I have discovered so many interesting characters whilst writing up the family history, admittedly some have given me grief, after discovering their convict past, however I must add that they mostly redeemed themselves with the chance of new opportunities in a new land. Others have given me great pride in the way they lived their lives, some bravely migrating from their native homelands, only to be met with terrible hardships as they pioneered a new country, others were impressive business contributors to Australia’s development as a nation. As I write each chapter I have come to know and understand the character of so many of our ancestors and it has been such an honour to now have this opportunity to become the family historian. My husband Geoff Rundle challenged me to write up the family history as he could see how interested I was in my research whilst developing the family tree. I then set myself the goal to try and take each branch of our family back into their country of origin and find the townships from where they came.

No ancestor has given me more interest than Catherine Ellen Ackers Lindsay, just when I think I know her, I find out something more about this extraordinary woman that totally surprises me. Her incredible and adventurous life, her birth just a few weeks after her father’s tragic drowning, her tumultuous childhood, a disastrous first marriage, followed by a successful second marriage which saw her combine a large family and a business venture. Many of these facts have already been well documented, but I don’t believe all aspects of her life story have ever been presented together as I hope to accomplish. Please see my chapter on The Rundle Family of Newcastle to find the continuing story of Catherine Ellen Ackers Lindsay. It is amazing to be able to put together this chart which shows five generations starting from my husband Geoff Rundle’s grandmother, when viewed as generations like that it is quite incredible, even for me, to see how far I have been able to take the family generations back and place Catherine’s paternal side of the family in Scotland.

Five Generation Pedigree Chart for Catherine Ellen Ackers Lindsay

Philip Alan Rundle and Valmae Lenore Patterson were my husband Geoff Rundle’s parents. Philip was the youngest son of Richard Thomas and Catherine Rundle, nee Lindsay, formerly Moloney. Catherine died before Philip and Val Rundle were married. I often envied Val that she had never had to deal with her mother-in-law, because if she had, just perhaps, she may have been a little better handling her relationship with me. I take solace from our relationship failure in the knowledge that my difficulties with Val Rundle have made me better equipped to be a mother and a mother-in-law. l have learned from Val’s mistakes and with the help of my friends and husband, I vowed I would be a good mother-in-law. In a perfect world, had Catherine Rundle lived long enough to have met Val Rundle, it would indeed have been a most interesting collision of two headstrong and very difficult personalities.

As I have mentioned in my previous chapter on The Rundle Family of Newcastle, Philip Rundle never spoke about his mother and now, after researching Catherine I find this fact so surprising, because she must have been such an interesting and intelligent person. I qualify my thoughts on Catherine by my understanding that she would also have been most difficult to get on with and I could see that she had high ideals and huge ambitions, not only for herself, but for her husband and for her children. I see in Richard Thomas Rundle a gentler style of character, who possibly allowed his strong willed wife to dominate their life, but I also see a contented family man, who was happy to work hard and let his wife make the more complicated family decisions. Catherine wasn’t a person to deal with failure, she had high ideals and she expected the same from her children. Now when I look back on her early life, I can see how she struggled and how she had made some bad decisions and how this gave her the resolve to survive. Catherine’s tribulations helped her shape a new life with fortitude and made her strive for excellence and success above her own life, and for these qualities I admire Catherine Lindsay.

Early on in my research I discovered from Catherine Rundle’s obituary that her maiden name was Lindsay and I was then able to collect her birth record to determine her birthdate and the whereabouts of her birth.

New South Wales Birth Registration for Catherine Ellen Ackers Lindsay, 17 August 1874

Interestingly, this record shows Bridget’s maiden name as Lake, rather than Tobin. At the time of collection I wasn’t aware that Bridget’s mother Ellen Lake, had been married twice. Ellen Dillon had firstly married James Tobin, who was the father of Bridget. The name Lake was actually her surname from her second marriage to William Lake, if indeed she was actually married to William, as I can find no marriage record for this union.

I searched old newspapers to see if I could find anything about Catherine Lindsay’s childhood. Knowing that her mother had married again to another seafarer, Benjamin Lafiura and had moved to live in Redfern near to where he managed a pub I was curious to find out what her life must have been like living with a stepfather and half siblings. It was wonderful to be able to collect a few clippings about Catherine’s education in Sydney. It was also interesting to see that Catherine had adopted the name Katie Vincent Lafiura. The migrant ship St Vincent had bought out Catherine’s grandmother, Ellen Lake, nee Dillon, formerly Tobin to Sydney from Cork in Ireland. Whether this was the reason that Catherine had adopted the middle name Vincent, one cannot be certain.

Music Award for Katie V Lafiura, 23 September 1893, Australian Town and Country

Final Examination Results for Katie Vincent Lafiura 7 October 1893, Sydney Morning Herald

This next record for Catherine Lindsay threw up so many more interesting facts that I had to work through, I could now see that Catherine had used her mother’s married surname Lafiura from her remarriage after Captain Lindsay was drowned, the very quizzical name Tineent as a middle name is a typo and I think it is meant to be Vincent and it is comforting to see that she also included the name Lindsay. I cannot explain the Beyrout, Cyria inclusion  on the certificate.

Australian Marriage Transcription 1788-1949 for William Moloney and Katie Tineent (Vincent?) Lindsay Lafiura (note the extraordinary listing for the couple’s birthplace as Beyrout, Cyria)

I was very grateful to Peter Rundle after he kindly lent me an excellent publication called Beneath the Southern Cross, The Story of Ellen Dillon and her Australian Descendants, compiled and written by David Michael and Marie Ray, March 2006, which included many documents, facts, photos, newspaper clippings for Catherine Rundle’s ancestors. It was an excellent source for me to understand the family interconnections. Peter Rundle had told me some of the tale of the Lafiura family and had explained that Kate’s mother had given birth to several more daughters from her second marriage to an Italian mariner. It must have been difficult for Catherine to grow up without a father and this may have been the reason for her marriage to William Moloney at such a young age.

William Moloney (1872-1916) and Catherine Ellen Ackers Lindsay (1876-1948), AKA Katie Vincent Lafiura married on 2 June 1894 at Mount Carmel Catholic Church, Waterloo, Sydney, and they had two sons, John Moloney (1895-1973) and William Joseph Moloney (1898-1959). William and Catherine divorced on 22 December 1903. Richard Thomas Rundle (1869-1936) and Catherine Moloney nee Lindsay (1876-1948) married on 3 April 1904 had seven children, Irene ‘Rene’ E Rundle (1904-), Iris E Rundle (1905-1905), Richard Lindsay Rundle (1906-1996), Francis Felix Rundle (1910-1993), Elsie Enid Rundle (1912-1970), Nelson David Rundle (1914-1969) and Philip Alan Rundle (1917-1993).

Marriage of William and Catherine Moloney, Sydney Morning Herald, 25 August 1894

Australia Birth Index, 1788-1922

Name:	John Moloney
Birth Date:	1895
Birth Place:	New South Wales
Registration Year:	1895
Registration Place:	Redfern, New South Wales, Australia
Father:	William Moloney
Mother:	Catherine E
Registration Number:	36151

The next record is for the birth of William Joseph Moloney, the second son of William and Katie Moloney. It can be seen that the family had moved from Redfern to Nundle in New South Wales and had settled at Bowling Alley Point, which is now the site of Chaffey Dam after the Peel River and the surrounding valley and village was flooded in 1979. This area was the site of a large gold rush settlement in the mid 1850’s when the gold rush was at its peak, there were about seven hotels in the township. However, I imagine that by the late 1890’s that this area was fairly sparsely populated as the gold miners, hoteliers, publicans and suppliers had drifted away from the town. William Moloney’s occupation was listed as a clerk.

Australian Birth Transcription 1788-1922 for William Joseph Moloney

William Moloney Snr’s father John Moloney was a school teacher who had several postings in Sydney; he had previously been a teacher at Gardeners Road Public School and North Botany Primary School and by late 1890 he was a teacher Cleveland Street Primary School. The following newspaper article does not explain why the Minister of Public Instruction had requested the removal of John Moloney from North Botany Public School especially in view of his obvious popularity with the parents of the school. This next newspaper clipping may explain the problem, and as I understand it, that Aldermen were not entitled to be public servants or teachers, so this removal of John Moloney may have been politically motivated.

13 March 1890, Daily Telegraph 

Listing Alderman John Moloney, Borough of North Botany and below John Moloney’s proposed removal from his position as a teacher.

26 June 1890 Sydney Morning Herald

It was disturbing to find this next newspaper clipping regarding John Moloney.

17 March 1891, Daily Telegraph

I then placed John Moloney, his son William Moloney and two grandsons, William Joseph Moloney and John Moloney Jnr. into my Rundle Family Tree on ancestry.com as I expanded the family tree to include the Rundle, Lindsay, Moloney, Lafiura, Tobin and Dillon families. I was hoping for a connection with others researching the same families.

I decided to search early Australian newspapers for anything I could find on William and Catherine Moloney and it was quite a shock that I came upon the couples tumultuous relationship with Catherine’s mother Bridget Elizabeth Lafiura nee Tobin, formerly Lindsay, before their marriage. It would seem that Bridget Lafiura was extremely unhappy with the thought that her seventeen year old daughter Catherine had developed a relationship and wanted to marry twenty two year old William Moloney.

24 May 1894 Daily Telegraph

24 May 1894 Evening News

It was staggering that this episode had been reported so publicly in the newspapers. Both newspapers had lurid descriptions of the runaway couple and Elizabeth Lafiura’s violent attempts at stopping her daughter’s liaison with Moloney was unbelievable and gripping reading.

9 May 1896, Freeman’s Journal

I was pleased to see that by 1896 mother and daughter had clearly resumed their relationship and things appeared normal for a time after the Moloney marriage. It would appear that after the couple moved away from Sydney and settled in Nundle, New South Wales where William Moloney resumed his heavy drinking and the marriage broke down.

It was even more distressing to collect newspaper clippings about William and Catherine’s very public divorce. Divorce was rare and newspapers picked up the salacious stories of unhappy couples desperate to divorce. This was a time when the fault of one party had to be proved to a judge in a courtroom and there was absolutely no privacy afforded to them. It was probably even rarer for a Catholic couple to seek a divorce, as it was frowned upon by their church.

5 June 1900, Sydney Morning Herald

5 June 1900, Australian

I am unsure why there was a period of three and a half years before the court granted the Decree Absolute for the Moloney marriage.

14 January 1904, Sydney Morning Herald

The History of Matt is a blog website that I found while researching the Moloney family in 2011 and I found it quite fascinating. It is authored by Matt Hall, an Australian living in America. Like my own website, it has recently been included in the Australian National Library Pandora Project which collects and protects family history websites for posterity.

http://thehistoryofmatt.blogspot.com/2010/01/william-moloney-1872-1916.html

I was able to extract the following part of his history:

“Tuesday, January 12, 2010

William Moloney (1872-1916)

William was a son of my ancestors John MOLONEY and Ellen nee MERRICK. He was born in Sydney in 1872.

I’m not sure why he died relatively young, but he certainly had a tumultuous life. He married Kate LAFIURA (birth name Catherine Ellen Ackers LINDSAY) in 1894, had two sons before being divorced in 1900 – quite the shameful act for a Catholic family of good standing at the time. Kate took the youngest son, William Joseph MOLONEY (1898-1959), with her to Newcastle after she married Richard RUNDLE (1869-1936 and already known for their tailoring business) in 1904, and for some reason abandoned the elder son John MOLONEY (1895-?) who was brought up by other Moloney family members including my HALL family.

My great grand-father described ‘Will’ in a letter as follows:

“Anyhow WILL was a real dashing type – a real lady killer – a hale fellow well met – with devil a care in the world. He soon got into bad company and hit the ‘grog’. His father came to his aid many times – even starting him in business as a photographer – however the camera & gear soon went into ‘Uncle’ at the THREE BALLS round the corner – in other words he pawned it.”

“About this time he got hold of himself, met a girl called KATE LAFURA who had a very bigoted Protestant mother. Notwithstanding he and Kate were married. They had two children John, whom we all called “MOLO” and William Joseph who later changed his surname to Rundle”

Norman managed to pick up a lot of family gossip as a youngster which he distilled into his letter. Clearly the divorce was discussed in the family:

“I’m afraid WILL’S drinking, devil may care habits eventually brought his downfall. His wife (KATE) left him, then started divorce proceedings (It was one of the very earliest divorce cases in Australia) and obtained her divorce. When she left WILL she took the younger of the boys, abandoning “MOLO” (young young John Moloney)……  he would argue on ANYTHING – he had no manners – in fact he was a difficult character. He and I fought like tigers – on one occasion taking bullock whips to each other. I never recall who won!!!!!!!!!”

“Once, on my own mother’s advice he wrote to his mother (who by now had remarrried – she married a tailor at Maitland named Randall & Molos brother also took the name ‘Randle’) – ‘Mrs’ Randle replied that she completely disowned him. Poor MOLO, it must have had a teriffic effect on him.”

I left in some comments on ‘Molo’ to demonstrate the difficult time he had as a result of his parents difficulties and divorce. It was thought that William MOLONEY went to Western Australia to follow the gold and his sister’s COLEMAN family there, however this has recently been disproved and it is not clear what William did from his divorce in 1900 till death in 1916 aged 40.

His death and funeral notice in the Sydney Morning Herald indicates he died at the Coast Hospital which was then located at Little Bay on the coast of Sydney and handled many of the infectious disease outbreaks, though there was not an outbreak in 1916 (the 1918 flu pandemic reached Sydney in 1919). I think that most interesting among the funeral announcements is that his two sons – apparently parted by the mother – apparently placed a single funeral notice together. It would be interesting to know whether they both attended. I believe William is buried with his parents.” History of Matt blog

Death Notice for William Moloney, 2 May 1916, Sydney Morning Herald

Funeral Notices for William Moloney, 2 May 1916, Sydney Morning Herald

John “Molo” Moloney (1895-1973) married Marjorie Edith Cooper (1903-1978) in Sydney in 1919 and they had four children Eric Thomas Moloney (1922-1989), Marjorie Therese Moloney (1927-1999), Jack Moloney and Jessica Moloney.

 

Australian Electoral Roll for John and Marjorie Moloney, New Lambton, Newcastle, 1930

I found this Australian Electoral Roll listing John Moloney, a clerk and his wife Marjorie Edith Cooper living in Avondale Road, New Lambton in 1930 and I must admit it did surprise me that John was living so close to his mother, Catherine Ellen Ackers Rundle in Newcastle. John Moloney seemed to be living a respectable life and had a solid career. I wondered if they had any contact and if Catherine had any contact with her grandchildren. I had always read that Catherine had shunned her first born son. It was a curious record to find and it will always leave one wondering.

Later Electoral Rolls find John and Marjorie Moloney living at Francis Street, Carlton. John Moloney died in 1971 and is buried in the Catholic Section of  Woronora Cemetery, Sutherland (RC-90546).

In my chapter on The Rundle Family of Newcastle I take up Catherine Moloney nee Lindsay’s life story with Catherine’s marriage on 3 April 1904 to Richard Thomas Rundle, a tailor, who founded Rundles, a men’s tailoring business in Hunter Street, Newcastle.

Later, in a further chapter, The Tobin and Dillon Family of Ireland and Australia I will deal more thoroughly with Catherine Lindsay’s mother Bridget Elizabeth Tobin who remarried another seafarer, Benjamin Lafiura, after the drowning death of her first husband David Watson Lindsay and together they had a large family of five daughters. I will also include the migration from Ireland and the family history of James Tobin and Ellen Dillon, the parents of Bridget Elizabeth Lafiura nee Tobin formerly Lindsay.

New South Wales Marriage Transcription Record for David Lindsay and Bridget Tobin, 17 August 1874

David Watson Lindsay (1846-1876) and Bridget Tobin (1847-1919) married in Newcastle, New South Wales on 17 August 1874 and had one daughter Catherine Ellen Ackers Lindsay (1876-1948).

There is so much wonderful information included on this marriage record for David and Bridget Lindsay. The most precious information given is that about their parent’s names, which also includes their mother’s surnames and the fact that Lindsay was a mariner. Also for the first time I could see confirmation that David Lindsay had been born in Montrose, Scotland and that Bridget was born in the Darling Downs, Queensland. The marriage was witnessed by John and Evelyn A Westaway. I was also fascinated by the fact that David and Bridget Lindsay had been married in the home of the Westaway family at Wolf Street, Newcastle. I enjoyed doing some research on John Westaway and his family. Keen readers will have also noticed that the widowed Bridget Elizabeth Lindsay gave birth to her daughter Catherine Ellen Ackers Lindsay in Wolf Street, undoubtedly in the home of the Westaway family. I must say it was comforting to know that at this difficult time in Bridget Elizabeth’s life, that she had friends to care for her.

John Westaway was born on 17 May 1838, at Sticklepath, Devon, in England. He arrived on the Hornet in 1859, formerly living at 2 Higher St. Devonport, Devon. After John Westaway came to Australia he settled in Newcastle, New South Wales where John had his own tailoring business, but unfortunately it burned down and he went to work for the Rundles of tailoring fame as their head cutter. In 1870 he was living in Pitt St ( a tiny little street in the oldest part of the city) and in 1874 he was in Wolf St. He died in Newcastle 21 March 1904. John had married Mary Ann Lemoine and they had one daughter Eveline Amelia. After Mary Ann’s death he remarried to Elizabeth Cheers, who was born on 12 July 1846 at Hexham, New South Wales and died in 1936 in Raymond Terrace on 1 February 1886. They had three children, John, Leonie and Ruby.

http://www.red1st.com/axholme/getperson.php?personID=676723124&tree=Axholme

http://westaway.tripod.com/documents/sheilayeo.htm

I now searched for the death of David Watson Lindsay and through early New Zealand newspapers I was able to find several references about the wreck of the William Ackers ship which went down off the Foveaux Strait on the southern most point on the south island of New Zealand. I can remember clearly the shock when I first discovered that David Watson Lindsay had died in a shipwreck. It was early in my research and I had connected with an ancestry.com tree which gave his death simply as Foveaux Strait, 1876. Having noted the unusual name of Ackers given to his daughter Catherine on her birth record. I then searched for the name Ackers and that was when I discovered the shipwreck of the William Ackers in New Zealand.

13 December 1876, Star, New Zealand

15 December 1876, Newcastle Morning Herald

17 December 1876 Lyttelton Times

19 December 1876, Otago Daily Times

It must have been a shocking time for poor Bridget Lindsay, a month prior to giving birth to her first child she must have received this dreadful news from New Zealand. One can only imagine her grief and terrible sadness. It was at this point in my research in early 2012 that Geoff and I resolved that on our next holiday we would go on a road trip to the South Island of New Zealand and visit Waipapa Point and find David Watson Linsday’s grave at Fortrose Cemetery.

26 December 1876 Press Newspaper, New Zealand

Fortrose Cemetery Record for David Lindsay, died 12 December 1876

Note also that there were 11 bodies buried in Fortrose Cemetery on 29 April 1881 for some of the victims of the Tararua maritime shipwreck. Apparently after the wreck of the William Ackers the townsfolk of Fortrose had called for a lighthouse to be built because of the dangers to shipping off Waipapa Point, but it had to take the loss of 131 soles from the Tararua for swift action to be taken to build a lighthouse on Waipapa Point.

Death Certificate for David Lindsay, died 11 December 1876

Headstone for David Lindsay, Fortrose Cemetery, New Zealand, died 12 December 1876, aged 28 years

Fortrose Cemetery is on the hilltop a few kilometres from Waipapa Point and is quite easily found on the outskirts of the tiny township of Fortrose.

Geoff Rundle standing beside his great grandfather David Lindsay’s gravestone at Fortrose Cemetery, New Zealand, September 2012

Waipapa Point Lighthouse, South Island, New Zealand

Waipapa Point Shoals, South Island, New Zealand

Sea Lions, Waipapa Point, South Island, New Zealand

Whilst Geoff and I were at Waipapa Point we could see that just a few years after the total loss of the barque William Ackers on 11 December 1876 there was the tragic loss of the S.S. Tararua on 21 April 1881 there was an even more tragic wreck on the very same shoal with the loss of 131 lives, it was considered to be New Zealand’s worst civilian shipwreck. At Fortrose Cemetery we noted that there was a section of the cemetery where some of the first victims of the disaster were buried. It quickly became clear to the rescuers that there was not enough room in the cemetery and so a section of land nearby to the disaster area was set aside as a mass burial area.

The Tararua Acre Cemetery, Waipapa Point, South Island, New Zealand

It was lambing season when Geoff and I visited Tararua Acre Cemetery and we respected the request by farmers for privacy.

Waipapa Point Lighthouse Information Board, South Island, New Zealand

Slope Point where Geoff and I enjoyed our picnic at the southern-most point of New Zealand, on a glorious spring day.

9 May 1881, South Australian Advertiser

20 May 1882, Brisbane Herald

20 January 1877, Newcastle Morning Herald

UK and Ireland, Masters and Mates Certificates, 1850-1927

Previously, I had collected David Lindsay’s Mate Certificate, issued on 3 July 1868 at the Port of Montrose and then in the same bundle of certificates was his Master’s Certificate, issued on 1 August 1871.

New South Wales, Unassisted Migrant Passenger List 1826-1922, Crew List aboard Pat the Rover, 11 Nov 1864

NSW, Unassisted Passenger List 1826-1922, Crew List aboard the Au Revoir 24 April 1871

Armed with the information that David Lindsay had listed his parents as David Lindsay and Catherine Crupland on his marriage certificate, I searched the Scottish census records for his family. Whilst the census are only released as transcriptions by the Scottish authorities, they still provide excellent family information. Almost immediately I could see David Lindsay’s family living in Montrose, Scotland in 1851 and 1861. It was exciting for me to see that David had several siblings, Helen, Frank and Catherine. I accepted these two census records and placed his new family into my ancestry.com tree in the hope that I might get a connection with another family tree. Almost immediately I was able to see that other trees were collecting the same census’.

The ancestry.com family connection was through the descendants of David Lindsay’s elder sister Helen Lindsay. I could see David Lindsay listed on several family trees, but none had his Australian/New Zealand link. The Thorne Family Tree was well managed, so I made an initial message contact to explain that I felt I had found a family tree connection with them. I only had to wait a few days for a wonderful and most exciting reply from Maggie Fenton. Maggie is an experienced researcher and she was very thrilled to finally have a connection for David Lindsay and she was shocked and delighted to find that David Lindsay had descendants. Later in our research I obtained the death record for David Lindsay and Maggie decided to order his brother Frank Lindsay’s New Zealand death certificate, after I found Frank Lindsay’s death notice from old newspapers in Lyttelton, New Zealand, while searching through Paper’s Past, the New Zealand website which allows free online access to early New Zealand newspapers. Maggie and I feel it is probable that Frank and David Lindsay must have been in touch during their time in Lyttelton, which is the main port of Christchurch.

1851 Scottish Census

Name:	David Lindsay
Age:	3
Estimated Birth Year:	abt 1848
Relationship:	Son
Father:	David Lindsay
Mother:	Catherine Lindsay
Gender:	Male
Where born:	Montrose, forfarshire
Parish Number:	312
Civil Parish:	Montrose
Phillimore Ecclesiastical Parish Maps:	View related Ecclesiastical Parish
County:	Angus
Address:	15 Patons Lane
ED:	21
Page:	5
Household schedule number:	21
LINE:	12
Roll:	CSSCT1851_68
Household Members:	Name Age David Lindsay 32 Catherine Lindsay 31 Helen Lindsay 5 David Lindsay 3 Frank Lindsay 1

1861 Scottish Census

Name:	David Lindsay
Age:	13
Estimated Birth Year:	abt 1848
Relationship:	Son
Father’s name:	David Lindsay
Mother’s name:	Catharine Lindsay
Gender:	Male
Where born:	Montrose, Forfarshire
Registration Number:	312
Registration district:	Montrose
Civil Parish:	Montrose
County:	Angus
Address:	20 India Lane
Occupation:	Flax Dresser
ED:	21
Household schedule number:	112
LINE:	19
Roll:	CSSCT1861_45
Household Members:	Name Age David Lindsay 42 Catharine Lindsay 41 David Lindsay 13 Helen Lindsay 15 Frank Lindsay 11 Catherine Lindsay 9

Death notice for Frank Lindsay, 3 October 1883, Press

Death Certificate, Frank Lindsay, 28 September 1883, Lyttelton, New Zealand

What is wonderful about this death certificate for Frank Lindsay is that listed on the document are his parents, David Lindsay and Catherine Lindsay formerly Copeland, confirming the same information from his brother David Watson Lindsay’s marriage certificate. Frank’s father was listed as a foreman of works. It was also listed that Frank was a native of Montrose, Scotland and had been living in New Zealand for 13 years. London Street, Lyttelton is the main street of Lyttelton. Sadly, during the earthquake in February 2011 both Lyttelton and Christchurch were badly damaged and much of London Street’s well preserved Victorian streetscape had to be demolished. Most importantly, it was exciting corroboration for Maggie Fenton and myself to have confirmation regarding both David and Frank Lindsay’s parentage confirming their connection to Maggie’s great grandmother Helen.

Lyttleton Public Cemetery Headstone Transcription, New Zealand, for Frank Lindsay

“Frank, son of David and Catherine LINDSAY, born at Montrose, Scotland, died at Lyttelton, 28 Sept. 1883 aged 33”

Photograph taken by Virginia Rundle at Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery of the Grubb Family Plaque, 2012

Helen Brown Duncan nee Lindsay, sister of David and Frank Lindsay, image kindly supplied by Maggie Fenton

Hilda Duncan, daughter of Helen Brown Lindsay, image kindly supplied by Maggie Fenton

Helen Brown Lindsay (1846-1926) married William Duncan in Montrose, Scotland on 22 July 1865 and they had six children, Mary H Duncan (1867-1902), William Lindsay Duncan (1872-1928), David Duncan (1875-1944), James Duncan (1877-1884), Frank Duncan (1883-) and Hilda Duncan (1890-1950).

For many years Maggie Fenton had guessed that Helen Brown Lindsay’s two brothers had “gone to sea” and she was able to help me fill in so much new information to extend our Australian tree including the fact that their Uncle James Lindsay, a brother to David Lindsay Snr., had emigrated to Massachusetts in America. Like myself, Maggie was sceptical about the middle name of Watson that had appeared on David Lindsay’s marriage certificate to Bridget Elizabeth Tobin. However, this adopted name is handy to differentiate father and son and I have often seen the adoption of a middle name in my extended Australian family and for one reason or another the name has been used in Australian records.

“I have to say I was a bit dubious about our David’s being one & the same – the Watson middle name doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere – so really really thrilled about the marriage Cert (Oz records really hard to obtain here & I suspect Frank is in Oz too)!! I suspect my g.grandfather William Duncan was probably responsible for the seafaring. He was brought up in the Glen Clova which although stunningly beautiful must have been a hard life with subsistence farming. He moved to Montrose where he was a ship’s pilot & master mariner. He married Hellen Brown Lindsay in 1865. Her 2 brothers were in menial jobs in the flax industry & I suspect he encouraged them to go to sea. Between 1867 & 1877 Hellen & William lived in Mauritius where he was the harbour pilot. He survived into old age but one of their sons William Lindsay Duncan was captain of the Asiatic Prince which was lost at sea in 1928, 200 miles north of Hawaii. Great Uncle James Stephen was also a Master mariner & harbour master.” Maggie Fenton email, 26 November 2011

A recent email from Maggie suggested that I should look at another sibling, Catherine Lindsay (1852-1914) who also had New Zealand connections and a most fascinating life. Maggie explained that Catherine had also married a mariner and ship captain, James Smart Piggott in 1877 at Montrose, Angus. She had then accompanied her husband on a voyage to New Zealand aboard the Felix Stowe in 1878 where it was wrecked in a fierce storm off the Otaki River just north of Wellington on 13 October 1878. Catherine Piggott survived but tragically her husband, and captain of the Felix Stowe, James Smart Piggott drowned during one of the rescue missions taking passengers ashore. As a matter of complete family coincidence Catherine was several months pregnant. The tragic circumstances Catherine found herself in were heart-breaking; stranded in a distant land, newly widowed and having to cope with finding somewhere to live in preparation for the birth of her child.

Colonist,7 November 1878

Wanganui Chronicle15 October 1878

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 October 1878

It was comforting to know that Catherine’s brother, mariner Frank Lindsay was with her at the time of this tragedy, and that this newspaper clipping highlighted the previous tragedy in the family when Captain David Watson Lindsay also died in a New Zealand shipwreck.

New Zealand Times 8 November 1878

Evening Post, 28 December 1878

Catherine was living in Wellington and Courtenay Place, Wellington was located in the fashionable centre of this bustling port city when she gave birth to a son who she named James Smart Lindsay Piggott.

It was so interesting to discover that after the birth of her son, they both returned to Montrose, Scotland where I discovered her living with her sister, Helen Brown Duncan nee Lindsay.

1881 Scottish Census

Name:	Helen Duncan
Age:	35
Estimated birth year:	abt 1846
Relationship:	Wife
Gender:	Female
Where born:	Montrose, Forfarshire
Registration Number:	312
Registration district:	Montrose
Civil Parish:	Montrose
County:	Angus
Address:	6 Melville Terrace
Occupation:	Government Pilot’S Wife
ED:	24
Household schedule number:	95
Line:	22
Roll:	cssct1881_96
Household Members:	Name Age Helen Duncan 35 Mary Hellen Duncan 14 William L Duncan 9 David Duncan 6 James Duncan 4 Catherine Piggot 29 James S Piggot 2

Catherine Piggott and her son James Smart Piggott later returned to New Zealand to live and Catherine remarried in 1892 to William McKenzie and she settled firstly in Rakaia, near Lyttelton on the South Island. Maggie Fenton sent me some wonderful information about Catherine Lindsay, who was made an executrix of her mother Catherine Copeland Lindsay’s will in 1894. Apparently Catherine declined this duty, due to her living in New Zealand. The probated will gave Catherine Lindsay Piggott McKenzie’s address as Rakaia Island, Southbridge, New Zealand.

Later Catherine Piggott moved to Nelson, a northern coastal port at the top of the South Island, where she died on 3 November 1914, aged 62. Catherine is buried in an unmarked grave at Wakapuaka Cemetery in plot 4017. An online website called Find A Grave gives the co-ordinates of her grave and posted a lovely photograph of her unmarked grave beneath a tree in the cemetery.

The Lindsay connection in New Zealand and Australia was strong and I am sure that Catherine Ellen Ackers Rundle nee Lindsay kept in touch with her aunt Catherine Piggott nee Lindsay and would have known about the death of her aunt and namesake, Catherine Piggott in November 1914. The following year when naming her son Nelson David Rundle in 1915 I think she was thinking of her Aunt Catherine’s adopted homeland at Nelson in New Zealand and her father David Lindsay who died in the shipwreck of the William Ackers off the Foveaux Straits south of New Zealand. It can’t be a coincidence that another of Catherine E. A. Rundle’s second youngest son Francis Felix was given his two Christian names in honour of the Lindsay family’s New Zealand connection. Francis, after her uncle Frank Lindsay who died in Lyttelton in 1883 and Felix, after the ship Felix Stowe which took the life of her uncle James Piggott at the Otaki River, off Auckland, New Zealand in a shipwreck in November 1878. Here were two women who were connected not only by shipwrecks but by unborn children after the loss of their father’s aboard these two ships, the William Ackers and the Felix Stowe.

Grave of Catherine Piggott, Wakapuaka Cemetery, Nelson, North Island, New Zealand, 1914

26 February 1915, Taihape Daily

I then searched for James Piggott’s marriage from the limited online index collection. I must say it was a sad ending for this brave maritime family from Montrose, Scotland.

 New Zealand, Marriage Index, 1840-1937:

Name:	James Piggot
Gender:	Male
Marriage Year:	1912
Marriage Place:	New Zealand
Spouse:	Ethel Smith
Relation:	Bridegroom
Folio Number:	6063

 

New Zealand, Cemetery Records, 1800-2007, Taihape Cemetery, Headstone Inscriptions

The next image is for David Watson Lindsay’s ancestors and in most branches I am able to take the family back to show three more generations of his Scottish family.

Pedigree Chart, a five generation chart for David Watson Lindsay (1846-1876)

I had many documents for David Lindsay Snr., however I had not obtained his baptism. I decided to purchase 30 tokens from Scotlands People, the online website for the National Archives of Scotland and see if I could find David Lindsay’s baptism and possibly other important original records for the family.

Baptism of David Lindsay, son of Alexander Lindsay and Elizabeth Stephen, 26 July 1818, Montrose, Angus, Scotland

David Lindsay Snr. (1818-1892) married Catherine Copland (1820-1894) on 26 December 1841 and they had five children, Hellen Brown Lindsay (1946-1926), David Watson Lindsay (1846-1876), Frank Lindsay (1849-1883), Catherine Lindsay (1852-1914) and William Gouk Lindsay (1857-1858).

Marriage of David Lindsay, Flaxdresser and Catherine Copeland, 26 December 1841, Montrose, Angus, Scotland

Image courtesy of the ancestry tree of Martibell1

Burial Register for Catherine Lindsay nee Copeland, 2 June 1894 Rosehill Cemetery, Montrose, Scotland

Burial Register for David Lindsay, 30 August 1892, Rosehill Cemetery, Montrose, Scotland

Death Record for David Lindsay Snr. 27 August 1892, District of Montrose, Scotland

Image courtesy of Martibell1 ancestry.com family tree

This death record for David Lindsay Snr. gives so much information including the naming of his parents as Alexander Lindsay and Elizabeth Lindsay nee Stephen which, for the genealogist, is such wonderful information and opens up the next generation of the family.

David Lindsay’s elder brother was James Lindsay who married Ann Scott at Logie Port in Angus, and they migrated aboard the Hecla to the United States of America in 1872 with three of their children. It was so helpful to have had another researcher on ancestry.com, Martiebell1, who had excellent and accurate information on her family tree and I am so appreciative of this help for our extended Lindsay family.

Marriage Record for James Lindsay and Ann Scott, Logie Pert, Angus, 31 December 1844, image kindly provided by Martiebell1 ancestry.com family tree

James Lindsay (1823-1881) and Ann Scott (1824-1902) married on 31 December 1844 at Logie Pert, Angus and they had nine children, Adam Scott Lindsay (1845-1876), Alexander Lindsay (1847-1876), Elizabeth Lindsay (1849-1922),  James Robert Lindsay (1852-), Isabella Lindsay (1854-1899), Mary Weir Lindsay (1856-1916), Wilhelmina Lindsay (1859-1861), David Scott Lindsay (1860-1930) and Williamina Lindsay (1863-1937).

Massacheusetts, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1963, for James and Ann Lindsay and their family aboard the Hecla in 1872

In 1872 JamesLindsay (49) and Ann Lindsay (48) boarded the Hecla, and migrated to America arriving in Boston harbour on 4 June 1872, with their three of their children, Robert Lindsay (20), David Lindsay (11) and Williamina Lindsay (8).

Geoff and I decided to visit Scotland for a month in August 2013 to celebrate Geoff’s 60^th birthday. It was the most wonderful holiday and we were blessed with the most glorious weather. Everyone we met told us it was going to be cold and miserable, but despite these warnings we pushed on with our plans and the weather could not have been better. In the entire month’s holiday we only encountered one day of rain on the Isle of Arran. Geoff and I based our trip around our ancestry trail and visited Edinburgh and St Andrews Fifeshire for Geoff’s Kidd family. We then went to Dundee for my Robertson ancestors and after visiting Montrose for the Lindsay family we took a ship to the Shetland Islands for my Moar family. Whilst in Montrose Geoff and I visited Rosehill Cemetery on the wonderful and helpful advice of Maggie Fenton, who explained that the grave of David and Catherine Lindsay could be found there. Maggie was so kind, she gave us a map of the cemetery and directions. Poor Maggie and her mother had visited Montrose in a torrential downpour and all attempts at photos were thwarted by the weather. It was Geoff’s and my absolute pleasure to be able to send Maggie photos of the Lindsay and Duncan grave from Rosehill Cemetery, Montrose.

Headstone and Burying Ground for William Duncan and family, Rosehill Cemetery, Montrose

“James Duncan, died 10 September 1884, aged 7 years, and of his grandparents David Lindsay died 27 August 1892, aged 75 years, Catherine Copeland died 29 May 1894 aged 75 years, Mary Helen Abernathy died at East London, South Africa, 14 June 1900 aged 33 years, Mary Duncan died 25 March 1904, aged 80 years, Helen Brown Lindsay died 1 December 1926 aged 80 years, William L Duncan lost at sea 12 March 1829, Lillian George wife of William L Duncan died 21 February 1966”.

It was incredible to see that David Lindsay and his wife Catherine Copeland were listed on the Family Headstone for the Duncan family, and even more incredible that Catherine’s maiden name was listed. The recording of married women’s married names on Scottish baptism, marriage and burial records is so helpful to the family historian and such a refreshing recognition of women’s identity at a time when many annals record that a wife became the chattel of her husband after marriage. In my experience it is enlightening that these women were independent enough to retain their maiden names and I am in admiration of this wonderful tradition.

Alexander Lindsay (1780-1847) married Elizabeth “Betty” Steven on 21 June 1817 at Dun, Angus, Scotland, they had four children, David Lindsay (1818-1892), Jean Lindsay (1820-), James Lindsay (1823-1881) and Margaret Lindsay (1826-1884)

Marriage of Alexander Lindsay and Betty Steven (sic), 21 June 1817, Montrose

Image courtesy of Martiebell1 from her ancestry.com family tree.

I then decided to go back to Scotlands People, an online search engine and purchase the marriage contract for John Stephen and Isabelle Burnett’s, the parents of Betty Steven.

Marriage contract for John Steven (sic) and Isabel Burnett, 19 June 1790, St Cyrus, Kindcardine

I have also been able to trace Betty Stephen’s line due to the fact that a photograph of Betty’s father John Stephen’s gravestone was placed onto ancestry.com. John Stephen is buried in Montrose and it is such a sad headstone to read that John’s only son James Stephen is also buried in the same grave with the sad epitaph “the only son of his sorrowful mother”, who was Isabell Burnett.

John Stephen and Isabel Burnett married on 19 June 1790 at St Cyrus, Kincardine and had four children, Elizabeth “Betty” Stephen (1791-1869), Margaret Stephen (1794-1855), James Stephen (1804-1822) and Ann Stephen (1807-)

Headstone for John Stephen, Residenter in Montrose, died 11 April 1817 aged 60 and his son James, died 30 November 1822 aged 18.

Photograph kindly provided by Kassy Daggett – ancestry.com and the Daggett Family Tree

Note the name Stephen is often spelt Steven and that these misspellings are commonplace, especially when many parishioners could not read and write to give the stonemasons the correct information. I myself spelt it Steven until I found this headstone, uploaded to ancestry.com for John Stephen in Montrose Old Cemetery.

Baptism of Isobel Burnett 18 December 1768, St Cyrus, daughter of John Burnett of Seagreens

History of the Lindsay Clan 

“The Lindsays came to prominence both in England and Scotland in the late eleventh century. Sir Walter de Lindissie, noble and knight accompanied David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of Alexander I, to Scotland to claim his throne. His great grandson, Sir William de Lindesay, sat in the Parliament of 1164 and was afterwards a justiciar. He acquired considerable wealth through his wife, Ethelreda, a granddaughter of the great Cospatrick ruler of most of Northumbria. His son, Sir David, married Marjory, a member of the royal family, and on his death in 1214 he was succeeded as third Lord of Crawford and High Justiciar of Lothian by his son, David.. His grandson, another Sir David, succeeded to the estates as Lord of Crawford.

On 21 April 1398 Sir David de Lindsay was created Earl of Crawford. He was Lord High Admiral of Scotland in 1403 and sent as ambassador to England in 1406. Alexander, the fourth Earl, joined in the rebellion against James II and fought at the Battle of Brechin in 1452. The fifth Earl rose high in royal favour and was successively Lord High Admiral of Scotland. The sixth Earl fell at Flodden, in close attendance on his king, James IV.

Another prominent branch of the family were the Lindsays of Edzell, who descended from a son of the ninth Earl of Crawford. Although Edzell Castle to the north of Brechin is now largely ruinous, it is famed for its magnificent renaissance garden which has been completely restored, and is unique in Scotland. The Lindsays have also contributed another unique aspect of Scottish heritage through the work of Sir David Lindsay of the Mount. His play, Ane Satyre of the Three Estaitis, satirising the corruption in Church and State, was first performed in 1540 and still has relevance today.

The present chiefs still reside at Balcarres in Fife, where they are prominent in local affairs. The earldom of Lindsay has also been revived, although this line now bear the compound surname of Lindsay Bethune.”

SomerfieldC from ancestry.com kindly posted this summary of the Lindsay Clan online.

Death record for Alexander Lindsay, 17 February 1847 from water in the chest, 68 years

Image courtesy of Martiebell1 from her ancestry.com family tree.

I now resolved to return to Scotlands People and find some clear evidence that could take the Lindsay family tree back further and see if I could fit the family into the famous Lindsay Clan. It would be a matter of finding baptisms and/or marriages which corresponded to the Montrose area. I decided to try and see if I could locate and purchase a few documents. I had done a similar project for my Robertson family of Dundee with great results, the only problem was the website gobbles up your online credit coins and if you hit the wrong button you are stuck with someone else’s document. It is therefore a careful process and not for the faint hearted! I was cautious because so many ancestry.com trees do have the wrong information and have collected the wrong records for their family.

Another email connection recently with Maggie Fenton was helpful. Maggie was also lamenting incorrect family trees on ancestry.com. She had some interesting information on Alexander Lindsay as well as information passed down from her aunt about a story told of a Lindsay man of Crawford descent who disgraced the family name by having an out of wedlock child with a house servant. Presumably they married after he was found out, and then he was apparently disinherited. Maggie firmly believes that “our” Alexander Lindsay’s parents are to be found living close to Montrose in Angus and she suggests the most probable parents for Alexander Lindsay were David Lindsay and Elizabeth Christie who lived in Careston near Brechin in Angus where some of the Crawford Lindsay Lairds and their landholdings are associated.

David Lindsay and Elizabeth Christie had four children, —- Lindsay (1770-), Margrat Lindsay (1773-), Sara Lindsay (1776-) and Alexander Lindsay (1781-). They lived at The Milton in the Parish of Ferns and later at Nether-Careston, in the Parish of Careston, Angus.

Baptism of Alexander Lindsay, 2 May 1781, son of David Lindsay and Elizabeth Christie, Careston

It was a good start when I located this baptism which gave Alexander’s birth in 1781. It was interesting to see that David Lindsay was listed as a day labourer living in Nether-Careston, Angus. I then pursued David and Elizabeth Lindsay’s marriage, but could find none, which is unusual. Perhaps the record is lost, or perhaps there was no marriage. Was this then the poor cast out couple that Maggie Fenton’s aunt had talked about? It was even more interesting when I found an earlier baptism from 1770 which did not name the child which seemed rather unusual and interestingly, an address was mentioned that had connections to the Lairds of Lindsay land holdings. A point of interest about British inheritance is the fact that the elder son of the family inherits from his father and younger siblings must find their own occupations and places to live. In many cases a younger brother will be allowed to rent or live in another property on his elder brother’s estate. In the case of daughters or sisters, they were married off as advantageously as possible to eligible young men in the surrounding area.

Baptism of the unnamed child of David Lindsay and Elizabeth Christie November 1770, Ferns, Angus

This baptism of an unnamed child, eleven years earlier than the birth of Alexander Lindsay was unusual and there was another important missing piece of information – the date of the baptism was left off. The father, David Lindsay’s occupation and address was simply listed “subtenant of The Milton”. This seems to be a more important position than that of his occupation 11 years later as a day labourer, as written on Alexander Lindsay’s baptism.

I was able to located Milton, a few miles west of Ferns in Angus, on an old map. Google maps also shows Milton near Fern, simply called Milton of Ogle Cottage and it is interesting that this area is associated with the Lindsay Lairds of Crawford. Fern is not far from Montrose which is on the coast of Angus.

Map of Fern, Noranside, Milton and Edster Ogil, Angus, Scotland, a detail from a larger map courtesy of The Ordnance Survey Maps of Scotland, Sheet 57

These Ordnance Surveys were undertaken in the 1850’s and were commissioned by the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish authorities and they are a remarkable resource for the researcher. The amazing thing is that the countryside in general has changed very little and the roads laid out remain almost the same. Each road, river, rivulet, dam, forest, mountain range, church, school, cemetery and so many other features are included in these wonderful maps, including many places names that today are not included on Google maps or modern road maps. In Ireland many of the numbers on the Ordnance maps referred to buildings and were accompanied by tithe records of ownership of land and the letting information of the land for taxation purposes.

Google Maps, image of Milton of Ogil Cottage, near to Ogil and Noranside

Whilst I am not suggesting that this was the home of David and Elizabeth Lindsay of The Milton, I do feel it is in the correct area that was listed on the baptism of the couple’s child from 1770 and have included it because it is the only mention of Milton, Angus on Google Maps.

I returned to Scotlands People and collected the final two baptisms for David and Elizabeth Lindsay’s two daughters Margrat and Sara. Whilst Sara was not a name I had collected before in the Lindsay family, it was wonderful to see the name Margrat, knowing it was a familial name handed down the generations in our Lindsay family. Alexander Lindsay, Margrat’s brother and his wife Elizabeth Steven named their youngest daughter Margaret who was born in 1826, possibly in honour of his sister Margrat Lindsay.

Baptism of Margrat Lindsay, 6 July 1773, daughter of David Lindsay and Elizabeth Christie, Careston, Angus, Scotland

Baptism of Sara Lindsay 24 November 1776, daughter of David Lindsay and Elizabeth Christie, Careston, Angus, Scotland

It was interesting to note that on both baptisms their father David Lindsay gave the family address as Cottorun of Nether Careston, but unfortunately there was no occupation recorded on either of his daughter’s records.

It is extremely disappointing that so many ancestry.com trees are misleading and have not picked up from the 1841 Scottish Census that Alexander Lindsay listed his place of birth as Angus, and was not from Dalkeith.

Name:	Alerander Lindsay
Age:	60
Estimated birth year:	abt 1781
Gender:	Male
Where born:	Angus, Scotland
Civil Parish:	Montrose
County:	Angus
Address:	Chapel Place
Occupation:	Labourer
Parish Number:	312
Household Members:	Name Age Alerander Lindsay 60 Betty Lindsay 50 David Lindsay 20 Margaret Lindsay 15 James Lindsay 15

1841 Scottish Census for Alerancer (sic) Lindsay born in Angus, Scotland and his family, wife Betty and children David, Margaret and James Lindsay

I myself picked up these documents from other trees on ancestry.com in my quest to find the ancestors of David Watson Lindsay and they take the family back several generations in Dalkeith to a John Lindsay of Newton, Scotland. Thinking back, these were obviously the wrong records for our family, as Dalkeith is south of Edinburgh and definitely not the correct area. So, after accepting these documents, I then had to discard them as incorrect. On several occasions I came across Lindsay family trees whose owners had made claims about the descent line of John Lindsay of Newton, giving him the title, the 19th Earl of Crawford, descending from 18 earlier Earls of Crawford, all being the Chieftans of the Lindsay Clan. However, a quick check of these facts online show the Lindsay Clan descent line has so many flaws due to the fact that on many occasions the line finished with no issue and another “Laird” of the Lindsay clan had to be appointed, thus the lines do not flow in a father to son succession. So the line is fraught with inconsistencies and a lack of records.

“John Lindsay, 19th Earl of Crawford and 3rd Earl of Lindsay (died December 1713) was a Scottish peer and politician. He was born before 1672, the eldest son of William Lindsay, 18th Earl of Crawford, and succeeded to the earldoms in 1698 on the death of his father. His mother was Lady Mary Johnstone. On 6 March 1698 he succeeded to the title of 12th Lord Lindsay of Byres. He married Emilia Stuart daughter of James Stuart, Lord Doune around 1700. Trained as a lawyer, in 1702 he rose to the position of Privy Counsellor for Scotland. He was Colonel of the “Troop of Horse in the Grenadier Guards from 1704 to 1714. Following the Treaty of Union in May 1707, he was elected as one of the first representative peers for Scotland (to serve in the new United Kingdom), and served until September 1710. He died in London on 4 January 1714. He is buried in the family vault of Ceres, Fife churchyard in central Fife. He was succeeded by his oldest surviving son, John Lindsay, his first-born son, William, having died. John Lindsay, the 20^th Earl of Crawford married Lady Jean Murray, daughter of Sir James Murray, 2^nd Duke of Atholl in 1747 who died only nine months after their marriage. John Lindsay, died in 1749 from a leg wound received at the Battle of Krotzka in 1739 and they had no issue. He was the last member of the Lindsay family to be buried in the mausoleum in the cemetery at Ceres, Fife, Scotland.”

Wikipedia

I have found ancestry.com to be a wonderful resource, it has good records and it has a great place to create and store the family tree, which can then be uploaded as a gedcom file or descendant file and then downloaded to a laptop or printed out as a hardcopy. It also has a messaging facility for family members to contact each other and this is the way that Maggie Fenton and I met. Everyone who has ever messaged me on ancestry.com has been so polite and helpful, it has been a wonderful experience and quite an uplifting change from other people’s online experiences on other websites. On the downside, many trees are incorrect and are copied from one to another without each tree owner checking their facts. Some of these trees will never be corrected because the creator may only have taken out a month’s subscription or even taken up the free subscription offer, created their tree and then disappeared. These trees remain and will always be misleading, which is a great shame. Other people collect records without carefully checking that they are correct for their family and many of these trees are a mess as a result. However, I must defend many other ancestry.com trees which are wonderful family history resources and are genealogically correct. They contain many records and uploaded original documents and photographs which help other family members to connect with other “cousins” from previous long lost generations.

I have also used the free online search engine, FamilySearch.org and the subscription online search engine FindMyPast. Another amazing online community research area is WikiTrees, which will only allow more expert researchers access to their site after you have accomplished tests to check your knowledge and that you have also made several contributions and family connections, which are then deemed by the administrators as acceptable.

I have no doubt that our Lindsay line is related to the Lindsay Clan, but just where to fit the family in to the actual lineage of the Earls of Crawford will for the present, remain elusive. I am sure when I find more records for the Lindsay family, I will finally be able to connect our family branch.

I am sure Catherine Ellen Ackers Lindsay was very proud of her Scottish lineage and she even named one of her sons Lindsay Rundle, in recognition of her Scottish heritage. The fact that the Lindsay family came from the lowland area of Montrose and lived in that same area for many generations is very solid evidence of their connection to the Lairds of Montrose and Lindsay. I would be thrilled to hear from any Lindsay researcher who can help in my quest to correctly place our Lindsay family into this Scottish descent line.

For now, this is where I must leave my research, as I continue writing up other branches of the family history.

Virginia Rundle

24 January 2019

 

Bibliography:

Scotland’s People online website

National Archives of Scotland

Ancestry.com

Family Tree Maker

Material from martiebell1, Kassy Daggett and the Daggett Family tree and SomersetC on ancestry.com

Find My Past

http://thehistoryofmatt.blogspot.com/2010/01/william-moloney-1872-1916.html

Family Search.com

http://www.chestnut-blue.com/Chestnut%20Blue-o/p787.htm#i44422

Wikipedia

Lyttelton Cemetery Records, New Zealand

Fortrose Cemetery Records, New Zealand

Rosehill Cemetery, Montrose, Scotland

Taihape Cemetery Records, New Zealand

Wakapuaka Cemetery Records, Nelson, New Zealand

Papers Past, New Zealand

Trove Digitised Newspapers, Australian National Library, Canberra

Births, Deaths and Marriages Register, New Zealand

Beneath the Southern Cross, The Story of Ellen Dillon and her Australian Descendants, compiled and written by David Michael and Marie Ray

Thanks to Peter Rundle for his information and material about his Newcastle family.

Thanks must go to Maggie Fenton for all her help and collaboration over our ancestry.com family trees, for her help regarding the Duncan/Lindsay Grave at Rosehill Cemetery, Montrose, Scotland and for providing me with photographs of her Duncan family from Scotland.

Finally, to my very patient husband Geoff Rundle, thank you. Geoff has accompanied me on every journey and cemetery visit and has to put up with my constant absences while I spend time writing up our family history. Often, whilst on one of my family “jags” he will ask me, “What century are you in now!?” as I put together the chapters that complete my research. For me, it is has been a constant pleasure, an absorbing experience and honour to be the author of our family history.