New member looking for help.

[Ina]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum, I haven't posted yet and I'm not quite sure how to. I'm trying to help a friend research her Scottish ancestry so bear with me as I'm unfamiliar with the Scottish system

We're trying to find knowledge of Thomas Aitchison Graham who could possibly have been born around 1880's, we've no idea when or to whom.
We have a photo of him outside the "Cooperative Society Abbotsview Convalescent Home, Galashiels" taken in 1918 but, he looks more like a staff member than a patient. We've not managed to find out anything about this home via the Internet and we wonder if you could suggest where to look for information please.

We live in England and we aren't familiar with Scotland's geography, sorry so we would welcome anyone's suggestions.

Regards,
Marlene Collis

[Falkyrn]

According to http://www.oldgalaclub.org.uk/History%20Dates.htm the Convalescent home was opened in 1906 but gives no further information.

The main site for Scottish research is the Scotlands people Site which is a pay site (£6 for 30 credits) if you find the birth certificate you will find more information than on an English equivalent.

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

Galashiels is in the border area between Scotland & England.

[Falkyrn]

A possible born in Hawick from the 1891 census and living at
14 Myreslaw Green , Hawick.

Thomas Graham,36, a shoemaker
his wife Hannah Graham,40

& children Maggie Graham,age 8
Thomas A Graham, aged 10
William Johnstone,17, boarder

[speleobat2]

Hi Marlene,

I'm not all that familiar with Scotland away from Aberdeen, but I found three possibilities for you on Ancestry:

Thomas A. Graham
Born 1881 Dumfriesshire

Father: Thomas was a Shoemaker
Mother: Hannah

1891 Census has them living in Hawick, Roxburghshire with a daughter Maggie, age 8.

Next:

Thomas Graham
B: 1884 Galashiels, Selkirkshire

Father James
Mother Mary

1901 Census has them living at Oxenford House Farm Hindi House, Cranston, Midlothian.

Thomas is a Garden Carter.

Last:

Thomas Graham
B: 1881 Galashiels, Selkirkshire
Father Pringle
Mother Margaret

1901 Census has them living in Galashiels. Thomas is a yarn twiner. His father is a yarn spinner and twiner. There was also a brother James age 13, and a brother Pringle age 18.

Maybe some of these places or names are familiar to your friend.

Carol

[Marlene]

Well,
What can I say but, thanks for the information everyone, and so swift too!
The dilemma we have with this chap (my friend's grandfather) is that we have no information other than his name, the fact that he's from Galashiels area and the photo of Abbotsview House which has the date on the front of 1918. He doesn't look like a returning soldier from WW1, the photo features male and female people of various ages including 3 children standing in front of the main doorway, were they staff members?

We have no father's name given on my friend's mother's birth certifcate so, it's thought that no marriage took place between Thomas Aitchison Graham and my friend's grandmother. Incidentally, is Aitchison a common name in Scotland, I did suspect it could be his mother's maiden name.

The strongest possibility is the Thomas Graham born 1884 which I'll explore further, many thanks to everyone for your assistance.
Am I correct in thinking that in Scottish research the censuses aren't available to view through Ancestry please?

Regards,
Marlene

[Currie]

Hello Marlene,

Just a few scraps in case they prove useful. You may know about some of these.

This thread has a 2005 enquiry
http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums ... -9685.html

There’s a 2006 enquiry here
http://www.royalgenes.biz/soc.genealogy ... d1012.html

This page has someone looking for a John Aitchison Graham born in 1901 in Galashiels (right at bottom)
http://knowhere.co.uk/board/kb3347/thre ... l?start=20

There are a number of Aitchison Graham events (full name) on SP. Galashiels has births in 1876 and 1883 so there’s probably a clue there somewhere if there’s no immediate luck with Thomas.

On SP there are two Graham/Aitchison marriages between 1870 & 1900
i.e. 1883 & 1894 but I don’t know where. It might be worth following up the families if not getting anywhere.

There are only a couple of English births on FreeBMD that might be worth looking at if the Scottish enquiry falls flat. You could check George on the 1901 English census to see if there’s a Thomas lurking in the family. Tynemouth is not too far away.
http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

Births Sep 1897
GRAHAM, George Aitchison - Tynemouth 10b325
Births Dec 1901
GRAHAM, Isabella Aitchison - Tynemouth 10b338

The Aitchison/Graham combination appears to be quite uncommon. If you put the Aitchison name into the free surname search on the SP Home Page you’ll get an idea how common a name it is. It’s not all that common really.

Ancestry has only the Scottish census index/transcription, the actual images are only available from SP. Don’t forget to post again if you feel you’re not getting anywhere or have any problems or doubts about anything at all.

Good luck,
Alan

[AndrewP]

Incidentally, is Aitchison a common name in Scotland, I did suspect it could be his mother's maiden name.

Aitchison is a reasonably common Scottish name, but beware its spelling varies. If searching on ScotlandsPeople, I suggest A*ch*son to catch them all.

Am I correct in thinking that in Scottish research the censuses aren't available to view through Ancestry please?

Ancestry has transcriptions of the Scottish censuses from 1841 to 1901. The transcriptions vary in their accuracy. They claim to have used humans to transcribe them, but when you see some of the transcriptions, it seems more like they were computer-read. The only place to get the originals is on ScotlandsPeople (button at the top of this page).

All the best,

AndrewP

[Marlene]

Many thanks for all your comments on this conundrum, I'll check them out. I had another look at him yesterday and, basically, I've discovered no more than you guys had suggested.
To find a birth registration of a child born to an Aitchison-Graham combination would seem the obvious route but, he may have been born a plain Thomas Graham around 1880's and added the Aitchison at a later date, a bit like putting a personal number plate on a car!
The only sighting of Thomas Aitchison Graham is in 1918 on a photo of Abbotsview House, Galashiels which was, I believe, a convalescent home but, the picture is of several people all of different age groups, even 3 chidren on it, they all look like staff members rather than patients, no uniforms on anyone, it certainly doesn't look like a "returned from WW1 group". In the early 1920's this Thomas Aitchison Graham lectured at The Technological Institute of Great Britain, 231, Strand, London.
I've found the woman he fathered 4 children with: Ann Rebecca Kenny born in Toxteth Park Liverpool, she's on the 1901 census living n Toxteth Park wth her Irish mother but, I couln't find her on the 1891 census.
I think this family is difficult for me to find because of the Irish and Scottish connections. Being a Yorkshire lass I'm used to researching that area so Scotland is out of my scope, just that I was trying to help a friend.
I thank you most sincerely for your suggestions, it's an excellent site.
Regards,
Marlene