JANUARY 4TH - THE NEW YEAR

It was quite unintentional that the first of the family tree commemorations in my new years project should fall on my birthday. A fitting coincidence rather than design as, hard as I tried, I could not find an ancestor anywhere in the tree, who had any recorded life event on the 1st, 2nd or 3th of January. So here I am, celebrating and commemorating for the first time this year.


Of course, the other important birthday today is that of one of the newest generation. So Happy Birthday to my beautiful great-niece, Aurora!

Historically, we have both a birthday and a wedding to celebrate today.

Janet MACKENZIE born on this day in 1833 was the younger sister of my maternal great-grandfather Ronald MACKENZIE, which I believe makes her my second great-great-aunt. I know little else about Janet other than she was the second youngest of 5 children (like me) with three brothers and one sister (again, like me). More coincidences?

Today is also the wedding anniversary of Edith HAMILTON and John GREIG who married in Port Glasgow in 1886. Great-great-aunt, Edith was the youngest sister of my maternal great-grandmother Annie Wilson HAMILTON and one of the lucky 4 of 11 children who survived to adulthood. John was the son of Alexander GREIG and Isobel PROCTOR and at the time of his marriage was a journeyman blacksmith. Sadly to date I have not been able to find any later trace of the couple in either Scotland or England.Their wedding was announced in the Greenock Telegraph:

"Edith, daughter of late W.C.B. Hamilton to John Greig, at Ivy Bank, Port Glasgow on 4th Jan 1886" (Greenock Telegraph 6.1.1886)