2025 Week 6: Surprise! #52Ancestorsin 52 Weeks

You never know what you will find when you are researching. Fortunately my 'surprises' have been good ones.

My friend Allison, like me, has been researching her family history since the 1980s. We even knew each other back then! However, it was only recently that we both got a big surprise - and found that we are related. Allison is my fourth cousin once removed, with our common ancestors being James Sommerville and Mary Telfer, my fourth great grandparents and Allison's third great grandparents. It was fun to find that out, especially since our children grew up together as well and now find out that they are 'cousins'. We do not seem to share any DNA however.

DNA research threw up another surprise a few years ago. I had been researching my friend Margaret's unknown set of grandparents (her father had been adopted at birth). During the course of that research, I found that we had a shared DNA match in common! We are not related to each other in any way, but there is a connection by marriage.

I also got a surprise when I contacted one of my DNA matches, a young man named Mark, with whom I shared 71cM. I could see from our shared matches that he was a match to me through my paternal grandmother, Christina Walker. A little bit more digging and I realised he was my 2nd cousin twice removed. I messaged him to give him the information he was lacking on his tree, only to get this message back :

Given that my ancestors stuck around west central Scotland I am sure that there are many more more surprises to be found out there. I wonder how many other 'cousins' I have taught or passed by in the street??

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2025 Week 26 : Favourite name #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

As well as researching my own family, one of the other trees I have spent a lot of time on is that of my daughter-in-law, Lucy. Whereas my heritage is Scots and Irish, Lucy's is English and therefore some of the names I came across were quite different to those found in my own tree. One of my first favourites was a Francis Badger who appeared in the 1851 census for England! He wasn't actually a relative, but an apprentice to Lucy's 3 x great grandfather and who also lodged with the family. I did wonder how that surname came about - did the original Badger have a funnily shaped face? or perhaps a white streak through his hair?? Or was he just an annoying person?? I'll never know, but it was fun to find him! Francis Badger's entry at the bottom in the 1851 census for England. Source: Ancestry.co.uk However, my all time favourite name - and character - from Lucy's tree is a man named Golden Bridge ! He is Lucy's 5x great grandfather and he was born in Essex...

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 ...

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