Bit nervous!

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Kathykins
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 11:20 am
Location: Devon, England

Bit nervous!

Post by Kathykins » Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:47 am

Hi all,

I've had a lovely bit of success recently! I ordered a book from the Tay Valley Family History Society out of morbid curiousity and found an entire section on my great grandmother's family, the McKenzies, who lived in Clunie at the beginning of the 20th Century - it told the story of how they'd come to settle there, but it went on to say that the family had died out in the 1960s.

Thinking the author must know of a source that I didn't I scribbled off a letter and posted it off, hoping at best to find something that would point me in the direction of my 3xgreat grandfather Donald McKenzie, who I think must have been the second generation to live there.

I was thrilled to get a letter back from the author explaining that she knew so much about the McKenzies because my great grandmother and her sisters used to babysit her! :D She actually knew them, and has been able to tell me so much about their personalities and lives. She remembers my grandmother and her brothers visiting.

I'm visiting Scotland this weekend with my parents, and I'm hoping to meet up with her to hear more of her memories, but it's a bit nerve racking isn't it?
Luceo non uro

Researching McKenzies of Caputh/Clunie, Perthshire
Morrisons of Aberdeenshire & Perthshire
Cobbs of Brechin, Angus
Scotts of Monifieth, Angus

joette
Global Moderator
Posts: 1974
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2005 5:13 pm
Location: Clydebank

Post by joette » Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:26 pm

Oh how lovely to have this contact with your ancestors.
Don't be nervous enjoy! Take something to record what she says-ask her first off course.

Have a great day. :D
Researching:SCOTT,Taylor,Young,VEITCH LINLEY,MIDLOTHIAN
WADDELL,ROSS,TORRANCE,GOVAN/DALMUIR/Clackmanannshire
CARR/LEITCH-Scotland,Ireland(County Donegal)
LINLEY/VEITCH-SASK.Canada
ALSO BROWN,MCKIMMIE,MCDOWALL,FRASER.
Greer/Grier,Jenkins/Jankins

fmackay
Posts: 364
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2005 11:40 pm
Location: East Lothian

Post by fmackay » Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:52 pm

Hope you have a wonderful time! I recently made contact with a distant cousin who I never knew existed yet they knew all aobut me!
There was a "connection" with her almost immediately and the visit was a mixture of laughter and tears. Well worth the butterflies before hand and someone who I know I will keep in close contact with from now on. :)
Looking for
Mackay Morrison Manson - Sutherland
Bain Sinclair Gunn Henderson Levack Dunnet Lyall More Corner Miller-Caithness
Wylie Brown Louttit Banks Hourston Spence Drever Bews Irvine Whitelaw/Whitelay Linklater - Orkney

Kathykins
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 11:20 am
Location: Devon, England

Post by Kathykins » Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:15 am

Oh, I am SO glad I swallowed my nerves!

Elma was the most wonderful person - so warm and friendly, I felt like I was really part of the family! My head is still reeling from the information she was able to give me - such wonderful stories about my aunts and uncles, and the people they were. I'm just completely gobsmacked by it all, to use a phrase of my granny's!

She saved the best part until last though, and was able to present me with a necklace that had belonged to my great great aunt. I don't mind admitting to some sobbing at that point...

A truly humbling but very worthwhile experience.
Luceo non uro

Researching McKenzies of Caputh/Clunie, Perthshire
Morrisons of Aberdeenshire & Perthshire
Cobbs of Brechin, Angus
Scotts of Monifieth, Angus

fmackay
Posts: 364
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2005 11:40 pm
Location: East Lothian

Post by fmackay » Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:23 am

I am delighted that you had such a wonderful time - well worth all the nerves!!
The necklace would've been the icing on the cake! :D
Looking for
Mackay Morrison Manson - Sutherland
Bain Sinclair Gunn Henderson Levack Dunnet Lyall More Corner Miller-Caithness
Wylie Brown Louttit Banks Hourston Spence Drever Bews Irvine Whitelaw/Whitelay Linklater - Orkney