a Trip to Orkney, or not...
Donald McKenzie - a short life in the North of Scotland...
When I was asked for expressions of interest for a Genealogy Tour to the Orkney Islands, at first I dismissed the idea for Family history, but would be interested in the sightseeing....
as I only had one connection with the Orkney's (that I know of)
my 3rd Great Uncle was born in the district of Walls and Flotta, Orkney.
I thought I could try and confirm this supposition,
so a quick check of my FTM2017 and my various computer files was made.
(I must do a back up of all those)
I always wondered whether Donald's mother Jean/Jane McKenzie (nee Cormack)
was visiting relatives in Orkney at the time of Donald's birth!
As all the other records had the family of Kenneth and Jane living in Bower, Caithness.
Already I had the Family Search index of Donald's birth
which definitely showed the right parents and the birthplace of Orkney.
Donald's elder brother Alexander -my Great great Grandfather, was born in Bower,
in 1855, and the younger siblings were born in Bower too.
The 1861 Census shows Jane and the kids living at Brabsterdorran, Bower.
Earlier I had discovered that Donald died young, at the age of 7, in 1864.
The death certificate shows cause of death as Gastric Fever of 12 days.
So a boy who died young, which made my hunt for other McKenzie cousins harder,
as the other siblings, daughters, are harder to track.
But back to Orkney - was it really the correct Donald McKenzie? 1856 meant there would be a Birth registration under Civil law, so I bought the Birth certificate from Scotlands People.
This certificate confirmed the information at Familysearch, AND
added the detail of place and father's occupation...
After a search on Google maps, I found the place Melsetter, on the Walls and Flotta islands,
soooooo. Kenneth was a Gamekeeper at Melsetter, on Orkney in 1856 when Donald was born.
and further googling found Melsetter House...More research to do!
Maybe a trip to Orkney would be twice as interesting now....
When I was asked for expressions of interest for a Genealogy Tour to the Orkney Islands, at first I dismissed the idea for Family history, but would be interested in the sightseeing....
as I only had one connection with the Orkney's (that I know of)
my 3rd Great Uncle was born in the district of Walls and Flotta, Orkney.
I thought I could try and confirm this supposition,
so a quick check of my FTM2017 and my various computer files was made.
(I must do a back up of all those)
I always wondered whether Donald's mother Jean/Jane McKenzie (nee Cormack)
was visiting relatives in Orkney at the time of Donald's birth!
As all the other records had the family of Kenneth and Jane living in Bower, Caithness.
Already I had the Family Search index of Donald's birth
Index entry for Donald's birth |
Donald's elder brother Alexander -my Great great Grandfather, was born in Bower,
in 1855, and the younger siblings were born in Bower too.
The 1861 Census shows Jane and the kids living at Brabsterdorran, Bower.
1861 Census |
The death certificate shows cause of death as Gastric Fever of 12 days.
So a boy who died young, which made my hunt for other McKenzie cousins harder,
as the other siblings, daughters, are harder to track.
But back to Orkney - was it really the correct Donald McKenzie? 1856 meant there would be a Birth registration under Civil law, so I bought the Birth certificate from Scotlands People.
This certificate confirmed the information at Familysearch, AND
added the detail of place and father's occupation...
After a search on Google maps, I found the place Melsetter, on the Walls and Flotta islands,
soooooo. Kenneth was a Gamekeeper at Melsetter, on Orkney in 1856 when Donald was born.
and further googling found Melsetter House...More research to do!
Maybe a trip to Orkney would be twice as interesting now....
Comments
Post a Comment