My Family History

I’ve spent the last couple of days finding lots of information on my ancestor John Cramond at Ancestry.24. The site does require a small subscription and the records are only transcriptions but if you are looking for that extra bit of information to add to your family history you’ll probably find something about your South African ancestors.

The site has transcriptions of church records, directories, death notices, passenger lists military records and goverment gazettes.

I now know that John Cramond, my 2nd great grandfather travelled to South Africa in 1858 with his brother James.  In 1860 John married Mary Black the daughter of Peter Black and Catherine Stewart.  John and Mary eventually returned to the UK and lived in Cleator Moor, Cumberland. They had thirteen children some eventually immigrating to Australia and America.

John Cramond was the son of John Cramond and Anne Low who married in Brechin, Scotland in 1826.  They had 10 children; Isabel, Cecilia, James, John, Jean, Catherine, Alexander, Ann, George and Joseph.

Just thought I would post the families that I am researching:

• Thomas Ankers and Sarah Smallwood, Nantwich, Cheshire
• William Williamson and Martha Evanson, Nantwich, Cheshire
• Abraham Horsfall and Ruth Tillotson, Yorkshire
• Robert Lilddle and Margaret Young, Coldstream, Berwickshire
• James Kelly and Sarah Hall, Roxburghshire
• Thomas Page and Elizabeth Andrews, Charing, Kent
• Phillip Woodford and Esther Rashley, Brighstone, Isle of Wight
• John Spark and Sarah Rigg, Keswick, Cumberland
• James Smith and Sarah Smith, Keswick, Cumberland
• Alexander Cramond and Isabella Jamieson, Brechin, Angus
• Angus Stewart and Catherine Carlyle, Dumfries
• William Todhunter and Grace Robinson, Caldbeck, Cumberland
• William Peel and Lettice Scott, Caldbeck, Cumberland

Thanks to The National Archives I have just received the discharge papers of my 4th great grandfather James Kelly.  James enlisted in 1804 and served as a gunner with His Majesty’s Fifth Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Artillery.  He was disharged in 1816 after serving nearly twelve years, two of them at Waterloo.

The discharge papers have given me an extraordinary amount of information on James; his physical description, age, place of birth and the date of his death in 1833.  Dying in 1833 meant that he would not have received the Military General Service Medal which was awarded in 1848 for military service between 1793-1814.  In fact it is estimated that about 90% of those entitled to the medal had died before it was issued or just did not come forward to accept it.

If you use The National Archives website you can now access 11 catalogues and databases using their new search engine called Public Web Search.  You can search Documents Online, Access to Archives (A2A), ARCHON, Electronic Records Online, research guides and the Moving Here and Family Records websites.

Welcome to my family history blog.  I have been researching my family history for 10 years and I will be using this blog to share some of the information I have found.  If you are connected to any of the people mentioned please feel free to contact me or leave a comment.