Tracing Family Branches

 Our beautiful Isabella Margaret Drake passed away on the 21st of January 2024.  She was a wonderful girl and beloved by all of the family.  Bella joined our family in 2012, our daughter wanted a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel and we went and looked at one in a nearby town.  She fell in love with a male dog which she named Benji and I fell in love with Isabella, the only problem was we had Toby and Charlie already at home, so sadly it did not look like she would join our family.  My daughter’s friend fell in love with her too and so it was arranged that in a couple of weeks time she would take home Isabella and our daughter would get her brother Benji.  Time passed and they finally went and picked up Bella and Benny, only to find out later that night that my daughter’s friend’s landlords now would not let her have a dog.  As soon as he found out what had happened my husband said we would take and pay for her and she would become a member of our family. ...

Well it has been a very long time between posts!  Life has been busy with house renovations, homeschooling and family illnesses and will probably continue to be again this year but I do hope to research and post more over the coming months.  I apologise to anyone whose comments I have not yet responded to, my iPad and Blogger do not seem to want to work together at the moment. With the New Year comes new goals and this year I have quite a few;  - I want to get more information on my husband’s grandfather William Martin and his family, including ordering a photograph from Singapore of him.   - I want to try and knockdown the brick wall with James Harvey Murray’s origins and real name?   - There is a file in the archives in the UK regarding Helen Murray that I want to order.  -  I want to uncover more about George and Margaret Wallace and their family. - I want to update and organise more of my online trees! - I want to connect DNA matches to people and ...

 In a recent post I was finally able to reveal my husbands Martin family connection with Canada (see here ),   My husbands great grandfather William Martin, his first wife Mary (nee Adams) and their children James, Alexander and Margaret departed Liverpool, England and arrived in Quebec, Canada on the ship Brooklyn on the first of October 1879. Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865 - 1935 Name Birth Year Arrival Date Arrival Port Departure Port Vessel Maggie Martin 1 Oct 1879 Quebec, Quebec, Canada Liverpool, England Brooklyn Mrs Martin abt 1855 1 Oct 1879 Quebec, Quebec, Canada Liverpool, England Brooklyn James Martin abt 1877 1 Oct 1879 Quebec, Quebec, Canada Liverpool, England Brooklyn Alex Martin abt 1878 1 Oct 1879 Quebec, Quebec, Canada Liverpool, England Brooklyn Wm Martin abt 1855 1 Oct 1879 Quebec, Quebec, Canada Liverpool, England Brooklyn Source: Passenger listings for Martin. Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865 - 1935.  Retrieved from  Ancestry.com Af...

 As it is currently school holidays here, I have had a bit more time for genealogy and have been very lucky to uncover some more information about my husbands Martin family tree.  It turns out that his Grandfather William Martin was not the only child of William Martin and his wife Caroline nee Wallace.  On the fourteenth of February 1904 in Glasgow his brother John Wallace Martin was born prematurely, without any medical attendant and sadly did not survive.  John’s death was registered by his father William Martin on the sixteenth of February 1904.  We have now added John to our family trees where he will be acknowledged and remembered from now on. Further posts on William and Caroline Martin and their son William can be found  here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here  and  here . Birth registration for John Wallace Martin. Source: Birth registration for John Wallace Martin retrieved from Scotlands Pe...

My husbands Great Aunt Kathleen Murray died on the 22nd of December 1919 off the Sultan Shoals, Malacca Straits on board the ship Ipoh with her cause of death being recorded as dyspnea following a badly ulcerated throat.  Kathleen was only ten years old and had been a border at the Penang Convent along with her three sisters Violet, Molly and Dolly, until she had fallen ill.  Her mother Helen had gone to Penang and was bringing Kathleen to their home in Singapore when tragedy struck.  Kathleen was buried in Singapore on the 23rd of December 1919. Death at Sea record for Kathleen Murray As I have previously posted (see here ) her death was reported in The Straits Times newspaper on the 23rd December 1919, which can be found here .  The Straits Times, 23 December 1919, Page 8 Untitled 'A sad occurrence took place on board the Ipoh on the voyage from Penang to Singapore, Miss Kathleen Murray, the second daughter, age 10, of  Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Murray of Singapo...

M y husbands Uncle William Allardyce James Martin (known as Jimmy) died aged five in Barrow in Furness, England on the 1st of March, 1934, while his mother and siblings were visiting relatives of his father there. Jimmy was the eldest child of William Allardyce Martin and his wife Violet nee Murray and had been born at the Maternity Hospital, Penang, Malaya on the 18th February 1929.  His father William was a Prison Warder in the Straits Settlements and Jimmy spent most of his life with his family living in Penang, Malaya. Now, thanks to a recent birthday present from my son, I have Jimmy’s death certificate and we know that Jimmy sadly died of Broncho-Pneumonia and Measles at 70 Thwaite Street, Barrow in Furness, where the family had been staying, with his mother present. Death certificate for William Allardyce James Martin Jimmy Martin Violet Martin nee Murray with her sons from left Jimmy, Alan and Ronald   I have previously posted about Jimmy here , here , here  and...

Life has been busy with house renovations, helping with the four grandchildren's home schooling and my husbands health issues of late, which has meant that this blog has been sadly neglected.  I have not been completely idle though, as I have been sorting out my family trees and chasing up DNA matches here and there. Excitingly I was recently contacted by an American distant relative of my husbands Martin line, through him seeing some of my blog posts.  This has resulted in Richard filling in some important missing pieces of the puzzle for me and has helped me to knock down a major brick wall I had with the Martin line.  I am so very grateful that he reached out, as it has led to so many new discoveries for me, which I will share in future posts. If you have read some of my former posts,  here  and here , you will know that this line has taken me on quite the journey over the last twenty seven years!  There was a family story about a connection with Ca...

 I recently posted about my Great Uncle Harold O'Connor (see here ) and how he died and was buried at Bourke in New South Wales, Australia.  Unfortunately due to circumstances it will probably be some time before I am able to visit and pay my respects at his gravesite and I am unaware of any family member visiting it since his death, as most were unaware of its location until recently.  Thankfully though one of my Mother's and our families dearest friends was recently in Bourke visiting her daughter there and not only paid Harold's grave a visit but also took the time to repaint the cross and took him some flowers.  We are blessed to have Sue and her daughter Leisa in of our lives and are very thankful for their efforts 💓 Harold O'Connor's grave at Bourke Cemetery Harold O'Connor's grave at Bourke Cemetery Harold O'Connor's grave at Bourke Cemetery Harold O'Connor's grave at Bourke Cemetery

 A lot of happy dancing has been happening here lately, as I have finally broken down the brick walls around my husbands grandfather William Allardice/Allardyce Martin, who it turns out should have been known as William Wallace Martin.  I have previously posted about William here , here , here , here , here , here ,  here , here , here , and here . I discovered some years ago that there was a problem with William Allardyce/Allardice Martin's personal history, in that the real William Martin born on the 16th August 1900 in Glasgow to William Alexander Martin and his wife Elizabeth nee Allardice was alive and well living in Canada long after my husbands grandfather had died in Singapore.  This information led me to two different options either William Martin was using someone else's identity or there had been a serious mix up somewhere along the way.  I am happy to now report that it seems there had indeed been a serious mix up at some point early in William'...

 Today’s snippet concerns Helen Murray nee Stillfried, my husbands paternal great grandmother.  In an advertisement found here in the Singapore Standard on the 11th June 1951 found at NewspaperSG, she gave notice that she was applying for naturalization. The advertisement was also published in the same newspaper on the 12th June 1951. NOTICE NATURALIZATION NOTICE is hereby given that Mrs. Helen Murray of 342 East Coast Road, is applying to the Governor for naturalization and that any person who knows any reason why naturalization should not be granted should send a written and signed statement of the facts to the Colonial Secretary, Singapore.  Mrs. Helen Murray 342 East Coast Rd. More posts mentioning Helen came be found here , here ,  here , here , here  and  here .

Life has been very busy of late and this blog has been rather neglected yet again unfortunately .  Our house renovations have started in earnest and are moving along nicely, in spite of all the wet weather we have had lately!  Our new roof is nearly finished and it is such an improvement.  We have also started Homeschooling the grandchildren recently, which is proving to be very beneficial for all and so much fun! My father's Uncle, Harold James O'Connor was born in Cobar, New South Wales on the 10th May 1897, the fourth son of Michael O'Connor and his wife Elizabeth Phoebe nee Walker.  Dad told me a number of stories about his Uncle Snowy, one of which I have previously posted about Harold here .  According to Dad Harold had ended up in Bourke, New South Wales.   I found a death registration for a Harold O'Connor who died at Bourke in 1971, many years ago and put it on my wish list of BDM certificates.  On Mother's Day this year my son order...

This post involves the new Ancestry Ethnicity Inheritance feature again.  As a result of both my Mother and I having had our DNA tested through Ancestry I was able to compare the estimates we received with this feature.  The results we received were as follows: Ancestry Ethnicity Inheritance estimates for Tracy Drake, April 2022 Source:  https://www.ancestry.com/ My Mothers results My Mother's Ancestry Ethnicity Inheritance estimate, from April 2022. Source:  https://www.ancestry.com/  

 The new Ethnicity Inheritance feature on Ancestry is live and it was fun to compare my husbands results with mine.  Phil has a much more colourful and diverse heritage than me, as is evident from these results.  Ancestry Ethnicity Inheritance for Tracy Drake, April 2022 Source: https://www.ancestry.com/   Ancestry Ethnicity Inheritance for Philip Drake, April 2002 Source: https://www.ancestry.com/

My son Matthew has recently come over to the dark side and is currently studying for his Diploma of Family History, which of course has made me very happy! While researching for a recent assignment he uncovered new information on my Grandfathers first wife Marie Rose Thomson who was known as Rose or Rosie to her loved ones. I have previously posted mentioning her  here ,  here ,  here  and  here . Matt wanted to find out what happened to Rose after her marriage to his Great Grandfather Mervyn James Donnelly and he has allowed me to share some of his findings.  He found that the information that I had been given on Rose's fate by her extended family members some years ago was incorrect.  I had been told she died in the 1940's, but her parents death certificates and Family Notices in the newspapers do not reflect this as being fact.  In fact she is not listed on either parents death certificate as being deceased prior to their deaths and they died i...