Throwing light on the life of an ancestor can often reveal an experience so different from anything known today. Suffering and poverty were common in the nineteenth century. The life story of my great grand-uncle is shocking, but one that would be shared by so many other miners. His life was indeed one of those…
John Campbell was born in 1827 and lived until 1907. Margaret Blair was born in 1832 and also lived until 1907. They are my 2x great grandparents on my mother's paternal side of the family. He was a miner who worked at the Forth Ironworks near Dunfermline. Most probably, to try to build a better…
Siblings Andrew Campbell, my great grandfather, had many brothers and sisters. Tracking down their movements, marriages and families has been quite a task and I've been more successful with some than others. Here is the story of his eldest brother, John F. Campbell. John Campbell married Marion Finnie (1851) on 14th July 1871. Together they…
Fergushill 1871 Census By the time of the 1871 census, John and Margaret Campbell had moved the short distance to Fergushill with their growing family. Andrew, my great grandfather, was now seven years old and attended Fergushill School. The school closed in 1950. In 1871, the family lived at 6, Burn Row, Fergushill and in…
Discovering My Family 