Robert Balmer - One of Berwick's Most Esteemed Ministers

Family Search lists Robert Balmer's birth on 22nd November 1787 and christening, 8 days later, at Eckford, Roxburghshire, Scotland.

According to his Academical lectures and pulpit discourses which includes a memoir of his life, his father was Thomas Balmer and his mother, Margaret Biggar and they lived at Ormiston Mains.

Thomas was probably a farmer; he had been offered a farm by the Duke of Buccleuch but he preferred to be a land-steward, first at Ormiston and later at Crailinghall. He was a member of the congregation at Morebattle, connected with the General Associate (Antiburgher) Synod.

Margaret was a granddaughter of the James Biggar mentioned in the autobiography of the venerable Boston of Ettrick. She adhered to the congregation at Jedburgh, connected with the Associate (Burgher) Synod. Family Search lists Thomas Balmer and Margaret Biggar's marriage on 6th January 1786.

They had 2 other sons, Walter (probably born 30 January 1790; later emigrated to USA) and James (probably born 14th March 1794) and a daughter, Helen, (probably born 22nd April 1796). The memoir doesn’t mention Stephen (christened 19th October 1788 in the same place as the others) or Nelly  (christened 5th August 1792 at Hobkirk).

At the age of 9, Robert went to a school at Crailing Mill, taught by Richard Scott, later one of the elders of Golden Square congregation, Berwick. Thomas died about a year later and Mrs Balmer opened a shop at Eckford-moss. Robert moved to Eckford parish school and attended Morebattle parish school to learn Latin.

At age 14, he went to Kelso Grammar School, stating during the week with his aunt at Maxwellheugh.
He went to Edinburgh University at the beginning of the session 1802-3.
In the autumn of the year 1806, after undergoing an examination by the Associate Presbytery of Selkirk, he was admitted to the study of Divinity under the Rev. Dr George Lawson, supporting himself by teaching.

He was licensed to preach the Gospel on 4th August 1812. He was offered posts by congregations in Lochwinnoch, Leslie, Ecclefechan, and Berwick, and in autumn 1813 picked Berwick (perhaps because his mother and his brother, James, lived in Berwick).

He said in a letter to a friend “My ordination took place on Wednesday, the 23rd of last month (March 1814). The person who preached first, and who ordained (presided at the ordination), was Mr Lee of Horndean, a most intimate acquaintance, and one of the best men, I believe, in the Burgher Synod. A friend and relation not less dear, Mr Paterson of Alnwick, preached after him. Mr Peddie from Edinburgh was present, and introduced me on the following Sabbath.”
He was clearly prized by his Berwick congregation; the Caledonian Mercury reported:
“on 13th July 1819, an elegant silver cup and ….. a beautiful set of table plate, value 50 guineas (£52.50) were presented by the principal members of the Burgher Associate Congregation of Berwick, ….. at the Red Lion Inn, as a token of the high esteem they entertain for him.”

On 18th July 1826, Robert married Jane Scott, daughter of Alexander Scott of Aberdeen. One of Jane’s sisters was a landlady in Slateford, Edinburgh, her brother, John wrote ‘Visits to Paris’.
No children are mentioned in the memoir.

 In 1833, he was appointed Professor of Systematic Theology to the United Secession Church.

Robert’s mother, Margaret Biggar, died in 1839.

In 1840, the University of St Andrews conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity. He preached in many places including London, Glasgow and Edinburgh and was an active participant in the controversy that, ultimately, led to the disruption of the churches.

He died on the morning of Monday, July 1, 1844 after several weeks with a severe and painful illness and was buried on 9th July. His death was reported in many newspapers in England and Scotland. Apart from a volume of sermons in 1819, he published little during his lifetime, except in newspapers.

There's a photograph of an imposing column and its inscription in Holy Trinity churchyard, Berwick, on the Find A Grave website.

Are you related to one of Robert Balmer's brothers or sisters ?

Scottish Castles Quiz Results

Entries for our prize quiz of jumbled up Scottish Castle names closed on 31 May.

There were just 13 entries but only 5 were completely correct.

We feel our quiz was a big success, and our thanks go to all those who sold quiz entry forms for us, including Dean & Simpson, Hawick; Taylors, the newsagents, Jedburgh; and at our Conference.

The winner lives in Duns, and has been sent a cheque for £10.

Those who provided an SAE have been sent the answers in the post, but for everybody else, you can download the Scottish Castles quiz answers.

Borders Heritage Week 12 - 23 September

 There's a great series of walks, talks and events scheduled for the next week (and a half) throughout the Borders with the theme Myths and Legends - from Coldingham in the east to Ettrick and Eskdalemuir in the west and from Drumelzier in the north to Jedburgh and Hawick in the south.  Ranging from Bats in Innerleithen to Burns (Rabbie) in Jedburgh, there will be something for everyone.

Ettrick Kirk

Events are arranged by the Scottish Borders Council Ranger Service, the Haining, Borders Journeys, Historic Scotland, Borders Forest Trust, Friends of Coldingham Priory, Trimontium Trust, the Heritage Hub, Kelso Connections, Bowhill and more.

For more info http://www.scottishbordersheritage.co.uk

Railway Stations Quiz Results

Entries for our prize quiz of jumbled up railway station names closed last Saturday.

There were just 21 entries from as far away as Ballindalloch and Otterburn but only 9 were completely correct.

Several people gave non-existent places as stations, others, stations that haven't existed for over 60 years.

Many, including I, thought it was a hard quiz. Comments included "That was very difficult but passed 3 damp evenings in a caravan in Bellingham ! Thanks !", "Sorry, stations don't seem to be my forte but I have tried. Hope your quiz has been a big success."

We feel our quiz was a big success, and our thanks go to Barbara Scott, our Secretary's sister, who devised the quiz, to all those who sold quiz entry forms for us, including Dean & Simpson, Hawick; From Me to You, Jedburgh; Taylors, the newsagents, Jedburgh; McCuddens, the newsagents, Selkirk; Lunch Box in Newtown St Boswells.

The winner lives in Selkirk, and will get £10.

Those who provided an SAE will get the answers in the post, but for everybody else, you can download the quiz answers.

Recording Gravestone Inscriptions at Jedburgh Castlewood Road Cemetery

There’s still time to volunteer for recording gravestone inscriptions at Jedburgh, from 1pm to 4pm on both 9th and 10th June. If you have not been to a previous transcribing session - don't worry, you will be made very welcome and full training will be given. Bring along a picnic, notebook and pen/pencil, a kneeling pad, a light brush, gloves and some chalk (optional). It's wonderful if you can manage the whole day, but if that's too long for you, no problems at all - all assistance on the day is very welcome. We’re looking forward to catching up with you and meeting some new faces.

Come to our Coffee Morning in Jedburgh on Saturday

Just a reminder that our first fundraising event for next year's SAFHS Conference is this Saturday, 9th June in Jedburgh at the British Legion Hall in the High Street opposite the Bank of Scotland. As well as a local selection of our own publications there will be a cake stall, a tombola, a raffle, and second-hand books. There’s lots of easy parking nearby. We hope to see as many of you as possible. The doors will be open at 10am and we’ll close at 12 noon in order to prepare for recording gravestone inscriptions at Jedburgh Castlewood Road Cemetery in the afternoon. We also have an interesting prize quiz of jumbled railway station names. Entries cost £1, and forms can be obtained on the day.

Breaking Stones for Road-Mending and the Stone Project

I went to a very interesting talk in Maxton, Scotland on Monday evening by Jake Harvey, emeritus Professor and former head of Sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art, about the international Stone Project.

He talked for well over an hour, with interesting slides and videos, about quarrying and stone working techniques, sculptors and stone workers, sculptures, and exhibitions.

For me, one of the most astonishing views was that of a female quarry worker in Peenya Quarry, India, breaking up stone using a 15kg (33 lbs) hammer. She must have tremendous strength and I wonder if her back aches too ? She has no protection from chips on splinters, not for her bare arms, feet and ankles, or her head, particularly not for her eyes. I suspect her sari is pretty thin and chips could easily fly through thin cloth. I also wondered if she had ever hit her feet, a blow from that hammer would surely break foot bones.

When Jake said she was breaking stone for road repairs, I immediately thought of the women described in the poor registers (for example, Widow Davidson of Jedburgh, Scotland, aged 45, who 'breaks down stones into sand, and makes about 3d a day'), and in the poorhouse at Jedburgh engaged in breaking stones.

There's more about Widow Davidson of Jedburgh in our publications, Jedburgh Parish (1852-1874) and Jedburgh Parish (1875-1893).

I wonder how Widow Davidson was attired, whether she had any protection, and whether she did the work at home or in a quarry, and whether she was supervised. I haven't managed to find any detailed descriptions of this type of work.

Scotland's Earliest Census (before the English Domesday Book)

We're all accustomed to regarding the census for Scotland starting in 1841, and whilst it's true that this is the first detailed census useful for most people's family history, there were censuses before that, for example, various parishes in 1835, for Jedburgh in 1821, for Hutton in 1811 and Stow in 1801, and Portpatrick in 1763.

I was astonished to see a BBC article about Scotland's first census  occurring in the 7th century. It's called Senchus fer nAlban (History of the men of Scotland) and it's Scotland's earliest census. It is a list of the population of Dál Riata, the kingdom of the Gaels on the west coast of Scotland, in Lorn and the islands of Islay and Jura.

I assume that it's written in classical Irish, the forerunner of modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic. There's much more in the BBC article including a picture, and a video in Scottish Gaelic which has some English subtitles, for example "Eogan Garbh has 30 houses, his wife is Crodu, daughter of Dallan, son of Eogan, son of Niall".

Update about the Map Comparison Tool from the Visualising Urban Geography Project

A few days ago, I blogged about the new map comparison tool from the Visualising Urban Geography project and lamented the lack of provision for maps outside Edinburgh.

Chris Fleet, Senior Map Curator at the National Library of Scotland has kindly pointed out that if I pan to the area of the country in which I'm interested, if there are geo-referenced maps available for that area, they will appear in the list and can be selected.

I've tried this out, and it works. However, I've also discovered that the map availability doesn't appear until you've zoomed in to an appropriate level.

So, for example, starting from the initial view of the dual map tool, I zoom out 4 times to pan quickly to Jedburgh, and zoom in 4 times, the Jedburgh town plan of 1858 appears in the list and can be selected. Note that if the area of your view is outside the area on a specific map, that map won't appear in the list. So if know a map should be available (see the list of geo-referenced maps in the Map Library) but doesn't appear in the list, try panning around and zooming in or out.

Of course, as I mentioned before, there aren't many geo-referenced maps for the Borders, however the view below shows the expansion of Kirkcaldy, Fife.

Visualising Urban Geography Launch Event

Last Thursday (23 February) I attended the launch event of the 'Visualising Urban Geography' project at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. About 80 other people attended. There was an introduction to the project at the Addressing History launch event in November, and I reported on the December Visualising Urban Geography workshop that provided a chance to try out one of the tools, ExtMap (now Map Builder), that the project had developed using sample data produced by the project.

In last week’s event, Professor Richard Rodger discussed the objectives of the project:

• to create geo-referenced maps of Edinburgh
• to develop software that could be used for free
• to reach a broader public
• to develop dynamic maps so as to further knowledge in the 19th and 20th centuries

He gave interesting examples in the ways, the tools developed have been used; we saw the development of Edinburgh over time, easy ways to calculate the area size and the length of the perimeter of irregularly shaped plots of land. He suggested other sets of data that might be used with these tools:

• landowners and property holdings
• shareholders
• store and credit card holders
• utility bills
• census information

The new tools, ExtMap and MapBuilder, use a Google interface for viewing maps and the open source Thematic Mapping Engine.

Chris Fleet discussed the mapping results of the project including a demonstration of geo-referencing and suggested this would be a good tool to use for mapping burial grounds.

Professor Bob Morris talked about the massive impact this project will have on historical analysis. He said that images, graphs and maps are more important in
writing about history than ever before. He used examples to compare the ration of women to men in Edinburgh's 19th century population.

Lastly, Dr Gittings, a geographer at the University of Edinburgh, pointed out how this project has brought history and geography closer than ever before.

Borders Family History Society has been closely involved with the project since the December workshop, and our goal of representing poor relief recipients in Melrose and Jedburgh representation on dynamic maps was mentioned as one of the case studies. For me, there’s been a steep learning curve in using the new tools, ExtMap and MapBuilder, to produce these maps, however, we’re very grateful for the support we’ve had from Stuart Nicol in using these tools and from Professor Rodger in analysing the results.

In our research into poor relief, we transcribed the core information exactly as it’s written, but that was not the end of the process for creating these maps. In the case of Jedburgh, the Poor Law Inspector did not record the town name of Jedburgh, so I had to add that for Jedburgh addresses. For Melrose, the inspector abbreviated many road names (often in different ways) and they needed to be manually expanded. Any addresses that are unrecognised get assigned to 0 degrees latitude and longitude, which is in the ocean to the west of southern Africa, so such addresses need to be removed or substituted with the modern address and that has been a lot more work. We have so much data that the tool is quite slow at creating the map co-ordinates, and I found that for each set of data there’s a re-iterative process – run the tool, check the results, resolve the problems and repeat until there are no more errors. The tool uses a vast database created by Google of addresses, and that imposes limitations, as their database is not completely accurate.

Residential Addresses of Poor Law Recipients in Jedburgh and Melrose

Have a look at our initial attempt at mapping the residential addresses of poor relief recipients. The image is a snapshot, click the link to see the full interactive map. There's still a bit of work to be done on this map.
Each pin represents one or more recipients - we can't yet show the number of recipients represented, however clicking on a pin shows the information about one of the recipients.
Click on the ticks on the layers to the left of the map to select or deselect specific layers corresponding to our different publications.

The main drawbacks are:

• There are still some recipients positioned off the coast of Africa
• Only recipients in and around Jedburgh from our Jedburgh publications have been included
• The pink pins represent Melrose 1871 to 1874, the blue pins representing the other publications
• Each pin represents one or more recipients - we can't yet show the number of recipients represented

We hope you find this map as interesting as we do.
These are early days in the use of this tool, and we expect to be able to use it more effectively in the future.

We would like to have your feedback (using the comments link below), especially any suggestions you have for further improvements and suggestions of other data sets that you would like to see mapped.

Queen Victoria's Visit to the Borders

A few weeks ago, I was shown several interesting items including two scrapbooks with old photographs and prints of Jedburgh Abbey, photographs of the Jedburgh Rambling Club in Edwardian times, the Proclamation of George V in the Market Square, Jedburgh, 1910, a particularly nice photograph of Darnick Tower (which unfortunately doesn't scan well), and the Thomson bi-centenary at Southdean on 8th September 1900 – all these photographs have people who could be recognisable, and almost all of them are unfortunately identified; another scrapbook, contains cuttings from various Border newspapers from 1862 to 1887, together with his comments and copies of letters.

Darnick Tower, near Melrose

The last item was a small book of 69 pages that I haven’t seen before; The Scottish Border: A Memorial of Her Majesty’s Visit to the District, August 1867, published by Rutherfurds of Kelso in 1867. On 20th August 1867, Queen Victoria left Windsor Castle, accompanied by Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and his wife (Victoria’s daughter, Princess Helena), and their infant son, 3 other children of Victoria, Princesses Louise and Beatrice, and Prince Leopold, to visit the Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe at Floors Castle on her way to Balmoral. It describes the scenery and associated history from Carlisle, to Hawick, and in and around Kelso.

There’s a detailed description of the inside of Floors Castle. Most people came into Kelso about 6 am on 21st August and waited for procession to start from Shedden Park at 8 am. It names the dignitaries, the occupants of windows overlooking the Square. The Royal train arrived at 11.15 am, and of course, there were speeches and music. The next day, the Queen visited Melrose and Abbotsford via welcoming crowds in Maxton, St Boswells, Newtown St Boswells, and Newstead; the day after, she visited Jedburgh, via Heiton and Eckford.

Updated Visualising Urban Geography Workshop

You may remember that I went to an interesting Visualising Urban Geography workshop on 6th December 2010 to explore their new web-based resources. They're running an updated free workshop at 2.00 to 4.30 pm on Thursday 24 February at the National Library of Scotland on George IV Bridge,
Edinburgh, EH1 1EW (see map), so expect to see a variety of maps and photos of Edinburgh; information on using and creating geo-referenced maps, the Visualising Urban Geography project bringing together sets of historical geo-referenced maps, social and demographic information to analyse and present data, and to get experience of using one of their tools, ExtMap (now Map Builder), to plot a set of trades-people on a map of Edinburgh. I've successfully used this tool to plot recipients of poor law relief on a historical map of Jedburgh. I recommend the workshop, though I hope the weather will be better this time, and you can phone 0131 623 3918 to book your place or book online.

Visualising Urban Geography Workshop at National Library of Scotland

Poor Relief Recipients (with identifiable Edinburgh addresses) from Jedburgh and Melrose parishes Poor Law Records volumes 1852-1930

At the AddressingHistory Launch Event, Professor Richard Rodger mentioned a workshop on 6th December at the Maps Reading Room, National Library of Scotland, to explore their new web-based resources, based on the work they've done for Edinburgh; and in spite of the snowy conditions, I attended this. Although they advertised the workshop for a general audience, it contained a lot of discussion about the technologies involved in the website, as well as a hands-on opportunity to show a set of data on a map.

Chris Fleet began by showing us a variety of maps, prospect views, plans, aerial photos, and digital maps of Edinburgh, all part of the 20,000 items digitised over the last 15 years. Key to this is their collection of geo-referenced maps, maps that can be perfectly positioned in relation to another map by using lots of co-ordinates, and it’s these maps that allow data about locations of people and objects to be combined with maps. Chris demonstrated how new geo-referenced maps could be produced using free technology and said he would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in volunteering to produce new maps.

Professor Richard Rodger then demonstrated the Visualising Urban Geography project with some exciting tools bringing together sets of historical geo-referenced maps, social and demographic information to analyse and present data in more detail than at the AddressingHistory launch in November. He showed Edinburgh as a collection of registration districts, the growth of Edinburgh since medieval times, as a comparison of sanitary districts and property rents, as a comparison of advocates and solicitors homes over time, the occupations of Edinburgh’s colony residents and discussed the historical reasons for the changes we saw on the maps.
He showed too, how they could accurately measure distances and areas of land, which could be useful to a lot of professions.

Stuart Nicol discussed the technologies involved which was rather complicated, and I think most of us were glad that this was followed by a coffee break.

After the break we had a go at using one of their tools, ExtMap (now Map Builder), to plot a set of trades-people on a map of Edinburgh, using spreadsheet sets of data that Professor Rodger’s team had extracted from a 1911 post office directory. There were coal merchants, cycle repairers, dairymen, egg-producers, and many other trades. Using their instructions, I managed to plot the egg- producers, who surprisingly were concentrated in northeast Edinburgh and on the road to Leith. Professor Rodger explained that often it’s difficult to guess, when looking at a mass of data, what plotting locations on a map will show, but the resulting map often presents new insights.

Since the workshop I’ve used the data from our publications of Poor Law Records for Melrose and Jedburgh to plot recipients of poor relief (see the yellow circles), who lived in Edinburgh, and that's in the picture. I'd like to be able to show this as an interactive web page, and a future intention is to show recipients in Jedburgh on a map, and those recipients that lived in the bit of Galashiels that was in Melrose parish on a map of Galashiels.

Edinburgh, Lothians and Borders Archaeology Conference 2010

I just picked up a leaflet about this conference at Galashiels Library yesterday.

This is an annual conference organised by the City of Edinburgh Council, East Lothian Council and Scottish Borders Council. It provides an  opportunity to hear and discuss first hand accounts of the archaeological fieldwork and research being undertaken in south-east Scotland.

It's a very interesting programme.

0900 - 0930 Registration, tea & coffee
0930 - 0935 Welcome: (Scottish Borders Council)
0935 - 1000 The Lewisvale Park Roman Altars
John Gooder (AOC Archaeology Group)
1000 - 1025 The Lost Northumbrian Cross of Jedburgh:
An Anglo-Saxon Cross Base in the Scottish Borders
Dr Christopher Bowles (Scottish Borders Council)
1025 - 1035 Discussion
1035 - 1105 COFFEE/TEA BREAK
1105 - 1130 St Andrews Kirk, Gullane: A facelift for a Norman Church
Bill Nimmo (Gullane and Dirleton History Society) and
Diana Sproat (AOC Archaeology Group)
1130 - 1155 Medieval grave-slabs at Temple
Ian Fraser (RCAHMS)
1155 - 1220 A line through Edinburgh: Edinburgh Trams the story so far
John A Lawson (CECAS)
1220 - 1245 Discussion
1245 - 1345 LUNCH
1345 - 1410 Revisiting Roxburgh: Creating a 3D GIS
Piers Dixon (RCAHMS)
1410 - 1435 Clues to the Past: The Eddleston Parish Project
Trevor Cowie (Peeblesshire Archaeological Society)
1435 - 1500 Tweed not Tweel: Textile production on the Teviot
Alistair Robertson (Headland Archaeology)
1500 - 1515 Discussion
1515 - 1545 COFFEE/TEA BREAK
1545 - 1610 POW’s, Soldiers or displaced persons: Excavations at Frogston Road
Camp, Edinburgh
Bruce Glendinning (CFA Archaeology)
1610 - 1635 The Portobello Potteries: New documentary and shard evidence
George Haggarty (NMS Research Fellow)
1635 - 1700 Discussion

It's on Saturday, November 20th (9am - 5pm) at the Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh (next to Musselburgh railway station).

Tickets £20 each, Concessions £12, Buffet Lunches can be pre-booked at £8.

More information.

Melrose Poor Law Records

In Scotland, the Poor Law was the means of providing food, accommodation, financial assistance and, latterly, care to those in need from the late 16th century onwards. There was a new Poor Law Act in 1845, which created a huge variety of records covering details on those who applied for assistance in specific areas, case studies, details on inspectors and much, much more. In many respects it saw the beginnings of local government, as we know it today. We’ve been transcribing the most important information from applications for relief and registers of the poor after 1845 in association with the Hawick Heritage Hub.

Apart from the obvious interest to the local historian, the publications open up a new horizon for the genealogist, providing details on peoples’ movement between the censuses, descriptions of illnesses suffered, domestic circumstances and more. Uniquely, the records provide details on people not born in the Borders but who lived or died there.

Although most of the people receiving relief lived in Galashiels, Melrose, or elsewhere in the parish of Melrose, some lived in other Borders localities: Clovenfords, Grantshouse, Hawick, Jedburgh, Redpath, Selkirk, St Boswells; in other parts of Scotland: Biggar, Dundee, East Duddingston, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Glasgow, Joppa, Macmerry, Murthly, Stirling, Stonehaven; or in England: Balsall Heath, Bournemouth, Cumberland.

The list of birthplaces is much larger, most of the applicants were born in an astonishingly wide variety of places in Britain or Ireland, but some were born in Australia, Barbados, Canada, Germany, India, Malta, or USA.

The information transcribed comprises names, place of birth, age or date of birth, address, other family members, description of disablement, date of death, and there’s more information on the images themselves, including occupation, benefit received.
You can see details of many people between the censuses, women’s maiden surnames, family details often not shown in the census, religion, and disabilities; and find people who moved away from their birthplace. If your family has lived here for 3 generations but you don’t know where they came from, these records may help you.

The Society has published the Poor Law records Melrose Parish in 3 volumes, each volume on a CD.
Each CD has chapters on Melrose parish – the historical context, English and Scottish Poor Law history, how it worked, using the Poor Law records, Dingleton asylum, duties of inspectors of the poor, a map of Melrose parish and a railway map, and the index to the Poor Law Records images contained on the CD, illustrations in the text, and digital images of the records transcribed, most of which have additional information.

Melrose Parish Poor Law Records Contents (1884-1930 volume)

In addition, the 1884-1930 volume contains legal cases and an additional map showing Melrose parish after the boundary changes of 1889 (see the Contents page).

The 1871-1874 and the 1884-1930 volumes each cover over 760 named people, the 1875-1883 volume covers over 820 named people.

Their surnames comprise Adams, Agnew, Aikman, Ainslie, Aitchison, Aitken, Alister, Allan, Anderson, Archer, Archibald, Armit, Armstrong, Askew, Atkinson, Auchincloss, Baillie, Bain, Ballantyne, Balmer, Barron, Bates, Bathgate, Beattie, Bell, Bennet, Bennett, Berry, Bishop, Black, Blackburn, Blackhall, Blair, Blyth, Boa, Bogg, Booth, Borthwick, Boston, Bower, Boyd, Bradley, Bradshaw, Braidie, Braidy, Bremner, Broad, Brockie, Brodie, Brogan, Broomfield, Brotherstone, Brown, Brownlee, Bruce, Brunton, Bryce, Brydon, Buchanan, Buist, Bunyan, Burn, Burns, Burrell, Burton, Cairns, Callaghan, Cameron, Campbell, Carey, Carlysle, Carmichael, Carnachan, Carr, Carruthers, Carson, Cartmill, Cassidy, Cavers, Chambers, Chapman, Charleston, Cheyne, Chisholm, Christie, Clark, Cleaver, Cleghorn, Clemiston, Clifford, Close, Closky, Cochrane, Cockburn, Coldwell, Colledge, Collier, Coltart, Colvin, Common, Connar, Connel, Conner, Connor, Conolley, Cook, Corcoran, Cormick, Cossar, Coulter, Cowan, Cowe, Craig, Craise, Cranston, Craw, Crawford, Crines, Crooks, Crosbie, Crossan, Cruden, Cruickshank, Culbert, Culbertson, Cunningham, Curle, Curran, Currie, Cuthbert, D'Agrosa, Dalgetty, Dalgleish, Dalgliesh, Danes, Danoir, Danvir, Darling, Darrie, Davidson, Dawson, Deans, Develin, Dewar, Dick, Dickson, Dinnany, Dobie, Dobson, Docherty, Dodds, Dods, Donachan, Donald, Donaldson, Donelly, Dorey, Douglas, Dowie, Downs, Doyles, Drawhill, Drummond, Dryden, Duncan, Duncanson, Dunlop, Dunn, Duthie, Edenton, Edgar, Egan, Elder, Elliot, Emmonds, Enterkin, Faed, Fairbairn, Fairgrieve, Fairley, Fairnie, Falla, Feely, Ferguson, Fernie, Ferries, Fiddes, Field, Finlay, Finlayson, Fitzpatrick, Fleming, Foggie, Foggs, Foley, Forbes, Ford, Forrest, Forson, Fortune, Fowler, Fraser, Frater, Freil, Friel, Fyfe, Galbraith, Gallocher, Galloway, Ganard, Ganyard, Garvie, Gavin, Gibson, Gilday, Gillespie, Gillies, Gillon, Gilmartin, Gilroy, Givan, Gladstone, Glen, Glover, Goldie, Goldsmith, Gordon, Gough, Graham, Grant, Gray, Green, Greenan, Grey, Grierson, Grieve, Griffen, Grossart, Grossert, Guthrie, Haig, Haldane, Haley, Hall, Halley, Halliday, Hally, Hamilton, Hanlon, Hannay, Hardie, Harkness, Harrison, Hart, Harvey, Hawkins, Hay, Helam, Henderson, Hendry, Henry, Hepburn, Herson, Hill, Hillock, Hislop, Hoban, Hobkirk, Hodson, Hogarth, Hogg, Holmes, Hood, Hope, Houstler, Howard, Hoyle, Huggan, Hughes, Hunter, Hutton, Imrie, Ingles, Inglis, Innes, Instant, Ireland, Irvine, Jackson, Jamieson, Jardine, Jenkinson, Jerdan, Jobblin, Johnston, Johnstone, Jollie, Jones, Keddie, Kelly, Kemp, Kempsell, Kennedy, Kerr, Kiernan, Killin, King, Knox, Laidlaw, Lamond, Lanerd, Larkin, Lauder, Laurie, Law, Lawrie, Lawson, Lawton, Learmonth, Lee, Leech, Lees, Leishman, Leitch, Lennie, Lennox, Leonard, Leslie, Lessels, Lever, Lidster, Lillico, Lillie, Lindsay, Lines, Linton, Little, Lockie, Loftus, Logan, Logree, Lowrie, Luke, Lumsden, Lunn, Lusky, Lynch, Lyons, Mabon, Mack, Mackay, Maginnies, Maguiness, Main, Maloney, Mann, Maquigan, Mark, Mars, Martin, Mather, Mathieson, Mathison, McAdam, McBryde, McCannon, McCardell, McCarron, McCorkindale, McDonald, McDougall, McEwan, McFayden, McFie, McGalvie, McGill, McGinn, McGlasson, McGlinty, McGowan, McGregor, McGrigor, McGuire, McInnes, McInspinte, McInspirit, McIvor, McKay, McKenna, McKingstree, McKinstrae, McLaren, McLauchlan, McLay, McLean, McLeish, McLeod, McLusky, McMichan, McMorran, McNab, McNair, McNamara, McNaulty, McNeill, McPartlan, McPheely, McPherson, McWilliams, Meenan, Meickle, Meikle, Mein, Melrose, Melville, Mercer, Middlemas, Middlemass, Miles, Millar, Miller, Milne, Mitchell, Moffat, Montague, Monteath, Monteith, Moran, Morris, Morrison, Morton, Mossman, Mowat, Mowbray, Muckersie, Muir, Mulvey, Munro, Murchison, Murphy, Murray, Neilson, Nevin, Nichol, Nicholson, Nicol, Nicoll, Nicolson, Nilson, Nisbet, Nixon, Noble, Norrie, O'Brien, O'Connell, O'Donnel, O'Donnell, O'Hara, O'Keefe, Oliver, O'Mailley, O'Neil, Ord, Ormiston, Orr, O'Shaughnessy, Ovens, Paisley, Parish, Parker, Paterson, Patterson, Peake, Peden, Phaup, Philipps, Philips, Phin, Piercy, Pirrie, Pittillo, Polson, Porteous, Porter, Pow, Preston, Pringle, Proudfoot, Pryde, Punton, Purvis, Quinn, Rae, Raeburn, Rankin, Rattray, Redpath, Regan, Reid, Reilly, Rennie, Renny, Renton, Renwick, Reynolds, Richardson, Riddell, Rigley, Robertson, Robson, Romanes, Ross, Rule, Russell, Rutherford, Ruthven, Saddler, Sanderson, Sandis, Schick, Scott, Scougal, Scoular, Screen, Sell, Semple, Sharp, Sheach, Shieils, Shiel, Shields, Shiell, Shiells, Shillinglaw, Short, Shortreed, Sibbald, Simpson, Simson, Sinclair, Sinton, Sked, Skeldon, Skellin, Skelling, Skirving, Slater, Smail, Small, Smellie, Smith, Smith Knox, Sneddon, Snowden, Solan, Somers, Sornbay, Spence, Spiers, Spott, Sprott, Stavert, Steele, Stenhouse, Stevenson, Stewart, Stirling, Story, Stott, Stuart, Sullivan, Sunderland, Sutherland, Swan, Swanston, Sweeny, Swinton, Symington, Tait, Taylor, Temple, Thin, Thomson, Thorburn, Tilly, Tinlin, Tocher, Tolmie, Tosh, Trenchard, Trotter, Tucker, Tully, Turnbull, Turner, Vair, Vallance, Veitch, Von, Waddell, Waite, Walker, Wallace, Wanlass, Ward, Warrick, Waters, Watson, Watt, Wayness, Weatherston, Weir, Welsh, Whillans, White, Wight, Wightman, Wilcox, Wilkie, Williams, Williamson, Wilson, Winning, Winton, Wintrup, Wishart, Wood, Woodend, Woods, Wright, Wylie, Wynne, Wyse, Young, Yule.

Search for people.

The CDs are priced at £12 each or £22 for two different volumes, or £30 for the set of 3; all plus postage.  Two other CD volumes were published last year, Jedburgh Parish 1852-1874 and Jedburgh Parish 1875-1893, both priced at £12, £22 for the pair, plus postage.

CDs can be purchased directly from us via our Contacts page using the contact type ‘Order for Publications’.

Oliver y-DNA Project

From David Rudram.
Recently I was contacted by Richard Oliver who is part of a y-DNA project that to establish links between different Oliver lines.  If you want to know more about using DNA profiling in general read DNA testing for Genealogy and for a description of a project in the Borders have a look at Elliott (and Border Reivers) DNA Project .

Richard says that the participants in this project are mainly from Northern Ireland but some have links to the Borders in the Jedburgh Area.  The most recent development has established a link between two groups of Olivers whose common ancestor lived in Northern Ireland or Scotland.  Some men in the group have links to either Scotland or Northern Ireland.  If you would like to know more about this project either look at their Oliver y-DNA Project web page or send an email to the address on My FamilyTree DNA Project Website.

An Interesting and Useful Photo Site

I found this very nice photo site yesterday, while looking for a photo of Dingleton Asylum to use in the volumes of Melrose Poor Law Records being researched now and in preparation for a talk I'm giving in October, and I saw a reference to their postcard index.

Although the bulk of the photos are based in and around Edinburgh, there are others from further afield including some in the Borders: a Texaco petrol pump at Peebles, a postcard of Coldingham,  and as we've recently published our Monumental Inscriptions volume for Longformacus, Berwickshire, I'm showing with Peter Stubbs' kind permission, a photo of Longformacus village well.


There's also a nice selection of railway pictures including Jedburgh Railway Station and Selkirk Railway Station,  maps and a host of links to other sites.

I didn't find a picture of Dingleton Asylum, so if you've got one, and would be happy for me to use it, please let me know. I'd also like a picture of Millholme Asylum, Musselburgh, as that's where many people went before Dingleton was opened.

To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below.  

Border Clans Day, Langholm

We had a stall at the Border Clans Day, at the Buccleuch Centre, Langholm on Sunday, 6th September 2009.

The Armstrong, Elliot, Johnston and Moffat clans were all present, and Lady Fiona Armstrong came round and talked to us.

As well as ourselves, Dumfries and Galloway FHS were there, as was Dumfries and Galloway Council Archives, Cumbria Council Archives, and Liddesdale Heritage Centre. There was an ITV Border News team as well.

We don't often attend events outside our area, the 4 Border counties (Berwickshire, Peeblesshire, Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire) of Scotland, however, many people who lived in these counties, also lived, worked, or married someone in the adjacent Scottish county of Dumfriesshire, or in the adjacent English counties of Northumberland and Cumberland, so attending these events, is a way of making the Society known to people who would not normally see us, and it was interesting to meet new people.

I had several discussions with American and Canadian Armstrongs who had come for Homecoming 2009, and stayed on a bit, all of them just beginning their family history.

Another discussion was with Frank Rutherford of Liddesdale Heritage Centre about Newcastleton, which is in Liddesdale. Newcastleton is about 10 miles from Langholm and the road that joins the two is very scenic. Frank thinks that the Casual Sick House probably was used temporarily to house paupers.

We showed various people our new Borders Poor Law Records publications, Jedburgh Parish (1852-1874) and Jedburgh Parish (1875-1893), and were heartened by their praise and by the number of sales we made.

To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below. 

Where are the Newcastleton Poor Registers ?

Back in February 2009, one of the Poor Law Records volunteers told me that
she would really like to transcribe the Castleton parish Poor Law Records,
as she had many family members who might be in those records.
The parishes for which records have been digitised are Bowden, Broughton,
Drumelzier, Eckford, Eddleston, Eyemouth, Glenholm, Hounam, Kilbucho,
Jedburgh, Kelso, Lilliesleaf, Linton, Makerstoun, Manor, Maxton, Morebattle,
Oxnam, Peebles, Skirling, Smailholm, St Boswells, Stichill, Stobo, Traquair,
Tweedsmuir, Yetholm; and Castleton is missing.
When I next went to Hawick Heritage Hub I discovered that the only records
they had relating to Castleton and the Parochial Board was the McKinley Fund
minute book which contained only a few summary minutes and was not relevant.
I wondered where the Poor Law records were and whether they have been lost,
are in another archive, or even in somebody's attic.
The ministry began in 1574 with Martin Elliot, the rector, parson and vicar.
Initially the session was within the jurisdiction of Langholm Presbytery,
and the synod of Dumfries. On 9 December 1604, the session united with
Wheelkirk, Ettleton and Belkirk. By the early twentieth century the session
was within the jurisdiction of Hawick Presbytery, so I thought that if the
records were not in the Scottish Borders Archives, they might have been in
Langholm, and found their way into Dumfries and Galloway Archives.
Alas, that hope was soon dashed, and another idea that they might be lurking
in Newcastleton Heritage Centre was also in vain.
The poor registers aren't listed in the National Archives catalogue, either.
This is clearly something that needs more investigation.
My colleague, Davina Smart, discovered in the Valuation Roll for
Roxburghshire, from Whitsunday 1924 to Whitsunday 1925, the following
information:
Casual Sick House, South Hermitage Street, Castleton; Proprietor Parish
Council of Langholm; Inhabitant Occupier: Lancelot Graham, Caretaker.
She thought this might be the poorhouse, and it is next to the church
building now used as the heritage centre.
This isn't as unlikely as it might seem.
Most poor houses (officially all) closed by 1930, but some a great deal
earlier; Jedburgh poor house was closed in 1921, but the Shelter was used for
vagrants until 1930. There was some discussion about using it for the casual
sick, or as an overflow for Jedburgh Cottage Hospital.
In Linton, a building attached to the poor house was built as a pauper
hospital for the casual sick in 1857, and was still in use in 1916.
By 1952 it had become a wash house for the school which had taken over the
poor house.
However, although Castleton was sending its paupers to Jedburgh poor house by
1884, it's not impossible for the Casual Sick House to have been the
poor house initially.

To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below. 

Borders Poor Law Records - Jedburgh (1852-1874)

For those who have studied the 19th century or read the works of Charles Dickens, 'The Poor Law' might be represented by the grim illustrations of the 'Poor House' by Phiz and George Cruikshank.
The Poor Law was the means of providing food, accommodation, financial assistance and, latterly, care to those in need from the middle of the 19th century. This system replaced the parish support mechanism and recognised that the Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions had led to great population movements and drift within Scotland making the parish support no longer able to cope without assistance.
The Poor Law created a plethora of records covering details on those who applied for assistance in specific areas, case studies, details on inspectors and much, much more. In many respects it saw the beginnings of Local Government as we know it today.
When the Heritage Hub in Hawick started to digitise a number of these records for the Borders, they soon realised the scale of the work and agreed that Borders Family History Society could assist in indexing the records and transcribe the most useful data.
Apart from the obvious interest to the local historian, the publication opens up a new horizon for the genealogist, providing details on peoples' movement between the censuses, descriptions of illnesses suffered, domestic circumstances and more. Uniquely, the records provide details on people not born in the Borders but who lived or died there.
Whilst the budding genealogist may set out with high hopes of finding 'noble roots', the reality is usually different but no less fascinating. The Poor Law touched and helped people from differing backgrounds at a time of great change. These records might help you piece together the last pieces of your own family jigsaw puzzle.
You can search the index online to the volumes as they are published.
This is the first volume we've produced as a result of this huge but very interesting project. As we publish new ones, we'll add them to the list of Borders Poor Law Records volumes, and there's more information there too.

It's been published as a CD covering over 1000 named people, including images of the records so that you can discover even more, historical notes, and an index.
CD price £12.00 plus UK postage of 47p, £1.21 (Europe), £1.68 (World)
The CD can be purchased directly from us at Borders Family History Society, Whitberry, Todlaw Road, Duns, TD11 3EW, Scotland.

To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below.