Here are all my previous blogs, mostly covering our caravanning around New Zealand and Australia and some post-caravanning adventures. The first 3 have been transferred to a new Blog heading. So have some family history stories. If I can work out how to delete these I will do so!
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52 Ancestors – Week 2, 2026.
Theme: A Record That Adds Color. I’ve chosen to interpret this theme a little differently. My Scottish Great Great Grandfather Dr. Thomas Lyle had a brother, John Lyle (1789-1822). For a long time I knew little about John, then discovered he had been a soldier in the 51st Regiment of Foot and had fought at… Read more
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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2026
Week 1, 2026. Theme: An Ancestor I Admire. My Scottish GGMother Margaret Lyle (1827-1925), born in Glasgow, spent much of her chidlhood in Airth, Stirlngshire – a small village where her father Dr. Thomas Lyle (1791-1859) practiced – although it would seem he was more inclined to write poetry and to follow his hobby of… Read more
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52 Ancestors …. Week 14.
Topic: Language. My Scottish ancestors came from the Scottish Borders where in the 1700s to at least early 1800s the Lowland Scots language used was Lalans – both Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson used it. From https://nativetribe.info/lallans-indigenous-heritage-scottish-lowland-traditional-language-cultural-practices/: Lallans, also known as Scots Lowland, is a vibrant language with a long and complex history. It’s… Read more
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52 Ancestors …. Week 11.
Topic: Brick Wall. Was the Rev. John Johnston married twice? My GG Uncle John Johnston (1831-1909) married Benjamina “Jessie” Leckie (1833 – ?) in Glasgow when he was 24 and she was 22, according to the forms of the United Presbyterian Church. Soon after the birth of their first child less than a year later,… Read more
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52 Ancestors … Weeks 9 & 10, 1925.
Themes: Family Secret and Siblings. I am behind with this series of 52 Ancestors but conveniently can combine two weeks’ stories into one! I nearly missed recording the birth and death of my GGGrandparents’ fourth child, a little girl called Zebra Hunt who was born in November 1831 and died in July 1834 in Reading,… Read more
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52 Ancestors …. Week 8, 2025.
Theme: Migration. My Great Grandmother was Adela Campbell Scott Macloskey (1848-1874), the 13th child of merchant tailor John Macloskey (1789-1854) and Mary Ann Brooks/ Brookes (1805-1886). Her father is thought to have come from Rostrevor, County Antrim in what is now Northern Ireland; her mother was also Irish but where they met and married is… Read more
Nancy's Families 