A Princess From Wales - WISE Family History Society

Volume 15, Number 2 Denver, Colorado April, May, June 2014 A Princess From Wales
A Miner’s Daughter Became a Beloved Swedish Cinderella
—Nancy McCurdy
Yes, Kate Middleton, a pretty woman with Welsh ancestry, is a princess of the United Kingdom. She’s
best known as the Duchess of Cambridge, but princess is her title on the birth certificate of the son,
George, born in July to Kate and her husband, Prince William. Prince William is second in line to the
British throne, and Prince George is third, God willing. Someday, Kate may be Catherine, Princess of
Wales. A delightful story to many.
I would like to tell you the story of a Welsh factory
girl who became a Swedish princess. Her name was
Lilian Craig. She passed away at the age of 97 in 2013
in Sweden. Here is her story.
She was born Lillian May Davies in Swansea, Wales,
in 1915. The gilt, the pomp and ceremony of the
Swedish court were a far cry from the princess’ Welsh
upbringing. She came from a tough part of Swansea
that has been wiped out in a slum clearance. Lillian’s
father, William Davies, was a private in the Swansea
Battalion of the Welsh Regiment during World War I,
worked as a coal miner and had a market stall.
Her mother was Gladys Mary Curranat. Researchers
have learned that Lillian was a quintessential
Welsh girl with traditional family Welsh names like
Davies and Williams.
Lillian worked in a laundry and left school at 14 to
seek work as a housemaid in London. She resembled
actress Marlene Dietrich, and at age 16 her blond,
blue-eyed good looks got her a job as a fashion model,
Lillian May Davies in her Marlene Dietrich mode.
dancer and singer. She showcased hats and gloves in
advertisements and had small roles in movies. She appeared in Vogue magazine. She met and married
Ivan Craig, a largely unsuccessful British actor in 1940. She dropped an “l” from her first name thinking
it more fashionable that way. Continued on page 23
www.wise-­‐fhs.org 20 W.I.S.E. Words
President’s
Message
Flooding in Cornwall, the worst winter weather in
the southwest of England in over one hundred
years. A sinkhole opens up and swallows eight
Corvettes in Kentucky. Another arctic blast hits
the east coast of the United States, dropping a foot
of snow in some places. Over a million people
went without heat or light. A category V tornado
hit Oklahoma, leveling a town. Massive flooding
in Colorado was the worst on record. I’m not an
alarmist, and having grown up in Kansas or
tornado alley, I’m used to natural disasters. I must
admit that every time I hear or read about a new
natural disaster, I think of all of the records that
are being lost.
On the other hand, I know that we are gaining
more and more records through the efforts of volunteers and the use of technology. Every time
I speak to someone in Salt Lake City or at a
conference, I learn about a new set of records that
have just become available online. The largest
online service providers are in constant negotiations to share databases, etc. Right now through
Family Tree at Family Search we have access to
Ancestry.com, Find My Past.com, Fold 3,
Find A Grave, Archives.com and a few others.
So the question I keep asking myself is, are we
getting ahead or losing ground? In most cases I
think we are gaining ground. The area I think we
are losing ground is in the home sources: the family Bibles, personal interviews, letters from our
ancestors, pictures and other stories. We have a
tendency to hide these treasures away. We see it as
our duty to protect them for future generations, to
assure that these treasures will be around long
after we are gone.
May I suggest that unless you are wealthy enough
to build the flood, fire, tornado, and sinkhole proof
building to house your family’s personal museum,
you might want to think about sharing your treasures. Many institutions, with much more experience than we have, have learned over time that the
best way to secure their treasures is to share
them. Many online sites allow you to share and
store your information for free, and they don’t
want your Aunt Mable and all her children to do it
either. As a matter of fact, I have my family’s information on FamilySearch, Ancestry.com,
My Heritage and the family website. Whether
you choose to share your treasures by publishing a
book or by adding your tree to an online site or
both it is up to you.
—Barbara Fines Price o
Membership Report
—Sandy Breed
Welcome to those who joined the W.I.S.E. Family
History Society recently:
December 2013: Jeane Berry and Jim Nolan,
Jan Hite and Kenneth Barringer, Bonnie Warner,
Vincent Donnelly.
January 2014: Bruce and Judy McRae,
Harvey and Linda Crow, George Foster.
February 2014: David and Pamela Irwin,
Kirk Woosley Patton, Margaret Steel, Lyn Miller,
Ed
McCarthy
Allen,
Margaret
Smith,
Gayla Stone.o
Treasurer’s Report
Fourth Quarter 2013
—Laurie Ramos
Total cash in savings, checking and and petty cash
as of December 31,2013:
$6,494.70
Items cleared :
$1,401.18
Reconciled cash balance to
statements as of January 31, 2014
bank statement:
$7,895.88 ¨
Annual General Meeting
W.I.S.E. Family History Society held its general
meeting on January 25, 2014. Sylvia Tracy-Doolos
and Milly Jones assumed their duties as vice
president/programs and secretary, respectively,
to which they had been elected by the membership
in December. Suzanne Williams was introduced
as hospitality coordinator, succeeding Sylvia.
www.wise-­‐fhs.org April, May, June 2014
21 W.I.S.E. Words
April, May, June 2014
President Barbara Fines Price announced that
Karen Campbell volunteered as Tech Tips editor
for W.I.S.E. Words newsletter and that the society
has three open positions: editors/representatives
for Ireland and Wales and Members’ Surname
Interests coordinator.
Archivist ....................................................... Elaine Osborn
The membership accepted the 2014 budget
prepared by the treasurer and approved by the
board of directors. It includes a proposed expenditure of $1,000 for books and other pertinent materials to be donated to the Denver Public Library
genealogy collection this year. Members
were encouraged to submit possible purchases to
Treasurer Laurie Ramos.o
Newsletter Editor ...................................... Nyla Cartwright
.............................................. [email protected]
CCGS Delegate ................................................Bill Hughes
Hospitality Coordinator ......................... Suzanne Williams
Webmaster ...................................................... Allan Turner Newsletter Staff
Book Review Editor .......................... Zoe von Ende Lappin
Technical Resource Editor ...................... Karen Campbell
Proofreaders ...................... Jack and Zoe von Ende Lappin
Distribution Coordinator .................................. Sue Clasen
Country Editors
Wales ........................................................ Nancy McCurdy
W.I.S.E. Family History Society
W.I.S.E. Family History Society is dedicated to
research in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England, the
Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Attention is also
directed to the emigration and immigration of these peoples as well as heraldry and one-name studies. Monthly
meetings
are
generally
held
the
fourth
Saturday of most months at the Central Denver Public
Library, 7th Floor. Membership is open to anyone with
interest in family history and genealogy. Membership
dues for the calendar year are $12 for an individual or
$15 for a family living at the same address. The W.I.S.E.
Family History Society publishes W.I.S.E. Words four
times per year, and a subscription is included with membership dues. Add $5 to the dues if you want a printed
copy of the newsletter mailed to you.
© 2000-2014, W.I.S.E. Family History Society,
P.O. Box 40658, Denver, CO 80204-0658
All rights reserved.
Visit our website at www.wise-fhs.org.
Officers and Board Members
Ireland .......................................................... Thyria Wilson
Scotland ...................................................... Diane Barbour
England ........................................... Elizabeth Marcheschi
In This Issue
A Princess From Wales, A Miner’s Daughter
Became a Beloved Swedish Cinderella .................. 19
President’s Message................................................ 20
Membership Report ................................................ 20
Treasurer’s Report: Fourth Quarter 2013 ............ 20
Annual General Meeting ........................................ 20
Letter to the Editor .................................................. 22
Salt Lake City Trip is Full ...................................... 22
W.I.S.E. Field Trip to Central City ........................ 22
Volunteers Needed for the 2014 Colorado Irish
Festival .................................................................... 23
From Ireland with Song ......................................... 25
President ...................................................... Barbara Price
............................... [email protected] Scottish Probate into the 20th Century ................... 27
Vice President .....................................Sylvia Tracy-Doolos
Taking Your English Search into the 21st Century 28
Secretary ........................................................... Milly Jones
Treasurer ...................................................... Laurie Ramos Tech Tips: British Isles Military Records .............. 31
Past President ................................... Zoe von Ende Lappin Book Reviews .......................................................... 31
Membership .................................................... Sandy Breed Member Profile ....................................................... 33
Members’ Interest Coordinator ................ Megan Koepsell W.I.S.E. Program Schedule ................................... 34
Publicity Coordinator ............................ JoAnn DeFilippo www.wise-­‐fhs.org 22 W.I.S.E. Words
Letter to the Editor
W.I.S.E. membership chair, Sandy Breed, received
the following note from Peter Harvey. Peter lives
in England and visited with Zoe Lappin while in
the United States in 2009 and attended a W.I.S.E.
meeting. He was a rugby star as a young man. He
is now active in community history and genealogy
projects and has written his biography and a couple of other books. Here are his comments:
I love getting the notices from WISE, makes me
feel part of a worldwide fellowship.
Can I recommend this book to your members: A
Long Way Home, author Terry Dillon, publisher
Authorhouse and available on Amazon.
It is based upon the life and experiences of the
Irish people who came to England in the 19th
century. Living in Yorkshire in an Industrial town,
it provides lots of background from a very strong
source. The great-grandson of Irish immigrants
writes this fiction, based on fact report, which I'm
sure your members will devour.
April, May, June 2014
W.I.S.E Field Trip to Central City
June 14th–Save the Date
—Thyria Wilson
The W.I.S.E. Family History Society will have a
field trip to Central City cemeteries and other historic locations on Flag Day, June 14th. Many families from the British Isles settled in Central City
after gold was discovered by John Gregory in
1859. At one time Central City was known as the
“richest square mile on earth” and had a population of 10,000. It was a rip-roaring town, but the
Cornish and Welsh miners built the Opera House
in 1878. Vaudeville acts, Buffalo Bill and
P.T. Barnum performed at the Opera House, originally built as a community theatre. The Gilpin
Historic Society has a wonderful historic museum
and gives tours of the Thomas house and cabin,
the Coeur d’Alene Mine Shalt house used from
1885-1940, and the Teller House built in 1872 by
Henry Teller. The Teller house still has Kevin
Taylor’s “face on the bar-room floor.”
Best wishes,
Peter Harvey
Also the great-grandson of Irish immigrants who
settled in Lancashire. o
Salt Lake City Trip is Full
For the first time, the W.I.S.E.-sponsored research
trip to the Family History Library April 6-13
is full. Twenty researchers have registered, and
our travel agent was able to arrange for an extra
room, bringing the total to 11 reserved for us at the
Carlton Hotel. We reached capacity a week ahead
of the February 14 deadline for making a deposit.
Twenty is a record for us; the previous high
was 19. We are sorry if anyone had to be
turned away, but there’s always next year. Please
address questions and suggestions to Zoe Lappin
at [email protected], 303 322-2544.o
Tombstone in a Central City cemetery of Robert Kendall,
born in Cornwall in 1840.
There are three cemeteries one mile west of
Central City that can be reached by taking Eureka
Street. There are hundreds of ornate stone markers
that date back to the 1860s. Many of the tombstones tell where the deceased came from in
Cornwall, Ireland and Wales. The three cemeteries
are the Central City Cemetery, the Knights of
Pythias and the Catholic Cemetery.
We will have more information coming soon.¨
www.wise-­‐fhs.org 23 W.I.S.E. Words
Volunteers Needed for the
2014 Colorado Irish Festival
—Bill Hughes
W.I.S.E. will have a family history and genealogy
tent at the 20th annual Colorado Irish
festival being held at Clement Park, located at the
Southeast Corner of Bowles and South
Wadsworth.
April, May, June 2014
Les Ambassadeurs, shortly before Lilian’s 28th
birthday in 1943. Lilian then invited Bertil
to a cocktail party in her London apartment,
but it was not until he fetched her with his car
following an air raid in her neighborhood that the
romance blossomed.
Dates and times for the Festival are:
Friday, July 11, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Saturday, July 12,10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sunday, July 13, 10 a.m to 7 p.m.
W.I.S.E. volunteers will be manning the Irish
genealogy booth during those times. We will be
located in the Cultural Village area. We hope
volunteers will help us in four hours shifts
or longer.
We have maps and books but our real edge comes
from the personal experience, knowledge and
enthusiasm our volunteers bring to the event.
Many volunteers mentioned they were embarrassed by the gratitude shown by the patrons they
helped. Last year we had over 1,000 patrons visit
our display.
Please contact Bill Hughes 303-989-8560,
[email protected] if you have any questions,
want to volunteer or share any ideas you may have
about our presentation.¨
A Princess from Wales
—continued from page 19
During the Second World War, Ivan Craig was
drafted and served in the British army in Africa.
Lilian stayed in London and worked at a factory
making radio sets for the Royal Navy and the
British merchant fleet. She also worked at a hospital taking care of wounded soldiers. She saved her
shillings to buy designer outfits and soon was running with glitterati around London.
At the time, Prince Bertil of Sweden, something of
a playboy and great-grandson of Queen Victoria,
was stationed at the Swedish embassy in
London as a naval attaché. The couple first laid
eyes on each other in the fancy nightclub,
Lilian with Prince Bertil at a club.
Lilian was still married at the time, but the situation resolved itself since Craig, too, had met
someone else. Lilian and Craig divorced on amicable terms. However, the prince’s obligations to
the Swedish throne and Lilian’s status as a
divorced commoner prevented them from making
their love public. “He was so handsome, my
prince, especially in uniform, so charming and
thoughtful and so funny,” Lilian told the Boston
Globe in 1985. “Oh, how we laughed,” she wrote
in her memoir.
Upon Bertil’s return to Sweden, his relationship
with a commoner became a delicate issue. Bertil
became a possible heir to the throne when his
eldest brother died in a plane crash, leaving behind
an infant son, the current King Carl XVI Gustaf.
Bertil’s two older brothers had dropped out of the
line of succession by marrying commoners. Bertil
did not wish to lose his place in the succession
when it appeared that he would reign as regent for
his infant nephew.
Bertil’s father, King Gustaf VI Adolf, forbade him
to marry Lilian because such an alliance would
jeopardize the survival of the Bernadotte dynasty.
Instead, the couple let their romance flourish in an
unofficial manner, living in a common-law
marriage for decades. The couple’s sacrifices
and lifelong dedication to one another
fascinated Swedes.
www.wise-­‐fhs.org 24 W.I.S.E. Words
April, May, June 2014
Bertil and Lilian lived in a house in
Sainte-Maxime in France; later they made a home
in Stockholm as well, with Lilian in the background for years. All of Sweden knew about their
relationship, and she told the Boston Globe in
1985 that she regretted not having children. As
for their private lives, she once said, “Sometimes I
felt it wasn’t nice, but it was nice that we were
together anyway.”
at the Drottningholm Palace chapel just outside of
Stockholm. Lilian wore a pale blue gown, a silvery
coat and feathered hat. The bride had then turned
61 and the groom 64, and they both called it the
happiest day of their lives. “I was nervous as a
kitten,” Lilian told the Boston Globe in 1985. “I
had butterflies in my tummy. When we exchanged
vows, I was afraid I wouldn’t even remember my
husband’s name.”
Still, Lilian’s charm and warm personality won
over the Swedes. Magazines depicted the happy
couple playing golf and riding on the prince’s motorbike. When Prince Bertil had to use a walking
frame after surgery, Lilian cheerfully nicknamed it
his Bugatti. “In a loving relationship, a sense of
humor is important,” she said.
Bertil also regretted never having children, but
said, “I could not think of doing anything but
what I have done. If I had left the royal court
and married, my father would have been left
alone with all of his duties, but all’s well that
ends well.”
Lilian’s first official public appearance with the
prince was in 1966 at a celebration for Bertil’s
younger brother Carl Johan while her official royal
debut was in 1972 at the king’s 90th birthday party.
The wedding signaled the formal end of an already
bygone era. Prince Bertil had agreed to refrain
from marrying a commoner because of fears it
could jeopardize the royal line: he was next in line
to the throne until Carl Gustaf, his nephew – and
now the king – came of age. Today, members of
European royalty routinely and without penalty
marry commoners, and female prospects have the
same succession rights as male. Carl Gustaf himself married a commoner.
Prince Bertil died of a lung condition in the couple’s residence Villa Solbacken in Stockholm in
1997, 24 years after their marriage. Lilian took
over some of her husband’s ceremonial duties until her ill health interfered. At age 91 in 2006, she
stopped attending the annual Nobel Prize banquet
and the next year she also stopped taking part in
the awards ceremony In 2010, the palace announced that Lilian suffered from Alzheimer’s
disease, preventing her from attending the wedding that summer of Crown Princess Victoria and
Daniel Westling.
Princess Lilian and Price Bertil at their wedding in 1976.
When Bertil’s father died in 1973, Prince
Carl Gustaf became king. In 1976, 33 years after
they first met, the new King of Sweden finally
gave Lilian and Bertil the approval they had
sought. On a December day the same year, Lilian,
or “Lily” as the prince called her, became Princess
of Sweden and Duchess of Halland in a ceremony
“If I were to sum up my life, everything has been
about love,” Princess Lilian of Sweden once said.
Interestingly, the late Princess Diana once said that
the biggest disease in the world is a lack of love.
Lilian and Bertil’s “first priority was that we always loved each other.”
Lilian Craig died at 97, surrounded by the royal
family, and beloved by the Swedes, who took her
Cinderella story to heart. Tributes abounded for
the world-famous princess, and hundreds came to
www.wise-­‐fhs.org 25 W.I.S.E. Words
see Lilian as she lay in state at the Royal Palace
in Stockholm.
April, May, June 2014
Music was a very important part of the Irish life,
particularly when the people were forbidden to
venerate poets, play harps or their traditional
music. Most families had at least one member who
could make and play the fiddle and who pulled it
out when the authorities were not around. My
great-grandfather, Eugene Wescott, who descended from Scots-Irish immigrants, made a violin
when he was 19. Michael Moolick, my mother’s
other grandfather, played and made fiddles.
Princess Lilian in her later years.
Swansea’s Lord Mayor Dennis James said:
“Princess Lilian was one of Swansea’s most
famous daughters. She remained proud of her
Swansea links and this helped to raise our city’s
profile. Her relationship with Prince Bertil was
one of Sweden’s most enduring and best-known
love stories, an old-fashioned love story.”
Her funeral, in a high ceremony, was at Royal
Cemetery in Haga Park outside of Stockholm
where she was laid to rest beside her prince.
Lilian’s memoir, My Life With Prince Bertil, was
published in 2000. All proceeds from the sale were
donated to children’s charities in Sweden.o
Thyria’s great-grandfather, Eugene Wescott, holds the
violin that he made.
From Ireland With Song
—Thyria Wilson
I became aware of the connection between
Irish and American traditional music when on a
bicycle trip to Ireland my group went to a
traditional music bar in Westport, County Mayo.
A man next to me, Mike McGuire, started singing
solo and then was joined by musicians playing
a fiddle and an accordion. He later sang a
song in Gaelic with the tune and chorus of Sweet
Betsy From Pike: “Oh, don’t you remember sweet
Betsy from Pike, Who crossed the wide prairies
with her lover Ike, With two yoke of oxen and a
one spotted hog, A tall Shanghai rooster
and an old yellow dog? Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-lioo-ra-li-ay.”
Thyria’s great-grandfather, Michael Moolick, plays violin
for his grandson, Eugene Michael Wescott.
In colonial America, thousands of Scots-Irish,
bringing their music with them, settled on the
Eastern Seaboard. In the early 1700s, immigrants
from the British Isles moved west from
Pennsylvania and pushed into the South through
the Shenandoah and other valleys. The mountains
www.wise-­‐fhs.org 26 W.I.S.E. Words
of Appalachia, which stretches from Maine to
Georgia, opened for settlement in 1835. Many of
the Scots-Irish in Pennsylvania came as indentured
servants, and after their terms of service,
they found land on the frontier. As they settled
in Appalachia, their musical traditions were
passed down through the generations and the remote communities preserved much of the music.
Seventy percent of the early settlers in
Appalachians were Celtic—from Scotland, Ireland
and Wales. Other groups also populated the
region, including Germans, French Huguenots and
African-Americans. Their music and traditions
mixed with that of other ethnic and racial groups
and created American folk music, country music
and bluegrass.
“Ballad hunters” and “song-catchers” -- Dr. Phillip
J. Marshall of Harvard, Cecil Howard,
Francis James Child and others –showed a direct
connection between music in the Appalachia
and the British Isles. There were two periods
of Appalachian music. These were traditional
music,
which
included
ballads
and
dance tunes, which came with Anglo-Celtic immigrants beginning in the early 1700s, and the “oldtime” music that was popular from around 1900
through the 1930s. The “old-time” music
was a blend of the traditional music with
popular and vaudeville music, and AfricanAmerican styles.
The first instrument used for that music was the
baroque fiddle, which was brought over by the
Scottish and Irish. “In the 1740s, Neil Gow, a
Scottish fiddler, is credited with developing
the power and rhythmic short bow sawstroke
technique that eventually became the foundation
of Appalachian mountain fiddling.” The mountain
dulcimer derived from an instrument from
Germany, and the banjo was created by AfricanAmericans based on an African instrument.
Most of the ballads were laments from women
such as Pretty Polly, Wayfaring Stranger and
Barbara Allen. Appalachian singing was influenced by the “ornamentation and vocal improvisation found in many Celtic ballads.” Irish
contributions included the double-stop fiddling
that mimicked the sound of the pipes, tuning that
created the “high lonesome” sound of bluegrass
and the rocking of the bow.
Two Appalachian tunes based on Irish music are
Cotton-Eyed Joe (Mountain Top) and Buffalo Gals
(Battle of the Boyne). Johnny’s Gone for a Soldier
was a 17th century Irish ballad Siuil A Ruin.
The American version retained the Gaelic chorus
and became popular during the Revolutionary War
and the Civil War. It is also known as Buttermilk
Hill and became popular again during the American folk revival of the 1960s.
Here I sit on Buttermilk Hill
Who can blame me, cryin’ my fill
And ev’ry tear would turn a mil
Johnny has gone for a soldier
Me, oh my, I loved him so
Broke my heart to see him go
And only time will heal my woe
Johnny has gone for a soldier
Shule, shule, shule agra
Since the lad of my heart from me did go
Johnny has gone for a soldier
Later ballads included the sad laments of Irish
immigration wakes, including Thousands are
Sailing and Shamrock Shore.
The Appalachian dances were a mixture of Irish,
Scottish, English and Dutch-German steps with
African-American syncopation. Tap, square, and
clog dancing evolved from this mixture. The
Gaelic word “clog” means, “time.” Clogging is
done in time with the downbeat with the heel
keeping rhythm. The dancers used their feet to
make rhythmic and percussive sounds to accompany the music. Limberjack dolls were used in the
same fashion. Banjo music became part of the
music for clogging.
Appalachian music inspired the folk music revival
of the 1950s and 1960s. Pete Seeger went to
Appalachia to learn the music, and in the 1950s
traditional musicians included the Weavers
(1949-1953) and Burl Ives. The Kingston Trio
topped the charts with their rendition of
Tom Dooley. In the 1960s musicians inspired by
American traditional music included Peter,
Paul and Mary (Buttermilk Hill), Joan Baez and
Judy Collins. Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia and
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27 W.I.S.E. Words
Bruce Springsteen sang Appalachian songs
and some of the music they wrote
had American traditional music roots. Many of
these musicians influenced a new generation
of musicians back in Ireland, including Bono
and Van Morrison.
American broadside ballads became popular in
the late 1800s, but “tended to showcase
male-dominated occupational experiences, such as
logging, ranching, and mining, as well as sensational topics.” These types of ballads led to the
development of protest songs, including songs by
Woody Guthrie.
Mick Maloney, an Irish musicologist now living
in Chicago, demonstrates that many of the songs
represent the demands for fair treatment
and fair pay, such as No Irish Need Apply. Other
songs were sung by the Irish working on the
railroads and canals, in mines, and on construction
such as Paddy on the Erie, also known as
Patrick on the Railway. (I used that song to
keep track of silverware wrapping when I worked
in the kitchen of the Boulder Memorial Hospital.)
April, May, June 2014
References:
Appalachian music. (2006). Retrieved 01/09,
2014,http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ih
as.200152683/
Bluegrass music. (2011). Retrieved 1/9, 2014,
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.20
0152684/
Conway, C. (2006). Celtic influences. Encyclopedia of Appalachia, 1132.
Elevation Management (Producer), & Marshall, P.
(Director). (2010). Music of Ireland: Welcome
home. [Video/DVD]
McClatchy, D. (2000). Appalachian traditional
music.
Retrieved
01/03,
2014,
from
http://www/mustrad.org.uk/articles/appalach
Nelson, L. (2009). Popular songs in America.
Retrieved
11/12,
2013,
from
http://www.contemplator.com/america/.o
Scottish Probate
into the 20th Century
—Diane Barbour PLCGS
Irish-American music includes Turkey in the Straw
(an Irish ballad) and Bonnie Blue Flag. When
Johnny comes Marching Home is similar to
the Irish song Johnny I hardly Know Ye. The
song Shenandoah is based on traditional Irish
music with African-American elements. Cowboy
songs
based
on
Irish
music
include
Lily of the Valley and the Streets of Laredo (Irish
ballad A Handful of Laurel). After the Civil War
came songs that were “Irish” and very popular,
but were not based on traditional Irish
music. Maloney points out that these popular
songs were written not only by Irish-Americans,
but also by Jewish-Americans, often together.
Examples of these songs are I’ll Take You Home
Kathleen, Sweet Rosie O’Grady, My Wild Irish
Rose, and When Irish Eyes are Smiling.
Finishing our discussion of legislation in Scotland
that affected probate and property disposition, we
will resume at 1881. The Presumption of Life
Limitation Act of 1881 was passed that allowed
heirs to apply to the court to receive the income
of an estate if the owner had been missing for
seven years. If the owner remained missing for
six more years they could take possession of
the moveable estate. If the owner was missing
for 19 years, they could take possession of the heritable estate. If the owner returned within the first
seven years, the estate could be reclaimed. After
19 years it could no longer be reclaimed. Again we
see the rights of family members being reinforced
reflecting the changing values in Scottish society.
If you abandon your family, there will be
consequences and you could lose your property.
American folk music has deep roots in Ireland,
from Ulster in the North and in the counties to the
South. The roots were transplanted to America,
and many took hold in the mountains and valleys
of Appalachia. From there, the roots spread to the
rest of the United States and generations later
came back to Ireland.
This 1881 law was repealed in 1891 in favor of a
new Presumption of Life Limitation Act of 1891.
This law allowed heirs to apply to the court to declare the person dead after seven years. The owner
had the right to reclaim the value of the estate, by
returning within 13 years. After 13 years the right
to reclaim the estate was lost.
www.wise-­‐fhs.org 28 W.I.S.E. Words
Two new laws were enacted that provided for the
disposition of property in an intestate (no will)
situation. The first one in 1919, the Intestate
Moveable Succession Act, gave a mother a
right to one half of a child’s moveable estate.
A series of laws, known as the Intestate Husbands’
Estate Act was passed between the years 1911 and
1959 gave the surviving spouse of someone dying
intestate the whole estate if it was valued at less
than £5,000.
It was not until 1920 that the Married
Women’s Property Act allowed a married woman
to dispose of property without her husband’s
consent. This seems incredibly late for this kind
of legislation to pass. However, remember that
many women did not get to vote until about
this time. It is really hard to believe that it has
only been in the last 100 years that a woman
could sell her property without her husband’s consent. With this right, however, comes responsibility. It made a married woman with her
own property or income responsible for an
indigent husband.
In 1926, the Legitimacy Act gave illegitimate
children a right to their mother’s estate if no
legitimate children survived. Also, the mother had
a right to the estate of a child who died intestate.
Adoption was not recognized in Scotland until
1930 when the Adoption of Children Act
was enacted. It is hard to believe that before this
time there was no legal way to adopt a child.
This act did not give an adopted child any rights
to a parent’s estate.
In 1964, the Succession Act pulled together
heritable and moveable property into one set of
rules that were similar to the rules governing
moveable property. This law stated that
full-blooded relatives inherited before half-blood
relatives. Adopted children were given rights
to their adoptive parent’s estates; however,
they still could not inherit titles or coats of arms.
In 1968 the Law Reform Act gave illegitimate
children rights to their deceased parent’s estates.
Likewise, parents were entitled to the estate of
an illegitimate child if that child died before them.
The Age of Majority Act reduced the age of
majority for both sexes from 21 to 18 in 1969. The
April, May, June 2014
Age of Legal Capacity Act further lowered this
age to 16 in 1991. This law also granted the right
of anyone over 12 to legally write his or her own
will. In 2006, the Family Law Act abolished
illegitimacy in Scotland but did not affect the inheritance rights of these children. This bill
also granted people “living together” the same
rights as married couples to their deceased
partner’s moveable property.
More information on these acts is available on this
website: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/. We see
how the laws governing probate change with the
times. The law should be representative of the
people being governed. It seems sometimes that it
takes a while for it to catch up. o
Taking Your English Search
Into the 21st Century
—Elizabeth Marcheschi
England is a crossroad, a mixing pot of invaders,
conquerers, immigrants and wayfarers. While certain remote places in the British Isles have relatively stable DNA lines, those are rare, and
England’s DNA – genetic fingerprints, if you will
– is notable for its wide variety. Monarchs are excluded from that generality because they tend to be
a tad inbred or have more distinctive DNA than
the rest of the nation.
For a fascinating look into the DNA of England’s
rulers, once you have read this article, see:
http://www.surnamedna.com/?articles=y-dna-ofthe-british-monarchy. For the rest of us, England
has a wealth of willing participants who have already had their DNA tested and are eager to
connect with you. From them, you might
find your ancestral neighborhood and many
cousins you never would have found without the
aid of genetic research.
That said, I must be clear to point out that genetic
tests are not an easy fix. They do not replace the
search for documented evidence, but they provide
a way to remove brick walls and help move your
www.wise-­‐fhs.org 29 W.I.S.E. Words
research forward, all from 5,000 miles away.
However, to understand how it can help you and
how to use DNA testing, first I must explain the
components of DNA testing and how they work in
the field of genetics and genealogy.
Many tests are available for you and some of
those are only available through medical professionals, due to the cost and liability associated
with genetic medicine. Those would do little
for a genealogist, anyway. However, three tests are
commonly used for genealogy: Y-chromosome
DNA (Y-DNA), mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA),
and autosomal DNA. The first works for only
men; the second and third for both
men and women
The key to genetic genealogy is in the differences
or mutations that make each of us unique. Before
you begin to worry, let me say that this type
of mutating does not mean an extra head
or cracked genes, but rather it serves in a similar
capacity to a whorl on a fingerprint – it is a
distinct way of identifying a genetic line. Each
test will give you unique identifying information
that you can use to research and to locate family
members in England and elsewhere, or at least
those who want to be involved in genealogical
research. But first, we need to know more about
these tests.
The mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA that is
transmitted through the maternal line is more stable and less likely to mutate as often as the
Y-DNA chromosome. The Y chromosome is a sex
chromosome and as only males have it, only males
inherit it and it is passed down from father
to son. Y-DNA is more likely to mutate
which, for genealogists, makes it easier
to track family members along the direct
paternal line.
This is not to say that the mtDNA does not
mutate. It does, but far more rarely and therefore
remains unchanged, over hundreds or even
thousands of years. This slow rate of change
won’t make a huge difference in your genealogical
search, except to rule out the wrong women
in your direct maternal line. This can be especially
helpful in England where families used a
limited number of first names which they
repeated generation after generation. (But that
added
confusion,
too.)
The
English
naming pattern is especially well explained
via a Cornwall site: http://www.cornwallopc.org/Rescnaming_patterns.php.
These rules were fairly standard throughout
England for hundreds of years. While they
can help to sort out branches of a family tree, they
also can confuse modern researchers so that,
despite all efforts to the contrary, mistakes
are made.
Mutations in both the mtDNA (female) and the
Y-DNA (male) are defined by their differences
and are grouped as such. These differences
are defined by groups indicated with a designated
letter of the alphabet from A through Z. As
there are many differences beyond those 26, they
are defined further, referred to as “subclades,”
with the addition of alternating numbers and
letters. It may sound complicated but once you
begin to work with it, the fog lifts. Just remember
that mom’s mtDNA and dad’s Y-DNA may (very
rarely) have the same haplogroup letter, but
they are not the same.
Further explanation of haplogroups and subclades
is beyond the scope of this article, but
suffice it to say that you could have the same
genetic code (haplogroup) as members of the
royal family. Does this put you in line for
the throne?
Maybe, but verification either requires a rock
solid paper trail of research or more testing.
In other words, the code neither includes you
nor excludes you. It represents only one of
your 46 chromosomes.
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30 W.I.S.E. Words
Now let’s look a moment at the X chromosome, or
the mtDNA. I share part of my haplogroup code
with the famous -- ta-dah -- Cheddar Man! If you
are still wondering, here is some background: he
was found in cave in Somerset and is England’s
oldest
surviving,
intact
skeleton.
(See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheddar_Man). His
remains have been dated back some 7,150 years,
but other partial remains found in the same cave,
and all containing that same part of the haplogroup
code, reach back as far
as 12,000 years. People
with that particular code
were one of the first
groups to move into
England as the glaciers
receded, but later other
haplogroups
followed
and
gave
England
an alphabet-soup mix
The Cheddar Man
of haplogroups.
The autosomal DNA test is the most interesting to
genealogists because it produces relevant results
up to, in my personal experience, nearly eight
generations. It tests the autosomal DNA spread
across your chromosome pairs and, while you
inherit DNA randomly, it is valuable to find
family members in at least the last six or
seven generations.
The test usually runs under $100 and is available
from several organizations. Once you have
the results, most testing organizations will also
connect you to matches from their databases
and some will link you to other, non-profit databases such as Gedmatch, (www.gedmatch.com).
These allow you to upload your autosomal
DNA results to their databases and to add
your Gedcom file as well. Gedmatch is free and it
allows you to run interesting tests such
as determining your eye color (it has been dead on
in my family).
If you are savvy and educate yourself about
DNA, you can learn many other things, but
autosomal DNA is most useful for tearing
down those brick walls. My English family, true
to the traditions of empire, scattered the world
like leaves in the fall. Using autosomal results
I found three cousins from my English side
in 2014, and I am on the trail of several more.
Of these three, one lives not in Cornwall,
where our mutual ancestor is from, but in
Yorkshire, about six hours away by car. Another
of a Cornish line belongs to a family that
has lived in Wales for the past century. The third
lives in Texas.
It does not end there. I am hot on the trail of a
possible a third cousin living in Australia.
Our connection appears to be from a line in
Devon, where the trail went cold, and has been a
brick wall for decades. Ironically, the Australian
had no idea that the family had come from Devon
and Cornwall before that, since they had lived
in Liverpool prior to sailing for Australia. He
thought they originated in London.
There are still a few more details to remember.
Men can take all three tests: Y-DNA, mitochondrial DNA, and also the test for autosomal DNA.
Women currently can take only two tests: mtDNA
and autosomal DNA. Each test has a purpose and
can reveal different sorts of connections and data,
and I am proof that they can help you to solve
longtime puzzles of English lines. Using a welldocumented family tree, I have solved three of my
English brick walls already this year by using
DNA results combined with a paper trail. They
are in no way a shortcut around developing
strong paper trail but instead, they can enhance
your hard work.
In my opinion, DNA testing is the best way to go
when the time comes to finally “cross the pond” to
do hands-on research in England.¨
www.wise-­‐fhs.org April, May, June 2014
31 W.I.S.E. Words
Tech Tips: Searching for
British Isles Military Records
—Karen Campbell
As we begin the year of 2014, we are reminded
that it’s the centennial anniversary of World War
I. Though the United States did not get involved
until 1917, Europe soon became embroiled in
the Great War, which ran from July 1914 to
November 1918. All of the United Kingdom was
involved, including what is now the Republic of
Ireland, which didn’t become independent until
after the war.
Britain generally keeps public records closed for
100 years, which means the process of releasing
WWI records may be slow as they are being microfilmed and/or digitized by the government. In
addition, some Irish military personnel records
may be housed in the National Archives at Kew,
south of London, since, as noted, all of Ireland was
under British rule during WWI.
During World War II, German bombing raids
struck London buildings that housed vital documents, predominantly British, not Irish. The search
goes on for records, yet there is the possibility that
some of were damaged or destroyed.
April, May, June 2014
quired. Then, you can buy a subscription or pay as
you go for credits for further research. At FamilySearch centers, the records are free as long as
you are logged in to the premium website on the
desktop computers. The site includes many World
War I military records.
Http://www.worldwar1veterans.com is another
website for Ireland. It covers Ireland’s World War
I veterans of 1914-1918, and is asking friends and
relatives of service personnel for information
so the veterans can be remembered this summer at
a memorial. It’s seeking data on those who served
in regiments from Ireland, Britain, the
United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand,
Africa, India and others, as well as these military
units: the British Navy, the Flying Air Corps,
the Royal Air Corps, Medical, Nursing,
Veterinary, Chaplains, Reserve Corps and the
Voluntary Aid Detachment.¨
Book Reviews
Photos Bring an English Village to Life
Sheila A. Ellis, Down a Cobbled Street, the Story
of Clovelly, Tiverton, Devon: Badger Books, 1987
At this time, Irish military pension records and
applications from 1916 to 1923 are being posted at
an Irish website, http://www.militaryarchives.ie.
These cover Ireland’s veterans in all branches of
service who have been identified as fighting in
both World War I and the Irish Civil War of 1922.
This project is being run by Military Archives for
Ireland in order that the men who fought in WWI
are remembered.
At this point only Phase I has been released. That
was in January, and there is no mention as to when
additional phases will be posted online. These
would include Irish Republican Army volunteers
in the 1916-1923 timeframe.
For other military research, there is also
http://www.findmypast.co.uk. Some records may
be searched for free to a point where a fee is re-
Paul A. Ellis photo of a Devon village street scene.
Take a trove of photographs, the photographer’s
keen sense of time and place and his daughter’s
recognition of their value, and a remarkable
memoir appears. This one is entitled
Down a Cobbled Street, and the 100-plus photos
www.wise-­‐fhs.org 32 W.I.S.E. Words
put it in a class far above of most “my old home
town” books. The town in this case is a seaside
village in northwest Devon, Clovelly, and the pictures date from the early to mid-20th century. It’s a
famous tourist attraction now, but when the photographer, Paul A. Ellis, was working and living
there, it was quaint, small and cobbled. His daughter, Sheila A. Ellis, has added her memories,
memories of old-timers, town and family stories
and her own research to produce this admirable
little volume of 64 pages. What’s more, she names
names – of hundreds of residents from the earliest
records in about 1684 to the time of the writing of
the book, 1987. Prominent old names include
Cary, Hamlyn, Jewell, Cruse, Whitefield, Dunn,
Pengelly, Howard, Headon, Moss, Shackson, Burnard, Beer, Baddock, Bate, Elliot, Kingsley and
Hortop. That’s only a short list. The memoir is
good reading for anybody who likes lovely
English villages, and even better for genealogists
who have traced families to north Devon. The
steep, cobbled street where no mechanized vehicles are allowed is still there, incidentally. This
book soon will be added to the Denver Public
Library. Here are two more awaiting inclusion in
the genealogy collection:
George Wright, Canadians at War 1914-1919; A
Research Guide to War Service Records, Milton,
Ontario: Global Heritage Press, 2010
As research guides go, this
one is extraordinary, for
both the way it’s organized
and the directions it gives
us on how to access records
of Canadians who fought in
the Great War. The records
are legion, most of them
beautifully archived and
open. What’s more, the author is passionate and informed about the subject,
often using his grandfather, William Percy Wright,
as an example. The primary depository is the
Library and Archives of Canada, and its website
should be the researcher’s starting point:
www.collectionsCanada.ca. Actually, this book
should be used in conjunction with the website,
but even a casual perusal provides a picture of Canadians in the first world war. Did you know, for
instance, that nearly 5,000 Canadians were dispatched to Siberia in 1918 to fight the
Bolsheviks? One minor quibble: Apparently
there’s no compilation of records of Americans
who fought in Canadian military units but that’s
not Wright’s fault. It’s just that nobody, yet, has
combed service records to organize such a database. As it is, American and other foreign soldiers
in the Canadian Expeditionary Force are listed in
the index to Soldiers of the First World War at the
above website, not segregated by nationality. Still,
the website is good for browsing – there’s a link
from each soldier’s name to his digitized “attestation” (enlistment) papers. Five pages listing and
describing relevant websites round out this 150page book, useful for W.I.S.E. members whose
British Isles ancestors settled in Canada. Fortunate
indeed is the researcher who gets to visit the
Library and Archives of Canada in Ottawa to
study documents not yet online. If you get there,
be sure to take a copy of this masterful guide with
you. It begs the question: Is there a similar guide
to U.S. World War I records out there anywhere?
Kevin Kenny, Making Sense of the Molly
Maguires, New York, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1998.
The title merits a question:
Who were the Molly
Maguires, anyway? Answer,
as supplied by the author:
They were a loosely organized, vaguely conspiratorial, violent bunch of first and
second generation Irish unskilled laborers and miners
in the anthracite (hard coal)
region of east-central Pennsylvania in the 1860s
who sought justice as they knew it. Their roots lay
in what the author calls “retributive justice” that
they practiced in Ireland seeking revenge against
landlords, the British and others who offended
them. They were not depraved, drunken, lazy
Irish, though the name Molly Maguire came to
connote that fiercely prejudicial view of the immigrant Irish and even of certain trade unions. The
name, Molly Maguires, came with the immigrants
from Ireland where they disguised themselves in
female garb and pledged allegiance to an imagi-
www.wise-­‐fhs.org April, May, June 2014
33 W.I.S.E. Words
nary woman – Molly Maguire -- who symbolized
their struggle. As interesting as that history is,
however, that’s not why a review of this book has
found its way into W.I.S.E. Words. It’s here because its appendixes offer rich genealogical pickings. First, the Mollys in Pennsylvania came
mostly from north-central and northwestern
Ireland, Counties Donegal, Tyrone, Mayo and
Roscommon. In Pennsylvania, they were in the
counties of Carbon, Columbia, Luzerne,
Northumberland and Schuylkill. Brief biographies
of the Pennsylvania Mollys who were prosecuted
– including four women -- cover six pages, and
identify the 20 who were hanged. Common surnames among the Mollys include Boyle,
Campbell, Dolan, Donnelly, Dougherty, Doyle,
Duffy, Kehoe, Kelly, McAllister, McGee,
McHugh, O’Donnell and O’Neil. There were
many more. If your genealogical adventures take
you to eastern Pennsylvania and your family stories include the Molly Maguires – they also had a
bit of a romantic patina – this book will offer insights and maybe even a relative or two.
—Zoe von Ende Lappin
She has worked in both the private sector for several small companies and for five state agencies
including the Department of Corrections and
Division of Human Resources in the Department
of Personnel. She is hoping to return to work in
state government at some point.
Karen started genealogy research in 2009 at the
request of her mother who wanted to learn about
their heritage in the Pommern region of Germany.
This quest has led to discoveries in family lines of
both parents, including colonial ancestors at the
time of the Mayflower. Her ancestral lines go back
to the Czech region, Germany, France, Norway,
England, Ireland, Scotland and Canada, and it was
her interest in her British Isles heritage that
prompted her to join W.I.S.E. in 2013. She also
belongs to Aurora Genealogy Society, Colorado
Genealogical Society, Germanic Genealogy
Society of Colorado and Toll Gate Chapter of
Daughters of American Revolution. She also is a
community volunteer at the Denver Stake
FamilySearch Center, helping patrons with their
genealogy research.
Karen’s other interests include traveling, reading,
quilting, spending time with family and friends
and going to youth sporting events. She was appointed to the position of technical resource editor
for W.I.S.E. Words in December 2013. She
expects that her experience working with genealogical databases as well as those in her professional work environment will serve her well in
carrying out her responsibilities for W.I.S.E. ¨
Member Profile
Karen Ball Campbell, the
new Tech Tips columnist for
W.I.S.E. Words, was born in
Denver to Donald Ball and
Barbara Staves Ball. Her
father served in the U.S. Air
Force and was stationed at
Lowry Air Force Base in the
late 1950s.
Karen is the older of two daughters. She grew up
in Aurora, graduating from an Aurora public
school. She attended a Christian junior college and
while a student there, spent two weeks traveling
around England. She later received degrees from
Columbia College of Aurora in human resource
management and business administration. She is
divorced, the mother of a son and active
in her church.
www.wise-­‐fhs.org April, May, June 2014
34 W.I.S.E. Words
April, May, June 2014
W.I.S.E. Program Schedule
April 6-13, 2014
Family History Library
Salt Lake City
Annual Reseach Trip
W.I.S.E. Members and Guests
Registration is full.¨
April 26, 2014
1:30 p.m.
Denver Public Library
7th Floor
Scots-Irish Research
John Mears
John will discuss the descendants of the Presbyterians from Lowland Scotland who
settled in Ulster (the northernmost province of Ireland) in the 17th century — and
subsequently emigrated from there to America.o
May 24, 2014
1:30 p.m.
Denver Public Library
7th Floor
DNA
John Simmons
John will discuss DNA research, especially how it relates to British Isles
genealogy. He will also talk about what people need to think about before they
order a test.o
June 14, 2014
Time to be determined
Central City
W.I.S.E. Field Trip
W.I.S.E Members and Guests
Tour of cemeteries and other historic sites in Central City. Details to follow.¨
www.wise-­‐fhs.org