Hi Guys

[Miss Poohs]

It's been a while, but I'm back dabbling again.

OK - nothing cast iron to this one, just thinking out loud, but I'd be interested in your thoughts.

There's a rellie of mine born in 1901, he has the family surname as you'd expect, but also has the middle name of the lodger's surname - Fernie.

Now call me suspicious but I find that odd - far be it from me to cast questions on his parentage, but wouldn't that make you wonder too?

Lodgers were 10 a penny back in those days, so why would you call one of your kids after the paying guest?

[Russell]

Hi

Nice to have you back again

I wondered about some of these lodgers too until I dug a bit deeper and discovered that some of them were destined to become relatives a bit further down the line. OK. They were linked to siblings off the main line but so often we have had to look at the brothers and sisters to find a vital clue which took us back to the main line. Don't discount them too quickly. The might actually be your 3rd cousin 3 times removed.

Russell

[SarahND]

Hi Miss Poohs!
Welcome back I would definitely have a look at that lodger in more detail-- 7 generations or so each way should do it
Have fun and tell us what you find!
All the best,
Sarah

[sheilajim]

Hi Miss Poohs,

Welcome Back. You were missed.
I also have a family of old Rellies, who named one of their children for what is described as a lodger in the 19th Century. I was thinking that this lodger is probably a relative of the family. So far I haven't traced him. It is one of the things that I plan to do.

Cheers

[Miss Poohs]

Thanks everyone and it's lovely to be back.

We're still living in the middle of a building site, but hey I'll soon be able to drape all the rubble and mess with tinsel - and it'll look lovely

Anyway - and I know this is a bit presumptious, but on the 1901 census that this "lodger" appears on, it states he was born in Scotland.

So I done some rooting around and I think I found him - I also found another Fernie from around the same area who was an inmate in an asylum.

Now this rellie of mine also suffered with his mental health - and was institutionalised for most of his adult life.

Co-incidence ir what? I'm interested though.

[SarahND]

Co-incidence ir what? I'm interested though.

Genes will tell? Well, it is certainly an interesting coincidence, and may just be a clue! I'd keep rooting around, if I were you, to find out if those two Fernies were related.

Sarah

P.S. I live in a building site most of the time, so you have all my sympathy

[Chris Paton]

So I done some rooting around and I think I found him - I also found another Fernie from around the same area who was an inmate in an asylum.

Now this rellie of mine also suffered with his mental health - and was institutionalised for most of his adult life.

Co-incidence ir what? I'm interested though.

Hi Miss Poohs,

I had a four greats uncle who died in a Perthshire asylum in 1890, 24 years after the murder of his sister at his farm house. I had suspected that the murder had driven him insane, but being in an asylum back then did not necessarily mean he was insane. I was contacted a few weeks back and asked if I would like to share my murder story for a radio programme, but I asked if we could chase up the brother's story instead. The producer agreed, and so we made our way to the Dundee University Archive to examine the asylum's records, now in their posession.

The upshot of all of that is that the records were unbelievably detailed, including instances of him being insitutionalised twice, the first time for three months, the second for six years. The murder did indeed drive him insane, and it was quite upsetting to read how fragile his mind had ended up. I had a chance to make an examination of others records in the collection and found all sorts, including a genogram book from 140 years ago! This had a family tree drawn up for every patient, but instead of BDM data, it had lists of illnesses that the family had endured for up to three or four generations before the patient.

It is well worth digging out the asylum records if you can find them, and if they are not closed for access - your two Fernies may well be related, and the records may well point you to a heap of information that you migth not find anywhere else. In my own case, for example, this 4x uncle's parents, my 4xgreat grandparents, had a cause of death listed for each of them, flu and cardiac disease, which was a fantastic find as both died before 1855.

Good luck!

Chris

[Miss Poohs]

I did get some info via Glasgow Uni archives.

My rellie had one or two short stays in mental insitutions then in the early 1930's he was committed long term to Woodilee, where he remained until he died in 1974.

Apparently he was actually free to go in the 1960's but remained there instead as an "informal patient", I guess he'd been institutionalised by then - poor soul.

The information stated he was schizophrenic (sp?), although there was a story that he took his baby daughter to the wrong hospital when she was ill and as a result she died and he never got over it.

It's all very sad isn't it?

I really have my doubts about his parentage.

Wonder what my husband would say if I had a baby and called him after a lodger!!!

Just had a thought - hope it isn't hereditary!!!!!!!!!