry, I found the site and posted a message. I got a reply very quickly because his Dun folk were printers, as mine were.
From Dundee where he lives he took a trip to the Montrose Library, and walked the Kirkyard there, and produced a tree, a skeleton only of which I already had, that my grandmother, born 1894, and her Aunt, born 1864 had written up.
The Tree Michael Dun produced commenced William DUN and Mary GORDON. He included the 1851 and 1861 census records where the name DUN appears.
I have had a quick look at my tree and don't find Christina.
In Dundee where there is a considerable DUN presence also.

Good hunting.

[Ian F]

Congratulations! I'm on the verge of breaking that barrier myself. After only about 6 weeks, starting from a collection of documents in my mother's house plus what I could find online, I've got back to the name of a couple whose son, my GGGrandfather, was born in 1807, so they must have been born in the 18th century.

I'm sure that when this month's pay cheque is cleared, and I can afford to spend some more money on SP credits, I'll get through that barrier.

I'm wondering where to go from there, though. Of course, I'd like to dig further and further back in time. On the other hand, there are a lot of people in my family tree who so far are just names and dates. I'd like to flesh out some detail about their lives. How did my great uncle come to die in Iceland in 1941? What tales there must be about my GGGF, who was a merchant seaman in the days when ships were tall and didn'd have engines!

Anyone got any thoughts?

[Mez]

Hi Ian

Iceland, 1941 - oh that sounds exciting. A war spy in the family would make a nice change from my usual "crofter"... I couldn't wait for your pay check (and like you, prefer a little flesh on our ancestors' bones) so did a google. Re the g-uncle, my bet would be (and i do hope you're running a book on this...) merchant navy:

Governing Board Pan American Union, White House, May 27, 1941 "Most of the supplies for Britain go by a northerly route, which comes close to ... Iceland. Germany's heaviest attack is on that route. Nazi occupation of Iceland ...would bring the war close to our continental shores because (it is a) stepping stone to ...the northern United States...."

May 10/11 1940 New York Times - British occupation of Iceland announced in London.

Roosevelt's Message to Congress, July 7, 1941 - "US Navy have today arrived in Iceland ... to supplement ...British forces which have until now been stationed in Iceland in order to insure the adequate defense of that country."

So, what odds are you offering?

(sheilajim - congrats on your success and sorry for commandeering your post).

Mez

[Ian F]

Thanks, Mez. I'd been thinking along similar lines. Only thing is, though, he was 59 years old. Too old, surely, to have been on active service with the Royal Navy. Merchant navy is still possible, though nowadays I think seamen generally retire at 55.

Regards,

Ian

[DavidWW]

Thanks, Mez. I'd been thinking along similar lines. Only thing is, though, he was 59 years old. Too old, surely, to have been on active service with the Royal Navy. Merchant navy is still possible, though nowadays I think seamen generally retire at 55.

Regards,

Ian

Especially for a Leading Petty Officer, or a Warrant Officer, 55 is far from impossible in terms on RN service.

David