The village of Newmains, Lanarkshire really owes its existence to the Coltness Iron Works which was established in 1839. The promise of employment led many Irish immigrants to make their homes in the rows of houses provided by the company. My family first arrived in the village in the late 1850s. The first Newmains birth … Continue reading Catherine Brawley 1859-1960
Local History
Born On This Day – Catherine Cosgrove 1875-1876
Catherine Cosgrove was the first of my great grandfather’s siblings to be born in Scotland and her birth record allows me to estimate when the Cosgrove family left County Longford in Ireland. She was the 6th of ten children born to Peter Cosgrove and Catherine Mullervy. By the time of her birth the family had … Continue reading Born On This Day – Catherine Cosgrove 1875-1876
My Cousin and Uncle James Gerard Burns
For this post I decided to go back in my family tree and along the branches and choose someone at random to see what interesting facts I could find about them. The person I chose was John Burns who was born in Newmains, Lanarkshire in 1890. John is a fairly recent addition to my tree. … Continue reading My Cousin and Uncle James Gerard Burns
Searching For His Father – Matthew Brawley 1915-2005
A while back I posted the story of Edith Cran and her connection to my family tree. Edith had two children, Matthew and Edith who were adopted by my great grand uncle Matthew Brawley. You can read the post by clicking here. I am sure that both of her children are biologically related to the … Continue reading Searching For His Father – Matthew Brawley 1915-2005
A Surprise For My Mother
Finding new family photos is always exciting. The picture below was sent to me by Maureen who discovered my blog via Facebook. She and I are connected through her great grandfather, Edward Cooper who was the second husband of my great granny, Sarah Helferty and stepfather to my maternal granny. We keep in contact and … Continue reading A Surprise For My Mother
Police Raid 1890
Some of the best family history finds come from newspapers. Yes the official records will tell you where an ancestor was born and died, who they married etc but those records won’t tell you much about the type of person they were. Newspaper articles can tell a lot and it’s not always good news. I … Continue reading Police Raid 1890
Shaking The Branches 