Genealogy Poetry Challenge: Scotland

For 11 years, Bill West, a retired bookseller with a computer and an interest in genealogy and history, has hosted an annual genealogy poetry challenge.

Anyone is welcome to join the challenge. All you have to do is blog a poem or song (or in my case, both) about the region in which at least one of your predecessors resided. Within the post, share how that poem/song relates to your ancestors’ lives.

My spouse and I both have Scottish roots with many of those ancestors being Highlanders. My spouse’s father’s maternal line boasts the Broughman clan. In his mother’s paternal line are these surnames: McHenry, McClelland,  Kinkead, Moore, and McGinnis. In my father’s paternal line, I have Ferguson. In my mother’s maternal line, there is Moore, while her paternal line is laden with Campbell, Fleming, Hay, McCoy, Graham, Gordon, Stewart, Montgomerie, Douglas, and Sinclair kin.

In honor of these Scottish ancestors, especially those who left their homeland for a new land, I have chosen for this year’s challenge a poem/song written in 1789 by Robert Burns titled, My Heart’s in the Highlands. It is sung to the tune Fáilte na Miosg:

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Farewell to the mountains, high-cover’d with snow,
Farewell to the straths and green vallies below;
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.

~by Robert Burns

 

 

Bertram Erickson Marriner

On this day, 4 October 1937, Bertram “Bert” Erickson Marriner passed away. He was my 2nd great-grandfather.

Born on 23 July 1873, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Bertram Erickson Marriner was the son of Josiah K. Marriner and Georganna Ida Marks. He joined an older sister, Ida, who was born one year earlier in July 1872.

Generations: A Pictorial History

Boy, when I procrastinate, I sure do procrastinate! Several months ago (okay, it was a few more than several), Randy Seaver, through his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun series, challenged other bloggers to pictorially document their family back through the generations: For how many generations, unbroken, do you have portraits of your family?

The Case of the Lost and Found Grandma

A WOMAN OF MYSTERY

Years ago, when I first began documenting my maternal family, I reached out to our matriarch at the time, my Great-Aunt Doris. She spoke for hours, naming the ancestors she knew then sharing stories of their lives.

Although she knew a lot about her mother’s family, my great-aunt was less certain about her father’s family, especially his mother, Alice (Manley) Cole.

What little Aunt Doris knew about her grandma was her name and the fact that she disappeared from her father’s life when he was a child.

Alice was an enigma, a woman of mystery. As a family historian/genealogist, I LOVE following clues and solving puzzles, so off to the records I raced.

Allen Layton

On this day, 20 June 1876, Allen Layton (my 4th great-grandfather) passed away.

Born on 29 September 1806, in Jerseyville, Monmouth County, New Jersey, Allen Layton was the eldest of eight known children of Allen Layton and Annay Foster.