Jottings of interest: September 2017

Joseph Swan

The online home of The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis has included an item about great-great-great-grandfather Joseph Swan in their profiles under the title Joseph Swan: engraver and publisher.

The Necropolis itself is worth a visit. We had a look for Joseph ourselves a couple of years ago – though we didn’t manage to find him then. We did get an eerie feeling that he was watching us though... 

There are a number of videos about the Necropolis on YouTube – a good ‘overview’ can be seen in Drone Video - Glasgow Necropolis in Scotland and an introduction video as well. If you’re thinking of visiting, check out The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis website before you go!

Volunteer Soldiers in British India, 1687-1947

This video produced by Clayton Roberts in collaboration with Peter Moore is about the Volunteer Forces in British India, 1687-1947, who maintained law and order during times of civil unrest in India and served in overseas conflicts. It covers the Volunteer Militia, the Indian Defense Force Corps and the Auxiliary Force (India)

La Martiniere Lucknow’s cadets who were in the Lucknow Volunteer Rifles & Bishop Cotton cadets are featured.

One of the many volunteer militia units was the Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles (NBMR). My grandfather Frederick Marsh and great-grandfather Claud Bald were members. See a A tale of two tea planters: Claud Bald and F G Marsh . The video includes pictures of Bald and the NBMR (see 15:06-15:35).

Roberts and Moore's earlier video is Anglo-Indians: The Forgotten Pillars of British India. This is a photo-documentary of milestones in the history of Anglo-Indians from 1600 – 1947. There are lots of interesting pictures mini-biographies and snippets of historical information. There’s more to tell, but let's hope the story is no longer 'forgotten'. Fred’s medals are there (at 18:53) and Claud is in there again…

Researching your family tree – University of Strathclyde online course

Earlier this year I completed the University of Strathclyde online course on researching your family tree, and am happy to recommend it.

The main thing I have got from the course is a better sense of the need to be systematic in genealogical research/family history and a clear view of how to go about this. I've have become aware of many resources I had not heard of before and added a few more books to my 'to read list'. By being more systematic, I've already learned new things about Scottish ancestor, Joseph Swan and have a plan for how to get around my major 'brick wall' - how to find the parents of my 3rd great paternal ancestor William Romulus Po(w)e born in VA in 1796 by taking a broader and systematic look at his associates.

Genealogical information as a kind of science - gathering the data which gives some shape to family history. Some context can be suggested by the data (where did they live, when did they move etc), but some of the burning questions are; what was their life like? and why did they move when they did? 

Getting to know their predominant professions and foibles may tell me something about myself or at least give a context to some of my own circumstances. In both aspects (facts and context), it's a never-ending story as access to more information becomes available and our own interests/questions/skills develop.

Poe’s Point exhibit dedicated

On 7 September the Port of Bellingham hosted a ceremony at Marine Park which is just about where Alonzo Marion Poe’s cabin was. The chair of the Port Commission dedicated the ‘Poe’s Point exhibit’ two panels of pictures and text telling Poe’s story. For local identity Dr Warren Bergholz it was a grand 100th birthday gift. Bergholz and several other locals, including Brian Griffin, had been arguing for the proposed change for some time. History has now been corrected and Poe's place publicly acknowledged.

Here’s an image of one of the signs:

UPDATE 28 SEPTEMBER:

You can see the 'unveiling' event via YouTube too: