When maternal and paternal ancestors intersect

After finding no trace of her in Edinburgh for several years following the 1851 Scotland census, this year, I found that Margaret Falconer (abt 1835-aft 1901), eldest child of my maternal 2nd great grand aunt, Ann Smith (abt 1811-abt 1851), married twice, had children and emigrated to Canada. As is happening increasingly, this discovery came about through AncestryDNA's Thrulines feature, on a nephew's AncestryDNA. I wrote about the family of Ann and her husband Angus Falconer (1815-1872) here.

Starting with the ThruLines connection, I was able to build out Margaret Falconer's descendants through the usual statutory and other records. By her first husband, David Leckie (1831-1867), Margaret had three children. Margaret remarried the following year to John Fraser (abt 1835-aft 1901) and they had a family of five children by 1879. After the 1881 census, John Fraser and his stepson, David Leckie (1866-1936), left for Canada. The following year, Margaret and the rest of the family (Isabella and Anne Leckie, Catherine, Margaret, Mary, John and James Fraser) emigrated from Edinburgh to Canada. The family settled in Manitoba.

'Manitoban' passenger list arrivals 5 May 1882, Quebec City

As I built out Margaret's children's trees and descendants (as we genealogists can't help ourselves but to do this), I came across a familiar family name. Margaret's granddaughter, Nellie Dorothy Curtis (1844-1933), who is my 3rd cousin once removed, married a man named Harold Morton Archibald (1877-1960), whose father, Edward Archibald, was born in Nova Scotia.

Anyone who is remotely familiar with Nova Scotia genealogy will know that the Archibalds there are many. Four Archibald brothers -- David, James, Samuel and Thomas -- are counted among Truro and Stewiacke's New England Planters, arriving in Nova Scotia from Ulster via New Hampshire in 1762. Chapter five of Thomas Miller's 1873 book, Historical and Genealogical Record of the First Families of Colchester County is devoted to the Archibald brothers, who each had very large families. The Archibalds warranted 75 pages in Miller's book, far more than any of the other first families.

I have no direct Archibald ancestors, but I've have found dozens of Archibald cousins in my family tree on my father's side. This is a case of where worlds collide.

I traced Harold Morton Archibald's ancestry back to Samuel Archibald (abt 1719-1774). As it happens, Harold and I are 4th cousins 2x removed. Harold's and Nellie's ten children are my 4th cousins.

And Margaret? I haven't found a record of Margaret's death so far, but I'm sure that will emerge eventually.

So far, there is just one connection with a descendant of Margaret Falconer among the Ancestry DNA tests I manage. But that one connection helped me to build out that line. Margaret's Leckie children have been easy to trace. Less so, her five Fraser children. So far.

The never ending story continues....




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