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The Earl of Wessex leaving alter the Official Opening of the Orkney Library and Archive on Tuesday 2nd September 2003. In this lovely building Orkney

Family history Society is to have its new office.

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J Contents:-2 From the Chair. Future Events 8 3 From the Editor. Deadlines. 10

September meeting 11 4 The Long Road T)ome. Directory 12 5 Official opening of Orkney Library 13

& Archive 15 6 Booh Review 16

Quiz 19

V Rev. Alexander Smith Website information Working on the Gardens' Photographic history o! Flotta October meeting ftiuiualTHeal Research via the Internet Robert Snhster r

From the Chair

At the moment I am enjoying reading yet another new Orkney Book that has ap-peared in time for Christmas. It is "'The Shore' and roond aboot" written by the retired Orkney Librarian, David Tinch. In it he describes growing up in Kirk-wall in the thirties and forties and all in a very humorous style. It contains in-teresting photographs including school groups and a major bonus is the forty-three prints of his stunning oil paint-ings and some of his cartoons. The paintings I had admired in exhibitions in the past but couldn't buy them all! I will treasure this book for several rea-sons.

It will be recorded elsewhere in the magazine that George and I had the honour of meeting the Earl of Wessex in the new library when he visited our stand at the opening in September. He was very easy to talk to. i gave him a sample of our pedigree charts made out for himself with two of the Queen Mother's ancestors missing. He ac-cepted it with the remark, 'This will be my homework." I hope he hadn't rec-ognised the voice of a retired school-teacher! In view of the imminent birth of their child we took the opportunity of wishing him and the Countess all the best for their future as a family.

As promised in the June magazine I am about to vacate the chair, so this will be the last that 1 will write in this capacity. In the minutes of the first meeting of the Steering Committee, dated 21st Oc-tober 1996 it says, "Mrs Nan Scott agreed to chair these meetings, includ-ing the inaugural meeting." Then a few lines down, "A chairman to succeed Nan Scott is to be actively sought."

Seven years later my successor has been found!

At the last committee meeting Anne Ren-dall was appointed Vice-Chairman and accepted the post with the knowledge that she would soon be Chairman. This is a popular appointment Anne has taken an active part in the running of the society from the early days. Among other things she has transcribed censuses, is working on the Old Parish Registers and looks after the office most Saturday afternoons.

Through the week she is a banker and regularly visits outer islands on business on Loganair planes. She knows a lot of people because of her work and is well known. She lives in Kirkwall but the fam-ily home owned by her parents is Holland House in Papa Westray. As a working girl her spare time will be a bit more limited but with youth on her side and with her enthusiasm she will be well able to fill the position.

I certainly could not have remained in the post for so long without the support that I have had especially from the committee, including the Hon President, the willing-ness of volunteers and the enthusiasm of those attending meetings and speaking at them. It has been busy at times but really very enjoyable. I'm sure that Anne can depend on you for the same qualities and kindness and that the society will go from strength to strength.

Future Events:-

In December there will be no meeting. It is proposed to hold an Open Night in the new premises on the 8th January 2004.

3ssue no 2 8 D From The Editor

Some members have suggested that I should publish the names and titles plus the prices of the books that are sometimes pre-viewed in this magazine. I consulted the committee on this subject and the answer was, Yes, in the meantime print the main shops aod perhaps other shops in Orkney which sell 'Orkney' books would forward their names, etc also.

There is THE LEONARDS, 1 Albert Street, Kirkwall, Orkney. Tel. 01856 872014. Fax 01856 876198. E-mail-leonardsorkney@compuserve. coin

THE ORCADIAN BOOK SHOP, 50 Al-bert Street, Kirkwall, Orkney. KW15 1HQ. Tel. 01856 878888. Fax. 01856 878001. E-mail bookshop@orcadian.co.uk. Order on line at www.orcadian.co.uk

STROMNESS BOOKS AND PRINTS. 1 Graham Place, Stromness, Orkney. Tel. and Fax. 01856 850565.

1 rely on the articles that are so kindly delivered to me here at the office, and via e-mail, without which 1 would not be able to produce this newsletter and I am most grateful for your contributions.

It's a year gone once more, seems such a short time since the last Christmas. The weather this winter is again very mild, so far, so on this good note I think I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Oty

Newsletter deadlines are :-

7th February 2004. 7th May 2004.

Open meeting on Thursday 1 Ith Sep-tember 2003 in the Lecture Theatre,

Orkney College at 7.30pm.

Chairperson, Mrs Nan Scott, welcomed everyone to the meeting. Thirty nine peo-ple attended including members Mr and Mrs Robertson from Glasgow and Rev and Mrs Harry Telfer from Edinburgh and visi-tors Mrs May Mooney from Nairn and Mrs Mabel Grimes from Forres.

Since the last meeting, the AGM, the soci-ety had a very enjoyable trip to Papa Westray for its annual outing. There has been a lot of interest in the 1901 census, noticeably from 'Old Folk's Homes'. Ian & Betty Cameron and Nan responded to a request from the Deerness Senior Citizens for a talk from the society. One gentleman at the meeting, Mr Groat, had driven up through Scotland from Dumfries and cele-brated his ninety second birthday the next day. He was from a family of fourteen bom on the island of Copinsay.

Nan had received a letter of thanks from Bobby Leslie, manager of the library, for the part we played in the official opening of the new library and archive by HRH Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and thanked all those who had conveyed equipment, books etc. and set up the display.

Treasurer, George Gray, reported that our one thousandth member had joined a cou-ple of weeks ago. It was Keith Scott who lives in Plymouth. It has been decided to send him Gregor Lamb's latest edition of the Surnames of Orkney.

Secretary, Gillian Mooney, read a letter from Len Bamett informing us of his web-site which might be of particular interest to anyone researching 'British Merchant Mar-iners of the 19th and 20th Centuries'. The web-site address is> http:// w w w. bamettresearch. freeserve. co.uk

e Rewsletter the Qrhney EamBsrhistory Society 3

Some Norwegian magazines had been re-ceived and were in the office but they are written in Norwegian.

Alan Clouston reported that the new Li-brary & Archive is expected to be finished in November. It is hoped to hold Open Days on the 18th and 19th and then be open for business on Thursday the 20th.

Nan then introduced Mr Ian Heddle who had been invited to speak at the meeting. Ian called his talk 'Pure Nostalgia' and showed slides of Orkney taken between 1950 and 1980.

Ian had captured the essence of Orkney with photos of the sea in all its guises and places now lost forever like the natural arch of rock at Yesnaby which later fell, a stone lying, precariously it seemed, on a rocky ledge, photographed still there thirty five years later, until a climber thought it dan-gerous and knocked it off. Orkney is blessed with some very interesting cliff scenes. There's the Hole o' Rowe in Birsay,

the rust red coloured cave at the Brough of Deem ess, twisted layers of rock, the 'Altar' which looks like a hand in South Ronald-say, and thai there are archaeological 'digs' uncovering buildings to learn more about the way of life hundreds of years ago, the site often being covered up again once the archaeologists have finished their investi-gation. There were also reminders of busy times building hay stacks at harvest time. The yellow fields of oats was a common sight in Orkney in Autumn forty or fifty years ago (now mostly replaced by the more bronze barley).

David Oddie proposed a vote of thanks remarking that he had heard lan lecture in the Arts Theatre thirty years ago and the quality and presentation of his slides really sets a standard.

The slides had brought back memories to us all and Nan once again thanked everyone for coming on such a wet night. Teas were then available from the college cafeteria. (fdUo*

The Long Road Home!

Dave Higgins, our webmaster is taking a break in the New Year. In April he plans to walk from Lands End to John o' Groats. He will take the footpaths which will make the journey eleven hundred miles long. He is doing this by himself with all he requires for the journey on his back. Society mem-bers have encouraged him to make it a sponsored walk and he has named Age Concern Orkney as the charity that he would like to benefit.

His route will include:- the South West Coastal Path, Offas Dyke, the Pennine Way, the Central Scottish Way and the Cairngorm mountains.

More details of his route and information on fund raising will appear in the March issue of SFN. Perhaps he will keep us up to date with his progress on his website. We wish him well.

Members' Directory

Members please note that it is proposed to publish the Directory in the month of Septem-ber in future rather than March.

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Official opening of Orkney Library & Archive by HRH Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.

Forecourt and front of Library & Archive

Committee members of the society were among invited guests who attended the Official Opening of the new Orkney Li-brary & Archive on the morning of 2nd September this year.

The Queen's youngest son, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, honoured Orkney with a visit to perform several duties in Kirkwall and Stromness.

The official opening ceremony of this new building went ahead although its construc-tion had suffered from a few delays but this only led to humorous comments about 'The Library without any books'.

However the various organisations which will be housed in the building, including Orkney Family History Society, had been given tables to display their resources. (See photo on the right.)

Nan Scott and George Gray stood by our display to represent the society and were able to exchange a few words with the Earl as he made his way on a conducted tour of the building.

After the traditional unveiling of the plaque the Earl spent some time talking with various groups of the assembled guests while everyone enjoyed the buffet which had been prepared by the staff of Orkney College under the management of Heinz Zeigart. They deserve much praise for the delicious spread and its very attrac-tive presentation on the trays and for keep-ing the wine glasses topped-up.

The actual opening date for the building is now expected to be the 11th of December with two 'Public Viewing' days on the 9th and 10th.

To prepare for the move the society's of-fice in the Strynd will be closed from 1st December and re-open for business in its new premises on Friday 12th December.

OFHS winter opening hours will apply meantime but the hope is that some day they may be in keeping with the archives' hours.

OFHS stand in readiness for the visit from the Earl of Wessex.

Book Review By

Sheena Wenham #422

The Orkney Poll Taxes of the 1690s By James Irvine

Price £9.95.

At first sight this may not appear to be the catchy title of a best seller, and a cursory glance inside reveals a number of lists and statistics. However take a second look, read the text and a goldmine of fascinating in-formation will be revealed for family and social historians alike.

The poll taxes were levied by the Scottish Parliament in the 1690s in an attempt to raise money to support the armed services that were engaged in war with France. Throughout Scotland lists were drawn up of individuals who were liable to pay the tax, only the poor and those under the age of sixteen being exempt. Most of these documents have since been lost, but fortu-nately for us the poll tax lists for twenty-two Orkney parishes have survived and these remain archived in Edinburgh. It is these lists, painstakingly transcribed by James Irvine, that make up the book to-gether with a thoughtful analysis of the information they yield.

The enumerators who compiled these lists were issued with specific instructions, but the quality and layout of the data collected varies considerably from parish to parish. At their best, the lists cover much the same ground as the census returns taken 150 years later. They aim to answer such ques-tions as, what is the name of the house-holder and his wife: where do they live and what is the name of their house: how many children do they have: do they have serv-ants and what are their names: do they own their property and, if not, what is their annual rent? However it is seldom that the answers to all these questions are recorded.

Unfortunately the Poll tax lists for the par-ishes of Deemess, St Andrews, Stenness

and the islands of Westray, Papay, Graem-say, Burray, Flotta and some of the smaller islands and part of Eday have not survived. However James has attempted to redress the situation to a small extent by including names and information extracted from other contemporary documents of the earl-dom estate.

It must be remembered that the 1690s were a period of severe famine, known nation-ally as 'King William's 111 Years' and in Orkney as 'Brand's Years', after the rapa-cious tacksman of that name. This was a time when the harvest failed for several consecutive years bringing misery and hardship to the inhabitants of Orkney, some of whom would have been close to starva-tion and unable to pay their rent, let alone come up with the cash to pay yet another tax. It is more than likely that quite a number of folk, rich and poor, attempted to evade inclusion in the lists and thus avoid liability to pay up.

All the columns of information available in the surviving poll tax lists for Orkney are set out and analysed in the book. James Irvine first puts the poll tax records in their historical and national context. He then draws out much fascinating information that enhances our understanding of many aspects of life in Orkney during the 1690s. There is an interesting discussion on the ratio of males to females in the population. The everage size of household and the number of servants is calculated, and James Irvine estimates the population of the 1690s to be about 19000, not dissimilar to what it is today.

The percentage of tenants, cottars and udallers is discussal, the latter being esti-mated as about 9% of householders. There is also a difference to be found in the occu-pations of town and country, in rural par-ishes weaving being the most common trade in addition to tailors, shoemakers and

smiths. Kirkwall on the other hand, had many seafarers, and some fieshers and leatherworkers, whereas Stromness had more fishermen. James Irvine concludes that the standard of living in Orkney was low and that Orkney was less prosperous than many other parts of Scotland. Of course in this period of severe famine the death rate is likely to have been high and the number of paupers greater than usual. James Irvine also comes to tentative con-clusions about the number of those not listed - the tax evaders, children under the age of 16 and the poor of the parish.

An informative section on surnames shows that they tended to be localised in parishes. It is also interesting to know that of the 23 most common surnames of the 1690s, twelve appear in a comparable list com-piled three centuries later in 1998, and the other eleven can still be found in the Ork-ney telephone directory today. Altogether 380 different surnames are recorded in the 1690s lists, but 150 of these are not to be found in Gregor Lamb's recently published book. Similarly 370 form names feature in the poll tax lists but one sixth of these are not to be found in Hugh Marwick's book on Orkney farm names. This is perhaps unsur-prising, as it is likely Hugh Marwick did not have access to some estate rentals and other documents that have since found their way to Orkney archives. It is also understandable that spellings of farm names in the poll tax lists often differ to those found in Marwick, as inconsistencies in the spelling of place names could still be found more than two (if not three) centuries later.

The information in this book is set out clearly and it is easy to understand. James Irvine is to be congratulated for making a transcription ofthese documents, housed in Edinburgh, so that they are now available to all of us in Orkney where they shed

important new light on the social and eco-nomic history ofthese islands.

But above all, those of us who are members of the family history society are indebted to James for a valuable new reference book that pushes back the boundaries of genealogical research in Orkney. Now perhaps some of those who have been unable to discover much relevant material prior to the 1841 census returns may have the satisfaction of finding a name that links their ancestry to an earlier age.

Copies are available from Orkney Book-sellers or direct from the author to those who are members of the Orkney Family History Society.

Sheena Wenham. #422

Orkney Surnames Quiz

Compiled by Frank and Claire Eunson #9

1 Old Scottish coin 2 Disused naval airfield 3 Solomon 4 Obese 5 Before you shoot 6 Features of "Bonny Doon 7 Slight faults 8 Cattle call 9 Cape of the church 10 Jim's wife 11 Found where there's muck 12 Spoil the candle

Answers on page 18.

The Rev. Alexander Smith - Presbyte-rian Minister and Covenanter - and the

Tankerness Smiths.

There must be thousands of people alive today in Orkney and beyond who, know-ingly or otherwise, can claim to be descend-ants of the Rev. Alexander Smith whose only connection with Orkney came about as a result of banishment to North Ronaldsay in 1668. This banishment arose on account of his Covenanting zeal, which at that time brought him into conflict with the then Epis-copalian ascendancy in Edinburgh.

In 1892 John Smith, a partner in the well-known Kirkwall drapery firm of J & J Smith produced an epic work of genealogy, based, I understand, upon family bibles available at that time and which traced the lineage of numerous Tankerness families of that era back to the "worthy Covenanter". This ge-nealogy was constructed wholly upon the written evidence in these bibles, apart from the first two generations where the evidence was based upon tradition and a certain amount of supposition on John Smith's part. I have in my possession a copy of this gene-alogy handwritten and extended by my fa-ther in or about 1932.

In 1668 the Rev. Alexander Smith was ban-ished to North Ronaldsay as a result of the conflict of these times between supporters of the National Covenant of 1638 and the supporters of both Charles I and II who were intent on imposing episcopacy on Scotland.

Using tradition as his starting point John Smith suggests that he had three sons who had obviously accompanied him on his ban-ishment to Orkney, with one eventually go-ing to Sandwick, one to Stronsay and the third to Tankemess. This latter son suppos-edly became the forefather of die Smith families of Tankerness traced in his geneal-ogy.

When I retired I devised several ploys to-keep my mind active, one of which was to try to prove or disprove the traditional ele-ment of the genealogy. I took the view that with the advance of information technology some records of that time may still be extant which would not necessarily have been readily available to John Smith in 1892

Step one of the research was easy when the Archivist of the University of Edinburgh confirmed in a two minute telephone call that an Alexander Smith had graduated in July 1637. This confirmed a statement in John Smith's biographical notes.

I then telephoned the Church of Scotland to seek access to Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae which is the ongoing written record of every ordained minister of the Church of Scotland since the Reformation. I was po-litely referred to The National Library of Scotland where a copy is available for pub-he examination. 1 gained access to the li-brary shortly thereafter and a copy of the relevant extract follows:

FASTI ECCLESIAE SCOTICANAE

Volume 2 - Synod of Dumfries and Gal-loway Page 260/1

ALEXANDER SMITH

Graduated MA. University of Edinburgh 22 July 1637

Schoolmaster at Penpont

Schoolmaster at Dumfries 1645 - 7

Admitted to Garrel (formerly Garvald) and Dungree in the Presbytery of Lochmaben on 19 July 1647. The parish of Garrel was united with Kirkmichael in 1674.

Translated and admitted to Colvend (formerly Culven) in the Presbytery oj Dumfries on 25 December 1651.

Deprived by Act of Parliament on 11 June 1662 and Decree of the Privy Council on 1 October 1662. He was cited before the Privy Council on 24 March 1663 when he promised to obey the Acts of Parliament and Council, remove from the parish and desist from preaching. He went to Leith but in July 1664 he was charged with holding conventicles. At his examination he ad-dressed Sharp as "sir" instead of "your grace. " The Earl of Rothes demanded if Smith knew who the President was. "Yes my Lord, " repliedSm ith, "I speak to James Sharp, once a fellow minister with myself " On account of this answer Rothes ordered the hangman to put the minister in irons in "The Thieves Hole" in Edinburgh Tol-booth. On 9 January 1666 he was removed into what is called the Iron House and on 23 March of the same year he way ban-ished to Shetland. In 1668 he was in Burn-tisland and after a short confinement there was transferred to North Ronaldsay. After four years he returned to Edinburgh and died at the Castlehill on 21 February 1673. He married Helen Newall in Dumfries in February 1646.

This entry was followed by a list of biblio-graphical references, most of which related to the Covenanting times in general and not to Alexandra" Smith in particular. In, how-ever, the History of the United Parishes of Colvend and Southwick (McDiarmid) fur-ther information is available. His banish-ment to Shetland was to an uninhabited island where his only food was barley and his fuel was wreck and seaweed. He was brought back from there to Edinburgh and after a fiirther fourteen days confinement in the Tolbooth was sent to Orkney to be "detained in North Ronaidsay". Smith was clearly an activist in Covenanting circles who took a poor view of Archbishop Sharp

and later on in the history Smith is referred to as one of the Scottish Worthies.

Apart from the remarkable story itself, three things emerged from this extract. First, there was no mention of any issue of his marriage to Helen Newall. This is significant as con temporary entries in the Fasti and in fact entries up to the present day, do provide detail of the issue of any marriage to the extent of quoting Christian names. Second, John Smith's genealogy mentions that he was settled in the Parish of Garvald in Had-dingtonshire whereas it was in fact Garvald in Dumfriesshire which moved the focus of search to the South West. Third, his place and date of death were recorded.

I then approached the Registrar-General's office in Edinburgh but the staff there ad-vised me that they did not have any old parish records for any of the parishes men-tioned dating as for back as the mid to late 1600s. They did however refer me next door to The National Archives of Scotland but they too held no records for these parishes for that time. McDiarmid's history states that Colvend parish records only started in 1715.1 was running out of ideas to trace any record of birth or baptism of Alexander and Helen Smith's children

I then wrote to the (at the time) current minister of Colvend asking him to pass my request for information on to any local his-torian but 1 did not receive a reply. 1 did however subsequently visit Colvend during a holiday in Kirkcudbright. In a relatively modern church I purchased a copy of a recently published histoiy of the parish church which did list Alexander Smith as a minister there but gave no inkling of whether or not he had had any children-There were no memorials in the ruins of the nearby old parish church.

Having exhausted these sources I turned to his death to pursue my enquiries. The Fasti

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stated that he died in Edinburgh at the Castlehill on 21 February 1673. I had a feeling that anyone dying in Edinbrugh at that time would probably have been buried in the graveyard of the Kirk of the Grey fri-ars. The Kirk office directed me to Edin-burgh City Council's department of burial grounds and crematoria who confirmed that that was indeed the case. I examined their records of that time, which consisted of a Register of all purchasers of a plot in Grey-friars Kirkyard but my expectations were dashed. There were only three entries in the Register for 1672 and 1673 all obviously relating to people of wealth within the city at that time. On querying this with the custodian she asked me if Alexander Smith was likely to have been rich. I suggested that as he had been deprived of his living by the Privy Council, followed by banishment to both Shetland and Orkney this was un-likely. She informed me that virtually all the burials of these times were in common ground without either the grave or the death having been recorded.

At that stage I gave up. The fact that the Fasti recorded no children weighs heavily with me and I also took the view on reading John Smith's account again, that his suppo-sitions were fairly wide in seeking a con-nection with the Covenanter. Over and against that it has to be said that tradition in those times was massively stronger than it is now with the spoken word conveying large amounts of information to succeeding generations. We now commit things away to computers and modem filing systems without having to trouble our brains. To pass on the story of Alexander Smith from 1673 to 1892 is not a long time as far as tradition is concerned and this too therefore must carry a lot of weight.

I have filed my papers and have settled for that controversial Scottish verdict of "not proven" (without the usual associated taint). 1 did however enjoy the investigation

and someone with more skill than me may still yet find the answer.

Kenneth I Sinclair #508. Sept 2003

Website information

Member Mike Clouston #37 writes:-I have set up a mailing list for the Houston surname on Rootsweb. Intending subscrib-ers should send an e-mail to clouston-1-request@rootsweb.com

The society has been sent the following two pieces of information but once again I would like to emphasise that I have not visited the sites myself. Ed.

1) From Prof Arnold Morrison, member of CSFHS and G&WSFHS:-

New Website: Scots in Argentina and Patagonia Austral

Many Scots settled in Argentina and Pat-agonia Austral in the 19th century and later. This new website has been created to help family historians who are interested in tracing forebears who went there, and for those with general interest in emigrant Scots. The website contains a brief history, advice on records and repositories in Ar-gentina, Patagonia and the U.K., the use of LDS Church microfilm and internet mail-rooms, list of Scots, links with other help-ful sites, and various illustrations of records. The site can be accessed through the usual search engines, eg. Google, Yahoo, Al-ta vista at:- http://mvweb.tiscali.co.uk/ seotsinargpat/ or by entering the keywords: Scots, Argentina, Patagonia Austral.

2) Family History Scotland is now online at:- www.familyhistoryscotland.co.uk where you may purchase CD roms of Post Office Directories, academic Records, Church Records, Rolls of Honour and more. New CDs will be added to the cata-logue every week.

Working on the 'Gardens'.

A few days before our trip to Orkney in October, we visited New Register House in Edinburgh with the North Perthshire Fam-ily History Group. While all the members found extra bits of information to add to their family trees in the two and a half hours we were there, one friend, Kay, the chairperson of the group, was very excited when we compared notes afterwards. She had accessed the marriage certificate of a second cousin of her father, a William Barclay, about whom she knew nothing other than his date of birth and who his parents were. "Apparently he was the min-ister of St Magnus Cathedral when he mar-ried in the '20s," she told us, "and his wife was an Orkney lady, Dora Garden, whose father was a merchant, Robert Garden. When you are up in Orkney next week, can you find out anything about them?" We were able to help her sooner than that! We explained that Dora's father, Robert Gar-den, was not just any old merchant. After his arrival in Orkney in 1873 until his death in 1912 he had become a very prominent businessman who not only had retail out-lets on the mainland of Orkney but had, with his shop boats, extended his business to the North and South Isles, Shetland and along the North Coast of Scotland and round as far as Lochinver. Even more amazingly from Kay's point of view, we told her that we had, at home, several let-ters written to us by Dora (Garden) Barclay in the early '70s around the time of the publication of'Days of Orkney Steam'. By then Dora, a widow, was living in New Zealand where she had gone to be near her family.

We gave Kay the letters to pore over while we were in Orkney. Mention in the letters of Dora's grandchildren, including their names and ages, has helped Kay to add to her family tree.

From our own 'library' we found out that William Barclay had come to Orkney in 1919, as minister of the Second Charge, then was Cathedral minister from 1921 to 1936. To get a picture of the man (both literally and metaphorically), however, we would have to ask around in Orkney.

Ruby Leslie has been for us over the years a never failing source of reliable informa-tion and she didn't let us down this time. Although her family had not been members of Mr Barclay's congregation, Ruby could picture him and described him as a hand-some young man who had been in the army. As a young lass, she had attended William and Dora's wedding, and still re-members, with shame, that she stood cm a seat to see the bridal couple better! She recalled that Dora was given away by her mother Margaret (nee Jolly). After their wedding, William and Dora lived in the manse at the top of Clay Loan, on the right hand side - the building is no longer there and other houses have been erected on the site. The Barclays went on to have a son, Robin, and then to Ruby's surprise left Orkney for Glasgow in 1936, the year be-fore the great Octocentenary Cathedral cel-ebrations.

Our friends and fellow O.F.H.S. members lan and Betty Cameron were able to add more information about William Barclay. The Minister had acted as a guide when Queen Marie of Romania, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, visited Kirkwall in 1936 while on a cruise from Hamburg. Betty remembered having seen a photo-graph of this occasion in one of Norman Sinclair's excellent photographic books 'Images in Time'. In volume 1 there it was - a back view of the reverend gentleman! However, another photograph of a Cathe-dra] choir function in the same volume showed the minister very clearly.

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New Register House where this story be-gan is a treasure trove for finding out de-tails of the births, marriages and deaths of our ancestors. The internet too has become a wonderful source of information for ge-nealogists. E-mails keep us in touch with newly discovered far out and far off cous-ins. No wonder researching family history has become popular in recent years - mod-ern technology makes it all so much easier. But the personal touch is still important - a nonagenarian's memories, handwritten let-ters from long ago put the flesh on the bones of our forebears. If Dora Barclay

had been able to correspond by e-mail, there would have been no letters to give to Kay and the picture she is now building up of her Barclay/Garden connection would be that much poorer.

But why was Kay so interested in the first place in her father's second cousin, Wil-liam Barclay? Well, at a 'Bring along your Family Heirloom' night last winter she showed us a beautiful sampler which had been sewn by William Barclay's mother when a young girl. That is a personal touch!

Anne Cormack #73

Photographic History of the Island of Flotta

In Issue Number 26 of the Sib Folk News I wrote an article regarding the "casagram" of the families that have resided on the island.

This has awakened the taste buds of the islanders regarding family history and the hard copy is being passed from croft to croft. Needless to say I am delighted that it has brought interest and pleasure to them.

To take this project a stage further, Phyllis Gee has been asked if the islanders would be prepared to look at their collection of photographs of buildings or people with crofts in the background to see if we can produce a second CD for the island mu-seum to accompany the "casagram" and to bring to life the buildings mentioned.

The collection of photographs has already started, some from my own collection and some from other people who have been sending the odd picture whilst requesting help on the families on the island. This article is to see if any members of the Society have any photographs of Flotta that

they would be prepared to be used in this project. The CD would include a list of acknowledegments of the people who have kindly donated copies of their photo-graphs.

My e-mail address is in the member's listings and I am quite happy to receive the photographs by this method or if members would prefer to send me copies or origi-nals by post they will be scanned and returned immediately.

Four copies of the second CD would be made and distributed in the same way as the first one. There is nothing commercial about this project - just one member trying to help the island museum become estab-lished and to save some of the heritage of the crofts which are gradually disappear-ing.

So have a look in the attic and the "old brown suit case" to see what you have and so help the project along.

Stan Sutherland #225

Open meeting held in the Supper Room, Kirkwall Community Centre

Thursday 9th October 2003 at 7.30pm

Chairperson, Mrs Nan Scott, gave a very warm welcome to the forty five people who attended. There were apologies from Brig-adier S P Robertson, Mr Bill Irvine and Mrs Helen Manson.

Helen had received a lot of communication since her photograph and the short write-up on 'Digging up ancestors' was printed in the June Sib Folk News, which prompted Nan to point out that even very short articles can receive a lot of interest.

Latest date for moving to the new library is around 17th November. It is proposed to hold a course for volunteers with archivist Alison Fraser and the society's web-master Dave Higgins. There is a new assistant archivist Lizzie Gibson.

Future dates: -4/6th Nov (provisional) Committee meet-ing 13th Nov Annual meal in the Orkney Ho-tel. A form was available for names. It was suggested to investigate the provision of some kind of'Orcadian' musical entertain-ment.

Treasurer, George Gray, was not at the meeting but Adrianne Leask was able to inform us that the membership number was now 1019. Adrianne, as research secretary, had noth-ing to report but Nan had received a request for information on William Melville COOPER who had a son William Melville who married Elizabeth RENDALL.

Nan then introduced Teresa Probert and her son Rory from Auskerry and noted that he was the first person to have the surname Auskerry. She also remarked that at the Papa Stronsay meeting so many people

arrived that we had to move into a larger room and tonight we had to bring in extra chairs.

Teresa recalled 'Unexpected Landings on Auskeny' since they moved there in 1979 which included birds, a helicopter, a dead whale, seal researchers and visiting archae-ologists, botanists, coastguards, customs and representatives from the Northern Lighthouse Board, but her talk was to be centred on a plane which landed there dur-ing the second world war. It was rumoured that the pilot had survived and there were different stories about why it had landed. It was possible that the pilot may still be alive. Teresa was intrigued by this piece of history and so her quest began. Eventually she managed to contact the wife of the Principle Lighthouse Keeper of Auskeny at the time of die incident and learned that the pilot's name was Douglas or Donald. Teresa wrote to the local newspaper and received a reply from a niece of the Princi-ple who had a letter and a photo from her uncle dated 17th Dec 1943. The pilot, on meeting the Lighthouse Keepers, had asked if he was anywhere near England. His name was Donald Frank and he was Cana-dian although his grandparents were Rus-sian.

Some time later a friend of Teresa's brought a friend from Canada to visit on Auskeny and the friend became interested in the story and offered to help by search-ing in Canada. Nearly a year later photos arrived of Nicolas Donald Franko bom 1914. He had left Fraserburgh on a solo night training exercise. In poor weather conditions the airport had closed so with no ground contact he flew above the clouds for six hours until, low in fuel, he came down through the clouds to look for some-where to land. He made out white breakers and so landed on Auskeny. When daylight came he saw the lighthouse and its keepers. They radioed Scapa Flow. A launch came

out but damaged its rudder so wouldn't take him off the island. He stayed for eleven days over Christmas with the keepers on Auskerry

Luckily(?) for him the weather was so filthy that night that men on the ground at the airport who had noticed the plane on radar didn't send up a plane to shoot him down! Teresa also contacted the Lighthouse Board in an effort to find the other keeper and as a result his widow and Donald, the pilot, met again and together made a visit to Auskerry.

No-one has lived on Auskerry since the twelfth century until now. There is evi-dence of Iron and Bronze Age life now covered in peat, but no visits by Vikings as there were no beaches to land their boats.

Vice chairperson, Anne Rendall, thanked Teresa and Rory for their talk admiring Teresa's tenacity in searching out the pilot. Teas were then enjoyed as usual thanks to hostesses Mags and Annie.

OFHS Committee members 2003. From the left standing Olaf Mooney, Alan Clouston, Frank Hunson, Brig. S P Robert-son, Gavin Rendall, George Gray, Dave Higgins, Ian Cameron, Hazel Goar. Seated Adrianne Leask, Gillian Mooney, Nan Scott, Anne Rendatl, Betty Cam arm.

Annual Meal in the Orkney Hotel on Thursday 11th November 2003

Chairperson, Mrs Nan Scott, gave a warm welcome to the forty three people who at-tended the society's annual Christmas Din-ner. There were apologies from Joey and Linda Tait.

While everyone settled at their tables copies of two quiz sheets which Frank and Claire Eunson had compiled for our amusement were passed round. A copy of the quiz can be found on page 7.

She then asked Hon. President, Brigadier S P Robertson, to say a few words. And he stressed how nice it was to have the Hon Vice President, and a founder member, Gavin Rendall, with us. The society was now an established organisation, he said, and praised the staff and committee mem-bers who worked veiy, very hard for noth-ing. He then introduced Gavin who firstly thanked the society for making him Hon Vice President and commented that it was seven years this month since OFHS began and it gone from strength to strength. He produces the magazine 'Westray Roots' which is now at issue number forty four. His initial intention was to research his own family but he gradually got involved in

more. He is now in the process of trying to collate all the Kendalls in Westray adding that the Westray Heritage Centre hopes to produce a CD with photos of gravestones, family crofts/houses and Family Trees. Gavin commented on the sterling work OFHS had done on the census returns and asked if the same could be done with the OPRs. We were informed that work on this project has now begun in the office. Gavin then wished the society success and hoped all would go well in the move to the new library. He then, in Nan's words, 'said the bonny words' (Grace).

A very nicely presented meal was then much enjoyed followed by musical enter-tainment by the local and ever popular In-grid and Billy Jolly and Owen Teirney.

Before wishing us all a safe journey home Nan commented that the committee had changed over the year and she introduced the new Vice Chairperson, Anne Rendall, who, it was anticipated, would become the new Chairperson.

Anne then thanked Nan for her work and called for a vote of thanks to the staff for the meal, to Hazel Goar for arranging the meal and to the entertainers.

tyttla*

Entertainers at the annual meal. From the left Billy Jolly, Owen Teimey and Ingrid Jolly.

How researching via the Internet as a group brings a tree to life. By Marion McLeod #58

Continued from last issue

From Barbara Stirling, New Zealand

For about twelve months prior to making contact with our group I had been system-atically double checking my files against the information in two printed histories by family members of our ancestor Walter Sinclair and reading yet again the Canisbay Parish Register via microfilm and all the same parish census, concentrating on the Island of Stroma. This exercise consisted of transcribing all of the Island of Stroma on the then five released census and at-tempting to note all folks in the Canisbay Registers "of Stroma". This educated me on the inter-relationships between practi-cally all the island's people and its very strong links with Orkney.

Next 1 attempted to discover Walter's missing sisters mentioned in a family letter by Jemima Sinclair [Mrs John Drever] written circa 1910 to one of her Sydney cousins after their request for ancestor info. Yes, 1 discovered them all and as usual at least one was not in the Parish Register but adding the children to what appeared to be her marriage, the traditional naming pat-tern appeared, making me feel sure this was correct. One of the sisters, Mary, mar-ried John Laird and the christenings for the first few children were recorded, but no more and Qurray & South Ronaldsay ap-peared to have Lairds in numbers but not them.

Through my membership with the New Zea-land Society of Genealogists I discovered they held for borrowing the surviving 1821 Orkney Census fiche produced by David Weatheral and Burray & South Ronaldsay were amongst them. What an absolute bonus these proved to be for here were John and Mary Laird and their children and grandchil-

dren, many who were not recorded in the established Church Registers, why?, because John is believed to have brought the Baptist faith to Burray.

Now via the Internet i.e.. Orkney Roots-web Mailing List I discovered Marion McLeod and her Laird request. From there we constantly exchanged whatever data and information we had discovered over a number of years. Marion was able to tell me things 1 didn't know about Orkney and I in return was able to do some work for her and she continued passing on new contacts of this family she had made. Recently I searched the Register of pre 1921 Scottish Immigrants to New Zealand from the NZSG Scottish Interest Group for just Ork-ney born folks and discovered Averil who's home province is my own and her ancestors link in with all of ours even going back to Stroma.

This whole network which reaches around the world is quite fascinating and proves that the Internet has become a very valuable tool for locating our families. No, you do not have to spend hours on the "net", nor do you have to locate databases, it's the people contact which is the most valuable.

From Averil Bull, New Zealand.

I first became interested in family history when my father died in 1983. At this stage I knew very little about where our ancestors came from. 1 knew my father's families were from Southern Ireland and my moth-ers father's family from Northern Ireland and her mother's family from the Orkney Islands away up the top of Scodand. At first I was mainly interested in my father's fam-ily but as any Genealogist will tell you this interest almost becomes an obsession so it wasn't long before I started looking into the other families. The Banks family came to the fore as my Grandmother Margaret Given (nee Banks) had lived with us when we were young children and in Granny's

possessions was the Banks Family Bible. This always intrigued me and I had ex-plained to our local Minister that we had a Bible at home that was so big it needed to be transported to Church in a wheelbar-row!!

My Great-grandparents William Park Banks and his wife Jane Sutherland and small daughter Jessica Banks arrived in New Zealand at Port Chalmers near Dune-din, Otago, New Zealand. They arrived on the ship "Oamaru" on the 17th day of Feb-ruary 1875. William was 28 years of age from the Orkney Islands born in Burray, South Ronaldsay, on Thursday 26th Janu-ary 1846. Jane was 24 years of age also born at Burray, South Ronaldsday, Ork-ney Islands, 15th July 1849 William and Jane were married at Burray, South Ron-aldsay Orkney Islands, on the 17,h Decem-ber 1868. Their passage to New Zealand costing 33 pounds 15 shillings. William Banks' parents were John Banks born on the Island of Stroma in the Pentland Firth and Esther Park bom in Burray, South Ronaldsay, Orkney. William's parents im-migrated to Canada when he was 3 months old. At that stage they had three children, another six children were bom in Gait, Canada, 80 km south west of Toronto. Both John and Esther died in Canada. John died in Gait on the 11th August 1859 and Esther died 22nd March 1863. Their eldest daughter Jane returned to the Orkneys and got married 31st December 1861. William and his younger brother John Banks also returned to the Orkneys probably taking young James with them. William went to sea, eventually obtaining his Captain's ticket. John Banks junior returned to Can-ada probably after the death of his brother in 1864 and he died also at Gait, Canada at the age of eighteen in 1865. William mar-ried his first cousin Jane Sutherland 17th

December 1868. William and Jane's first child Jessica was born Friday 24th Septem-

ber 1869 When Jessica was young the fam-ily immigrated to New Zealand to join William's uncle Peter Sutherland who was living at Port Chalmers. Here William worked on coastal boats and later took charge of the Fish Sheds at Carey's Bay, Port Chalmers, Otago, New Zealand. Their 2nd child Mary-Jane was bom 17th June 1877 at Port Chalmers. Their 1 * son Jack was born two years later at Dunedin 15th March 1879. The family subsequently moved to Mosgiel, South of Dunedin and William worked here as a transport contractor for the Gold Placer mines at Gabriel's Gully. At Mosgiel the Banks family met the Stevenson family and Jessica (eldest daughter) married Thomas Stevenson, who had originated from the Orkneys also. William and Jane's next daughter (my Grandmother) was bom at Lawrence 4th May 1881. Two more boys, George and William, were bom at Mataura, Southland, New Zealand. By 1889 the fam-ily were living at Riversdale, Southland, New Zealand, where their youngest daughter Esther Park Banks was bom on 2nd August 1889. Jane died at Riversdale 5th July 1893 and Esther was raised by her eldest sister Jessica Stevenson whose Is" son Thomas was bom 19Ul July 1896. William moved to Gore, Southland, New Zealand, about 1905 and died there on the 27* June 1908. He is buried next to his wife Jane and their daughter Maiy-Jane in the Riversdale Cemetery, Southland, New Zealand. Their eldest son Jack Banks went to South Africa as a Cav-alry Man in the New Zealand Army in 1900. After the Boer War Jack Banks took upland in South Africa which he formed until his death. Both his brothers, George and Wil-liam, worked for him. George and Jack didn't get along so well and George left South Africa and no one is too sure where he went. He is supposed to have last made contact with the family from Bombay?? Wil-liam died in 1842 from a bad fever in South Africa. Esther and her husband and family of one son and two daughters also joined John

Banks in South Africa and still some of their descendants farm some of Jack Banks' land. It is interesting to note none of William and Jane's sons married. Jessica and Margaret remained in New Zealand and brought their families up here. Marga-ret, my grandmother, married James Given 9th July 1902 and had a family of six children (two daughters and four sons).

After taking a number of years to discover all this I gave up on the Banks family as no one seemed to know much more about them and my visits to the Family History Center were few and far between and I just didn't seem to be able to find out anymore until June 2002 when I received a letter from Barbara Stirling who had found my name and address on a Scottish Interests register (which I had forgotten I had put my name on!!) and from there we have had e-mail contact and thanks to Barbara f have been put in contact with Marion McLeod in

the Orkney Islands and have been given an amazing amount of information and a huge family tree. I am absolutely over the moon at all this information I have received. I am still trying to wade my way through it I am finding the repetitive use of the same names a little confusing and also the fact that they seem to many cousins with simi-lar names!! Many thanks to all who have contributed to this Family Tree and espe-cially to Barbara for making the first con-tact and Marion for all the information.

Marion McLeod #58

Apologies to Marion and all concerned for a mistake in last issue's Web pages ad-dresses, They should have read as follows:-www.btintemet.com/~tnarion.mcIeod http://familvtreCTiaker.genealogv.com/ users/m/c/l/Marion-A-Mcleod www.photobox.co.uk/ marion.mcleod@btintCTnet.com

The above photograph was taken by mem-ber Ian Cameron #10 when he and his wife Betty were in Victoria, Vancouver Island. He says the harbour front was lined with plaques like this in remembrance of the skippers that used the port in the old days. The plaque reads:-"Harpooner 1849 with John Flett Presented by his grandchildren 1960"

Answers to quiz on page 7.

1 Groat 2 Twatt 3 Davidson 4 Stout 5 Aim 6 Banks 7 Flaws 8 Low 9 Kirkness 10 Rosie 11 Brass 12 Marwick.

In Memo nam, Robert (Bob) Inkster, April 4,1900 - October 30,2003

We are grateful to Mr David Noakes who lives just out-side the town of Erin in Ontario, Canada, for sending this newspaper article to the society.

In August 2000, Bob Inkster (above right), then 100 years old, attended the opening ceremonies of Centre 2000, where Floyd Longbottom of Branch 422 (Erin) of the Royal Canadian Legion presented him with an "Inkster Dr." sign - the Town of Erin had decided to name one of the roads leading into Centre 2000 in his honour. Robert (Bob) Inkster was bom in Kirkwall, Scotland, in 1900, and he passed away in Callander, Ontario, last week. He was a veteran of World Wars I and II, and a life member of the Erin Legion.

INKSTER, Robert S. - Passed away at North Bay General Hospital, Scollard Site, on Thursday, October 30, 2003 at the age of 103. Mr. Inkster is survived by his god-daughter, Sherry Culling (Wayne), and their children, Jeff Culling and Jen Lan-holm (Adam) all of Callander. He will be dearly remembered by Murray Dyer of Or-angeville, Millie and Barry Somerville of Erin, Jeanne and Bob Puckering of Toronto and their families. He will be sadly missed by his many friends. He was predeceased by his parents, one brother and one sister. Mr. Inkster was a veteran and a member of the Royal Navy World War I and World War II, a life member of the Royal Cana-dian Legion, Branch 442, Erin, a member

of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 445, Callander, a past president of the Lions Club and constable of the Town of Erin. No visitation. Cremation at Forest Lawn Cre-matorium. There was a memorial service at the Royal Canadian Legeon, Branch 445, Callander, Saturday, November 1, 2003 at 2 p.m. As expressions of sympathy, dona-tions to the Royal Canadian Legion or char-ity of your choice would be gratefully appreciated by the family. There was a graveside service at Erin Cemetery, Erin, officiated by the Royal Canadian Legion, Erin Branch 442, on Sunday, November 2, 2003 at 1:30pm. Funeral arrangements un-der the direction of McGuinty Funeral Home.

The Orkney Family History Society

Membership, Subscriptions, etc. Membership of the Society runs from 1 st March to 28/29th February and subscriptions should be renewed during the month of March. All subscriptions should be sent to the Treasure al the OFHS address below

New members joining before 1 st December will receive back copies of three magazines for the current year. From the 1 st December new members will receive membership for the remainder of the current year plus the following year but will not receive back copies of the magazines.

The present Subscription rates are as follows:

£1000 1 Ordinary - Adult membership £15 00 2 Family membership - (Spouse/parents & children under 18) £07.00 3 Senior Citizens - (Single or couple) £12.50 4 Overseas - (Surface mail) £15.00 5 Overseas - (Air mail)

Overseas members should pay their fees in sterling or its equivalent. If it is not possible to send pounds sterling please check exchange rate. Our bank will accept overseas cheques without charging commissions. Receipts will be issued with the next magazine. Members residing in the United Kingdom may pay their subscriptions by bankers order and if they can have their subscriptions treated as Gift Aid donations forms will be sent on request. Cheques should be made payable to: ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY

The Society publishes four magazines in the year . Members may place queries in the magazine at no charge Queries should be sent to the Editor. Back copies may be purchased at £ 1.00 per copy.

Our office address is: OFHS, Orkney Library and Archive, 44 Junction Road, Kirkwall, Orkney. K.W15 1AG

Office opening hours are as follows: April to September Monday to Friday 2.00pm to 4.30pm

Saturday 11 00am to 4 30pm October to March Monday, Wednesday, Friday 2 00pm to 4.30pm

Saturday 11.00am to 4.30pm

Articles in the newsletter are copyright to the Society, and its authors, and may not be reproduced without permission of the Editor. The Society is a registered charity m Scotland, and a member of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies. The Society does not necessarily accept the views expressed in letters and articles published within. The Society's newsletter, Sib Folk News, is registered with the British Library under the serial number ISSN 1368-3950.

General enquiries should be addressed to the office in writing or to the General Secretary, Mrs Gillian Mooney (e-mail olaf.mooney@virgin.net),

Treasurer, Mr George Gray (e-mail george.gray@unisonfree.nrt), Research Secretary, Adrianne Leask (e-mail amerswyck@freeuk.com) or

Editor, Mr Olaf Mooney (e-mail olaf.mooney@virgin.net) all at Orkney Family History Society, Orkney Library and Archive, 44 Junction Road,

Kirkwall, Orkney. KW15 IAG. www.orkneyflis.co.uk

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