Can Anyone help me?

sarone · Post by **sarone** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:30 pm

I live in Sydney and am searching for my Scottish Ancestry on my maternal Grandmother's side. So far, I have had no luck and my grandmother's family remains a mystery.
Her name was Jean or Jane Pirie Johnstone and she emmigrated to Australia in or around 1927. She married an English immigrant, Austin Joseph Kershaw in the early 1930's in Sydney Australia and they died in 1989 and 1990. Her only daughter, June (my mother) died in 1971 and her only son, Ted (Edward James) died in 1998.
I have no known records, except that her Uncle Tom Johnstone lived years before in Australia also. I only found this out recently.
She was born in 1908 in Aberdeen, but gave no information about her family in Scotland. I think she may have had a brother named James.
From my searches on Scotspeople.gov.uk, I have found some sort of record but do not know for sure if it is her parents. If so, then they may have been in their 40's when she was born. She did mention that her father died when she was quite young, so this may be the right match.
They are Henry Johnstone and Jane Pirie who married in the district of Old Machar in Aberdeen on 18th June 1883.
Does anyone have any information on this couple or any other family members or descendants?
I would love to find out my Scottish ancestry, but without much information, I suspect this may be lost forever.
I would be so grateful to anyone who may be able to help me in any way with my search.

Wendy

Post by **paddyscar** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:26 pm

Hi Wendy and welcome to TalkingScot

Have you found a copy of your Grandmother's marriage certificate/registration or her immigration record? They may give her parent's names. Our collection of Australia & New Zealand sites may be of some help there

http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9597

I checked ScotlandsPeople census for 1891 and 1901 for Johnstone, Henry and second person's forename Jane. Each of these produced 4 records. If you do a search for Johnstone, Henry and second person's forname James, you'll get 16 hits. Perhaps if you cross check these for matching locations, you may find a connection.

I'm sure others will be along soon to add more suggestions.

Hope this helps,
Frances

Post by **AnneM** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:50 pm

Hi Wendy

If I were you I would go first for the Jane Pirie Johnston born 1907 in Woodside, Aberdeen. She is the illegitimate daughter of Robert Johnston, Farm Servant and Williamina Pirie, domestic servant both of whom signed the birth registration.

Unless you are sure for some reason that that is not her, I think it looks likely to me.

Anne

Post by **AnneM** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:56 pm

Hi again Wendy

The good news is that, if that is your Jane, her parents get married in 1908 in Old Aberdeen, which gives you the names of all four grandparents. Go for it!!

Anne

Post by **AnneM** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 7:19 pm

Some even better news. Robert is easy to find in 1891 in Nigg which is given as in Kincardineshire (he even has a granny in the house) and Williamina's parents marry in 1882 in Woodside, Aberdeen, which gives you both sets of their parents, one of whom is called Williamina.

Anne

Post by **AnneM** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:20 pm

Me again! I hope very much that these turn out to be yours because with very little problem Robert's line gets back to people born in the middle of the C18. Sorry, could not resist having a peek as am out of practice at the moment.

Let us know what you think and shout if you get stuck anywhere.

Anne

sarone · Post by **sarone** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:12 am

Thank you Anne for that very valuable information.
I think you may have the right lead on the family of my grandmother.
My brother and I always felt that she was a mystery regarding her family and would not tell us anything. Even our mother did not know anything about her mother's scottish life.
We always felt she was running or hiding from something.
I will check it out further.

Wendy

Post by **AnneM** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:49 pm

Hi again Wendy

If you have any chance of doing this, I think it would be best to check any documents you can access in Oz just to verify any details on her parents. I would be very surprised indeed if that birth were not her but, on the other hand, stranger coincidences have happened.

I'm sure that at some point I got access to the death certficate of my great grandfather Hugh McCammond who died in 1903 in Sydney and if I remember correctly it had his parents' details on it. I'm sure I still have the transcription but since moving house I have been a bit all over the place. Sorry, a bit of a ramble but my point was that, given that, I would expect the Sydney certificates relating to your Grandmother to be accessible and have some useful details.

Well, your couple got married in 1933 in Sydney and of you don't have a copy of this certificate you could get one online. Presumably you can get them in person as well though it would be a bit far for me so I've never tried!! If only I'd thought of that while my daughter was in Sydney.

The NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages has a great website which is very easily searchable if you've not had a chance to do that before.

I see that death certificates are only available online up to 1977 but do have parents' details on them.

Anne

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:45 am

Hello Wendy,

Definitely get hold of a copy of the marriage certificate. Your grandparent’s marriage certificate should include the ages and birthplaces of the parties, parents names and whether living and the father’s occupations. NSW death certificates include parent’s names and how long in the country if the informant knew.

The AncestorsOnBoard site has passenger lists but I can’t see anything obvious around 1927 or anytime except for a couple of Jean/Jane Johnston’s b. 1907 went to Queensland 1910 and 1916. http://www.ancestorsonboard.com/

Alan

trish1 · Post by **trish1** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:13 pm

Currie wrote:Hello Wendy,

Definitely get hold of a copy of the marriage certificate. Your grandparent’s marriage certificate should include the ages and birthplaces of the parties, parents names and whether living and the father’s occupations. NSW death certificates include parent’s names and how long in the country if the informant knew.

....

Apologies if you already know this -
The cheapest (and quickest) way to get NSW BDM information is via transcripts
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory ... ptionAgent

Trish