A Voice from the Past

Recently I was lucky enough to find a notebook containing family history notes and a partial narrative written by my mother (Cathrine Gibson Gadsden, nee Hamilton). This had remained hidden among other less interesting documents since her death some years ago. There's no doubt that the writings were intended for me. Reading the pages, which are closely-clovered with her beautiful script, it was as if we were having a chat - and a very informative chat it was, too. My mother lists all her father's siblings (born in Stevenston, Ayrshire, Scotland), mentioning who they married (accompanied by a pithy description if the spouse wasn't all he/she might have been), and what offspring they produced. In conjunction with her 'bible' (her address book), I'm now able to work out who the descendants are and where they might be found - spread from Scotland to England, some in South Africa, others in Canada and US.

I've learnt that an unmarried great-aunt, far from being the guid Scots home-body I'd imagined, was manageress of her department at Rattrays, a huge wholesale company in Glasgow. It was a surprise to find that my Hamilton great grandmother had given birth to 17 children - according to the Census she had only 13 'born alive', and of these 'reared' 12. Still, a full household. I'd never realised that, before he emigrated to South Africa, one of the great-uncles had been in the Merchant Navy during World War I: another avenue to explore. Great Gran apparently used to buy from the mobile fishmonger a 'two-eyed steak '- i.e. herring - and would make 'Tatties with their jackets on' for lunch.

Facts and accurate dates are essential ingredients for any family narrative, but when they come with a pinch of fond memory the flavour is so much sweeter.

Cathrine Gibson Hamilton aged 21

HAMILTON of Stevenston: February Anniversaries

Remembering HAMILTONs of Stevenston, Ayrshire today, especially:


Cathrine Gibson Hamilton

b 23 February 1914, daughter of Joseph Hamilton and Annie nee Gibson.


Alexander Hamilton

b 15 February 1884, son of William Hamilton and Elizabeth nee Smith.

Top row L-R: Elizabeth ('Beth') Smith Hamilton; Annie Hamilton nee Gibson with daughter Beth; Hamilton group including Elizabeth and William Hamilton, Jim Hamilton seated in front, Nell, Nancy and others; Cathrine Gibson Hamilton on her wedding day with her father Joseph Hamilton; Bottom row L-R: Elizabeth and William Hamilton; 'Bill' Hamilton; Alexander Hamilton; the matriarch, Elizabeth Hamilton nee Smith - my maternal great grandmother.

Click on the collage for closer view of the photos.

For more information on the town of Stevenston, go to www.threetowners.com/Stevenston/stevenston.htm
The Dynamite Factory - or 'dinnamit' as the locals knew it
www.threetowners.com/Ardeer%20Factory/ardeer_factory.htm

Also see post on this blog 25 January 2010 entitled Diversity, dynamite & decisions.

Diversity, dynamite and decisions

Because family history offers such a diversity of intriguing avenues to explore, it's often difficult to maintain focus. In the process of finding out more about my Hamilton and Gibson ancestors who had once lived in a small village called Stevenston in Ayrshire, Scotland, I discovered that several members of these families had worked at 'the dinnamit' – local parlance for Nobel's explosives factory at Ardeer (see photo right from Ayrshire Libraries Forum showing women workers queuing outside the factory).

UK Census entries reveal that the girls, some as young as twelve, were 'carteridge [sic] makers' at the dynamite works. They wore their hair in pigtails for safety. I spent hours in pursuit of this topic, visiting related websites and generating text files and photographs. Fascinating, yes, and it provided a glimpse into a vanished era, but sometimes it's necessary to tear ourselves away from sidetracks and get back to the main road. Tempus fugit.

Deciding from the outset what that main road is going to be, is helpful. Are you going to collect data on one specific line? Will it be your paternal or maternal line? Or both? What do you intend to do with the information: put together a simple family tree for the benefit of your children and grandchildren or produce a detailed illustrated narrative for circulation within the family? If you have a particularly unusual surname, you might want to work towards a One Name Study. This would involve all instances of the surname (and its accepted spelling variants) anywhere, at any date: a real challenge and clearly not an option if your surname is Smith – or Bell.