a princess from wales - wise-fhs.org · best known as the duchess of cambridge, but princess is her...

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Volume 15, Number 2 Denver, Colorado April, May, June 2014

A Princess From Wales A Miner’s Daughter Became a Beloved Swedish Cinderella

—Nancy McCurdy

Yes, Kate Middleton, a pretty woman with Welsh ancestry, is a princess of the United Kingdom. She’s best known as the Duchess of Cambridge, but princess is her title on the birth certificate of the son, George, born in July to Kate and her husband, Prince William. Prince William is second in line to the British throne, and Prince George is third, God willing. Someday, Kate may be Catherine, Princess of Wales. A delightful story to many.

I would like to tell you the story of a Welsh factory girl who became a Swedish princess. Her name was Lilian Craig. She passed away at the age of 97 in 2013 in Sweden. Here is her story.

She was born Lillian May Davies in Swansea, Wales, in 1915. The gilt, the pomp and ceremony of the Swedish court were a far cry from the princess’ Welsh upbringing. She came from a tough part of Swansea that has been wiped out in a slum clearance. Lillian’s father, William Davies, was a private in the Swansea Battalion of the Welsh Regiment during World War I, worked as a coal miner and had a market stall. Her mother was Gladys Mary Curranat. Researchers have learned that Lillian was a quintessential Welsh girl with traditional family Welsh names like Davies and Williams.

Lillian worked in a laundry and left school at 14 to seek work as a housemaid in London. She resembled actress Marlene Dietrich, and at age 16 her blond, blue-eyed good looks got her a job as a fashion model, dancer and singer. She showcased hats and gloves in

advertisements and had small roles in movies. She appeared in Vogue magazine. She met and married Ivan Craig, a largely unsuccessful British actor in 1940. She dropped an “l” from her first name thinking it more fashionable that way.

Continued on page 23

Lillian May Davies in her Marlene Dietrich mode.

W.I.S.E. Words April, May, June 2014

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President’s Message

Flooding in Cornwall, the worst winter weather in the southwest of England in over one hundred years. A sinkhole opens up and swallows eight Corvettes in Kentucky. Another arctic blast hits the east coast of the United States, dropping a foot of snow in some places. Over a million people went without heat or light. A category V tornado hit Oklahoma, leveling a town. Massive flooding in Colorado was the worst on record. I’m not an alarmist, and having grown up in Kansas or tornado alley, I’m used to natural disasters. I must admit that every time I hear or read about a new natural disaster, I think of all of the records that are being lost.

On the other hand, I know that we are gaining more and more records through the efforts of vol-unteers and the use of technology. Every time I speak to someone in Salt Lake City or at a conference, I learn about a new set of records that have just become available online. The largest online service providers are in constant negotia-tions to share databases, etc. Right now through Family Tree at Family Search we have access to Ancestry.com, Find My Past.com, Fold 3, Find A Grave, Archives.com and a few others.

So the question I keep asking myself is, are we getting ahead or losing ground? In most cases I think we are gaining ground. The area I think we are losing ground is in the home sources: the fami-ly Bibles, personal interviews, letters from our ancestors, pictures and other stories. We have a tendency to hide these treasures away. We see it as our duty to protect them for future generations, to assure that these treasures will be around long after we are gone.

May I suggest that unless you are wealthy enough to build the flood, fire, tornado, and sinkhole proof building to house your family’s personal museum, you might want to think about sharing your treas-ures. Many institutions, with much more experi-ence than we have, have learned over time that the

best way to secure their treasures is to share them. Many online sites allow you to share and store your information for free, and they don’t want your Aunt Mable and all her children to do it either. As a matter of fact, I have my family’s in-formation on FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, My Heritage and the family website. Whether you choose to share your treasures by publishing a book or by adding your tree to an online site or both it is up to you.

—Barbara Fines Priceo

Membership Report —Sandy Breed

Welcome to those who joined the W.I.S.E. Family History Society recently: December 2013: Jeane Berry and Jim Nolan, Jan Hite and Kenneth Barringer, Bonnie Warner, Vincent Donnelly. January 2014: Bruce and Judy McRae, Harvey and Linda Crow, George Foster. February 2014: David and Pamela Irwin, Kirk Woosley Patton, Margaret Steel, Lyn Miller, Ed McCarthy Allen, Margaret Smith, Gayla Stone.o

Treasurer’s Report Fourth Quarter 2013

—Laurie Ramos

Total cash in savings, checking and and petty cash as of December 31,2013: $6,494.70 Items cleared : $1,401.18 Reconciled cash balance to statements as of January 31, 2014 bank statement: $7,895.88 ¨

Annual General Meeting

W.I.S.E. Family History Society held its general meeting on January 25, 2014. Sylvia Tracy-Doolos and Milly Jones assumed their duties as vice president/programs and secretary, respectively, to which they had been elected by the membership in December. Suzanne Williams was introduced as hospitality coordinator, succeeding Sylvia.


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President Barbara Fines Price announced that Karen Campbell volunteered as Tech Tips editor for W.I.S.E. Words newsletter and that the society has three open positions: editors/representatives for Ireland and Wales and Members’ Surname Interests coordinator.

The membership accepted the 2014 budget prepared by the treasurer and approved by the board of directors. It includes a proposed expendi-ture of $1,000 for books and other pertinent mate-rials to be donated to the Denver Public Library genealogy collection this year. Members were encouraged to submit possible purchases to Treasurer Laurie Ramos.o

W.I.S.E. Family History Society

W.I.S.E. Family History Society is dedicated to research in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Attention is also directed to the emigration and immigration of these peo-ples as well as heraldry and one-name studies. Monthly meetings are generally held the fourth Saturday of most months at the Central Denver Public Library, 7th Floor. Membership is open to anyone with interest in family history and genealogy. Membership dues for the calendar year are $12 for an individual or $15 for a family living at the same address. The W.I.S.E. Family History Society publishes W.I.S.E. Words four times per year, and a subscription is included with mem-bership dues. Add $5 to the dues if you want a printed copy of the newsletter mailed to you.

© 2000-2014, W.I.S.E. Family History Society, P.O. Box 40658, Denver, CO 80204-0658

All rights reserved.

Visit our website at www.wise-fhs.org.

Officers and Board Members President ...................................................... Barbara Price ............................... [email protected]

Vice President ..................................... Sylvia Tracy-Doolos

Secretary ........................................................... Milly Jones Treasurer ...................................................... Laurie Ramos

Past President ................................... Zoe von Ende Lappin

Membership .................................................... Sandy Breed Members’ Interest Coordinator ................ Megan Koepsell

Publicity Coordinator ............................ JoAnn DeFilippo

Archivist ....................................................... Elaine Osborn CCGS Delegate ................................................ Bill Hughes Hospitality Coordinator ......................... Suzanne Williams Webmaster ...................................................... Allan Turner

Newsletter Staff Newsletter Editor ...................................... Nyla Cartwright .............................................. [email protected]

Book Review Editor .......................... Zoe von Ende Lappin

Technical Resource Editor ...................... Karen Campbell Proofreaders ...................... Jack and Zoe von Ende Lappin Distribution Coordinator .................................. Sue Clasen

Country Editors Wales ........................................................ Nancy McCurdy

Ireland .......................................................... Thyria Wilson Scotland ...................................................... Diane Barbour

England ........................................... Elizabeth Marcheschi

In This Issue

A Princess From Wales, A Miner’s Daughter Became a Beloved Swedish Cinderella .................. 19

President’s Message ................................................ 20

Membership Report ................................................ 20

Treasurer’s Report: Fourth Quarter 2013 ............ 20

Annual General Meeting ........................................ 20

Letter to the Editor .................................................. 22

Salt Lake City Trip is Full ...................................... 22

W.I.S.E. Field Trip to Central City ........................ 22

Volunteers Needed for the 2014 Colorado Irish Festival .................................................................... 23

From Ireland with Song ......................................... 25

Scottish Probate into the 20th Century ................... 27

Taking Your English Search into the 21st Century 28

Tech Tips: British Isles Military Records .............. 31

Book Reviews .......................................................... 31

Member Profile ....................................................... 33

W.I.S.E. Program Schedule ................................... 34


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Letter to the Editor

W.I.S.E. membership chair, Sandy Breed, received the following note from Peter Harvey. Peter lives in England and visited with Zoe Lappin while in the United States in 2009 and attended a W.I.S.E. meeting. He was a rugby star as a young man. He is now active in community history and genealogy projects and has written his biography and a cou-ple of other books. Here are his comments: I love getting the notices from WISE, makes me feel part of a worldwide fellowship. Can I recommend this book to your members: A Long Way Home, author Terry Dillon, publisher Authorhouse and available on Amazon. It is based upon the life and experiences of the Irish people who came to England in the 19th century. Living in Yorkshire in an Industrial town, it provides lots of background from a very strong source. The great-grandson of Irish immigrants writes this fiction, based on fact report, which I'm sure your members will devour. Best wishes, Peter Harvey Also the great-grandson of Irish immigrants who settled in Lancashire. o

Salt Lake City Trip is Full

For the first time, the W.I.S.E.-sponsored research trip to the Family History Library April 6-13 is full. Twenty researchers have registered, and our travel agent was able to arrange for an extra room, bringing the total to 11 reserved for us at the Carlton Hotel. We reached capacity a week ahead of the February 14 deadline for making a deposit. Twenty is a record for us; the previous high was 19. We are sorry if anyone had to be turned away, but there’s always next year. Please address questions and suggestions to Zoe Lappin at [email protected], 303 322-2544.o

W.I.S.E Field Trip to Central City June 14th–Save the Date

—Thyria Wilson

The W.I.S.E. Family History Society will have a field trip to Central City cemeteries and other his-toric locations on Flag Day, June 14th. Many fami-lies from the British Isles settled in Central City after gold was discovered by John Gregory in 1859. At one time Central City was known as the “richest square mile on earth” and had a popula-tion of 10,000. It was a rip-roaring town, but the Cornish and Welsh miners built the Opera House in 1878. Vaudeville acts, Buffalo Bill and P.T. Barnum performed at the Opera House, origi-nally built as a community theatre. The Gilpin Historic Society has a wonderful historic museum and gives tours of the Thomas house and cabin, the Coeur d’Alene Mine Shalt house used from 1885-1940, and the Teller House built in 1872 by Henry Teller. The Teller house still has Kevin Taylor’s “face on the bar-room floor.”

There are three cemeteries one mile west of Central City that can be reached by taking Eureka Street. There are hundreds of ornate stone markers that date back to the 1860s. Many of the tomb-stones tell where the deceased came from in Cornwall, Ireland and Wales. The three cemeteries are the Central City Cemetery, the Knights of Pythias and the Catholic Cemetery.

We will have more information coming soon.¨

Tombstone in a Central City cemetery of Robert Kendall, born in Cornwall in 1840.


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Volunteers Needed for the 2014 Colorado Irish Festival

—Bill Hughes

W.I.S.E. will have a family history and genealogy tent at the 20th annual Colorado Irish festival being held at Clement Park, located at the Southeast Corner of Bowles and South Wadsworth.

Dates and times for the Festival are: Friday, July 11, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 12,10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, July 13, 10 a.m to 7 p.m.

W.I.S.E. volunteers will be manning the Irish genealogy booth during those times. We will be located in the Cultural Village area. We hope volunteers will help us in four hours shifts or longer.

We have maps and books but our real edge comes from the personal experience, knowledge and enthusiasm our volunteers bring to the event. Many volunteers mentioned they were embar-rassed by the gratitude shown by the patrons they helped. Last year we had over 1,000 patrons visit our display.

Please contact Bill Hughes 303-989-8560, [email protected] if you have any questions, want to volunteer or share any ideas you may have about our presentation.¨

A Princess from Wales —continued from page 19 During the Second World War, Ivan Craig was drafted and served in the British army in Africa. Lilian stayed in London and worked at a factory making radio sets for the Royal Navy and the British merchant fleet. She also worked at a hospi-tal taking care of wounded soldiers. She saved her shillings to buy designer outfits and soon was run-ning with glitterati around London.

At the time, Prince Bertil of Sweden, something of a playboy and great-grandson of Queen Victoria, was stationed at the Swedish embassy in London as a naval attaché. The couple first laid eyes on each other in the fancy nightclub,

Les Ambassadeurs, shortly before Lilian’s 28th birthday in 1943. Lilian then invited Bertil to a cocktail party in her London apartment, but it was not until he fetched her with his car following an air raid in her neighborhood that the romance blossomed.

Lilian was still married at the time, but the situa-tion resolved itself since Craig, too, had met someone else. Lilian and Craig divorced on ami-cable terms. However, the prince’s obligations to the Swedish throne and Lilian’s status as a divorced commoner prevented them from making their love public. “He was so handsome, my prince, especially in uniform, so charming and thoughtful and so funny,” Lilian told the Boston Globe in 1985. “Oh, how we laughed,” she wrote in her memoir.

Upon Bertil’s return to Sweden, his relationship with a commoner became a delicate issue. Bertil became a possible heir to the throne when his eldest brother died in a plane crash, leaving behind an infant son, the current King Carl XVI Gustaf. Bertil’s two older brothers had dropped out of the line of succession by marrying commoners. Bertil did not wish to lose his place in the succession when it appeared that he would reign as regent for his infant nephew.

Bertil’s father, King Gustaf VI Adolf, forbade him to marry Lilian because such an alliance would jeopardize the survival of the Bernadotte dynasty. Instead, the couple let their romance flourish in an unofficial manner, living in a common-law marriage for decades. The couple’s sacrifices and lifelong dedication to one another fascinated Swedes.

Lilian with Prince Bertil at a club.


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Bertil and Lilian lived in a house in Sainte-Maxime in France; later they made a home in Stockholm as well, with Lilian in the back-ground for years. All of Sweden knew about their relationship, and she told the Boston Globe in 1985 that she regretted not having children. As for their private lives, she once said, “Sometimes I felt it wasn’t nice, but it was nice that we were together anyway.”

Still, Lilian’s charm and warm personality won over the Swedes. Magazines depicted the happy couple playing golf and riding on the prince’s mo-torbike. When Prince Bertil had to use a walking frame after surgery, Lilian cheerfully nicknamed it his Bugatti. “In a loving relationship, a sense of humor is important,” she said.

Lilian’s first official public appearance with the prince was in 1966 at a celebration for Bertil’s younger brother Carl Johan while her official royal debut was in 1972 at the king’s 90th birthday party.

When Bertil’s father died in 1973, Prince Carl Gustaf became king. In 1976, 33 years after they first met, the new King of Sweden finally gave Lilian and Bertil the approval they had sought. On a December day the same year, Lilian, or “Lily” as the prince called her, became Princess of Sweden and Duchess of Halland in a ceremony

at the Drottningholm Palace chapel just outside of Stockholm. Lilian wore a pale blue gown, a silvery coat and feathered hat. The bride had then turned 61 and the groom 64, and they both called it the happiest day of their lives. “I was nervous as a kitten,” Lilian told the Boston Globe in 1985. “I had butterflies in my tummy. When we exchanged vows, I was afraid I wouldn’t even remember my husband’s name.”

Bertil also regretted never having children, but said, “I could not think of doing anything but what I have done. If I had left the royal court and married, my father would have been left alone with all of his duties, but all’s well that ends well.”

The wedding signaled the formal end of an already bygone era. Prince Bertil had agreed to refrain from marrying a commoner because of fears it could jeopardize the royal line: he was next in line to the throne until Carl Gustaf, his nephew – and now the king – came of age. Today, members of European royalty routinely and without penalty marry commoners, and female prospects have the same succession rights as male. Carl Gustaf him-self married a commoner.

Prince Bertil died of a lung condition in the cou-ple’s residence Villa Solbacken in Stockholm in 1997, 24 years after their marriage. Lilian took over some of her husband’s ceremonial duties un-til her ill health interfered. At age 91 in 2006, she stopped attending the annual Nobel Prize banquet and the next year she also stopped taking part in the awards ceremony In 2010, the palace an-nounced that Lilian suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, preventing her from attending the wed-ding that summer of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling.

“If I were to sum up my life, everything has been about love,” Princess Lilian of Sweden once said. Interestingly, the late Princess Diana once said that the biggest disease in the world is a lack of love. Lilian and Bertil’s “first priority was that we al-ways loved each other.”

Lilian Craig died at 97, surrounded by the royal family, and beloved by the Swedes, who took her Cinderella story to heart. Tributes abounded for the world-famous princess, and hundreds came to

Princess Lilian and Price Bertil at their wedding in 1976.


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see Lilian as she lay in state at the Royal Palace in Stockholm.

Swansea’s Lord Mayor Dennis James said: “Princess Lilian was one of Swansea’s most famous daughters. She remained proud of her Swansea links and this helped to raise our city’s profile. Her relationship with Prince Bertil was one of Sweden’s most enduring and best-known love stories, an old-fashioned love story.”

Her funeral, in a high ceremony, was at Royal Cemetery in Haga Park outside of Stockholm where she was laid to rest beside her prince.

Lilian’s memoir, My Life With Prince Bertil, was published in 2000. All proceeds from the sale were donated to children’s charities in Sweden.o

From Ireland With Song —Thyria Wilson

I became aware of the connection between Irish and American traditional music when on a bicycle trip to Ireland my group went to a traditional music bar in Westport, County Mayo. A man next to me, Mike McGuire, started singing solo and then was joined by musicians playing a fiddle and an accordion. He later sang a song in Gaelic with the tune and chorus of Sweet Betsy From Pike: “Oh, don’t you remember sweet Betsy from Pike, Who crossed the wide prairies with her lover Ike, With two yoke of oxen and a one spotted hog, A tall Shanghai rooster and an old yellow dog? Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay.”

Music was a very important part of the Irish life, particularly when the people were forbidden to venerate poets, play harps or their traditional music. Most families had at least one member who could make and play the fiddle and who pulled it out when the authorities were not around. My great-grandfather, Eugene Wescott, who descend-ed from Scots-Irish immigrants, made a violin when he was 19. Michael Moolick, my mother’s other grandfather, played and made fiddles.

In colonial America, thousands of Scots-Irish, bringing their music with them, settled on the Eastern Seaboard. In the early 1700s, immigrants from the British Isles moved west from Pennsylvania and pushed into the South through the Shenandoah and other valleys. The mountains

Thyria’s great-grandfather, Eugene Wescott, holds the violin that he made.

Thyria’s great-grandfather, Michael Moolick, plays violin for his grandson, Eugene Michael Wescott.

Princess Lilian in her later years.


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of Appalachia, which stretches from Maine to Georgia, opened for settlement in 1835. Many of the Scots-Irish in Pennsylvania came as indentured servants, and after their terms of service, they found land on the frontier. As they settled in Appalachia, their musical traditions were passed down through the generations and the re-mote communities preserved much of the music.

Seventy percent of the early settlers in Appalachians were Celtic—from Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Other groups also populated the region, including Germans, French Huguenots and African-Americans. Their music and traditions mixed with that of other ethnic and racial groups and created American folk music, country music and bluegrass.

“Ballad hunters” and “song-catchers” -- Dr. Phillip J. Marshall of Harvard, Cecil Howard, Francis James Child and others –showed a direct connection between music in the Appalachia and the British Isles. There were two periods of Appalachian music. These were traditional music, which included ballads and dance tunes, which came with Anglo-Celtic immi-grants beginning in the early 1700s, and the “old-time” music that was popular from around 1900 through the 1930s. The “old-time” music was a blend of the traditional music with popular and vaudeville music, and African-American styles.

The first instrument used for that music was the baroque fiddle, which was brought over by the Scottish and Irish. “In the 1740s, Neil Gow, a Scottish fiddler, is credited with developing the power and rhythmic short bow sawstroke technique that eventually became the foundation of Appalachian mountain fiddling.” The mountain dulcimer derived from an instrument from Germany, and the banjo was created by African-Americans based on an African instrument.

Most of the ballads were laments from women such as Pretty Polly, Wayfaring Stranger and Barbara Allen. Appalachian singing was influ-enced by the “ornamentation and vocal improvisa-tion found in many Celtic ballads.” Irish contributions included the double-stop fiddling that mimicked the sound of the pipes, tuning that

created the “high lonesome” sound of bluegrass and the rocking of the bow.

Two Appalachian tunes based on Irish music are Cotton-Eyed Joe (Mountain Top) and Buffalo Gals (Battle of the Boyne). Johnny’s Gone for a Soldier was a 17th century Irish ballad Siuil A Ruin. The American version retained the Gaelic chorus and became popular during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. It is also known as Buttermilk Hill and became popular again during the Ameri-can folk revival of the 1960s.

Here I sit on Buttermilk Hill Who can blame me, cryin’ my fill And ev’ry tear would turn a mil Johnny has gone for a soldier

Me, oh my, I loved him so Broke my heart to see him go And only time will heal my woe Johnny has gone for a soldier

Shule, shule, shule agra Since the lad of my heart from me did go Johnny has gone for a soldier

Later ballads included the sad laments of Irish immigration wakes, including Thousands are Sailing and Shamrock Shore. The Appalachian dances were a mixture of Irish, Scottish, English and Dutch-German steps with African-American syncopation. Tap, square, and clog dancing evolved from this mixture. The Gaelic word “clog” means, “time.” Clogging is done in time with the downbeat with the heel keeping rhythm. The dancers used their feet to make rhythmic and percussive sounds to accom-pany the music. Limberjack dolls were used in the same fashion. Banjo music became part of the music for clogging. Appalachian music inspired the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. Pete Seeger went to Appalachia to learn the music, and in the 1950s traditional musicians included the Weavers (1949-1953) and Burl Ives. The Kingston Trio topped the charts with their rendition of Tom Dooley. In the 1960s musicians inspired by American traditional music included Peter, Paul and Mary (Buttermilk Hill), Joan Baez and Judy Collins. Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia and


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Bruce Springsteen sang Appalachian songs and some of the music they wrote had American traditional music roots. Many of these musicians influenced a new generation of musicians back in Ireland, including Bono and Van Morrison.

American broadside ballads became popular in the late 1800s, but “tended to showcase male-dominated occupational experiences, such as logging, ranching, and mining, as well as sensa-tional topics.” These types of ballads led to the development of protest songs, including songs by Woody Guthrie.

Mick Maloney, an Irish musicologist now living in Chicago, demonstrates that many of the songs represent the demands for fair treatment and fair pay, such as No Irish Need Apply. Other songs were sung by the Irish working on the railroads and canals, in mines, and on construction such as Paddy on the Erie, also known as Patrick on the Railway. (I used that song to keep track of silverware wrapping when I worked in the kitchen of the Boulder Memorial Hospital.)

Irish-American music includes Turkey in the Straw (an Irish ballad) and Bonnie Blue Flag. When Johnny comes Marching Home is similar to the Irish song Johnny I hardly Know Ye. The song Shenandoah is based on traditional Irish music with African-American elements. Cowboy songs based on Irish music include Lily of the Valley and the Streets of Laredo (Irish ballad A Handful of Laurel). After the Civil War came songs that were “Irish” and very popular, but were not based on traditional Irish music. Maloney points out that these popular songs were written not only by Irish-Americans, but also by Jewish-Americans, often together. Examples of these songs are I’ll Take You Home Kathleen, Sweet Rosie O’Grady, My Wild Irish Rose, and When Irish Eyes are Smiling. American folk music has deep roots in Ireland, from Ulster in the North and in the counties to the South. The roots were transplanted to America, and many took hold in the mountains and valleys of Appalachia. From there, the roots spread to the rest of the United States and generations later came back to Ireland.

References: Appalachian music. (2006). Retrieved 01/09, 2014,http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200152683/ Bluegrass music. (2011). Retrieved 1/9, 2014, http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200152684/ Conway, C. (2006). Celtic influences. Encyclope-dia of Appalachia, 1132. Elevation Management (Producer), & Marshall, P. (Director). (2010). Music of Ireland: Welcome home. [Video/DVD] McClatchy, D. (2000). Appalachian traditional music. Retrieved 01/03, 2014, from http://www/mustrad.org.uk/articles/appalach Nelson, L. (2009). Popular songs in America. Retrieved 11/12, 2013, from http://www.contemplator.com/america/.o

Scottish Probate into the 20th Century

—Diane Barbour PLCGS

Finishing our discussion of legislation in Scotland that affected probate and property disposition, we will resume at 1881. The Presumption of Life Limitation Act of 1881 was passed that allowed heirs to apply to the court to receive the income of an estate if the owner had been missing for seven years. If the owner remained missing for six more years they could take possession of the moveable estate. If the owner was missing for 19 years, they could take possession of the her-itable estate. If the owner returned within the first seven years, the estate could be reclaimed. After 19 years it could no longer be reclaimed. Again we see the rights of family members being reinforced reflecting the changing values in Scottish society. If you abandon your family, there will be consequences and you could lose your property.

This 1881 law was repealed in 1891 in favor of a new Presumption of Life Limitation Act of 1891. This law allowed heirs to apply to the court to de-clare the person dead after seven years. The owner had the right to reclaim the value of the estate, by returning within 13 years. After 13 years the right to reclaim the estate was lost.


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Two new laws were enacted that provided for the disposition of property in an intestate (no will) situation. The first one in 1919, the Intestate Moveable Succession Act, gave a mother a right to one half of a child’s moveable estate. A series of laws, known as the Intestate Husbands’ Estate Act was passed between the years 1911 and 1959 gave the surviving spouse of someone dying intestate the whole estate if it was valued at less than £5,000.

It was not until 1920 that the Married Women’s Property Act allowed a married woman to dispose of property without her husband’s consent. This seems incredibly late for this kind of legislation to pass. However, remember that many women did not get to vote until about this time. It is really hard to believe that it has only been in the last 100 years that a woman could sell her property without her husband’s con-sent. With this right, however, comes responsibil-ity. It made a married woman with her own property or income responsible for an indigent husband.

In 1926, the Legitimacy Act gave illegitimate children a right to their mother’s estate if no legitimate children survived. Also, the mother had a right to the estate of a child who died intestate. Adoption was not recognized in Scotland until 1930 when the Adoption of Children Act was enacted. It is hard to believe that before this time there was no legal way to adopt a child. This act did not give an adopted child any rights to a parent’s estate.

In 1964, the Succession Act pulled together heritable and moveable property into one set of rules that were similar to the rules governing moveable property. This law stated that full-blooded relatives inherited before half-blood relatives. Adopted children were given rights to their adoptive parent’s estates; however, they still could not inherit titles or coats of arms. In 1968 the Law Reform Act gave illegitimate children rights to their deceased parent’s estates. Likewise, parents were entitled to the estate of an illegitimate child if that child died before them.

The Age of Majority Act reduced the age of majority for both sexes from 21 to 18 in 1969. The

Age of Legal Capacity Act further lowered this age to 16 in 1991. This law also granted the right of anyone over 12 to legally write his or her own will. In 2006, the Family Law Act abolished illegitimacy in Scotland but did not affect the in-heritance rights of these children. This bill also granted people “living together” the same rights as married couples to their deceased partner’s moveable property.

More information on these acts is available on this website: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/. We see how the laws governing probate change with the times. The law should be representative of the people being governed. It seems sometimes that it takes a while for it to catch up. o

Taking Your English Search Into the 21st Century

—Elizabeth Marcheschi

England is a crossroad, a mixing pot of invaders, conquerers, immigrants and wayfarers. While cer-tain remote places in the British Isles have rela-tively stable DNA lines, those are rare, and England’s DNA – genetic fingerprints, if you will – is notable for its wide variety. Monarchs are ex-cluded from that generality because they tend to be a tad inbred or have more distinctive DNA than the rest of the nation.

For a fascinating look into the DNA of England’s rulers, once you have read this article, see: http://www.surnamedna.com/?articles=y-dna-of-the-british-monarchy. For the rest of us, England has a wealth of willing participants who have al-ready had their DNA tested and are eager to connect with you. From them, you might find your ancestral neighborhood and many cousins you never would have found without the aid of genetic research.

That said, I must be clear to point out that genetic tests are not an easy fix. They do not replace the search for documented evidence, but they provide a way to remove brick walls and help move your


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research forward, all from 5,000 miles away. However, to understand how it can help you and how to use DNA testing, first I must explain the components of DNA testing and how they work in the field of genetics and genealogy.

Many tests are available for you and some of those are only available through medical profes-sionals, due to the cost and liability associated with genetic medicine. Those would do little for a genealogist, anyway. However, three tests are commonly used for genealogy: Y-chromosome DNA (Y-DNA), mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), and autosomal DNA. The first works for only men; the second and third for both men and women

The key to genetic genealogy is in the differences or mutations that make each of us unique. Before you begin to worry, let me say that this type of mutating does not mean an extra head or cracked genes, but rather it serves in a similar capacity to a whorl on a fingerprint – it is a distinct way of identifying a genetic line. Each test will give you unique identifying information that you can use to research and to locate family members in England and elsewhere, or at least those who want to be involved in genealogical research. But first, we need to know more about these tests.

The mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA that is transmitted through the maternal line is more sta-ble and less likely to mutate as often as the Y-DNA chromosome. The Y chromosome is a sex chromosome and as only males have it, only males inherit it and it is passed down from father to son. Y-DNA is more likely to mutate which, for genealogists, makes it easier to track family members along the direct paternal line.

This is not to say that the mtDNA does not mutate. It does, but far more rarely and therefore remains unchanged, over hundreds or even

thousands of years. This slow rate of change won’t make a huge difference in your genealogical search, except to rule out the wrong women in your direct maternal line. This can be especially helpful in England where families used a limited number of first names which they repeated generation after generation. (But that added confusion, too.) The English naming pattern is especially well explained via a Cornwall site: http://www.cornwall-opc.org/Rescnaming_patterns.php.

These rules were fairly standard throughout England for hundreds of years. While they can help to sort out branches of a family tree, they also can confuse modern researchers so that, despite all efforts to the contrary, mistakes are made.

Mutations in both the mtDNA (female) and the Y-DNA (male) are defined by their differences and are grouped as such. These differences are defined by groups indicated with a designated letter of the alphabet from A through Z. As there are many differences beyond those 26, they are defined further, referred to as “subclades,” with the addition of alternating numbers and letters. It may sound complicated but once you begin to work with it, the fog lifts. Just remember that mom’s mtDNA and dad’s Y-DNA may (very rarely) have the same haplogroup letter, but they are not the same.

Further explanation of haplogroups and subclades is beyond the scope of this article, but suffice it to say that you could have the same genetic code (haplogroup) as members of the royal family. Does this put you in line for the throne?

Maybe, but verification either requires a rock solid paper trail of research or more testing. In other words, the code neither includes you nor excludes you. It represents only one of your 46 chromosomes.


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Now let’s look a moment at the X chromosome, or the mtDNA. I share part of my haplogroup code with the famous -- ta-dah -- Cheddar Man! If you are still wondering, here is some background: he was found in cave in Somerset and is England’s oldest surviving, intact skeleton. (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheddar_Man). His remains have been dated back some 7,150 years, but other partial remains found in the same cave, and all containing that same part of the haplogroup code, reach back as far as 12,000 years. People with that particular code were one of the first groups to move into England as the glaciers receded, but later other haplogroups followed and gave England an alphabet-soup mix of haplogroups.

The autosomal DNA test is the most interesting to genealogists because it produces relevant results up to, in my personal experience, nearly eight generations. It tests the autosomal DNA spread across your chromosome pairs and, while you inherit DNA randomly, it is valuable to find family members in at least the last six or seven generations.

The test usually runs under $100 and is available from several organizations. Once you have the results, most testing organizations will also connect you to matches from their databases and some will link you to other, non-profit data-bases such as Gedmatch, (www.gedmatch.com). These allow you to upload your autosomal DNA results to their databases and to add your Gedcom file as well. Gedmatch is free and it allows you to run interesting tests such as determining your eye color (it has been dead on in my family).

If you are savvy and educate yourself about DNA, you can learn many other things, but autosomal DNA is most useful for tearing down those brick walls. My English family, true to the traditions of empire, scattered the world like leaves in the fall. Using autosomal results I found three cousins from my English side in 2014, and I am on the trail of several more. Of these three, one lives not in Cornwall, where our mutual ancestor is from, but in Yorkshire, about six hours away by car. Another of a Cornish line belongs to a family that has lived in Wales for the past century. The third lives in Texas.

It does not end there. I am hot on the trail of a possible a third cousin living in Australia. Our connection appears to be from a line in Devon, where the trail went cold, and has been a brick wall for decades. Ironically, the Australian had no idea that the family had come from Devon and Cornwall before that, since they had lived in Liverpool prior to sailing for Australia. He thought they originated in London.

There are still a few more details to remember. Men can take all three tests: Y-DNA, mitochon-drial DNA, and also the test for autosomal DNA. Women currently can take only two tests: mtDNA and autosomal DNA. Each test has a purpose and can reveal different sorts of connections and data, and I am proof that they can help you to solve longtime puzzles of English lines. Using a well-documented family tree, I have solved three of my English brick walls already this year by using DNA results combined with a paper trail. They are in no way a shortcut around developing strong paper trail but instead, they can enhance your hard work.

In my opinion, DNA testing is the best way to go when the time comes to finally “cross the pond” to do hands-on research in England.¨

The Cheddar Man


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Tech Tips: Searching for British Isles Military Records

—Karen Campbell

As we begin the year of 2014, we are reminded that it’s the centennial anniversary of World War I. Though the United States did not get involved until 1917, Europe soon became embroiled in the Great War, which ran from July 1914 to November 1918. All of the United Kingdom was involved, including what is now the Republic of Ireland, which didn’t become independent until after the war.

Britain generally keeps public records closed for 100 years, which means the process of releasing WWI records may be slow as they are being mi-crofilmed and/or digitized by the government. In addition, some Irish military personnel records may be housed in the National Archives at Kew, south of London, since, as noted, all of Ireland was under British rule during WWI.

During World War II, German bombing raids struck London buildings that housed vital docu-ments, predominantly British, not Irish. The search goes on for records, yet there is the possibility that some of were damaged or destroyed.

At this time, Irish military pension records and applications from 1916 to 1923 are being posted at an Irish website, http://www.militaryarchives.ie. These cover Ireland’s veterans in all branches of service who have been identified as fighting in both World War I and the Irish Civil War of 1922. This project is being run by Military Archives for Ireland in order that the men who fought in WWI are remembered.

At this point only Phase I has been released. That was in January, and there is no mention as to when additional phases will be posted online. These would include Irish Republican Army volunteers in the 1916-1923 timeframe.

For other military research, there is also http://www.findmypast.co.uk. Some records may be searched for free to a point where a fee is re-

quired. Then, you can buy a subscription or pay as you go for credits for further research. At Fami-lySearch centers, the records are free as long as you are logged in to the premium website on the desktop computers. The site includes many World War I military records.

Http://www.worldwar1veterans.com is another website for Ireland. It covers Ireland’s World War I veterans of 1914-1918, and is asking friends and relatives of service personnel for information so the veterans can be remembered this summer at a memorial. It’s seeking data on those who served in regiments from Ireland, Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Africa, India and others, as well as these military units: the British Navy, the Flying Air Corps, the Royal Air Corps, Medical, Nursing, Veterinary, Chaplains, Reserve Corps and the Voluntary Aid Detachment.¨

Book Reviews

Photos Bring an English Village to Life Sheila A. Ellis, Down a Cobbled Street, the Story of Clovelly, Tiverton, Devon: Badger Books, 1987

Take a trove of photographs, the photographer’s keen sense of time and place and his daughter’s recognition of their value, and a remarkable memoir appears. This one is entitled Down a Cobbled Street, and the 100-plus photos

Paul A. Ellis photo of a Devon village street scene.


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put it in a class far above of most “my old home town” books. The town in this case is a seaside village in northwest Devon, Clovelly, and the pic-tures date from the early to mid-20th century. It’s a famous tourist attraction now, but when the pho-tographer, Paul A. Ellis, was working and living there, it was quaint, small and cobbled. His daugh-ter, Sheila A. Ellis, has added her memories, memories of old-timers, town and family stories and her own research to produce this admirable little volume of 64 pages. What’s more, she names names – of hundreds of residents from the earliest records in about 1684 to the time of the writing of the book, 1987. Prominent old names include Cary, Hamlyn, Jewell, Cruse, Whitefield, Dunn, Pengelly, Howard, Headon, Moss, Shackson, Bur-nard, Beer, Baddock, Bate, Elliot, Kingsley and Hortop. That’s only a short list. The memoir is good reading for anybody who likes lovely English villages, and even better for genealogists who have traced families to north Devon. The steep, cobbled street where no mechanized vehi-cles are allowed is still there, incidentally. This book soon will be added to the Denver Public Library. Here are two more awaiting inclusion in the genealogy collection:

George Wright, Canadians at War 1914-1919; A Research Guide to War Service Records, Milton, Ontario: Global Heritage Press, 2010

As research guides go, this one is extraordinary, for both the way it’s organized and the directions it gives us on how to access records of Canadians who fought in the Great War. The records are legion, most of them beautifully archived and open. What’s more, the au-

thor is passionate and informed about the subject, often using his grandfather, William Percy Wright, as an example. The primary depository is the Library and Archives of Canada, and its website should be the researcher’s starting point: www.collectionsCanada.ca. Actually, this book should be used in conjunction with the website, but even a casual perusal provides a picture of Ca-nadians in the first world war. Did you know, for

instance, that nearly 5,000 Canadians were dis-patched to Siberia in 1918 to fight the Bolsheviks? One minor quibble: Apparently there’s no compilation of records of Americans who fought in Canadian military units but that’s not Wright’s fault. It’s just that nobody, yet, has combed service records to organize such a data-base. As it is, American and other foreign soldiers in the Canadian Expeditionary Force are listed in the index to Soldiers of the First World War at the above website, not segregated by nationality. Still, the website is good for browsing – there’s a link from each soldier’s name to his digitized “attesta-tion” (enlistment) papers. Five pages listing and describing relevant websites round out this 150-page book, useful for W.I.S.E. members whose British Isles ancestors settled in Canada. Fortunate indeed is the researcher who gets to visit the Library and Archives of Canada in Ottawa to study documents not yet online. If you get there, be sure to take a copy of this masterful guide with you. It begs the question: Is there a similar guide to U.S. World War I records out there anywhere?

Kevin Kenny, Making Sense of the Molly Maguires, New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

The title merits a question: Who were the Molly Maguires, anyway? Answer, as supplied by the author: They were a loosely orga-nized, vaguely conspiratori-al, violent bunch of first and second generation Irish un-skilled laborers and miners in the anthracite (hard coal) region of east-central Pennsylvania in the 1860s who sought justice as they knew it. Their roots lay in what the author calls “retributive justice” that they practiced in Ireland seeking revenge against landlords, the British and others who offended them. They were not depraved, drunken, lazy Irish, though the name Molly Maguire came to connote that fiercely prejudicial view of the immi-grant Irish and even of certain trade unions. The name, Molly Maguires, came with the immigrants from Ireland where they disguised themselves in female garb and pledged allegiance to an imagi-


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nary woman – Molly Maguire -- who symbolized their struggle. As interesting as that history is, however, that’s not why a review of this book has found its way into W.I.S.E. Words. It’s here be-cause its appendixes offer rich genealogical pick-ings. First, the Mollys in Pennsylvania came mostly from north-central and northwestern Ireland, Counties Donegal, Tyrone, Mayo and Roscommon. In Pennsylvania, they were in the counties of Carbon, Columbia, Luzerne, Northumberland and Schuylkill. Brief biographies of the Pennsylvania Mollys who were prosecuted – including four women -- cover six pages, and identify the 20 who were hanged. Common sur-names among the Mollys include Boyle, Campbell, Dolan, Donnelly, Dougherty, Doyle, Duffy, Kehoe, Kelly, McAllister, McGee, McHugh, O’Donnell and O’Neil. There were many more. If your genealogical adventures take you to eastern Pennsylvania and your family sto-ries include the Molly Maguires – they also had a bit of a romantic patina – this book will offer in-sights and maybe even a relative or two.

—Zoe von Ende Lappin

Member Profile

Karen Ball Campbell, the new Tech Tips columnist for W.I.S.E. Words, was born in Denver to Donald Ball and Barbara Staves Ball. Her father served in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed at Lowry Air Force Base in the late 1950s.

Karen is the older of two daughters. She grew up in Aurora, graduating from an Aurora public school. She attended a Christian junior college and while a student there, spent two weeks traveling around England. She later received degrees from Columbia College of Aurora in human resource management and business administration. She is divorced, the mother of a son and active in her church.

She has worked in both the private sector for sev-eral small companies and for five state agencies including the Department of Corrections and Division of Human Resources in the Department of Personnel. She is hoping to return to work in state government at some point.

Karen started genealogy research in 2009 at the request of her mother who wanted to learn about their heritage in the Pommern region of Germany. This quest has led to discoveries in family lines of both parents, including colonial ancestors at the time of the Mayflower. Her ancestral lines go back to the Czech region, Germany, France, Norway, England, Ireland, Scotland and Canada, and it was her interest in her British Isles heritage that prompted her to join W.I.S.E. in 2013. She also belongs to Aurora Genealogy Society, Colorado Genealogical Society, Germanic Genealogy Society of Colorado and Toll Gate Chapter of Daughters of American Revolution. She also is a community volunteer at the Denver Stake FamilySearch Center, helping patrons with their genealogy research.

Karen’s other interests include traveling, reading, quilting, spending time with family and friends and going to youth sporting events. She was ap-pointed to the position of technical resource editor for W.I.S.E. Words in December 2013. She expects that her experience working with genea-logical databases as well as those in her profes-sional work environment will serve her well in carrying out her responsibilities for W.I.S.E. ¨


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W.I.S.E. Program Schedule

April 6-13, 2014 Family History Library

Salt Lake City

Annual Reseach Trip W.I.S.E. Members and Guests Registration is full.¨

April 26, 2014 1:30 p.m.

Denver Public Library 7th Floor

Scots-Irish Research John Mears John will discuss the descendants of the Presbyterians from Lowland Scotland who settled in Ulster (the northernmost province of Ireland) in the 17th century — and subsequently emigrated from there to America.o

May 24, 2014 1:30 p.m.

Denver Public Library 7th Floor

DNA John Simmons John will discuss DNA research, especially how it relates to British Isles genealogy. He will also talk about what people need to think about before they order a test.o

June 14, 2014 Time to be determined

Central City

W.I.S.E. Field Trip W.I.S.E Members and Guests Tour of cemeteries and other historic sites in Central City. Details to follow.¨

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