St Patrick's Day celebration

My St. Patrick's Day has certainly been one to celebrate!

After what seemed to be an endless wait my Dad's DNA results were finally processed and available in FTDNA

Quite appropriate with Dad having a fair bit of Irish ancestry.

In my own DNA results, I shared matches at the same segment on chromosome 3 with three women which pointed to 2nd to 4th cousin relationships.  

Two of them, Shirley and Renee are 2nd cousins to each other.  

They didn't know the third and she hasn't replied to my email.

portion of chromosome browser in FTDNA

Dad's results confirmed that all three were also matching with him at chromosome 3

Shirley and Renee's great-great-grandmother was a Margaret Josephine MORGAN who was born about 1838 in the Parish of Keady, West Armagh.  This is the same place my great-great-grandfather, John MORGAN was born around 1829.

John did have a sister named Margaret who, if we have researched correctly, came to Australia with him and their sister Bridget in 1855.  She married Thomas GAFFNEY in 1863 at Inglewood in Victoria.  Her age on her marriage and death certificates would also put her birth about 1838.

I found baptism records for John and Bridget but none yet for Margaret.

More searching to be done.

Could Margaret Josephine MORGAN be a cousin?  

John's parents were Alexander MORGAN and Anne LENNON (also named as Agnes and Nancy in some documents).

Shirley and Renee don't yet know who Margaret Josephine's parents were.

She married a James WOODS about 1858 and they lived at Newry, County Down.

Their daughter Margaret Mary WOODS, born 1864 and her husband Samuel LOMAX who emigrated to the United States, were the great-grandparents of Shirley and Renee.

My brain hurts!

Parents of Mary HULME nee WOOD (1788-1875)

Mary HULME, nee WOOD, is my maternal 4th great grandmother.

She married Daniel HULME at St Pancras Old Church on the 1st of January 1810.

Mary died at Fulham on the 13th of March 1875, age 87 years which puts her birth year around 1788.

In all the census from 1841 to 1871 Mary HULME was a Grocer at 65 High Street, Fulham.

The 1841 census for Fulham stated she was not born in the county.
The 1851 census stated she was born in Fulham
The 1861 census stated she was born in Hertfordshire.
The 1871 census stated she was born in Puckeridge, Hertfordshire.

In the 1861 census living in the same household is her sister, a widow age 65 by the name of Matha (sic) Mary MEAD.  She was born at Leatherhead, Surrey.  As yet I haven't found a WOOD/MEAD marriage but the Leatherhead, St. Mary and St. Nicholas Surrey births and baptisms has a record for Martha WOOD born March 18 and baptised April 5, 1795.
Her parents were William WOOD and Mary RADLEY.

Even though Leatherhead is about 20 miles South-West of London and Puckeridge about 30 miles North, I searched around Puckeridge, Hertfordshire for a baptism for Mary WOOD about 1788 and found her listed with parents William and Mary at Standon which is a village adjoining Puckeridge.  No mother's maiden name though.
 
I then looked for a marriage for William WOOD and Mary RADLEY and found it registered also at Standon in 1788.

I am quietly confident that I have finally found my 5th great grandparents are William WOOD and Mary RADLEY, the parents of Mary HULME nee WOOD!

Also in the Leatherhead, St. Mary and St. Nicholas Surrey births and baptisms with parents William WOOD and Mary RADLEY were Ann born 13th Feb 1798, baptised 4th March 1798 and Charlotte born 3rd March 1801, baptised 29 March 1801.

Mystery Monday - Forsyth - Burnett family

Today I found the answer to another question but raised more.  

Isn't that the way genealogy always works!

My great great grandfather's sister was Helen Gordon Forsyth born on January 5th 1859.  Helen died of Phthisis (pulmonary tuberculosis or a similar progressive wasting disease.) on the 11th of November 1897 at Mill Terrace of Sandhaven, Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Helen had had a relationship with a James Wood.  

Together they had a daughter, Helen Thomson Forsyth who was born on the 17th of January 1882 at Tyrie, Aberdeenshire.  

In the 1891 and 1901 census young Helen Thomson Forsyth was living with her maternal grandmother, yet another Helen Forsyth, at Shore Street, Pitsligo.

We're not sure what happened to James Wood but in 1885 Helen Gordon Forsyth married a mason named Thomas Burnett.  They went on to have four children together.  Thomas pre-deceased Helen in 1892.

Their children were:-

Margaret Dickie Burnett born 1886 Sandhaven - died 1890 Aberdour

Annie Burnett born 1887 Aberdour - died 1921 Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Isabella Sangster Burnett born 1889 Aberdour - died 1914 Aberdeen

Alexander Merson Burnett born 1891 Aberdour - possibly died 1976 Alberta, Canada.

Helen Gordon Forsyth's nephew Patrick and his wife Dorothy have been an amazing and invaluable source in our family research.   Dorothy had sent me this postcard/photo

On the back was a letter dated Jun 1906 to Helen Forsyth at Eddle House, Sandhaven, by Fraserburgh,  from her sister Bella.

The letter says:  "Dear Sister,  just a few lines to let you know I am well.  I have been a long time in writing to you.  This is a photo of my chums and myself by Mr. Pender.

Write soon please.

Kind regards from your sister Bella xxxxx

So one of the girls in the photo is Isabella Burnett.  I wondered where she would have been living in 1906 as her parents had both died.  I thought Mr Pender may give me a clue.  Sure enough I found Isabella Burnett aged eleven years in 1901 census at a boarding house at 37 Belmont Street, Aberdeen South with an Alexander Pender the headmaster and his wife Matron.  

A Google search revealed that Mr Pender, (who wore long johns under his kilt!  see photo and story here ) was the headmaster for the Aberdeen Institution for the Education of the deaf and dumb. 

So Bella must have been deaf.  She died in 1914 at the young age of 24.  I have added her death certificate to my "to do" list.

Her sister and brother, Annie and Alexander Burnett both migrated to Canada.

Below is a photo of Alexander in uniform.  Another thing on the "to do" list is to find his military details.  

From this photo and the one of the three girls, which girl do you think his sister Bella would be?