Violet Gale - Auntie VI

I have been a bit busy (not much) the last couple of years and fallen behind in my genealogy.  I lost my files again and I am restarting again.  This mainly has to do with an Australian who inspired me . She posted a picture of my great-aunt Violet!

I think I may have met Violet along with Phil and Flo (my grandmothers friends).  She immigrated to Australia in 1959 and we left in 1957 for Canada so we may have crossed paths.  The really wonderful thing about Aunt Vi is that she looks  like my niece, Emily,except Emily has a nicer nose.

I have to sieve through her entries because it looks like she may  have been to Devon.  There is a picture of a  very new looking gravestone for my great-grandfather and great-grandmother (Eli and Alice Gale).  I really should write to her.

The Balfours

The Picture above is of the Old Alban's Home on 81 Rottenrow in Glasgow (now part of the University of Strathclyde)

More frustration and dead ends. Robert Corbett, my grandfather, was raised by his Aunt Meg (one of my mother's favorite relatives - who taught her to make Seville orange marmalade). She raised him because his mother, Agnes Balfour, died shortly after his birth. His father seems to have remarried and started a new family and left Robert with his mother and sisters. Seems harsh. Anyway Agnes (1864-1894) was the daughter of a John Balfour (183? to 1914). I am having trouble finding John's birth date and in one of the census it indicates he was born in Clackmannan. There is another John Balfour born in the 1830's who is a John Blair Balfour 1837 - 1905, born in Clackmannan, son of Peter Balfour & Jane Blair, 1st Baron Kinross of Glascune, Lord Advocate of Scotland and Liberal M.P. for Clackmannan & Kinross. Not mine I think. Mine died in Old Alban's Home for Destitute Men. To top this off in my John's death certificate he has his parents listed as Alexander Balfour and Elizabeth Gilchrist. Now the only Alexander Balfour and Elizabeth I can track down is Alexander and Elizabeth Gardner (there is one semi-unreadble marriage certificate that looks a bit like that). Having a baron as a relative may be a bit easier to track than a calender in a bleach works. I have sort of stopped at John and Alexander and will take it up later if I get to the Library. Right now I'm annoyed that my relatives weren't more orderly.

Genes Reunited

Is ARGHH!!! an appropriate way to begin an entry? Maybe if you are a pirate?

ARGHH!!! My headache is beginning. I have to figure out how to backtrack around GR. In Ancestry I stuck to the direct line and didn't branch out to the siblings. GR is a bit trickier because one the of the ways to search is via others trees and there are so many of them. I have to visit my mother today so won't do much this morning but this may take a lot more time than I wanted it to.

Ancestry UK

I have been through and checked all the Ancestry UK links I can and have come up with a good list to put on my Legacy file. I do however have a lot of "maybes" and some of these I will be checking by ordering certificate. That's pretty expensive so first I have to go through all my papers and check what ones I have. Its amazing how disorganized a librarian can be.

I will start on the Genes Reunited stuff to make sure I haven't left out anything I've already tracked down. This file seems even more open to circular logic and problems with authenticity but if I work through it I may be able to save some time later. The nice bit about these people is that the emailing and chatting is much more open than Ancestry. Its a bit of a gossip column about dead folk you are related to (which is probably why the links don't seem as authoritative). Someone emailed me and said "you have, of course, read about Anne on the web" and I can imagine a slight eyebrow raise. No! I email back. Tell me. The answer hasn't arrived yet. Horrible scandals?

Almost forgot. I have put a wiki together to be a sort of notepad so the stuff I am finding. Its pretty primitive but I can keep lists there.

John and Ruth Restell

John and Ruth are the parents of James Draper Restell (and I have the paper to prove it). I am getting somewhat confused about this Mr. and Mrs., however. The census tracks nicely through their early lives. In 1841 he is a labourer in Kent. In 1851 he is a labourer in Kent. In 1861 Ruth is a painter's wife but he's not at home on census day. Ruth dies in 1863 in Kent. After this things go a bit wacko. The only John Restell listed later than 1861 (with the same birthdate of 1808) leaps from labourer/tradesman to store-keeper/merchant. In 1871 John is living with someone called Rebecca. He is listed as an Engine Driver at works (I think this is his cement works) . In 1875 John marries Rebecca Smith (nee James) and is listed on the marriage certificate as a cement merchant. In 1881 he is listed as a grocer and he dies in 1883. In 1901 Rebecca is a pauper (ex- needlewoman ) and in the Hackney Union Workhouse. She dies in1902. Is this John the same person?

Loose Ends

Aren't they all:
1. Marion Lochhead Corbett 1844 - can't find anything on her death and can't wait for the Scots to realease the 1911 census (2012)
2. Obadiah Clark 1858 - need to figure out how to search seamen
3. Obadiah Clark 1836 - Corporal in the Royal Artillery - has kids born in England, Scotland and India - how do I check this?

I decided "loose ends" are only the 19th C people at this point. Everyone else becomes a loose end as we go further back but Marion and the Obadiahs should be findable. I have bought
My Ancestor was a Merchant Seaman: How can I find out more about him? by Christopher T and Michael J Watts (London: Society of Genealogists Enterprises, 2004) but all the records seem to be in England or Newfoundland.

Glasgow

Still trying to clean up my records so I can start doing this again. I went back to my records at Scotlands People (those -- or us? --canny Scots will break my bank account) and started looking up all the records I have on the Corbetts. I dimly remembered an alcoholic toll-keeper in Glasgow and have started adding his stuff in. I have been looking at the addresses and found that Great Eastern Road is now Tollcross Road, Camlachie Street or Gallowsgate. I think I will try to find out a bit more about toll houses in Glasgow (sounds like something some local history fanatic would put together -- bless them). I found a picture of the Tollhouse at 556, Dalmarnock Rd. was built circa 1820 by the Road Trustees. It may be similar to Robert Corbett's at 130 Great Eastern Road.

This is a row of shops on Great Eastern Road (now Camlachie Street) c 1900.

The Eastern Medical Hall was at 622 Great Eastern Road, with Armstrong Brothers' butchers' shop and George Horn & Sons' grocery store next door. Some boys are selling newspapers on the street corner.