Family History                                    

miller black smith stephen buchan wilson scott ness meldrum stevenson barbour harrier lawson fraser florence holmes cook gardner beaton kennedy cromarty ritchie cunningham alpenfelt carmichael bremner bell

I have put together here some pictures, articles and announcements from our family archives. I don't imagine that anyone outwith the family will be surfing here, but just in case...

Joan, Jean and Betty Stephen were the daughters of George Stephen and Belle Buchan.  Originally from Aberdeenshire, the couple and their family lived in various police houses within Central Scotland, finally settling in the Falkirk area. Joan and Jean found husbands among the leading lights of Falkirk High School, while Betty married a young policeman from the Black Isle. These marriages took place during, or just after, World War II.  My mother was Jean Stephen.

For our maternal grandfather, there were many adventures to be had when you were a polis man in the first half of the 20th century He worked in an area where poverty was rife, sectarianism played a significant part in local politics and many people bore the scars of an extremely hard life.  Jean Barbour Stephen Miller's account of her early life, part fictionalised, gives a good insight into life as a child during this time.

We have a few mementos from an earlier time - my cousin Jimmy has excerpts from Great Uncle Jim's diary of World War I, a conflict from which neither he nor his brother John were to return. I have also compiled a family tree encapsulating what is known of my mother's side. 

We are also proud to be descended from the poet John Barbour - read more about him at SCRAN. 

( I have to point out that the newspaper article on the battle of Mons is pasted into Belle's  scrapbook right next to an article on Egyptian baby 'milk' made from sheep's brains and starch. There is nowhere appropriate to write that. 2.3.02 The Gordon Highlanders were in Egypt before they came to France.  John Buchan signed up in 1911, so that would account for his being there.)

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27.7.01 Hope you like the new BTW logo - I paid out a massive design consultancy fee to come up with a dynamic, vibrant, 21st Century interpretation of the philosophy behind the site per se.  I am sure you agree that it sums up the ethos of kinship while acknowledging the organic, poetic, almost liquid diversity of emotions and life styles within any one family  (ok, I drew it myself in 10 seconds flat).

Do you have anything to add, or any glaring mistakes to point out? Email me!  Does anyone have any more details about the Sicilian pipe-smoking female ancestor , from whom many of us are assumed to have obtained the dark hair and eyes?

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miller black smith stephen buchan wilson scott ness meldrum stevenson barbour harrier lawson fraser florence holmes cook gardner beaton kennedy cromarty ritchie cunningham alpenfelt carmichael