Song - My Father's Eyes by Eric Clapton
As many of you know, I have been working on my family tree. Mostly on my father's side as his ancestry is Scottish and English. The Scottish kept terrible records as they were almost always fighting someone and I think they liked to fly a little "under the radar" as far as records were kept!
My dad's father was like that. His name was John but his nickname was "Scotty" and he was a small but a fiesty man.
He called me "Lassie".....I just loved that!
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| John "Scotty" Crawford |
On the other hand, the English kept wonderful records.
They are so delightful in helping you with research as it is a passion with a lot of them. And on the plus side - IT'S ENGLISH! No translation!
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| Henry Gore and Sarah Routley Gore with my grandmother Violet |
My mother's ancestry is another story....Italian, sometimes Austrian or German....what can I say but they could of cared less about registering a baby or two, unless it was through the church but most of those records were destroyed in WW I or they are in some language that I can not understand because they are Northern Italians and the border kept changing with each war.
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| My maternal grandfather is the cute one on the far right - Arturo Giovianni Malacarne |
In the 1500's I had a grandmother (13th great grandmother to be exact - rather appropriate for this New Year) named Lady Margaret Erskine. She was married to Robert Douglas (my 13th great grandfather) in 1527 when she was 15 -17 years old.
She became the mistress of James V of Scotland after only 3 years of marriage. (Dad, I hope you are not reading this?.....)
And bore him a son...
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| James Stewart (1531 – 1570) |
(Long noses must run in our family or else that portrait painter should be fired!)
I guess this is all okey dokey with the husband if your wife is the "chosen one".....but I haven't gotten that far yet. (Part II coming soon.....)
Apparently Margaret was a favorite of the King's and he was trying to work with the church to arrange a divorce so he could marry her.
"Through her liasion with the king, Margaret became the mother of James Stewart (1531 – 1570), first Earl of Moray, the half-brother to Queen Mary Stuart, and regent for James VI (I of England). She was not the king’s only mistress, but Margaret was his acknowledged favourite. After the birth of their son, King James had made enquiries concerning a papal dispensation which would enable him to marry Margaret, and make her his queen, thus legitimating their son and making him the heir (1536), but Lady Margaret having been a married woman at the time of her son’s birth rendered that solution impossible. Her son’s later legitimization (1551) was in regard only to inheritable property, and had nothing to do with rights to the succession."
Also one Great x ?? grandfather was the first commoner to play golf and several (well, quite a few actually were beheaded in the Tower of London)
Such is life in the early days.....one day you are playing a new game called golf and living in a castle and the next you are in the Tower.
Much better to be reading about it than actually living it!
The good part about all of this is that I am finally learning my Geography and History!
"Many miles away there's a shadow on the door of a cottage on the Shore of a dark Scottish lake."
-- Walter Scott
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