Roots, shoots and stories

 To be Swedes or not to be? That is the question! My husband Martin grew up with the family story, that the Stepeks, although for centuries living in Poland, originated in Sweden. The name Stepek is an uncommon one, even in Poland, until the 20th century being confined to the far south-east, predominantly in the small town of Haczow. The meaning of the name could be one of a couple of possibilities. Historically people had moved into what is Poland from the east from the Steppes - the name could be derived from that. Or the -ek suffix means 'little' or even 'son of', so could be something like 'Little Steve or Steph' or son of Steve/Steph. Our research has the Stepek line going back to the mid 1700s, all in the same town of Haczow, but were they always there or did they come from elsewhere? So is there any evidence for the family story that the Stepeks came from Sweden??  Martin's Aunt Danka (Danuta Stepek) said that her father had told her that most of the ...

 My husband Martin could have been a fluent Polish speaker given that his father, Jan, was Polish. However, Jan made a conscious decision not to teach any of his children his native language.  He had come to live in Scotland at the end of the Second World War, having been given a grant to study in Glasgow. It was while there he met Teresa his wife to be. She was Scottish from an Irish background. Jan had lost so much through the war - his father, his mother, his home and the independence of his homeland - and being unable to return to Poland, he had lost everything. As a result, his focus was entirely on building a new life in Scotland and becoming "Scottish" - though his accent never changed! So his children were never taught Polish, something Martin regrets. Polish was only heard in the house when Jan's sister Danuta or other Polish friends came to visit, and at Christmas time, when Jan was on the phone arranging presents for the children from Poland. Martin's fathe...

Home Sweet Home for my husband Martin growing up was a large three storey sandstone detached house in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. Formally it was called 'Linnholm'. It seems to have been built in the 1820s and its location can be seen on an Ordnance Survey map from 1858: Martin's parents had initially set up home in Cambuslang, firstly in a single end tenement - one room, a kitchen and a hallway with an outside toilet and no hot water. Within five years they had had three children and needed more space. Fortunately they had started a successful business and could afford to move to a home with several bedrooms and a spacious back garden, still in Cambuslang. However four years later, in 1960, there were three more children so the parents looked again for an even bigger house.  The house in Hamilton that became the main family home had been spotted by his father, Jan, who thought it would be ideal. However, when she saw it, his mother Teresa was not impressed!! The house was falli...

The Battle of Arbroath, one of Scotland's bloodiest battles, was fought in the summer of 1345 between rival claimants to the post of Baillie of the Regality. The Baillie of the Regality chosen by the monks of Arbroath Abbey at that time was Alexander Lindsay. This post gave Lindsay power and prestige and he was responsible for upholding the law in the lands around the abbey. However, like many men in positions of authority both past and present, he chose to abuse his position of power and his fighting men caused mayhem within the walls of the Abbey. This led to the monks deciding to replace Lindsay with Alexander Ogilvy, who had hereditary claims to the position, but who unfortunately was Lindsay's enemy ... and my 15 x great-uncle! His sister, Isobel had married into Clan Oliphant and, on paper at least, Isobel is my 15 x great grandmother! Of course, the appointment of Ogilvy was not acceptable to Lindsay, who then raised an army of 1000 men and marched to Arbroath Abbey to r...

One set of my paternal  2 x great grandparents cause me somewhat of a headache!  The paper trail from my great grandmother Mary Boag, shows her parents were William Boag and Sarah Diamond. William was a cotton spinner and at the time of Mary's birth in 1829, the family were living in Eaglesham. By 1838, the couple had had ten children. They had been married in Glasgow by an independent minister - William was a Protestant and Sarah an Irish Catholic. All seems normal in 1841. The family are living in Eaglesham, the two eldest sons have followed their father into the cotton spinning trade, a couple of children are no longer there - possibly have died. But by the time of the next census in 1851, William is no longer in Eaglesham and no longer with Sarah. He is living in Glasgow, no longer a cotton spinner but a 'light porter' and there is a new spouse, a Margaret Muir, who was born in Eaglesham and a 9 month old son, Joseph. Obviously there was initially some doubt that this w...

 My dad was the youngest of the eleven children over 26 years that my grandmother Christina Walker had. Her three eldest died in infanthood/childhood. However, by the time my dad was born, he had siblings ranging from age 4 through to 21. The McAra family in 1914 - my dad is the baby, Mary (Poll) is back row on the left. Having grown up myself not close to my sister who was 13 years older than me, I cannot imagine that he had close relationships with all his siblings, but maybe with him being 'the baby' things were different. His eldest sister Mary, known as Polly or Poll, was still living in the family home when my dad was born, but the following year, she moved out when she married William Clinton, a miner. The couple were not married in their home parish of Shotts, but at Calton in Glasgow by a sheriff's warrant.  A marriage by a sheriff's warrant in Scotland was usually a way to register an 'irregular' marriage (the couple having lived together or having a c...

 My husband Martin has already published a book about his father's life before he came to Scotland in 1946 ( Jan Stepek: Gulag to Glasgow  ).He is now writing a sequel to that book detailing his life in Scotland as a well known businessman and father to ten children. Martin was therefore fortunate in that he had his many siblings to ask for memories and information about his dad. Lots of conversations took place that filled gaps in the story of his dad's life as the siblings each recalled personal and shared memories of a father who had been through so much. Martin's eldest brother John was living in Portugal and so their 'conversations' took place over e-mail. John was also the one with the most knowledge about their father for two reasons. One, he was the eldest and two, he was the successor to his father as managing director of the family business and so dealt with him on a daily basis. In one of these e-mails early in 2023, John had written, "I don't kn...