Craignair Club Barre Vermont

The club represented a connection between Barre and Dalbeattie. That connection was the granite works of which both communities thrived on. Craignair was the name of a quarry near Dalbeattie.

Barre Daily Times November 1, 1905
ANNUAL GATHERING OF CRAIGNAIR CLUB
Sons and Daughters of "Auld Dalbeattie"
Sing her Praises and Talk Over Times
"When We Were Boys and Girls"

Noo let is toast Da'beattie boast Her honest workingmen. May they hae health as weel as wealth, Nae sorrow may they ken. It makes me prood that auld Fate should Sa luckily decree. That I might claim the priceless fame 0' bein' bred in thee.
This was the sentiment that ruled the third annual gathering of the sons and daughters of old Dalbeattie in the old Masonic hall last evening under the name of the Craignair club. There were fully 50 in the party, and the praises of "Auld Dalbeattie" were told in song and story.
The company was welcome to this gathering by the president of the club, James Campbell, who after a few brief remarks called on various members for toasts and songs. This part of the evening's exercises was carried out as follows Song, Thomas Graham; original poem by Mrs. John Buchanan, entitled, "A Dream o' Auld Dalbeattie." Toast to Dalbeattie, Samuel Carswell.
Mr. Carswell gave some reminiscences of the days when he was a boy in Dalbeattie which were very interesting and entertaining as well as amusing. Song, John J. Mckenzie; Toast, Co'en, James Rowan; Song, John Craik; Toast, City of Barre, J.J. Mckenzie; Song, James Rowan; Recitation, Mrs. Thomas Carson; Toast, The Ladies, Thomas Graham; Song, Charles T. Campbell; Toast, Success to the Craignair Club, Thomas G. Carswell.
There was dancing to music by George Angus' orchestra, and a bountiful feast served at 10 by Mrs. Maiden. The table were handsomely decorated, there being a special potted tree in front of President Campbell which was brought from Craignair, and at each plate was a sprig of heather but recently brought over. Both tree and heather were brought over by Mrs. James Campbell.
At midnight there were hallowe'en games and tricks which added much to the fun of the occasion.
Among those present were: Mr. and Mrs. James Campbell, Mr. and Mrs James Rowan, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Carswell, Mr. and Mrs. John Stewart, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel McKnight, William Copeland of Northfield, Mr. and Mrs. John Gilbertson, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Carswell, Mr. and Mrs. Thos. G. Carswell, Jas. Monaghan, John Craik, Mr. and Mrs. Charles T Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. J.J. Mckenzie, Thomas Graham, Mr. and Mrs, Joseph Graham, Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Carson, Mr. and Mrs. Robt. McKnight, Wm. Neilson, Mrs. John Buchanan, Mr. and Mrs. John Rawley, Mr. and Mrs. David Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Emery, Mrs. Robt. Mckenzie, Mrs. Jas. Bainbridge, Mrs. Hannah ? Smith, Mrs. Henry Hay, Mrs. John Panton.

Familienschein Switzerland

When I was in Switzerland in 2006 I made it a point to visit the Zivilstandsamt. Now many of the Gemeinde records have been deposited in a central location, so it is not necessary to travel in out of the way places to find them. A familienschein is a record of a complete family all on one page with reference to the sons familienschein and the daughters marriages. I went to the office with a family group sheet printed in German and wrote on the top of the page, “Ich Mochte familienschein”. I did not speak German. It is not a good idea to rely on someone speaking English, as I found out. I showed them my group sheet and a woman went and got these old books. I was able to get three generations starting with Hans Christen who was born in 1755; then Ulrich his son born in 1799; then Peter his son who was born in 1834. As you look at these records one can easily see the depth these records have to offer. I ask to get a copy of one of my uncle relations before 1800 and they said I could not look. It cost me $150 for those three generations, which was three pages. They charge by how many children are in a family. In total there were 26 children, you do the math. I have found misinformation about the availability and access to these records, so I was happy to gather quite a few of these records. This discussion will continue later.

Suffolk County Poor Law

While at the Institute of Genealogy in Salt Lake City I learned that the inventories of parish records are online. These inventories include settlements, removals, taxes, bastardy records, etc. What is most interesting to know is that the names of people in these records are online. Unfortunately, the Record Office does not have any records for Badingham. They are adding records on a continuing basis so perhaps they will be added soon. A nearby market town, Framlingham, has an extensive collection of these records. Each person had a parish of settlement. This parish was responsible for taking care of the poor relief. Records were created that settled people in a parish or removed them from a parish they were not welcome in due to financial need. These records can offer details that you will not find anywhere else. If you find someone of interest you can order the document from the Suffolk Record Office. There is an excellent booklet on England parish poor law, 'The Handy Book of Parish Law.

Newspaper - Ipswich Journal - Poor Law

I have been searching for my Scoggins ancestry in the Ipswich Journal. They lived in Badingham. Numerous newspapers in England have been indexed and digitized from 1800 to 1900, the Ipswich Journal being one of them. This index is at various institutions in Britain and the United States. It is at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. It was during the 1834 to 1835 time frame that the poor law was changing and the laboring class were not happy with it. My ancestors were laborers, so I can assume that they may have been in this crowd causing havoc.

Stradbroke. Dec 24 1835. – As might naturally be expected the tumultuous occurrences which took place last week in Ipswich, have spread their contigious influence amongst the pauper population of the adjoining districts. Some labourers of the parish of Baddingham, in the Hoxne hundred assembled together on Sunday evening, and between 11 and 12 o’clock at night showered a quantity of stones at the sleeping room window of Mr. Pooley, the Guardian of the parish. And (doubtless in the expectation that Mr. Pooley would approach the window), a huge stone weighing 1 ¾ lb. was shortly after thrown in. They then broke the keeping room windows. In the morning of Monday, a horn was blowing as early as four o’clock, and the rioters having mustered all their strength, forcibly pressed into their ranks all the labourers they could find, proceeded to Laxfield in order still more to increase in numbers, and about mid-day marched into Stradbroke, four abreast, armed with bludgeous and club sticks, and about two hundred in number, and drew up before the Queen’s head Inn, where the Board of Guardians was sitting....

The magistrate was able to disarm the leaders and break up the rebellion. This index of the British newspapers is a powerful resource. I have been able to view the actual newspaper and save those articles that interest me. I have found numerous references to the Scoggins surname pertaining to quarter sessions, sale of land, marriages, and history as it pertained to the region and the time. There is an excellent booklet on England parish poor law, 'The Handy Book of Parish Law
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Scoggins, Scogings England Probate

Due to the uncommon surname of ‘Scoggins’ I have been able to extract every person with that surname and its variants from the England national probate index which started in 1858. Prior to 1858 it is necessary to check various court records to find a probate record. The different spellings in the index are as follows: Scoggin, Scoggins, Scogging, Scoging, Scoggings, Scogings, Scroggins. Scoggins is the most common spelling. From 1858 to 1900 there were 15 probated records; of those, I can connect 7 of those people to my tree. From 1900 to 1945 there are 50 probated records. The most consistent family to hand down wealth in my tree was that of Isaac Scoggins who was a farmer in Laxfield. He had numerous children and they can be found in the probate indexes. The most useful probate record was that of Jarvis Scoggins who died in 1866. He never had children so he left his property to other relatives which are named in the will. The index entry reads as follows: “The Will of Jarvis Scoggins late Friston in the County of Suffolk Yeoman deceased who died on the 10 January 1866 at Friston aforesaid was proved at Ipswich by the oaths of Isaac Scoggins of Laxfield in the county aforesaid Farmer the Brother Jarvis Scoggins of Laxfield aforesaid Farmer the Nephew and Isaac Crisp of Friston aforesaid Fisherman the Executors, Effects under £200.” If you want to know if your Scoggins ancestor is in the index email me.

Finding Ancestors in a Scottish Parish

I have visited the parish of Urr a couple of times over the years. I found the gravestones of Robert Mckenzie and William McNaught who are my ancestors in the churchyard. I also went to the National Archives of Scotland and looked at other records that relate to the parish. I found voter rolls, and militia rolls for the parish. The best reference book available is, “Tracing your Scottish Ancestors” This book was published by the Scottish Record Office which is now known as the ‘National Archives of Scotland’, it has the reference numbers and records types which makes it easy to navigate the Archives. My ancestor, Robert Mckenzie, had a long lease on land in the parish at a place called, Auchennines. Auchennienes was 220 acres of land directly east of Dalbeattie bordering on the parish of Kirkgunzeon. I did not find him in the the sasine records since he was leasing the land as many farmers did. I found Robert Mckenzie in the Kirkgunzeon horse tax of 1799. He is not in the parish registers. He died in 1838 and his estate was probated in 1841 at Castle Douglas. He died without a will, so the document is referred to as testament-dative. I have an inventory of his property, and a comment in the record which refers to the executor, John Mckenzie, as being the only son of Robert Mckenzie. John Mckenzie, my ancestor, was born in the parish in 1804. His birth is not in the parish register. A book about the parish of Urr was published in 1909 and reprinted in 1993. It is, The Parish of Urr, Civil and Ecclesiastical: A History

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

DNA Genealogy

There are a lot of genealogy DNA companies that test the various markers. I found a website that lists all the companies and the markers that they test. I don’t know if it is current but it still gives a relatively good comparison. One of my Scogings cousins had the test done over at Family tree DNA. The 67 marker test is on the Scoggins group over on their site. It really helps to join a group where others share the same surname so as to have something to compare with from the start. Out of the 13 people who have submitted tests none of them even come close to matching my Scoggins line. My cousin in England recently had his test done over at ancestry. I find it interesting that out of the 40 or so markers tested between my two cousins that three markers do not match. Both were born in the 1930’s and their common ancestor was three generations removed. The only difference is the maternal line. They have different great grandmothers. My cousin in England had his test done at Oxford many years ago and it tested the DYS 425 marker and it was null. DYS 425 is not a standard marker tested by DNA companies. My U.S. cousin’s marker DYS 425 is Null or zero. Apparently only a small percentage of people have a null reading on this marker. Once you have submitted your DNA over at Famiy Tree DNA you can add tests for groups and individual markers like DYS425 for a small fee.