Archive for » January, 2010 «

Thoughts on Ancestry and Coincidences

I was just sitting here thinking about the multi national family I have, not just in my immediate family which is, Daughters fiance is of European ancestry, Sons wife is of Koori ancestry, my own Husband is Scots-English, my sisters are married one to an Aussie of Greek ancestry, the other an Aussie of Maltese ancestry.

Looking back we have Irish marrying English – both were convicts sent out here in the very early 1800’s. A bit strange considering how the English persecuted the Irish at that time! I guess desperate times call for desperate measures?

We have Scots, we have Welsh. We have English who stopped off in New Zealand, had kids, and then the kids came here too, so I guess we own a small part of New Zealand as well.

Then there is the Jewish side of my family, where it appears currently that we have a Polish Jew who married a German Jew, they moved to England, had kids in Manchester, the son grew up, moved to South Africa, married a Jewish girl from Birmingham, they had their kids and packed up and came to Sydney, where it appears they all married outside of their faith.

Then there is the Robertson-Gorrie connection.  I am an Aussie born and bred, my other half was born in the UK, having moved here at 6 years old.

When we first starting dating it was strange to find out that his dads surname is actually Robertson -Gorrie the Robertson apparently being his Paternal Grans name, my maiden name is Robertson. It’s going to be interesting to see if there is a connection somewhere back there – that is if I can ever find my James’s family!!!!

It’s no wonder when people start making racist comments I get angry, maybe we should all take a look backwards and shake that family tree, you never know just what you might find!

The things you think of late at at night….

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Robertson-Gorrie latest Images

Links to the latest images on my photography site Robertson-Gorrie Photography

Robertson-Gorrie Photography (0)

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After Scots Maps?

Here is a great website with lots of old maps of scotland.

Have also put a link in the Scotland Links Category.

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Family Gene News

Well it has taken a while, but I have finally bitten the bullet, and signed up with Ancestry.Com

I have started to enter our family details do a search for Robertson-Gorrie and you can fund us.

It is going to take some time to get all the details that I have onto the site.

Meanwhile if you think you have a link, please let me know.

Cheers

Kaz Robertson-Gorrie

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Defending Victoria

Great website with all sorts of links to anything related to the Military.

Defending Victoria

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Clan Donnachaidh

memdayStrip

The Official Website for the Clan Donnachaidh

Has a PDF file on the various Robertson lines.

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Robertson of Kirkmichael

This is a very well put together website on a branch of the Robertson family from Kirkmichael. The excerpt below explains the difficulty with researching the Robertson name in this area.

Website is here

The excerpt regarding the Robertson’s
Prior to 1771- The Robertson Family in Kirkmichael

The earliest event that I have been able to accurately trace the Robertson family back to is Duncan Robertson’s birth in 1771 in the parish of Kirkmichael, Perthshire. His father was John, a farmer. This information is from Duncan’s death certificate. Duncan was James Duncan Robertson’s great grandfather.

The parish of Kirkmichael lies in the area of Atholl in Perthshire where the Robertson clan or Clan Donnachaidh held their territory. The original Robertsons were the Struan Robertsons – supposedly the oldest family in Scotland. From this family, there were two main branches Lude and Strathloch (or Straloch), and then there were many sub-branches from these. In the parish of Kirkmichael, where our Robertson family originated, the main families were the Robertsons of Downie, of Cray, of Bleaton, of Cultalony and of Strathloch. There were also many smaller Robertson families.
There are several books in the Edinburgh library on the Robertsons. For further information, I would recommend the following two:-
“The Robertsons – Clan Donnachaidh of Atholl” by Sir Iain Moncreiffe of the Ilk and
“Short History of Clan Robertson” by Major J. Robertson Reid
At the time of Duncan’s birth (1771), the parish of Kirkmichael was home to about 2700 people, according to Webster’s 1755 census. Of these, about 415 would have been men of an age to be Duncan’s father (aged 20 to 40). Since about half of all the Roberston clan seem to have been called John, the chances of finding the right John Robertson as Duncan’s father are zero!

Ed note: Personally I think the other half were all James or Alexander !  because I am running into the same problems.

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