Genealogies of Ministers of the Church of Scotland

This book, The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation, has genealogical information of the ministers for the Synods of Aberdeen and Moray. 

   

My great-great-grandfather Alexander Mavor lived in Ellon and was working at Cross Stones Farm. It so happened there was a house servant named Margaret Bruce working for Mr and Mrs Lamb at Crosshill Farm, Ellon, about 4.5 miles away. She took his fancy and they were married 6 Aug 1853 in New Deer, where Margaret's family lived. 

They were married by the Reverend James Welsh. 

Reverend James Welsh is mentioned in the book under New Deer. You can see it tells where and when he was born, his father's name, his education, dates of milestones, family names, etc.. 

Ministers of New Deer, James Welsh, pg 219

Included at the back of the book are a list of other reading material for the histories of the parishes, an index of parishes and chapels, and an index of ministers.

There are books for other synods, check the index at the beginning of each book.



Relevant Links

Vol 1: Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale

Vol 2: Synods of Merse and Teviotdale; Dumfries; and Galloway

Vol 3: Synod of Glasgow and Ayr

Vol 4:  Synods of Argyll; and of Perth and Sterling

Vol 5:  Synods of Fife; and of Angus and Mearns

Vol 6:  Synods of Aberdeen and Moray

Vol 7: Synods of Ross; Sutherland and Caithness; Glenelg; Orkney; Shetland; and synod of the Church of Scotland in England, Ireland and Overseas    


 

Jewelers, Watchmakers and Optometrists

I find that most of my DNA matches are on my mother's father's line. Specifically that of my 2x great grandfather's brother, Francis Mavor that immigrated to New Brunswick with his large family. We are doing a little give and take - they are taking me forward and I am taking them back. There are not many relatives around on my side, as many of my 2x ggf's children had no offspring, or their children never married, so it is nice to have people to share my research with. 

In my 12 Days of Ancestors, day 5 post I wrote about two of Francis' grandsons who owned Mavor Bros Jewelers and Watchmakers. Jewelers would also do engraving, make pins and badges, and some sold eyeglasses. 

In the 1920 January issue of The Trader, the official publication of the Canadian Jeweler, James and George placed an ad to hire a watchmaker.

The Trader, January 1920, pg 97

In the October 1923 issue of The Optical Journal and Review of Optometry there was a small notice that James Mavor is congratulated on the birth of a daughter. 

Optical Journal and Review of Optometry, Oct 1923, pg 50

If your ancestor was a jeweler he may be mentioned in one of these publications. 



Relevant Links

Jeweler's Circular

Canadian Jewellers Association

The Trader and Canadian Jeweler

The Watchmaker & Jeweller, Silversmith & Optician

The Commonwealth Jeweller & Watchmaker 1923

Fogerty's Directory of The Jewelry and Kindred Trades in The United States 1877

List of Philadelphia Silversmiths and Allied Artificers From 1682 To 1850

The Commonwealth Jeweller & Watchmaker (Australia)

Women as Watchmakers (article)

The annual report of the Society of Arts & Crafts of Boston, Massachusetts

An exhibition of early New York silver 1932

Former clock & watchmakers and their work 1894

Old clocks and watches & their makers

Catalogue of Supplies for Watchmakers, Jewelers and Kindred Trades 1899

Watchmakers' and Jewelers' Practical Receipt Book (recipes) 1892

The silversmiths of Virginia, together with watchmakers and jewelers,1694 to 1850

The Optical Review

The Blue Book of Optometrists

Directory of the California Board of Optometry

Annual Reports

Most societies, governments, institutions and companies etc generated an Annual Report.
At Internet Archive they are not always under the title of the entity, ie Boston Fire Department Annual Report. Most times the title is just plain Annual Report.

I recommended to a friend who is interested in monarchs (one of the milkweed butterflies) the Annual Report of the Entomology Society of Ontario. This has lists of members including those from other cities across Canada including Montreal, but it is not always about ancestors. What are the monarch population trends from year to year? 

At Internet Archive when I search "annual report" I see 4-5 for the Boston FD, then scrolling down maybe a few more.  To get them all together I use the Advanced Search.  I put  Annual Report in the title box and Boston Fire Dept in the creator box. Now I get all 73 texts. 

Another way is to click on one of the links for Annual Report, Boston (Mass) Fire Dept and when it opens, under the title is a link to all texts for the Boston Fire Dept, and you will likely get more than the annual reports. To remedy that just add annual report to the search box.

Try it out!  Go to Internet Archive and search Annual Report. On the left you see that there are 91,735 texts.  Tick off texts, that is what we want. That's a lot of reports!

Not all Annual Reports have the same information, even year to year, but usually there is a list of officers, and depending on the entity perhaps a list of staff or members. Using the Boston Fire Department again as an example, the yearly reports are different, most have a list of officials somewhere, and some have list of members pensioned or died during the year. Others have a list of fire station locations, or a list of all the fires and alarms, their causes and which company responded.

The Annual Report for the Ontario Inspector of asylums, prisons and public charities may not give the names of asylum patients, but some give their initials and cause of death.  So if you know you have an ancestor that was in an asylum, you may be able to tell more about them from the reports. 

Ontario Asylum for the Insane and Idiotic

Some reports may even have photos, drawings or plans. 

One of my favourites is the Annual Report of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York because they have lots of goodies, like this one for 1911. There is a huge staff and long lists of partons, donors and members with their addresses.  One list is of people who left amounts of money to the hospital by year from before 1867

In previous pages there are small gifts from people and large endowments in memory of loved ones. Great place to look for your new York ancestor. 

For other hospitals, including more in New York, search Annual Report Hospital.


Those with Australian ancestors can do the same thing at Trove. As well as journal reports, there may have been some published in the newspapers.

For Canada only reports, you can search the newly-free canadiana.org