What about you?

I've mentioned before about the living evidence that you can gather from your relatives and the usefulness of hoarding family documentation. I've also suggested a number of useful resources, both online and in the real world, that can assist you in your family history research. There is one other source, however, that I haven't written about yet - you. We often take it for granted that our family know all about us but this assumption can be wrong.

Monday was the birthday of my late father, Charlie. He would have been 88 years old. One of his great regrets, and frustrations, in researching his family tree was that he hadn't listened to the stories told by his father and the gossip and news that had been tossed around at family gatherings. I now find myself with the same frustration. I wish I had listened to my parents more. I wish I had asked them questions about the mountain of photographs, many of people unknown to me. All I have now are patchy, threadbare memories.

Will my children bear the same frustration when I am gone? They are happy to listen to my stories now but a lifetime is such an immense thing to track and more importantly remember. How can anyone retain it all, every second, every breath, every thought or heartbreak? Even the most romantic biographer must decide what should be included and what should not. But maybe that is the magic of memory, to filter out the unnecessary debris, retaining the gems of our past.

So I have a new project, to keep a record of my life, including the stories that I tell my children, as a keepsake for my family. At the least, it will be an interesting writing exercise. At the best, it may provide us all with some clarity.

Why not keep a record of your own life? It doesn't have to be a full-grown biography. It can simply be a record of where you lived, some brief stories that happened to you, details of the jobs you held or people you knew. Even writing down details to accompany photographs can help. Don't make the assumption that your family know it all. Fill in the gaps for them.

Recent discovery

I thought I'd found all of my father's notes and geneaology documentation but while looking through some crates and boxes in the garage, I came across an old briefcase of his, a file of family research notes and this photograph.

My grandfather, Charles Roberton is stood at the back in the middle (the one with a cigarette in his mouth). I assume this photograph was of the team of park keepers at Balloch. There's no date or writing on the photograph so I don't know for definite but the architecture of the building in the background looks very similar to Balloch Castle (pictured below).

Hoarders Anonymous

My parents were hoarders. They filled drawers with old letters, took a mountain of photographs and slides, and even kept a collection of second world war pamphlets in a bag in the bottom of their wardrobe. Born in the 1920s, they came from a generation that really did 'mend and make do'. Furniture was made to last. Clothes were restyled and revamped. Jewellery and bibles were handed down to the next generation. When they moved from the house I grew up in (where they had lived for over thirty years), a quarter of the immense removal lorry was taken up with boxes of documentation, books and antique memorabilia.

With the advent of minimalism and the trend over the last couple of decades to declutter, hoarding has become a negative concept. Perhaps from the point of view of fashion and feng shui, hoarding is still seen as a bad thing but for genealogists, it can provide a treasure trove of dates, addresses and faces.

In amongst the treasure trove that my parents left behind, is a number of bibles that list family births and deaths. I also have a little book of birthdays which I've spoken of before on this blog, love letters between my parents, and a cupboard full of photographs and slides. I'll admit that finding a home for it all is a challenge (it's currently piled under our stairs while I try to empty some cupboards) but I see this clutter as a valuable slice of my family history. I'm glad my parents were hoarders.

Scotland's People

For family history researchers with links to Scotland like myself, the Scotland's People website can be a tremendously useful resource. Although you do have to pay to access most of the information on there, it's newly updated website offers a free surname search, free access to Wills and Testaments, and Coats of Arms, and a section to discover whether you're related to famous Scots such as Billy Connolly, John Logie Baird and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Well worth a visit.

Another Thomas Roberton

Today I managed to extend the Roberton branch another generation. Using IGI records, I found that the earliest Thomas Roberton I had was born on 7th February 1776 in Linton, Roxburghshire, Scotland, and that his parents are yet another Thomas Roberton and Katherine Hogg.

That still keeps us in the eighteenth century but it's a different part of Scotland. I wonder if I can fill out any more details about his life.

Which William?

Although my main focuses of research are the four branches leading from my grandparents, occasionally it is interesting to look at the other branches too.

Thomas Roberton (1841 - 1898) married Helen McIntosh in 1874. Helen's parents were Lauchlan McIntosh and Henrietta Hardie. This was proven by details from Helen and Thomas' marriage certificate. From further documentation, my father discovered that Henrietta's father was a William Hardie. My father took this information from the 1841 census which states William's birth year as 1801. Further investigation provided his parents, George Hardie and Henrietta Burnett.

Extensive research by David Peters (a descendant of Henrietta B) has proven that Henrietta Burnett's father was a black slave called Ong Tong who was christened by his owner and hence given the surname, Burnett. He married three times and Henrietta was one of several children.

When I contacted David, we found that we had discrepancies when it came to William Hardie's descendants. We both had the same William Hardie. That was definite. I decided to look back at my father's research.

When my father first found William Hardie, he took his date of birth from the 1841 census, 1801. My own investigations have further found 1851 and 1861 census which stated his birth year as 1798. Using these census, a map of the Angus and Perth area in Scotland, and IGI records, I discovered that my father had linked Henrietta Hardie to the wrong William. I also found her mother to be Elisabeth Walker.

Tracing my family back to Ong Tong would have been an interesting find but it appears that as far as I can trace so far, my ancestors were white and from Scotland, Yorkshire and Lancashire.

It just goes to show that the more information you have, the easier it is to patch together the past, and that it is imperative to double check everything.

Recently found photographs

As the title suggests, I've recently unearthed these photographs from the pile of family documents I have.

My mum is visible as the little girl at the back, sat next to her mother on the right. At the front are Betty and Ken. Alfred looks very relaxed smoking a pipe. I don't know who the woman at the back left is.

Betty at the  beach, still wearing pearls even with her swimming cossie - how stylish.

My grandad Alfred and my uncle Ken