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

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

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

Theme: Letters and Diaries My Great Grandfather Alexander Johnston (1829-1906) came from a family of seven, and from all accounts they were a loving, tight-knit family. Only one sibling emigrated from their home town of Glasgow, and that was Alexander, who with his wife Margaret (Lyle) and little son Charles made the long journey to… Read more

Theme: Surprise I am reposting this blog due to the amazing number of typos and other errors … I plead being under the influence of a strong painkiller at the time I wrote it … but that is no real excuse (!) My thanks to Lesley, Arthur and Dave for pointing out some of the… Read more

Theme: Challenge. My second cousin Peter John Hunt (1929-2012) was a surveyor on the New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (1960–61), He received the Polar Medal and RGS Sir Cuthbert Peek award in 1969. Hunt Mountain (3660m) in Antarctica was named after him. Originally a British Army officer, “……during the summer of 1959/60 he took… Read more