Spring 1998 - Vol 12

R.A. Darlington
1820 Merida Place,
Victoria, B.C.,
CANADA V8N 5C9

e-mail - [email protected]

   Newsletter 11 last Fall produced three immediate e-mail responses for which I am grateful. So in order to keep all "on-line" readers appraised of contact addresses I will start by providing a current list of those whose e-mail address has reached me.

#9 Dan Barrett - [email protected]
Also for those with a BARRETT interest.

#46 Dave Jowitt - [email protected]

#47 Jim Robertson -
[email protected]

  It is always good to hear from the flock regardless of whether it is by letter, telephone, e-mail or carrier pigeon.

   Jim Robertson reported his upcoming reunion of the Robertson clan among their native glens, heaths, braes and assorted single malt producing rivers of Scotland. I hope the clan spirit(s) was high for that event. Canada has more than its fair share of Scottish names. The MacDonalds have played an important role in our history from our first Prime Minister (1867), Sir John A. Many of our earlier immigrants were brought here as Lord Selkirk Settlers and started life in the new world in Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Manitoba.

   My own great grandmother was Margaret Cameron (1830-1907), granddaughter of Hugh McLean from the Island of Mull. Her mother was Mary McLean who married Ewen Cameron in the then very unsettled frontier region of the Red River in central Canada. The McLeans are a difficult family to trace in Mull and Tyree since the name was so common. The Duke of Argylle was one of the great land owners who, when wool

became the product of choice, chose sheep over crofters. So the poor crofters had to find an alternative. Lord Selkirk, a well intentioned but impractical social scientist, helped these Scots to remove to Canada.


   Dave Jowitt commented on his selection process for a new computer program. Of the three that he reviewed, Reunion did not suit his personal requirements. He chose Brothers Keeper over Family Tree Maker and is quite happy with it. But he admits that FTM is a very user friendly system and has an excellent record for development and improvement.

   Although I do dump all my material into the computer, I do not see the program as a strong aid in telling me where I want to go next. I keep talking about the process of genealogical research and how not enough about it is covered in the books and journals of our hobby. Obviously we all "organize" to varying degrees and with different tools. But the longer one researches the more complex the problem of maintaining a structured system becomes.

NEW MEMBER #62

   Last September I received a letter from Dr. Oliver F. Darlington of 5 Bradford Road, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1RB along with his chart. The appropriate page from the Register is enclosed to show everyone his tree. Although I have listed him as a "Cheshire" researcher, it would probably be more accurate to place him with Lancashire. His father, Cyril Dean Darlington, was a Professor and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

   His earliest ancestor was William whose common law wife was the mother of Henry, who was actually fathered by Henry Robertson, a cousin of William Gladstone of P.M. fame. I suspect William Darlington was the son of Job and Mary and was christened at Chester Holy Trinity in 1814. Although Henry simply "adopted" the surname of Darlington, others who see a connection to Job and Mary may wish to contact Oliver. I cannot find their marriage in my records.

New Member # 63

   Through the magic of e-mail I had an inquiry from Bill Blackburn in California. He is one of the multitude of descendants of Abraham Darlington and Elizabeth Hillborn. His chart traces to One of Abraham's sons, John Darlington (#7 in the Gilbert Cope book of 1900) who married Esther Dicks in 1751 of Providence. Bill's chart does not agree entirely with the Cope data and I have recommended he get a copy of the book to sort out the inconsistencies. Anyone in the States with an interest in the Abraham clan should write to Bill at 1612 Old Stage Road, Mt. Shasta, Cal., 96067. His e-mail is [email protected].

CORRESPONDENCE

   A nice letter from Anita Brown (#54). She is still hunting for the marriage of her ancestor John Darlington who farmed near the Shropshire - Cheshire border. While in Scotland she thought to see if he had eloped to Gretna Green but no luck. Since the Scots are now heading for a separate parliament, prices are going up to pay for this new level of government and she paid 17 Pounds to enter Register House and to use the computer. So she ran me off some of the Darlington births and marriages.

   I am always grateful for this type of addition to my records. It is not a simple task to keep all this information in an organized manner although a data base works for some of it. The marriages that Anita sent will go into my ever growing data base of those events. I notice that William Darlington in 1980 in Falkirk married a lady by the name of Blackadder. I thought Rowan Atkinson had invented that name! I also noticed a 1981 marriage in Kirkintilloch. That brought fond memories of my favourite Scot, Colin Glencannon, Engineer officer of the Inchcliffe Castle and strong supporter of Duggan's Dew of Kirkintilloch. If you have not read these stories then I strongly recommend them.
   
   Anita's letter came in an envelope depicting (or made from) Ordnance Survey Maps; in this case some Norfolk lands just east of Norwich. For a map lover like me finding names like Highnoon Farm and Strumpshaw Hill is a real joy.

   Here is a new address for Dennis Riley (#7) - 55A Abbett St., Scarborough, Western Australia, 6019.


   Another e-mail came in February from Ron Stonier in Middleton, Nova Scotia - e-mail [email protected]. Norah Jessie Stonier married Joseph Darlington sometime before 1915. The family came from Horton, Staff. Ron would like to find the marriage of these two and trace back their births and parentage. All help gratefully received. Send via me if you are not on e-mail. The Red Bull Hotel and Woodlands Farm in Lawton, Cheshire was part of the family business and there is a connection to the Nixon family through Eliza (Nixon) Stonier.

   Dorothy Jaeger at e-mail [email protected] want to know if anyone has a trace on John Hudson Darlington born 1870 in Cheshire. She has found him in 1871 and 1881 with Matthew as Head of Household. She needs direction in where to go next. It is not much to go on but perhaps one of my readers will find an interest.



  TRIVIA

   You can always tell when someone such as I is running out of good DARLINGTON data. They switch to non significant trivia to fill in the spaces. I was looking through the 1841 census for central London, hunting for two of Wendy's assorted clan who lived near Haymarket. Did you ever wonder whether royalty was enumerated and if so, by what name? Attached is the 1841 page covering Queen Victoria. She was just 22 but of course rounded down to 20 and listed simply as "The Queen". Her consort, Albert, was appropriately noted as Foreign born as were those of his personal servants on that page. There was no attempt at a hierarchy and Pages, Earls, Footmen and even a Cabinet Maker all are shown just a few names behind the Queen.

   Of course this has nothing to do with the usual content of the Newsletter but I thought it might amuse those of you who still give an occasional thought to the monarchy. Sorry for the poor quality of the page; the1841 census is a chancy thing at best.

   Speaking of the monarchy leads me to another drop of trivia. The Canadian Parliament is opened by the Governor General, the Vice Regal component of our system. The current session was opened in September with a Guard commanded by Lieutenant Commander C.A.H. Darlington, my eldest. I noticed that he carried a rather well worn naval officer's sword that looked vaguely familiar.

   And even more trivia - much, much earlier I noted that I had collected about a dozen envelopes from the USA with Darlington post marks. I thought I had the lot!. Through the magic of Internet I asked the US government Service URS to give me those places with a Darlington name. I got 97! Eliminating those that were schools, cemeteries, churches, post offices, canals, mines, basins, buildings, parks, streams, lakes, airports, dams, swamps, valleys and reservoirs, there were 24 populated places.

   For those of you on Internet and just crazy enough to want the full list, try http://mapping.usgs.gov/gnis/GNISQuery.

      THE 1881 CENSUS - AGAIN

   I still find the 1881 census index a remarkable tool for research and equally an interesting area for oddments that appeal to my curious nature. Example: Leicestershire. Although this county had just one family of Darlingtons, James born in Manchester and his wife Eliza born in Cambridgeshire, it had a range of "near Darlingtons". It had Darlaston, Darleson, Darlingson, Darlinson, Darlison, Darlson, and Darlyson. One wonders whether a particularly illiterate, but devious, member of the family fathered a group of offshoots who changed the spelling of the name every time the rent collector called. Other counties had an occasional variation of the spelling but Leicestershire was unique in the quantity of these.

   When I included the 2018 distribution list for Darlington names in the 1881 census index in an earlier Newsletter I did not include the Scottish ones. In fact there were just 16 in Scotland in 1881 and of these three were born in England and one in Ireland.

     

THE GILBERT COPE BOOK