Gran and her mother?

I recently heard from Richard Gladwell, son of May & Dick Gladwell.

Richard gave me information with regard to an old photograph and suggested that one of the older women in the photo might have been my stepgran's mum....

I just found a photo of my stepgran which was taken in 1991 and have cropped to look at the similarities.

I would definitely conclude from the two photos above that this older woman on the left was Maggie McLatchie Dykes Batton's mother! My stepgran (on the right) died in November 2004 at the age of 93 years.

Finding the McCurdy connection

Hope you enjoyed looking at the recent addition to my blog. It was really nice to see some of the McCurdy family. I always thought my mum's full name was very unusual - Margaret McCurdie Brown Batton... named after her Granny on both sides... And the main reason why my Mum NEVER gave any of her children middle names.

I didn't realise just how popular the name was until I started researching it and lo and behold I made contact with Charlotte who lives in Australia and whose Mum is Rena McCurdie..... and it even turns out that we are related ...........back to our great grandparents James and Margaret being brother and sister.

We also had contact from Shane McCurdy who lives in Northern Ireland and has been providing Charlotte and I with information to suggest the following :



In the 1803 Census for the Parish of Ballintoy there are a number of McCurdy families in the Croagh area, of which one, is James McCurdy wife Eliza Forbes, with four children, Cuppage, Charles, Alexander and Jane … from certain records, church gravestone inscription at Billy Churchyard (one of the main burial places for families from this area, we have a grave for a James MCurdy of Croaghbeg who died in 1838 … we believe that this is one and the same James;

Inscription reads – Erected to the memory of James McCurdy late of Croaghbeg who departed this life 7th April 1838 aged 83 years

from the State registrations of deaths, for Croagh area, which commenced in 1864, we have the inferred birth years for Charles [1795 – 1872] and Alexander [1799 – 1891] - Charles never married, and Alexander was my ancestor. It is therefore fair to say that Cuppage must have been born in the early 1790’s and Jane may have been born about 1801 … therefore James and Eliza were still of an age to have children, an may have had more children after the time of the census in 1803 … could one of these children have been a son, named James …? Interestingly Jane married a James Hill of Croagh; Cuppage married a Margaret McCaigue, but was already dead by 1864. We have the families of Cuppage, Alexander and Jane reasonably well complete, down to the present day … and at this time, speculatively I include the James McCurdy/Robert McCurdy family of Dalmellington, as part of this broader McCurdy genealogy … as in the previous generation of this Croagh family we also have a Robert McCurdy … son of a Robert McCurdy … so it is possible that these Robert’s were father and brother of this first named James.

I know that this is very tenuous, and speculative, but in the 20+ years since first Rena and I were in contact, we have not been able to find anything more conclusive or persuasive.

I should be happy to exchange these further details with you if that should be of interest.

In 1989 John Mackirdy of Rothesay and Willie McKirdy of Kelson were instrumental in organisaing an international gathering of the MCCurdy family on Bute . Daddy and I were in attendance at this … and it was a wonderful opportunity to meet many McCurdys from all over the world, and who spelt their name in various ways … among those attending was Rena King, and unbeknownst to her, Scott McCurdy and his father John (Jock) from Canada … who were second cousins’s of Rena’s and therefore also related (and perhaps known) to you.

Anyway it does indeed show how small a world we live in at times ! Delighted to have made contact and looking forward to getting to know you both a little more!

Kind regards for the present, and hoping to hear from you again soon.

Sincerely

Shane McCurdy
27 Orange Lane
Magheralin
Co. Armagh BT67 0RG
Northern Ireland

McCurdy / McCurdie Connections

This photograph shows the marriage of James McCurdy to Mary McClymont in 1940. James was the grandson of Robert McCurdy and Isabella Farrel and was born in 1898 in Dalmellington.
James is also the son of James McCurdy - for those of you with the Maggie McCurdy and George Batton connection. James Snr was Maggie's brother so the gentleman above would have been Maggie & George's nephew.... therefore 1st cousin of George, Cissy, May, Maggie, Lily, Andrew etc.


The photo above is of the wedding of Rena McCurdie and Barry King.
Rena is the daughter of James & Mary McCurdie (above) and married Barry King in 1962.
So Rena is 2nd cousin to my Mum, Bill Strachan, Richard Gladwell, Andy Batton, Betty Davey etc. In the photo above L to R
James McCurdie, his wife Mary (McClymont), behind James is Brian King's sister, then bride and groom (Barry and Rena), Brian King, Jeanette cousin of Rena, Doris mother of Barry & Brian and at the right is Rena's brother John McCurdie.




January 2009 photo taken in Tasmania, Australia and shows L to R
Rena and Barry King, Rena's daughter Charlotte and husband Anthony and little James (named after both Charlotte's grandfather and great grandfather).

I'll explain later how I came about my contact with Charlotte and the photos. Charlotte lives in Australia.

Bill Strachan, son of Maggie Batton & Bill Strachan

Thanks to Bill Strachan for getting in touch and sending a recent photograph.

Bill is currently living in Glencoe, Scotland with his wife Alma.

His 2 children are :

Pamela (age 35) lives in Ballachulish, near Glencoe and is due to get married at the end of March 2009. Congratulations.........

Bill (age 31) and Nikki live in Inverness and have a little boy, Sam. First grandchild for Bill and Alma.

Bill and my Mum are cousins. Bill's mum was Margaret Batton who married William Strachan. Bill's mum and my grandfather George Batton were brother and sister.

Met some of the Battons

Thanks to my contact with Ian Paterson, through my mum's cousins son John Davey - my Mum and I were invited to visit with Doreen and her husband Ian who live in Hamilton, which ironically is where my Mum has lived for the past 45 years - and Doreen and Ian have lived for the past 2 !!
We met Doreen (Batton) and Ian Paterson and their daughter Anne. Also there was Doreen's brother Andrew Batton's daughter Fiona and her daughter Jennifer.
It was lovely to meet them and look at some of their old family photos.
Thanks for their hospitality and it as lovely to meet them.

Hope you like the photographs I took....



Left to right :
Fiona Batton daughter of Andrew Batton, grand-daughter of Robert McGregor Batton
Anne Paterson daughter of Doreen & Ian Paterson (Anne is also the grand-daughter of Robert McGregor Batton)
Doreen Batton - youngest child of Robert Batton and Janet Grant - grand-daughter of Andrew Batton and Lilias McGregor Batton
Sandra Ward, daughter of Margaret Batton - great-great grand-daughter of Andrew Batton and Lilias McGregor Batton
Margaret Batton, great grand-daughter of Andrew & Lily Batton
at the front is Jennifer, daughter of Fiona Batton


Left to right - Fiona, Anne, Doreen, Margaret and at the front, Jennifer (Fiona's daughter)



Anne, Doreen and Ian Pateron with Margaret Straiton.
Doreen's grandparents were Andrew & Lily Batton who lived in Douglas West, Lanark
Margaret's great-grandparents were the same Andrew & Lily Batton.