Sunday, December 18, 2011

Keep an eye on ...

... both of the recent changes indexes (analysis section, and lineages section) in case this diary isn't updated with what changed as the tidy up/rationalisation between the DNA pages, and the One Names Study analysis and lineages sections continues apace, and must surely nearly be finished!

The family of Robert & Jane (URQUHART) FAIRBAIRN of Glasgow then Pawtucket are newly included (18th), as is the family of Thomas & Elspeth (WOOD) FAIRBAIRN, but that listed on the 17th,  Robert (married Elizabeth CROSBIE) is only in the changes index because of a few typos being corrected.
For the 16th, (F-35) and his matching family, that of Francis & Agnes (DICKIESON) FAIRBAIRN shown on the 13th are brought over from the DNA project.

Bookmarks in the Analsyis Section:
If you have any real FAIRBAIRN people, as opposed to place page "people" eg FAIRBAIRN(SCT), bookmarked from the Analysis section of the One Name Study pages you will need to find them in the Lineages Section and re-bookmark them as they are transferred to where their lineages can be more easily attached and updated. (so the analysis section recent changes index is currently shrinking).

The Descendant charts section is being changed regularly at the moment as an appropriate structure is experimented with, along with how much to show on the first page to more readily identify lineages likely to be of interest.

Remember that there are DNA testing discounts going until the end of December, and it would be great to get a few more lines represented.
How about someone from the family of Thomas & Elspeth (WOOD) FAIRBAIRN? Or the Cockburnspath FAIRBAIRNs?

Sunday, December 11, 2011

FAIRBAIRN/CLINKSCALE ++

The rest of the DNA results are in for the second representative for the family of William & Alison (CLINKSCALE) FAIRBAIRN of Bedshiel, Greenlaw - a 36/37 match between Godfrey(F-48) and Neil(F-4).
The rationalisation and linking between the DNA project and the One Name Study continues apace, so keep an eye on their respective recent changes indexes.

Given the DNA testing discounts available right now, if you belong to any of the families listed on the Wanted! page, and are a direct male line FAIRBAIRN, do please consider joining the project and helping towards the jigsaw. Would be an excellent time to get representatives for the Cockburnspath FAIRBAIRNs, and what about the family of George and Jane (LAW) FAIRBAIRN (recently added to the pages given the two contemporary soldier Andrews have now been "sorted").

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Military FAIRBAIRNs

The move of Descendant and Wanted! charts, together with the Researcher lists, from the DNA study pages to the One Name Study continues, and as before, whilst it does so, many links may well be broken, but hopefully fewer as time progresses.
This shift also means some of the missing trees for dna participants are now included.
Keep an eye on the Recent Changes index.
Most recent entries are because of the above shift apart from John. Having stumbled across him in Somerset he got placed into what is believed to be his Borders family, that of John son of John & Julian (BOAK) FAIRBAIRN, so their descendant chart has been updated.

What the recent change index doesn't yet show are the charts for two families with extended military service currently being researched for inclusion, and hopefully finding a direct male line FAIRBAIRN at the end of them to join the DNA project to (dis)prove suggested connections (to either Robert and Elizabeth (CROSBIE) FAIRBAIRN, and/or Ralph and Helen (CROW) FAIRBAIRN.
It's discount time at FamilyTree DNA, so a great time to join and see which family you match - order a test here and join  the project to help us unravel the FAIRBAIRNs.
John & Jane (WADDELL) FAIRBAIRN of Smailholm then Coldstream, and the John who may, or may not, be their son, married to Helen ROSS at Coldstream.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Fanbura

Another entry for inventive indexing: 1871 census Sheerness Barracks and Officers Quarters John & Julia FANBURA and family (actual entry has FAIRBURN; Julia was nee JARMAN, and John was born Scotland, other records show them as FAIRBAIRN).

Friday, November 18, 2011

Discount time

From Family Tree DNA:
Dear Project Administrator,


Effective immediately this promotion will end on December 31, 2011.

New Kits

Current Group Price SALE PRICE
Y-DNA 37 $149 $119
Y-DNA 67 $239 $199
mtFullSequence $299 $239
SuperDNA (Y-DNA67 and FMS) $518 $438
Family Finder $289 $199
Family Finder + mtPlus $438 $318
Family Finder + FMS $559 $439
Family Finder+ Y-DNA37 $438 $318
Comprehensive (FF + FMS + Y-67) $797 $627
 To order via the project make sure you follow this Join Project link
Upgrades
12-25 Marker $49 $35
12-37 Marker $99 $69
12-67 Marker $189 $148
25-37 Marker $49 $35
25-67 Marker $148 $114
37-67 Marker $99 $79
Family Finder $289 $199
mtHVR1toMega $269 $229
mtHVR2toMega $239 $209
ALL ORDERS MUST BE PLACED AND PAID FOR BY MIDNIGHT DECEMBER 31st 2011 TO RECEIVE THE SALE PRICES. THIS PROMOTION IS NOT VALID IN CONJUNCTION WITH ANY OTHER PROMOTIONS OR COUPONS.
AT THIS TIME, WE WILL NOT BE OFFERING DISCOUNTS FOR THE Y-DNA111, NEW KITS OR UPGRADES. THOSE MAY BE OFFERED AT A LATER TIME PENDING THE LAB VOLUMES WITH THE TESTS UNDER PROMOTION.
For upgrades, log in to place your order and choose the Special offers menu on the left menu


Family Tree DNA
www.familytreedna.com

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Confirmation

Preliminary dna results now in for David W Fairbairn (F-46). Thankfully they show him with a 12/12 match to his 2nd (and 4th) cousin, Michael E (F-12).

The rationalisation continues apace with a few more researchers, and trees, shifted from the DNA pages to the One Name Study pages.  As noted before, apologies in advance for any broken links. Several have been fixed, but some more may have been created, particularly as the Lineage numbers are being reviewed given the growing number of results, and now more apparent clusters of matches.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Busy few weeks

Andrew (F-47)'s results have started arriving, resulting in several updates to the FAIRBAIRN related pages.  We have a match with the "orphaned" Michael Rowland (F-23) FAIRBAIRN at last (in Haplogroup R1b1).
So somewhere, somehow, David (marr. to Peggy MERCER) FAIRBAIRN is related to John and Helen (ANDERSON) FAIRBAIRN.
Don't be surprised if there are broken links, or charts have disappeared. The results arrive in the middle of the, slow, rationalisation of the DNA and One Name Study pages so that lineage, wanted and researcher information is on the One Name Study pages, leaving DNA results and signature charts for the DNA pages.
If you have any particular people bookmarked, they are likely to change numbers sorry, to match those in the master database, which will make it easier to link from one site to the other.

The recent changes index on the DNA pages has been inflated somewhat by the realisation that somewhere along the way haplogroup numbering has changed, all those assigned to R1b1b2 now appearing as R1b1a2 instead on the Family Tree DNA results.   Not all have been changed as yet.

Two other kits (F-46) and (F-48) are at the lab awaiting results, but not scheduled to produce any until December - placeholders exist on the Summary DNA results page.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

"Crest" family a match

Preliminary dna results (markers 1 - 12) are in for Alastair (F-45), the representative whose ancestor was brother to the James FAIRBAIRN author/engraver of "Fairbairn's Crests of Great Britain and Ireland" fame.
12-12 match with the main, growing, set of matching FAIRBAIRNs, mostly traceable back to the Scottish Borders.

Both the Summary Results and FAIRBAIRN DNA Supplementary pages have been updated to reflect the above.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Another kit, patriarch updates

Kit F-47 has been ordered.
As a result, the summary Patriarchs page has been updated with Andrew's pedigree, (that of David & Peggy (MERCER) FAIRBAIRN of Melrose) and a placeholder on the results chart.
Also a couple of other pedigrees, both wanting representatives have now been added.
The trees are those of: George the nail manufacturer of Falkirk, Stirlingshire and a few more twigs on the tree of George & Jane (LAW) FAIRBAIRN of Nenthorn, down from the Free Kirk Minister Robert Trotter FAIRBAIRN.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Sunday, September 4, 2011

DNA results

Full results (Y-DNA37) now in for Bob (F-44) so the supplementary pages have had a few tweaks.
Check out the Recent changes index.
There are probably still more older analyses, descriptions etc that need an update by now. Some day, one with 48 hours in it.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Friday, September 2, 2011

2nd: Some pedigree additions

Patriarchs page of the FAIRBAIRN DNA Project has had a few tweaks/additions to a couple of pedigrees in the hope of gaining (adidtional) representatives for the particular lines involved, including:
- some of the Adams in the line of George & Jane (LAW) FAIRBAIRN
- Thomas & Mary Ann (PARRY) FAIRBAIRN

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Saturday, August 20, 2011

20th: Frank & Anna/Annie of Pennsylvania

A post on the Rootsweb Fairbairn Surname Message Board led to a couple of families being included on the Patriarchs page of the DNA project.
Both have a Frank and Anna/Annie of Pennsylvania in them.
One looks like it leads back to a John born either 1794 Ireland (his own census data), or 1784(his headstone, or a transcription of it), or in Scotland (children's census data).
By 1826 at least, he was in Pennsylvania and married to Jane Eliza HOWE.

The other Frank and Anna/Annie of Pennsylvania belongs to John and Elizabeth (HUBBARD) FAIRBAIRN where John was born Newcastle, England around 1826.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

9th: one step closer

With the first panel of results in for Bob (F-44) we appear to be one step closer to clarifying a contradictory paper trail.
With a bit of luck we will get an excellent match to F-42 and merge the Sacramento tree with that of John & Helen (ATCHESON) FAIRBAIRN

The summary results have been updated to include the above.

In addition, the patriarchs page has had a few twigs added namely:
- the inclusion of Thomas & Catherine (CHARTERS) FAIRBAIRN, the subject of this message on Rootsweb's Fairbairn message board.
- stub for the line of David, son of John & Elizabeth (YULE) FAIRBAIRN

Saturday, July 16, 2011

16th: Summer sale

Family Tree DNA have announced a summer sale - time to find representatives for all those branches not yet included in the project.
Spread the word - details on the overall DNA Surnames project diary.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Thursday, June 23, 2011

23rd: Hardy lot these FAIRBAIRNs

Had to chuckle over a couple of American draft cards.
1917 exemption being claimed because of the loss of left arm and right foot
1942 same chap, under the heading physical characteristics which would aid identification: "none"
And his brother likewise:
1917 same day, both legs and an arm
1942 day after his brother, only left arm missing.
Should be classified as medical miracles?

That aside, an outline pedigree has been added to the Patriarchs page for our latest DNA recruit (F-44).
This is the family of a John & Isabella (BRACKEY) FAIRBAIRN, who are highly likely to be (despite many contradictions in the records) the John & Isabella (BROCKIE) FAIRBAIRN who appear in the chart of F-42, our latest 67/67 match.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Lait Vain

Another inventive indexing entry on ancestry - Lait Vain for a name that is clearly FAIRBAIRN on FreeCen.
No wonder Elliot FAIRBAIRN and mother Isabella FAIRBAIRN later BOOKLESS were hard to find!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Outline pedigree and dna results

More DNA results in, most of those for F-42, a representative of yet another Earlston/Greenlaw Berwickshire family.
Supplementary pages, and summary result pages updated, and an outline pedigree added to the Patriarchs page.
We are still missing one panel of these results, but those received to date place F-42 in Lineage 1 "clump 2", with fine tuning yet to come.

Family Tree DNA have announced an Upgrade discount promotion should anyone wish to explore what more markers will tell them about their connections.
The Family Finder test is also discounted - but only via dna projects by the look of Family Tree DNA's front page pricing, so make sure any orders are via your personal page.
Details and instructions on the overall diary for the dna projects portal.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

9th: DNA Results

Two more of the DNA tests upgraded from 67 to 111 markers have now received their results.
The Supplementary DNA project pages have been updated to reflect the results.
Looks like very little variation in these higher markers to date, but we only have 3 test results so far.
Anyone else interested in comparing their results at this level should probably keep an eye out for any special offers that Family Tree DNA may make, either on their website or their facebook products page, which coincidentally seems to be about to run a promotion soon if they get 3000 more "likes" on facebook!

Friday, May 27, 2011

27th: Addenda

Outline DNA oriented tree for Alexander & Alison (GUILLER) FAIRBAIRN of Oldhamstocks has been added to the Patriarchs page - looking for representatives.

27th: More Y-DNA111 results

Another, partial, set of results are in for the 68-111 panel, those of Charles L ELLIOT (F-32), and so far, only 2 different in that panel for what we know of G Roy FAIRBAIRN (F-3)'s 68-111 markers.
Both the Supplementary and Summary result pages have been updated, with the latter correcting a typo on Charles' marker 67.
As this last set were in batch 409, more results from the same batch are presumably also near.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

23rd: Hope you've got good eyesight!

As we have 4 kits now progressing through the Family Tree DNA Y-DNA67 to Y-DNA111 upgrade to see what these new markers tell us about our closest matches, it was time to add placeholders for them on the results summary page.
Judicious use of your browser's zoom capabilities may be called for.

John & Alice/Alison (AINSLIE) FAIRBAIRN

A pedigree for the family of John & Alice/Alison (AINSLIE) FAIRBAIRN has been included in the "lineages" on the One Name Study pages.
John is one of the two contemporary Johns buried at Swinton (Berwickshire, Scotland) within months of each other.
The other, John (married to Helen CAMPBELL) is already represented in the DNA Project, and a representative for John and Alice's family is still sought, for which purpose, a DNA oriented outline pedigree has also been included on the Summary DNA Patriarch Page

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

19th: Some people make it hard for us

Nearly gave up on finding James and Christian (SCOTT) FAIRBAIRN in the 1841 census.
Eventually found in Kelso on FreeCen by searching for the children, but ancestry was a different matter.
Didn't help that they were recorded as GAVIBAIN and GOURBAIN (in the same household), with James enumerated as 30, when he was actually 42, and Christian as 27, instead of the 30 her actual age of 34 should have shown her as, and Alison/Alice was Eleson 4 instead of 7; Elizabeth 8 instead of 11, John 6 instead of 8.
This is the family of John & Alice or Alison (AINSLIE) FAIRBAIRN, one of the two John FAIRBAIRNs of an age in Swinton (BEW)

So today's inventive indexing entries are the above GAVIBAIN and GOURBAIN, with an unrelated FAIOBAM.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

16th: Must be the Fife accent?

A strong contender for the weirdest transcription error of FAIRBAIRN may just have been found:
SEAWBRASE
The family was resisting being found in 1841 (on ancestry - they are in plain view as FAIRBAIRN on FreeCen), apart from son Thomas, who was with his grandparents Shepherd & Isabella ROBERTSON. A firstname search took a couple of scans to figure out the SEAWBRASE family was likely to be worthy of a further look.
Anyone researching the family of Alexander & Anne (ROBERTSON) FAIRBAIRN?
Married 1808 Anstruther Wester, Fife, Scotland.

Another recent inventive indexing find was FIUBRUN.

Friday, April 15, 2011

15th: Family Tree DNA- DNA Day

If interested in dipping your toe into the water of DNA testing and seeing where it might lead, or interested in upgrading to a higher number of markers for better result matching, today is the day.

Family Tree DNA are having a DNA Day, whereby selected tests are discounted.
Check out their facebook page for futher details - coupon code DNADAY2011, which will expire on Friday at midnight (USA CT).

They have also announced that the introductory price for the upgrade from Y-DNA67 to Y-DNA111 will end with the above promotion.
This latter upgrade is of particular interest to those with exact, or very close, matches at the Y-DNA67 level - several of whom will have been contacted directly (by the Project Administrator).

Friday, April 8, 2011

8th: New Y-DNA111 test announced

Family Tree DNA have announced a new Y-DNA111 test, which adds, as you can tell, a further 44 markers to their Y-DNA67 test.
As such it will be of particular interest to those with close/exact matches at the Y-DNA67 level.
Read about it here, remembering that discounts apply to tests ordered via the project.
To order, log into your personal page with Family Tree DNA
select Order Tests and Upgrades
then under Order Standard Tests, select Go to Standard Orders
From which latter, select the Y-DNA111 upgrade for the project discounted price.

Obviously, the benefit of comparisons of the extra markers will take some time to build up.

Of our tests, it would appear that the following may benefit more than most from this upgrade (from our result summary page):
From Lineage 1 "clump 1": Earl (F-2) and G Roy (F-3); Doug (F-14) and Michael (F-16)
From "clump 2": John (F-17), Robert F (F-34), Stewart (F-38), ie those nearest the modal; and the Eckford (F-27) and Geoffrey (F-39), our latest 67/67 match, which includes the line of the mysterious Robert of Eckford.

Should anyone wish to help fund these upgrades for the additional information we will gain, please contribute here, making sure that the FAIRBURN project has been selected.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Saturday, April 2, 2011

James and Ann (WALKER) FAIRBAIRN

A brief outline of the family of James & Ann (WALKER) FAIRBAIRN has been added to the Patriarchs page.
We would love to prove they are the parents of Robert, married to Catherine STEWART.
James was born Eccles, Berwickshire, and by 1841 was a ploughman in Galashiels, Selkirkshire, but by 1851 had become a grocer and draper, his 1866 death cert. giving his father (forename unknown) as a tailor and clothier, and mother as an Isabella (surname unknown).
Robert may, or may not, have died in Australia.

While researching this I happened upon an interesting conundrum on the aging effect of sea air, the Alexander mentioned being a grandson of the above.

Friday, April 1, 2011

1st: Fantastic FAIRBAIRNs

How appropriate for April Fool's Day!
Inventive indexing entries for today: FANTASIA and FAIRBAIRSH, the latter being from confusion of the tail of a letter on the line above, but the former ???

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

29th:67/67 match

Another set of DNA results arrived today, showing we have an exact 67/67 match between Geoffrey (F-39) and the descendant of the mysterious Eckford Robert (who married Elizabeth YOUNG and disappears somewhere in England after 1855).
Anyone got any handy ideas on how to link their respective trees together?
Suspect we're looking for an Andrew and Elizabeth for the parents of the Robert who married Elizabeth CROSBIE (Geoffrey's line).
The next closest match, with the same pattern of marker 570="18" and cdyb = "37", belongs to John F(35), a descendant of a Kelso/Maxton/Stitchel family.

Summary results and supplementary pages have been updated, but not the dna signature chart - still need to figure out how to connect a couple of people into that.

Monday, March 28, 2011

28th: One Name Pages revamp

The One Name Study pages have been fully replublished, but don't believe all you see in the "Recently Changed" index, most are cosmetic tidy-ups for the republish of the site.

What is new is the preliminary info on the FAIRBAIRNs in the 1841 Roxburghshire Census - looking rather like a comparison of apples and oranges between the three main sites.

That, and the inclusion of son George into the family of James the engraver, as mentioned the other day.

With the site revamp comes a new format for descendancy charts.
Check out the Identified Family Groups for these.
The charts are now more interactive, IF you have java enabled, with the ability to expand/collapse branches to better see an overall picture where people "fit".

And yes, another inventive indexing entry: Barbarin - small wonder there's such a discrepancy between the census sites in the numbers.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

26th: Yet more entries for most inventive indexing: Patriarchs update

More entries for the most inventive indexing competition:
I'd not found a Rachel FAIRBAIRN I'd been looking for, she was clearly FAIRBAIRN on FreeCen, but ancestry for some obscure reason had her as FREEBURN, a common enough substitution.
Her son Robinson however took the cake: JAEBAIRNER.
Other recent "entries":
FRANBURN, FAIRVAIRN and FAIRBINEN

Another outline tree has been added to the Patriarchs page, a family with Durham, and a bit of Yorkshire, thrown in for good measure, that of John FAIRBAIRN and Mary CROMBY/CROMLEY/CROMEY (married 1743 Whickham, Durham), depending on how you interpret the family bible (CROMBY or CROMLEY), and the Northumberland & Durham FHS indexes (CROMEY) on FindMyPast.

Friday, March 18, 2011

18th: The Engraver's brother

Patriarch page has had a few twigs added to the family of James the engraver.
Found his (previously unknown to me) brother George, married to a Martha BOBBIN, with family spreading around London, Fife, Australia.

Friday, March 11, 2011

another sub lineage?

Preliminary DNA results are in for Alexander (F-41) at the 37 marker level which show we now have another member of the FAIRBAIRN group sharing marker 460=11.
Although there are still results to come, one of the more important panels in the 38-67 marker range is already available, giving some indication where his best matches lie.

Alexander's ancestors, John & Elizabeth (YULE), were having children in Abbey St Bathans 1777 through 1800, with John reported to be the son of John and Lucy (EADSTER), although reports vary as to where/when John Snr was born, often being confused with the John who married Helen ANDERSON.

Alexander's closest matches, sharing 460=11, Joe (F-10) and Ron (F-19), trace back to a Robert & Elizabeth (TAYLOR) who married in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1811, with Robert's father looking highly likely to be the Robert FAIRBAIRN who died in London in 1849, aged 97 years and 11 months, which rules out the Robert son of John and Elizabeth (YULE).

Possibly John Snr and Robert Snr are siblings?

The result grid on the supplementary pages has been updated.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Matching set of pedigrees

With the two new exact 12/12 matches to the Lineage 1 Modal, an update was overdue.

The Patriarchs page has had outline pedigrees included for the two newly represented, and matching, lines of John & Elizabeth (YULE), and Robert & Elizabeth (CROSBIE)
These include the usual links to the personal pages of the respective participants on the supplementary pages, and links to/from their results on the summary pages.
Note that for Robert and Elizaeth (CROSBIE) there are a couple of theories about two of their sons, and potential descendants, so should there be any direct male line FAIRBAIRN descendants of Thomas and Helen (DOUGLAS), or John and Jane (WADDELL) out there willing to join and see if they get an excellent match to Geoffrey (F-39), they would be most welcome.

In addition to new results, the pages have also begun a conversion to a new form of descendancy chart which can be dynamically expanded/collapsed to help you understand where the person of interest "fits", for an example, see the chart for Lineage 1 "Clump 1", John and Bessie (FLINT)

Thursday, February 17, 2011

17th: Two more Lineage 1 Clump 2s

Preliminary results in for two of our newest kits, and yes, more matches.
Both are exact matches to Lineage 1 Clump 2.
For now, only the summary result page has been updated.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

15th: Matriarch descendants?

We might have to broaden our dna search to the female of the species.
With the growing number of matching, near modal, descendants from the Earlston/Ledgerwood families, it SHOULD help sort them out if we can track down direct mother/daughter female line descendants of some of the key matriarchs, and persuade them to join the project.

We would be particularly interested in hearing from anyone, male or female, who can trace their direct maternal ancestors to any of the following in particular:
- Elspeth ANDERSON (marr. John FAIRBAIRN of Grizelfield, Smailholm)
- Helen ANDERSON (marr. John FAIRBAIRN of Nenthorn)
- Agnes GIBSON (marr. one of the John FAIRBAIRNs of Earlston)
- Magdalen BO (marr. John FAIRBAIRN of Fanns, Earlston)
Should we be so lucky as to find representatives for any/each of these, the theory is that we may just be able to sort out the assorted John's as well.
So there's your challenge for the month.

Monday, January 24, 2011

24th: Haddington update

Beatrice FAIRBAIRN, sister of James of Haddington, was finally found (with a bit of help from FreeCen) in the 1841 on Ancestry, disguised as Bratrice JAICHAINN - so yet another entry for the inventive indexing (And Alexander son of the Smailholm James and Margaret (TAIT) was being hidden on ancestry as Alex FANBURN).
The update to the family is that James, by naming pattern, probably belongs to Robert FAIRBAIRN & Marion COCHRAN, who married in Edinburgh in 1777, Robert a Clothier of Pleasance.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

23rd: Smailholm vs Haddington

The post on the Kelso Dispensary re-activated contact with a researcher of all Agnes FAIRBAIRNs of around that time, and Fiona has provided some snippets from family correspondence which are being worked through and should shed some light on the relationships between the Mellerstain Mill and Girnick Smailholm FAIRBAIRNs.
This has led to an update to the patriarchs page to clarify that the James and Margaret (TAIT) of Girnick (Smailholm) are a separate family to that of James and Margaret (TAIT) of Haddington, despite what several trees out on the net seem to think.
Those interested in the details and my conclusions should examine the marriage or Rachel FAIRBAIRN to George Wilson PEATTIE in Edinburgh St Cuthberts in 1849 which shows her as the 3rd surviving daughter of the late James FAIRBAIRN of Haddington, candlemaker and tobacconist, which is rather a drastic occupation and location change from a farmer in Smailholm, and would no doubt come as a bit of a surprise to two of Elspeth, Margaret, Helen or Isabel, all of whom survived beyond 1849, and would be Rachel's elder sisters if she belonged to the Smailholm family.
That and the fact that it is unlikely the family would have two Margaret's when the first is found to have survived and married.
I believe Margaret of Haddington, to be the deceased sister of Rachel as Catherine and Marion are both to be found in the 1851 census.
Does anyone know who the Haddington James is? Not yet researched. In addition to these 4 daughters, there was also an 1829 Robert.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

19th: Kelso dispensary - Agnes FAIRBAIRN

Check out this blog entry on Maxwell Ancestry about the Kelso Dispensary - it features an Agnes FAIRBAIRN of Smailholm born around 1746/7.
Anyone got a good candidate?
Poor woman had at least two fits of hysterics.
I can spot a slightly older Agnes, baptised Smailholm 1742 to Francis & Janet (THOMSON) FAIRBAIRN, and one of the right age, but baptised Stitchel, born to James & Elspeth (TROTTER) FAIRBAIRN.
Extending the date to 1754 adds in the Agnes baptised at Smailholm to John & Helen (ANDERSON) FAIRBAIRN.
All of which assumes that FAIRBAIRN was her maiden name.
Extending the search to include married names would probably add the Elizabeth WIGHT who married Robert FAIRBAIRN at Smailholm in 1772.
Of the few other FAIRBAIRNs, or similar, mentioned, the Margaret born about 1718 of Nenthorn, might be the dtr of Edward, baptised in 1720.
Several candidates exist for the 1723ish Thomas of Earlston.

That aside, the DNA summary results page has had a quick update to reflect the latest dna kit status, one of our outstanding kits having reached the lab, two more to come.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Earlston FAIRBAIRNs

Finally published the, hopefully coherent, update to the FAIRBAIRNs of Earlston et al that I've been working on for the last few months.
DNA results received during that time have reinforced my conclusions - and there's still one more matching set of results to fit in somewhere.
Check out the Recent Changes index of the One Name Study(ONS) pages to see who has been added or updated, but basically it is the family of John & Magdalen (BO) FAIRBAIRN of Lidgatehead in Fanns.
There may be some resulting tidy-ups of the source citations etc still to come, but the basics are now there.
I would welcome any additional information to support, or refute, the relationships as shown.

Also added a preliminary analysis for the FAIRBAIRN, and variant surname, births recorded in the OPRs in Midlothian.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Family Crests

An outline for the family of James FAIRBAIRN of "Fairbairn's Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland" (1860), fame, has been added to the Patriarchs page, linked to further information in the One Name Study pages.
Some of the related surnames in the family are PATON, MUIR, VEITCH, OCKLEFORD, PARIS, BEDDARD, SHAW, WALKER, at least two of which husands (VEITCH and WALKER) are from the Scottish Borders, which may, or may not, indicate George's origins prior to when he marries Robina (aka Jemima, of Alloa) in Edinburgh in 1802.

More entries for the most inventive indexing competition:
Faubus, Fairbwm, Taerbaire, Fawbaine

Monday, January 3, 2011

ONS updates

The One Name Study Researcher list migration/update has begun, slowly, with a lady who was a great help to me many years ago in my early FAIRBAIRN research - Sanna.

Robert, the civil engineer/surveyor, supposedly born Eckford, has had an update to his page - unfortunately recording the results of a negative search for him in the 1841 census - anyone having better luck?