The First Time Buyers When I think of home sweet home, I think of my parents house, or my grandparents homes. But for this week, I thought I would talk about my 2 x great grandfather. With help from family, he was able to buy his own farm. On 28 January 1870 Alexander Stephen was …
Continue reading 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 13 – Home Sweet Home
The Whisky Smugglers Illegal whisky distilling and smuggling was rife in the highlands during the nineteenth century. These activities often worked side by side with legal distillers. Excisemen were tasked with locating these illicit distilleries and seizing them. In 1822 the government passed the Illicit Distillation (Scotland) Act. This meant that the making or drinking …
Continue reading 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 12 – Historic Event
James Stephen’s Secret Daughter My great grandparents James STEPHEN (1893-1982) and Jemima MITCHELL (1892-1978) were married for 65 years, and had fourteen children together. They also brought up one of their grandsons alongside their youngest children. Some of the other grandchildren didn’t realise he was a cousin and thought he was an uncle. The biggest …
Continue reading 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 9 – Family Secret
The Surprise Relative I like many other people have done a DNA test with Ancestry. I am fully aware that some people only do the test to see what the ethnicity result is. But even with that in mind, it didn’t stop me messaging my closest matches. Some replied, and quite a few did not. …
Continue reading 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 6 – Surprise
Relatively Family 