Tag: McKie

  • Widow of John McKie

    This weeks post is the outline of an article that I have prepared for the Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society Newsletter this Autumn. The DGFHS is an organisation that has its own premises in the town of Dumfries. It was established in 1987 and is dedicated to supporting members with their family history research.…

  • Whithorn, a field trip journal

    We have just returned from the Whithorn peninsula. The cone shaped peninsula that juts out from Galloway into the entrance of the Solway Firth. With gentle rolling hills and moors known as the Machars, grazed by the distinctive black with white strip Galloway cows, this hidden area of Scotland is steeped in history. The first…

  • A Police Constable in Yorkshire

    I have been researching the McKie family for some time ever since I started family history research about nine years ago. I have gone back three generations to their life in Kirkinner, Wigtownshire (now Dumfries and Galloway). The tragic loss of John McKie at the age of 33 left his wife Agnes caring for six…

  • What’s in a name ?

    In August I related the story of my Wife’s Great Uncle Alexander who was a Gardener by trade all of his life. I have also described the background history to her Great Aunt Louisa who became a Domestic Servant in Bournemouth before marrying the licensee of a pub in Irvine, Ayrshire. I have also described…

  • The Landed Proprietor’s Wife

    My title comes from an unusual find in the 1891 Census return when I was searching for one of my wife’s Great Uncles. Alexander McKie (1873 – 1951) was the younger brother of Andrew, my wife’s Grandfather. He was born in Kirkinner, Wigtownshire, as were all his siblings. In later life I tracked him down…

  • When the Railway came to Braehead

    This week I am writing about my wife’s Grandfather, Andrew McKie. The second born child of John McKie and Agnes McKean of Braehead, Kirkinner in Galloway, formerly Wigtownshire. I have previously described John McKie’s tragic death and Agnes McKies reliance on the Parish for Poor Law relief. Agnes had six children to care for and…

  • A Poor Law Story

    In a previous post I described how John McKie died tragically in 1879. When John McKie died he had been a Master Stonemason. Indeed he had been described as a Contractor in some of his children’s’ marriage certificates. The wages of a Stonemason during this part of the Victorian era would have been in the…