Roots, shoots and stories

So far in all my years of research I have not come across any ancestors who deliberately changed their names to take on a new identity for one reason or another, though I have come across various spelling changes down through families or poor transcription of official records. However, my husband Martin's 2 x great grandmother is someone whose maiden name appeared in different guises in both her own documentation and that of her children and it was only through collaboration with a DNA match to one of my husbands siblings that we discovered her 'real' maiden name and information that enabled us to get back another two generations. Initially we had her name from her daughter Elizabeth Raycroft's birth certificate - Mary McAllan. Her  own marriage certificate gave her name as Mary McCallum .  Her death certificate gave her father as Thomas Mulholland. Although these names seem very different, the way they would be have been said is important, as different accents can m

 As a child I remember coming across a strange silver locket - no chain - in my mum's jewellery box. I vaguely remember asking her about it and all I was told was it belonged to my grandmother. After my mum died, I came across it again. I had been intrigued by the engraving on it which seemed be C M. My dad's mum was Christine Walker and her married name was McAra, so this seemed to have been the grandmother referred to.  It is even prettier on the inside. The filigree 'door' can be opened. I found this intriguing. It's not the sort of locket that you can put a photograph in, so what was its purpose? The mystery may have been solved when, about a decade ago now, a friend asked me to accompany her to an antiques valuation and asked if I had anything I wanted to bring along. I decided to take the locket. I was told the locket may or may not have held pleasant scented herbs or something similar, or held a lock of hair or something equally precious. So, I'm not tota

In these times, when immigration is very much in the news and immigrants and descendants of immigrants often badly thought of by many of the general public, it is worth remembering that many British people today are themselves the descendants of immigrants. This is especially true in Scotland for those people who claim Irish ancestry. Although there has been immigration from Ireland to Scotland for thousands of years, it reached its peak in the 1800s and was at its highest following the Great Famine (1845-1852). In the years leading up to this disaster, there had been many other years of crop failure too and there is no doubt that this was a factor in the flood of Irish immigrants who came over to Scotland. Famished boy and girl turning up the ground to seek for a potato to appease their hunger in Ireland . James  The Illustrated London News, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons I have an Irish great great grandmother on my maternal side and an Irish 3 x great grandmother on my paterna

 There is a history of metal working and mining running through both sides of my family. My 3 x great grandfather, Alexander McAra, his brothers as well as his father and uncles, worked in the iron mills in Cramond, Midlothian. Cramond was an important industrial centre in the 1700s and 1800s. In 1799, when Alexander was 20, Cramond had three iron furnaces, two steel furnaces and three water powered rolling mills. Alexander worked in one of the iron furnaces, until his untimely demise. (See https://rootsshootsandstories.blogspot.com/2023/02/ancestors-in-52-weeks-week-6-social.html ) At  some point after Alexander's death, his son John, my 2 x great grandfather, and at least two of John's brothers moved through to Lanarkshire, where they continued to work in the iron trade, John being employed as a hammerman at Moffat Forge in New Monklands. Source: https://www.tradeshouse.org.uk/crafts-hammermen/ John's son, my 2 x great grandfather carried on the family tradition of metal