My Ancestors Stories

My 2 x great grandmother, Maggie (or Margaret Jane) Moore was born c1873, presumably in County Down, Ireland. Despite an exhaustive search, a birth certificate and confirmation of her parentage have not yet been found, or have they? Believed to be Margaret Jane Conway nee Moore, seated on right with daughter, Margaret Jane Martin nee Conway on left and grandchildren, William, Robert and Sarah Martin c1916.   What do we know about Maggie? Maggie married Robert Conway on 09 February, 1892 at Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church in Bangor when she was 19 years of age. Robert was a driver of a post car, Maggie had no occupation. Both were of Conlig and the witnesses were Samuel Gamble and Anna Bella Clark. The other key information was that Maggie was the illegitimate daughter of Thomas Spence, a labourer!  Marriage Certificate - Robert Conway and Maggie Moore - 1892   When Maggie and Robert's daughter, Margaret Jane was born later that year, Maggie's maiden name was given a...

My mum was born in Ayrshire, Scotland and although we always knew that her paternal ancestors were from Ireland we had presumed that her maternal ancestors were all Scottish. However as you can see in her birthplace tree below, research revealed that one branch of her maternal tree was actually English and another was also Irish! Since 2017, Mum has taken several DNA tests with different companies to help me with my research. Over the years, she's become more and more Scottish each time Ancestry update their DNA Ethnicity Estimates. AncestryDNA calculates ethnicity estimates by comparing your DNA to a reference panel made up of thousands of DNA samples from people with a long family history in one place or within one group.   Over time, Ancestry tests more people in these reference panels which is why we get these updates every 12-18 months.  Mum's results have gone from 53% Scotland to 75% Scotland.  When you look at the Ancestry map it depicts the long history of m...

Wenlock Priory I've written previously about my paternal 2 x great grandmother, Clara Williams and my quest to find her father.  I've had much more success locating Clara's maternal family who were from Shropshire. I was lucky to spend a week in Shropshire in July 2017 and was able to visit several of my ancestral villages.    Charles Plimmer, my 6 x great grandfather was baptised 7 February 1764 at Holy Trinity Church, Much Wenlock.  Charles was the eldest child of seven known children of Thomas Plimmer and his wife, Rebecca Jones. Much Wenlock is a market town and parish in Shropshire, situated between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth.   Much Wenlock contains 104 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England, including many early 15th century timber framed buildings, the Guildhall and Wenlock Priory.  Much Wenlock township (above) Wenlock Priory (below) To the modern day visitor it is a lovely well maintained historic town, ho...

I first met my great grandmother, Caroline Anstey Garrett, in 1977, when I was 15 years old - she was 90 years old and had just immigrated to Australia!   She was widowed in 1949 when she was 61 and went to live with her youngest daughter, Carrie, in the USA in 1951 and they also lived in Japan during this time. She returned to Scotland in 1954 after her sister, Lizzie, was also widowed and they lived together for the next 23 years until her sister died. It was at this time that she came out to Australia to live with her daughter, Helen and where she was to meet her seven great-grandchildren for the first time. 

Aunt Carrie, my great aunt, was born Caroline McDougall one hundred years ago on 11 September 1921, in the family home at 117 Albert Street, Townhead, Glasgow. She was the youngest of three daughters born to Alexander Murray McDougall and Caroline Anstey Garrett. The family lived in a two room tenement, with a recess bed in each room. Albert Street was renamed McAslin Street sometime during the 1920s.   Also residing in the family home were her maternal grandfather, Albert Garrett and aunt, Lizzie Garrett.  Her grandfather lived with the family until his death in 1939 and Aunt Lizzie until she married in 1941.  After leaving school, Carrie worked as a book pager, however during the war, she worked as an explosives worker at the Ardeer Factory in Stevenston and travelled down from Glasgow on the train for her shifts there. After the war she returned to her work as a book pager.  Carrie married Alexander Campbell, a sergeant in the United States Army at the Barony...

I have many wonderful memories of my nan, Esther and remember finding this painting in her garage when I was young. The portrait was part of a prize she had won for a school writing competition.  She was born 105 years ago today. My parents were living at the back of Esther's house when I was born and lived there until I was about 18 months old when Mum and Dad moved into their own home at Smithfield. My sister and I spent many school holiday's at Nan's along with our cousins. I remember going with Nan to Paddy's Markets, fabric shops, and Vinnies. We also spent our summer holidays with Nan and Pop at Bateau Bay.

Clara in 1961 at grandson, Colin's wedding "Have you found something revealing in a birth, death or marriage certificate?" This was the topic for another Friday Hang Out with the SAG late last year, which prompted the following story related to my paternal great grandmother, Clara Lilian Phibbs, who was born 132 years ago.   Various certificates and other documents revealed a lot of previously unknown information about Clara and other members of her family! ______________ Clara Lillian Phibbs was born 8 August 1889 in Bradford St, Birmingham, the second youngest of 7 children born to Clara Williams and William Charles Phibbs, who had married on 20 July 1879 at the Parish Church of St. John, Ladywood.  At the time of her birth, Clara had 5 brothers and sisters, Florence Louisa aged 9, William Charles aged 7, Alice Maud aged 5, Albert Harold aged 3, and May aged 2 years.    Clara's birth certificate dated 1903 likely obtained so she could obtain work On 5 April 1...