A Farm Discovery

The Scottish 1865 Valuation Rolls were recently released on Scotlands People. The index is currently free to search, however images cost two credits. In 1865, my Great Great Grandfather William Gow was raising his family at Cairn Farm, Muthill, Perthshire, and I did indeed find him at Cairn Farm in the Valuation Roll.

My 2x Great Grandfather William Gow
[Source: Personal Collection]

I was intrigued to discover that William was leasing Cairn Farm from Robert Thomas Napier Speir. I did not even know that William had leased his farm from someone! I also found that William was leasing a second farm from Speir - Drummawhance Farm. This is the first time I have heard of this farm. Cairn Farm has always been the only farm ever mentioned in reference to William Gow and his family. It is the farm listed on census records and birth and death certificates. My Dad and I both agree that Drummawhance might not have been mentioned in these records because it was only a working farm. The other surprise was that both farms, a long with a few others, were part of Culdees Castle, which was owned by Speir.

The website linked for Culdees Castle provided the longitude and latitude of the Castle's location - 56.324191N, 3.804687W. I popped that into Google Maps to see where the Castle was, as I had found that it was demolished in 1967. We did not know the exact location of Cairn Farm before either, so I was hoping this might provide me with a general area. The pin is the location of Culdees Castle according to the longitude and latitude co-ordinates. But wait, what is that farm in the bottom right corner? Drummawhance Farm!

Image from Google Maps showing the location of Culdees Castle
[Source: Google Maps]

 I scrolled down a bit further and what do I see...CAIRN FARM!

Image from Google Maps showing the location of Culdees Castle, Drummawhance Farm, & Cairn Farm
[Source: Google Maps]

My Dad and I have spent countless hours exploring Muthill on Google Maps and we have no recollection of Cairn Farm being labelled. Otherwise, well, we would have sent my Aunt there when she went to Muthill a couple of years ago. I am so excited that we now have an exact location of Cairn Farm! And the fact that the farms are across the road from each other would have been pretty handy for William.

Cairn Farm & Drummawhance Farm - pretty close together!
[Source: Google Maps]

I googled Drummawhance Farm and it seems to still be in operation. It even has its own website with a contact form. I might send a message through and see what information, if any, they have on either farms. I cannot wait to go to Scotland one day and visit Cairn Farm to see where my Great Great Grandparents lived, and where my Great Grandfather lived before coming to Australia!

Thank you Valuation Rolls - you've given me a lot more than I expected.

Have you found anything exciting or unexpected in Scotlands People's Valuation Rolls?

Isabella Gow Reddoch

Isabella Gow Reddoch, was born in 1885, in Ardoch, Perthshire, Scotland. Her parents were Isabella Gow & John Reddoch, & her mother died when she was 12 years old. She was the middle child with four older siblings & four younger siblings. According to her death certificate, she was a nurse & never married. Isabella Gow Reddoch died at the young age of 33 on December 26, 1918 at the Reddoch’s home, Tullibardine House, in Kinross, Scotland. Her father, John, had died three years earlier in 1915.

The death certificate of Isabella Gow Reddoch (courtesy of Scotlands People).

Death Certificate of Isabella Gow Reddoch (Source: Scotlands People)

Isabella Gow Reddoch, Nurse, Single.
December 16, 1918. 10:15pm. Tullibardine House, Kinross.
Female. 33 years.
Father: John Reddoch, Builder (Deceased)
Mother: Isabella Reddoch, M.S Gow (Deceased)
Cause of Death: Phthisis Pulmonalis.
Informant: James Reddoch, brother.

Isabella died of Tuberculosis, which affects the lungs.

Seen below is the funeral card from her brother, James.

Funeral Card for Isabella Gow Reddoch
From my personal collection

Hello everyone!

Finally, a new video!

WATCH IT HERE!

This video involves me talking about Scottish census records, the beginning of how I solved the 100 year mystery of my Great Great Aunt Jeannie Gow, an opportunity with Scotlands People & The Ekka.

The Mystery Of Jeannie Gow

Here it is! My story of how I discovered & solved the 100 year mystery of what happened to my Great Great Aunt Jeannie Gow.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/136388013/The-Mystery-Of-Jeannie-Gow

I plan on scanning and uploading images of the documents I used later.

Enjoy! :D

Oh Jeannie, what a mystery!

31st March 2012.

What a day that was. It was the day I discovered what had happened to my Great Great Aunt Jeannie Gow. Over the past few months I’ve been writing up the story of how I discovered what had happened to her. It really did involve detective skills, cross checking, double checking, and triple checking documents, dates and names. It was a puzzle, and somehow, on the 31st of March 2012 all the pieces fell together. I took a break from writing the story to focus on University. Now that Uni is over for the year, I’m getting back into it.

Here’s a paragraph, a sneak peak at the story of dear old Jeannie:

Mid-semester break rolled up on the 31^st of March. I decided to dive into the genealogy again after taking a break to focus on my University studies. The Scottish 1911 census had been released on ScotlandsPeople last year, but at the time I dismissed it because none of my direct ancestors were in Scotland in 1911. They were either a) dead or b) living in another country. I thought about taking another look at the census – I went through the family tree to check who would have been in Scotland in 1911. I don’t know how I forgot about them, but the other sister Isabella had married and had a number of children. Although Isabella died in 1896, her husband John Reddoch and her children were still alive in Scotland in 1911.

You'll have to stay tuned to find out more...