Category Archives: Uncategorized

Maggie’s Story – In the Shadow of the Pit

Some stories stay with you long after the research is done, and Maggie’s was one of them. As I pieced together the fragments of her life, census entries, marriage records, a death certificate written in a clerk’s careful hand, I found myself deeply moved by the quiet courage threaded through her years. Hers was notContinue reading “Maggie’s Story – In the Shadow of the Pit”

Maggie’s Story

Margaret McDonald Bruce entered the world on 4 November 1874 in the small settlement of Bryans, a scatter of cottages lying in the long shadow of Bryan’s Pit. Though the pit dominated the landscape, her father, William Bruce, himself the son of a miner, had chosen a different path. He worked the fields rather thanContinue reading “Maggie’s Story”

William Jamieson – Fishery Officer 1780 -1848

William Jamieson was born on 31 December 1780 in the midwinter of Argyll and Bute. His parents, Neil Jamieson and Ann Bannatyne, lived among the crofts of Kilmahumaig, a landscape of rough pasture, peat smoke, and tidal inlets that shaped the rhythm of daily life. A few weeks later, on 3 February 1781, he wasContinue reading “William Jamieson – Fishery Officer 1780 -1848”

Alexander McCulloch From the Crofts to the Mines

My husband‘s Great Grandfather, Alexander McCulloch was a miner. He spent every day working deep below the ground in complete darkness and unbearable heat. His job was dangerous and difficult. Breathing in stale air and coal dust and facing the constant risk of cave-ins and gas explosions to earn a wage that he would oftenContinue reading “Alexander McCulloch From the Crofts to the Mines”

Alexander McCulloch A Highland Life

In this post, I am taking a bigger leap back in time and will be telling the story of the life and times of Alexander McCulloch my husband’s G. Great Grandfather on his mother’s. side. His story is set in 19th Century Sutherland. The following description is based on my interpretation of the records IContinue reading “Alexander McCulloch A Highland Life”