HOW TO LOCATE NEW INFORMATION ON SCOTTISH ANCESTORS~USING THE 1921 CENSUS

 

It’s always fun when a new record set is released.  Many of us are still discovering family in the 1950 census.

When Scotland released the 1921 census on November 30th, I was sure I’d find family in it.  To learn more about this latest record release you can read here 1921 Scottish Census Released

I created a list, using Legacy, for ancestors who “might” appear in that particular census.

I did this by going to the Search tab, then to the Census List and choosing the criteria, then Create List

(Please click on any image to enlarge it)

This produced a list of 90 individuals from my Legacy tree.

When I view the list it gives me options to view all the tabs and information I have entered for that particular person.  Because of that, I was able to choose the candidates who would likely be found in the 1921 census, based on their timeline.

By viewing their Detail and Events tabs I could easily see who may have already moved from Scotland prior to 1921 and not bother to look for them in this census.

I selected two ancestors.

They were:

·       Euphemia Anderson FITZCHARLES born 12 Feb 1910 in Grangemouth, Stirling, Scotland, probably living with her parents and

·       Alexander DALE born about 1878 and possibly his wife Clara LINDSAY.

I went to the Scotland’s People website, which I have used very often in the past, and conducted my search.

Because Euphemia would have only been 11 years old, I included her mothers name, Isabella, in my search.  I was immediately able to select the correct record from my list of choices, based on Euphemia’s age.  Fortunately, there were only 2 choices and I knew she was not 64 years old at the time.

Viewing this image costs 6 credits on the website.  I usually have credits saved from my prior searches.  In this case I had 12 credits, which is perfect since I’m trying to view 2 census records.

How much does viewing these records cost in U.S. dollars you might ask? Good question.  I purchased an additional 40 credits today at a cost of £10 UK pounds.  At today’s exchange rate that is $12.17 U.S.

Let’s do some quick math.  $12.17/40 credits = .30 per credit. If viewing one record costs me 6 credits, that equals $1.80.  Pretty reasonable when you think of the cost of ordering birth, death and marriage records from repositories or traveling to find them. 

Next, I went searching for the 1921 census record for Alexander & Clara Dale.  I used Clara’s name, as it would be less common than Alexander.  Again, I was rewarded with only 2 results.  In this case they appeared to be duplicates so I chose the first one.  I was able to ascertain from the record, because of ages and his occupation, that this is the right couple.

This record gives me more evidence to add to the timeline for these ancestors.  I have downloaded the images and will be adding them to Legacy and adding the source etc.

Stay tuned for Sunday's blog post and I’ll be sharing the images with you.

If you are related to or connected to anyone in this blog post, please get in touch.  Let’s exchange information.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2022   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

 

SEPIA SATURDAY ~ Who are the people in these unknown photos? They were in my maternal grandmother’s photo collection

We all have pictures in our collections that we cannot identify.  I have found, over the years, that sometimes the identities are revealed as we gain more knowledge of the family and connect with more cousins.  Those new cousins may have knowledge that we don’t have.

I never throw away old photos for just that reason.

My maternal family on my grandfather’s side (Milne) are from Aberdeen, Scotland.  The fact that one of the photos is from an Aberdeen studio and another from a MILNE Aberdeen studio certainly leads me to believe these may be ancestor photos.  These photos were among those belonging to my grandmother, Florence Bowden who married Joseph A. Milne.  Joseph’s father Andrew Charles Milne was born in Aboyne, Aberdeen, Scotland in 1856 and immigrated to the U.S. through Canada in 1868.
 
Today I’d like to share some pictures that I haven’t been able to identify……yet.  Perhaps someone out there can shed some light on them?

Who is this lady?  The photo is from Milne studios in Aboyne, Aberdeen, Scotland - my Milne family is from Aberdeen and this photo was from the collection of a Milne descendant

Who is this man? - the photo is from an Aberdeen, Scotland studio - no markings on the back

Another photo found among my Milne group but I don't recognize this lady

There is some speculation that this is a photo of Edna Bowden (my grandmother's only sibling) - but I cannot say for sure

This young lady has some of the same facial features as other Milne or Bowden women in my family - but who is she?

I found this photo today while going through my grandmother's pictures - this lady looks very much like my grandmother, Florence Bowden Milne - but it is not her.  Could this be her sister Edna?

If anyone reading this can help identify these people, I’d love to hear from you.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

DNA CONNECTIONS AND DISCOVERIES ~ A new 2nd cousin leads to more information on my Mom’s family line

I find myself checking for new DNA matches, pretty much daily.  Most of the time it’s while I’m watching TV and using my iPad.  My DNA site of choice is Ancestry, although my DNA is on all of the sites (FtDNA, 23 & Me, Gedmatch, MyHeritage and Living DNA).

The other night while checking on new matches, I came across one that was 30 cms on 3 segments and had a tree of 102 people and shock, also a common ancestor.  I say shocked because while I have a lot of matches, I don’t have all that many that have common ancestors.

I looked at the match and saw that it was managed by someone I’ll call her Anna.  Right away I clicked on Anna’s name to see what her profile said about her.  She lives in Australia and joined Ancestry in 2005.  Her last sign in was that same day.  That’s certainly a positive sign that someone is actively working their tree and/or matches.
 
Next I checked our shared matches (hoping we had some) and sure enough we did.  She matches my brother, my nephew and a first cousin on my maternal side.
 
My next step was to check her tree and take a look at our common ancestor.  Woohoo!  The common ancestors are my 3rd great grandparents Charles Milne and Margaret Ritchie.  And I see not only the name Milne in the tree but also Beechey/Beechy which I know to be associated with my Milne family. 

(Click on this image to enlarge it)

This is a SOLID match which also follows my own paper trail and years of research.  I did a little more looking at her tree and discovered she had information on that Beechey line, that I had yet to uncover.
 
Next step – send her a message.  We all know that sending messages to our DNA matches is a gamble at best.  Will they respond?  Many times the answer is no.  But, when someone has checked in recently and is managing other people’s DNA you have a better chance that the person will respond.

Sure enough, I heard back the very next day.  After all, we are in very different time zones.  She was excited to make contact with me and told me that the person who actually took the DNA test and is a match to members of my family, is her mother-in-law who is 98 years old.  So, I’m actually related to Anna’s husband and not her.  The test taker who is 98, is my 2nd cousin once removed.

Testing the oldest members in our families is so useful, as it can take you back another generation or two.

Anna and I have exchanged emails and invited one another to be viewers on our DNA.  We have a lot to share with one another and are both excited.

Huge bonus when you connect with cousins is not only the extra information, but the possibility of pictures.  Sure enough, Anna has already shared a beautiful wedding photo with me.  I haven’t asked her permission yet, so I cannot share it.  If she does give me permission I’ll be sure and share.

I have new stories to add to my tree and have located lots of new records on Ancestry.  And that’s the only site I’ve checked so far.  There’s still Family Search, MyHeritage and others.

There’s a whole lot to like about DNA.  One of my favorites is the verification of years of research.  What a wonderful feeling to know that we have been doing it correctly and following the right trail.  This is just one example of a DNA success story.  I have so many more.

Do you have DNA connection stories?  I’d love to hear about them.
 
OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST


TOMBSTONE TUESDAY ~ Aboyne Parish Kirkyard in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland – my visit to my 3rd great grandparents, Charles Milne & Margaret Ritchie’s burial site

Surname Saturday - A Very Early Post about my Milne family

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2019   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

WEDDING WEDNESDAY ~ William Ritchie & Agnes Craigmile–my maternal 2nd great granduncle and aunt–17 Mar 1839, Midmar, Aberdeen, Scotland

Celebrating the marriage of William Ritchie & Agnes Craigmile in 1839

William Ritchie, my 2nd great granduncle descends from my 3rd great grandparents, Archibald Ritchie & Margaret Ewen of Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

He was about 21 years old when he and Agnes married. Agnes was about 27 years old.  They were married on 17 Mar 1839 in Midmar, Aberdeen, Scotland¹ a month after the birth of their daughter, Margaret.  I wondered if perhaps, Agnes had been married prior to William? Two reasons to ask this question are: She would have been about 27 at the time of marriage which is “older” at that time in history.  And, their daughter was born, according to birth records, a month prior to the banns being filed.  I have searched for another marriage for Agnes and not found one.

William worked as a shoemaker in the census records for 1841, 1851 and 1871 and as listed on his death record on 21 Aug 1879².  Agnes had died just a year earlier on 18 Jul 1878.

This couple had 7 known children – Margaret born 17 Feb 1839, Alexander born 17 Sep 1840, William (1842-1868), David (1844-1928) who married Louise Henrietta Frey, Agnes born 13 Jun 1848, Andrew born 6 Jul 1850 and Mary Anne born about 1854.  All the children were born in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Both William & Agnes are buried in Glentanar Kirkyard, Aboyne, Aberdeen, Scotland.  You may visit their memorials here #135839094 and #135839168³. 

Sources: 1 – Scotland’s People ©Crown copyright and copyright brightsolid ltd: Genealogy, family history and family tree information.  A partnership between the National Records of Scotland and the Court of the Lord Lyon enabled by brightsolid. 2 – Scotland’s People; 3 – https://www.FindAGrave.com.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2019   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

WEDDING WEDNESDAY ~ Archibald Ritchie & Margaret Ewen–my maternal 3rd great grandparents–married 1809 in Scotland

Archibald Ritchie & Margaret Ewen – married 26 Nov 1809 in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Finding records for my Scottish ancestors has always been fun for me.  This is a record I located back in 2011.  I use the Scotland’s People website to find a lot of the records.  Although some of them can be found on Ancestry.com or Family Search.

In this case I did located the image on Scotland’s People. 

The reference at the bottom is transcribed exactly as it appeared on the document.

Archibald and Margaret had 9 known children.  I almost always say “known” because we never know if a child was born that we aren’t aware of.  Especially when there are gaps of more than 2 years between births.

 

Here is a list of the children I have for this couple:

Archibald, born about 1812, Jonathan born about 1814, William born about 1818, John born about 1819, Margaret (from whom I descend) born 23 Oct 1820, Mary born 1825, Andrew born 4 Apr 1829, Charlotte born about 1831.  I still have work to do on this family to try and find exact birth dates and some marriages I don’t yet have.

Archibald worked as a Farmer, so with 6 boys and 3 girls, he had plenty of help on the farm.

I descend from this couple as follows..

Archibald Ritchie & Margaret Ewen – 3rd great grandparents

Margaret Ritchie & Charles Milne – 2nd great grandparents

Andrew Charles Milne & Susan Gillespie – great grandparents

Joseph Albert Milne & Florence Lee Nora Bowden – grandparents

Patricia Anne Milne & Harry Norman Gould – parents

If you are connected to this family, I’d love to hear from you.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

WEDDING WEDNESDAY ~ MY 4th GREAT GRANDPARENTS–William Ewan and Ann Cooper–1773 in Scotland

Celebrating the marriage of William Ewan & Ann Cooper 1773

Today I’m featuring my maternal 4th great grandparents, William Ewan/Ewen and Ann Cooper.  I have next to nothing in the way of information about this couple and I’m hoping that by writing a blog post I can connect with some cousins.

I am descended from William & Ann’s daughter Margaret Ewen born about 1787¹ probably in Scotland and died 17 May 1864² in Bridgend, Glentanar, Aberdeen, Scotland.  Margaret married Archibald Ritchie 26 Nov 1809 in Kincardine, O’Neil, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.  Archibald Ritchie was born 10 Jul 1786⁴ in Dee Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and died 16 May 1850².

I was able to obtain the names of Margaret Ewen’s parents from her death record.¹  And, from there I located the marriage register for William Ewen and Ann Cooper.

Other than that one piece of information, I have not been able to locate birth, death, census or burial records for them.  I’m hoping that an upcoming trip to the Family History Library will help me find more information.

Here is the image of their marriage record from 2 Dec 1773 in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.



Dec 2d Ewan & Cooper – William Ewan & Ann Cooper both in this our parish of Aboyne contracted on Nov 14th & their matrimonial banns being legally proclaimed.

I descend from William Ewen & Ann Cooper as follows

Margaret Ewen & Archibald Ritchie – 3rd great grandparents

Margaret Ritchie & Charles Milne – 2nd great grandparents

Andrew Charles Milne & Susan Anne Gillespie – great grandparents

Joseph Albert Milne & Florence Lee Nora Bowden – grandparents

Patricia Ann Milne – my Mom

If you are descended from any of these people and would like to exchange information, I’d love to hear from you.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

WEDDING WEDNESDAY–What is the earliest recorded marriage in my tree?  And How Did I Determine That?

WEDDING WEDNESDAY ~ Andrew Charles Milne & Susan Anne Gillespie–married in 1880

Sources: 1 – Scotland Register of Deaths -  Bright Solid Online Publishing, "scotlandspeople.org," database, Scotland's People (www.scotlandspeople.org : accessed 12 May 2014), entry for the death of Margaret Ritchie; citing Statutory Deaths 170/00 0010 for 1864;
2 – The Kirkyard of Glenmuick - Spiers, Sheila M., editor. The Kirkyard of Glenmuick.  2002. Reprint, Aboyne: Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History Society, Reprinted 2005, 2007, 2010.
3 – Scotland, Select Marriages, 1561-1910 - Ancestry.com. Scotland, Select Marriages, 1561-1910 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Original data: Scotland, Marriages, 1561-1910. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.
4 – Scotland census 1841 - 1841 census of Scotland, Bridgend, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, enumeration district (ED) 4, page 2, Archiblad & Margaret Ritchie & 3 children; digital images, Scotland's People (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk : accessed 12 May 2014); citing citing 1841 Scotland census, Reels 1-151.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY ~ Aboyne Parish Kirkyard in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

My husband and I were fortunate to be able to travel to Scotland in 2014.  It was the trip of a lifetime for me.  We had been to Europe before, but never to Scotland.

My thirteen plus years of family research, combined with family stories gave me deep roots in Scotland.

Through my research I had learned that my maternal 3rd great grandparents, Charles Milne and Margaret Ritchie are buried at Aboyne Parish Kirkyard.

We arrived in Aboyne and made our way to the churchyard. What a beautiful site we saw.
 

Beside and behind the church are all the headstones.

It was raining just a little bit, but I was on a mission.  I had to find the headstone for my 3rd great grandparents, Charles & Margaret.  I looked and looked and looked some more.  Of course I was distracted by all the headstones and all the names and I stopped to read so many of them.
 
FINALLY!!!  I glanced down at a headstone in the shape of a cross and there they were. 
How easy it would have been to miss this discovery.

That's me - so happy and the photo on the right is my husband

In the short time we had to spend at the cemetery I began taking as many photos as I could of other headstones.  I had already checked on FindAGrave.com and I knew there were only a handful of headstones that had been photographed and entered on the site.

I have the book, The Kirkyard of Aboyne, published by the Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History Society.  The society publishes a large number of books.

There are currently 207 interments listed on the FindAGrave page for this cemetery.  Only 55% are photographed.  When I returned home I added 118 memorials and photos to this website.  I’m hoping that family members of those listed will find the memorials.  I will happily transfer any memorial not related to me (which is most of them).
 
This was an exciting trip for me and the first time I had visited the grave site of ancestors buried in Europe.
 
Have you made similar trips?  If so, where to and what did you find?  I’d love to hear about it.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

My Trip to Scotland - What I Did Right and What I Did Wrong

Photo Friday - Can You Help Me Identify This Man? - Photo taken in Aberdeen, Scotland

All pictures shown here were taken by me or my husband

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2017   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

THE JOYS OF SCOTLAND’S PEOPLE WEBSITE

If you have ancestors from Scotland this site is invaluable.  I’ve been using it for several years.

WHAT DOES THIS SITE CONTAIN?
You can find vital records, census records, valuation rolls and other helpful information.

Here is a screenshot of the home page.  
(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)


Create an account to be able to use the site.

Once you’ve entered your names you can use basic search criteria like soundex, wildcard, fuzzy searches etc.  You can narrow down the year range and even the county and district areas.  There is also an advanced search option, which I’ve rarely used.

Searching for statutory marriages 1855-2013, I entered two surnames and narrowed the years to 1855-1870 just to get fewer matches.

This is the result of that search.



You can see that I have 8 matches and the cost to view them is 1 credit.  When you click on “view 1 credit” you will be taken to a screen that says “this will cost you 1 credit, are you sure?” Yes or No.

When I click on “Yes” this screen comes up.


You can now see more information, such as the year, both names, district and city/county.  This allows you to decide which one if any, might be worth viewing. If I know that my couple lived in Moray, then I have one choice.  If Aberdeen, then I have more choices.  It’s up to you, based on what you know about the person or couple you are searching for.

Viewing the image will cost you 5 credits.  The images are usually very readable and contain LOTS of great information.  
You may get a record that look like either one of these.

1872 MARRIAGE RECORD

1850 MARRIAGE RECORD

That first record you see is one I pulled just yesterday.  The great thing about those later records is that they give you the names of parents (and whether they are deceased), residence addresses, occupation of the groom and/or bride and the occupation of the parents AND the maiden name of all the women.  That’s what I call a FIND!

HOW MUCH DO THE CREDITS COST?
When you click on “Buy Credits” you are taken to this screen.  There is a drop down list to give you choices as to how many credits you want to pay for.  The cost is listed in British Pounds.  You can use your search engine and find a currency converter to determine how many U.S. dollars are equal to how many British Pounds.  Right now 7 British Pounds is equal to $10.84 is U.S. currency. 



This means that each credit will cost you about 36 cents.  That converts to $1.80 for 5 credits to view an image.  I don’t know about you, but that’s much cheaper than any records I’ve ordered.  Other than free records, the price is hard to beat.

Using this site has allowed me to expand my family history tremendously.  Having access to the actual images is fantastic.  You can get the indexes on sites such as Ancestry.com, but they still won’t contain all the important information.

I hope this post has been helpful.  Please let me know if you have used this site and what your results have been.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
SCOTLAND - Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History Society

MY TRIP TO SCOTLAND - What I did right & What I did wrong

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2015   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

MY TRIP TO SCOTLAND–WHAT I DID RIGHT AND WHAT I DID WRONG

We have been back from our trip over to Scotland for about two weeks.  I think I’ve finally caught up with laundry, snail mail, email, appointments and sleep.  

It was a fantastic trip.  Being in a place that I have read about and heard about for most of my life, was truly amazing.  

We flew into Glasgow, rented a car and drove over to Dundee.  From there we drove up to Aberdeen and then down to Edinburgh.  Getting used to driving on the “other” side of the road from the other side of the car was not easy for my husband.  And being his passenger…..well, it had it’s moments.  He did very well though, even on the very narrow city streets.  The roundabouts are very useful and better than all the stoplights we have in our cities in the U.S.  

I have ancestors from both Dundee and Aberdeen.  Also Perth, Arbroath, Aboyne and several other locations.   

On my paternal side there are LINDSAY, WALLACE, FITZCHARLES & McGOVERN.  

On my maternal side there are MILNE, RITCHIE & LESLIE.

Those are the direct lines. 

I prepared for this trip by doing as much research as I could before we left.  Knowing that no matter how much I did, or how thorough I thought I was being, I would wish I had done more.

I have taken several other trips that were either dedicated to genealogy research or included some research, so I had an idea of how to prepare.

HERE IS WHAT I DID CORRECTLY

• Located as much information about the families who lived in Scotland as I could.
• Found vital records (birth, marriage, death etc.) prior to going on the trip.  I used the website Scotland’s People to gather much of this information. This site has actual images of the records.  You can find transcriptions on Ancestry.com, but not the actual images.

 NOTE:  Scotland’s People is a subscription site.  You pay for credits, that are good for one year.  They start at 30 credits for 7 pounds ($11.90 U.S.) and go up to 300 credits for 70 pounds ($119 U.S.).  I have been using this site for many years.  To learn more about how the credits are used, please visit the site.

• Located census records from Scotland for the periods that they have released, which are 1841-1911.  Again you can find the images on Scotland’s People, but only transcriptions on Ancestry. 
• Entered all the information including images into my genealogy database.  I use Legacy.
• Created a list of all people who had any connection to Scotland.  This was easy with the genealogy software we have available these days. 
• Created a list of names and the addresses where they lived.  This way you can Google the address (or use whatever map program you prefer) before you leave and see if the street or building is still in existence.  Whether or not you found the street on your map program you can still look for it once you arrive.
• Make sure you have a list of any other locations pertinent to your ancestors such as: Cemeteries, places of business, churches etc.
• If you plan to visit any libraries, courthouses, archives, historical societies or churches be aware of the days and hours they are open. You'll soon see how important this is.
• Contact the places you may be visiting to see if they have volunteers who can do any preliminary look ups for you.  There may be a small charge, but as you’ll see later in this post, it can make a big difference.
• Have some way to access your database while you are on your trip.  Whether you carry your laptop, a tablet or a smartphone, just have something.  You could even have printed group sheets.  I carried my iPad with me which has the Families app containing my current Legacy family file, including images, sources & events.

All in all I was as well prepared as I thought I could be.
 
HERE IS WHAT I DID WRONG

When we were planning our trip, we set up our itinerary for each location.  We knew we’d only have a short time in each place.  We made all our reservations at the B & B’s and had everything planned out as to what we would do each day.  

I knew we would be in Aberdeen on Sunday and Monday.  I knew the Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History Society would be closed on Sunday.  I’ve been a member of this society for about 5 years and know they have many records available that I wanted to see.  I planned to spend about 4 hrs. there on Monday morning.

NOTE:  I was traveling with my husband.  This was a vacation for us, not a genealogy trip.  He knew I would be wanting to go to cemeteries and historical societies, of course.  But, spending the whole day doing that wasn’t fair to him.  He’s not the genealogist, I am.  Whatever time I can get, I will take.

MY MISTAKE:  Not realizing that Monday, May 5th was a local public holiday.  Therefore, the Aberdeen Family History Society was CLOSED.

Should I have known this?  YES!  Could I have known this? YES!  Was I disappointed? BEYOND YES!  Could I have kicked myself?  A THOUSAND TIMES YES!!!!

How I did I deal with it?  I was thankful that I had sent emails back & forth to one of the volunteers at the society.  She had been able to provide me with birth records and a burial record before my trip.  The cost of those look ups was 10 pounds. Well worth it, wouldn’t you say?

I took a nice picture of the front of the building and spent about 10 minutes being angry with myself.  Life is too short to spend time on things that cannot be changed.  I moved on.    

Here it is.  My picture of the Aberdeen Family History Society office. 

Off we went to Aboyne to see if we could locate the headstones of my 2nd great grandparents, Charles Milne & Margaret Ritchie.

It was a lovely drive, through the countryside, to Aboyne from Aberdeen.    I even got to drive the car for a while.  I wanted to experience driving on the “other” side of the road. 
The weather was typical for Scotland.  A bit drizzly and chilly, but not bad.  Our GPS in the car led us right to where we wanted to go.  

Once we got to Aboyne we stopped and asked where the Aboyne Kirkyard was and were told it was just around the corner.  

We arrived and saw this beautiful old stone church with a cemetery on the church property.  Well maintained and not too terribly big, which should make hunting for headstones much easier.  The parishioners were arriving for church and were very friendly.




You can’t see the whole church yard in that photo.  It goes back quite a ways.

My husband is very sweet and always assists me when we get to cemeteries to begin the hunt.  I give him the surnames and he hollers when he finds one.  We spent about 30 minutes walking every foot of this cemetery and looking at every headstone.  There is a book of transcriptions for this cemetery and it does have my 2nd great grandparents as being buried here.  There is a note on the transcription, however, that says the stone is partially buried.  

TIP:  Having seen that note about the stone being partially buried I was looking for a flat stone.  There weren’t many of those at this cemetery, but there were some.  Never make assumptions, as I did.  This stone was NOT flat.

When we were just about to give up and I had walked this cemetery over and over, I looked down at the bottom of this small cross shaped headstone.  What did I see?
MARGARET RITCHIE!  I went over and took a closer look and there was another name on that headstone – CHARLES MILNE!  I did my genealogy happy dance and yelled out to my husband “I found it!”

There it was, nearly obliterated by years of weather, but I had found them.

   


What a happy moment.  Those names are written in our family bible.  For a long time it was as far back on this Milne line as I could get.  

I took pictures of other Milne’s & Ritchie’s buried at this cemetery, in case I can later connect them.  I also snapped a few additional headstone photos of other surnames, as I had checked on FindAGrave and noted that there were very few memorials listed for this cemetery.  Now I can add to it.

This post is already too long and I apologize for that.  But, I had a lot to say and hope you enjoyed reading it.

You can find the memorials for Charles & Margaret on FindAGrave #129545950 and #129546301.

OTHER POSTS YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY

CEMETERY RECORDS - WHAT THEY CAN TELL YOU, HOW DO YOU USE THEM?

ADDING SIBLING LINKS TO FIND A GRAVE

Happy Hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION