Robert Wilson Armstrong 1857-1910 Part 2

When I left my great, great grandfather last time he’d just been chucked out West Riding Police Force for being a two timing rat. We’ll that’s not the official reason obviously but that was what happened. He abandoned my great, great grandmother, Grace Halliday Rae while she was pregnant with his son. That was in …

Robert Wilson Armstrong 1857-1910 Part 1

I often think about what it would be like to go back in time and find out my ancestors’ stories direct from them. There would be so many questions. And how good would it be to observe their daily lives? Robert Wilson Armstrong was my great great grandfather but I reckon if I could go …

An Easy Mistake To Make – Finding Sarah Helferty

The only one of my grandparents I got to meet was my Granny Brawley, my mum's mum. I knew that her father was called Patrick Cosgrove and her mother was Sarah Helferty. I knew that she was born in Glasgow in 1900. Prior to starting my research that was pretty much it. My granny died …

Archibald Bradley 1923-1925

I have previously written about my great grandmother's sister, Hannah Keenan and the hardships she faced in life. You can read the post by clicking here. At the time of writing I did not know about her grandson, Archibald Bradley. Archie was just 2 years old when he died in the most tragic of circumstances. …

Died On This Day – My Father

Today marks 25 years since my father, Robert Armstrong Rae, died at the age of 69. I wanted to share a few photos of him that I’ve found. Born in 1926 he joined the army in 1944 shortly after his 18th birthday. He enlisted as a Seaforth Highlander and can be seen in this photograph …

James Lockie 1879-1959

I’ve now made a number of discoveries while wandering through Cambusnethan Cemetery. Above is another headstone that caught my eye in passing. Lockie is a name on my family tree so I thought I would investigate further. When I checked my online tree there were two options. Both were first cousins 4 times removed with …