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?