Week 13: Light a Candle #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

People have lit candles for thousands of years in memory of loved ones who have died. Although I would not call myself religious, nor do I attend any church, I will still light a candle in memory of someone when I visit a church or cathedral on holiday. The act of lighting the candle and thinking about that person even for a moment or two feels good and the right thing to do. It's another way of acknowledging that they existed and that you remember them.

All of our direct ancestors deserve our candles. Without them, we wouldn't be here.

But are some individuals worth singling out? Possibly - especially if part of their story has touched you in some way - and if, sadly, it may also have involved a candle.

So for this topic, I'm going to single out my great grandmother on my paternal side, Jane Johnstone.

Jane Johnstone was born in Shotts Parish in 1829, the daughter of grocer and tollkeeper, James Johnstone and his wife Ann. She was the second eldest of eight children, not all of whom survived to adulthood. When she was 19 years old, she married Lamont Walker, a journeyman blacksmith, who was following in his father's footsteps. Between 1848 and 1872, the couple had 11 children. Two of them later emigrated, one to the USA and one to Australia. Lamont died in 1881 and by 1889, only her youngest child, also Lamont, was living with her.

On the night of November 19th 1889, while getting ready to go to bed around 9 p.m. she accidently set fire to her nightdress. Lamont summoned help but nothing could be done. She died nine hours later.

A horrific end. And one I'm sure my dad never knew - Jane was his grandmother. But I won't forget her.

Comments

2024 Week 19: Preserve #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

A few years ago, I came into the possession of a family bible. It was the family bible of my paternal grandparents, John McAra and Christina Walker. Until her death in 2018, the bible had been in the hands of my Aunt Inez, widow of my Uncle Will McAra. When I started enquiring as to its whereabouts, I found that it was her grandson, John, who now had it. John himself had no real interest in it at all, so he was quite happy to hand it over to me. However, it was, to say the least, in a bit of a state. The front cover was completely detached and there were many loose pages as the spine of the book was also damaged and detached. I had no choice but to take it to a book repairer in Glasgow, where it was repaired as best it could be. The bible itself had been originally published in Glasgow in the late 19th century. In Victorian times it was common for Christian families to have such a large bible in which they could record events such as births, marriages and deaths. The one I have al...

2026 Week 2: A record which adds colour #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

My husband's paternal grandmother, Janina Ciupka, was born in 1902 in a small town, Nieszawa, north of Warsaw, Poland, on the banks of the River Vistula. She was the youngest of 12 children, only 8 of whom survived to adulthood. At this time Poland had been occupied by their three neighbours, Germany, Russia and Austria and Warsaw was under Russian control. Her family were very wealthy, owning granaries, bakeries, brick factories and carriage factories and they also bred white horses for the Russian Tzars. As with her elder siblings, Janina was taught by a private governess and the family had many servants, including cooks and cleaners. She obviously was leading a very privileged life. There was little known about the period of her life from about 1909-1919, The family had moved south eastwards to Haczow around 1909. The reasons for the move seems to have been a combination of business and politics, as Haczow was under Austrian rule, considered more liberal than that of the ...

2026 Week 1: An ancestor I admire #52Ancestorsin52weeks

My mum, Helen Young Anderson was born on the 27th of June 1915, the second eldest daughter of John Anderson and Margaret Keir Adams. Her father John had originally worked as a tinsmith and was a steelworker at the time of my mum's birth, an occupation that had exempted him from serving in WW1. John and Margaret had only married four months before my mum was born and their ceremony, conducted at Hope Street Registry Office in Glasgow was an 'irregular marriage', one not conducted by a church minister (and therefore not approved by the Church) but one the Church accepted as alternative to a couple 'living in sin'. The reason for this probably being that Margaret was already pregnant with my mum and had already had another child by John, my aunt Meg, who by this time was six years old, being brought up by Margaret's parents, my great grandparents, James Adams and Margaret Keir. John and Margaret went on to have three more children over the next eight years - Anne,...

Roots, shoots and stories

Search This Blog