On a recent European cruise, we stopped at Zeebrugge, and the ship offered an excursion to Ypres, Belgium, the site of three First World War battles. My husband and I booked the visit as I have a person in my family history, Andrew Petrie Porter, who remains missing after the Third Battle of Ypres, Belgium. I often research and write about Andy as he was known, as he is one of the favourites from my family history. The first battle … Continue reading
My husband and I went to The National Archives (TNA), Kew, London, several years ago as part of a visit to the United Kingdom. My husband had several documents to review, but I was unsure what I would do. It suddenly struck me I could look for documents on my only convict, Robert Bland. Robert is not my blood relative but married my great-great-grandmother, Ann Porter. I already had the court documents from Scotland, so what else could I find … Continue reading
My great grand-uncle James Porter arrived in the frontier settlement of colonial Brisbane in Queensland in 1849. He emigrated with his parents and siblings, including my four-year-old great-grandfather, Robert. James was fourteen on arrival, young enough to be amazed by the difference between colonial Australia and his birthplace of Scotland but old enough to remember his early perspectives. He wrote sixty-two years later in 1911, that his memory was better for events that occurred in his younger days than in … Continue reading
My great-great-grandfather Thomas Muir married three times, and I am unclear what this says of his character. I have no image of him as he was born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1806.[1] Photography did not exist for most of his life, and he and his family were too poor for a portrait or sketch. I picture Thomas as of medium height, with grey hair and a beard. My long research of the Muir family helped me visualise Thomas from my … Continue reading
My family history is full of Scottish immigrants who came to Queensland in the mid-nineteenth century and stayed in Queensland. With that in mind, I wondered why my grandfather’s brother, Robert James Porter, had a daughter buried in the Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney.[1] Robert married Annie McIntosh in 1907 in Pittsworth, and their daughter Gladys Ann was born ten months later on 10 June 1908.[2] Gladys died at age nine months on 6 March 1909 in Sydney. What was Gladys … Continue reading
