Buchans of Borthwick

I have used clustering extensively in my Buchan study, and it illustrates well the principles of using clusters to solve mysteries (or to break down brick walls). Diahan Southard paid me to write about it on her YourDNAGuide blog, and last year she used it at a conference, and gave me permission to use her slides. My ‘nearest’ family history mystery were the parents of my x2 great-grandfather Robert Buchan. My x2 great-grandparents independently emigrated to Australia from Scotland in the 1850s, married in 1860 and had a son Robert in 1863, as well as nine other children. Robert’s wife was Margaret Bain, a lass from the Highlands, and I could trace her family easily. From their marriage certificate I knew Robert’s parents to be Robert Buchan and Janet McCray, but not where they came from. The emigrating Robert was said to be born about 1834 in Edinburghshire, now Midlothian in Scotland. But I could not find his baptism or their marriage anywhere in Scotland. Not did I find any siblin...

The following article was published in The Ancestral Searcher Vol. 49, No. 2, my local family history society: What is a cluster? This is the simplest statement in all of genetic genealogy – a cluster is a group of matches who share DNA with each other. To most people the term genetic network is synonymous. We have been manually clustering in a piecemeal fashion for years, but perhaps only focusing on high cM matches, and those we can place on our tree, or looking for people with known surnames. It was all I thought you could do with DNA, till I found my own mystery ancestral couple and had to learn new methods of manually bringing matches into clusters. An auto-cluster automates the process we have used ever since DNA matches became available, that of bringing together people who share the same bits of DNA, with us and with each other. Auto-clusters, by default, include the important component of “matching with each other”. Who has been gathered into a cluster? The most impo...

George Buchan remains a mystery. We find only one direct record of him, although it appears twice - his burial record dated 7 April 1818. He is recorded in both the Parish of Borthwick, where I feel he died, and the Parish of Newbattle where he was buried according to the Borthwick record. But neither record mentions his age nor cause of death. At this time such information might have been given, and was given for others on the page containing George. Also found in the Newbattle Parish Kirk accounts is payment for the hire of the parish mortcloth which would drape either his body or coffin prior to burial. It cost 6 shillings and 5 pence, the usual price for an adult. His is the third entry below. Excerpt from Geo. Buchan Newlandrig Recorded on his children's baptism Every other record of him is someone else's. First we find him as the father of three sons being baptised in Borthwick. The top of the page says: "The following Register of children not being given in regularl...

  Readers will not be surprised that I would want to visit these centres. Here, for the cost of £15 a day you can search and see all certificates since 1855, and censuses from 1841 to 1921, and then transcribe them - though absolutely no photographing or downloading. The cost for me in Australia is $2-3 per certificate to download, and these are restricted to ‘historic ones’, those before 1925 for births, 1950 for marriages and 1975 for deaths. In a Centre I can see certificates from 2024! My Buchan study has over 2,500 descendants of George and Jean Buchan, with perhaps 70-80% generating a certificate in Scotland. This is due to bigger family sizes in the 1700-1900s. Emigration kicked off only in 1852 when our x3 great grandfather, Robert Buchan, sailed to Melbourne. My goal was to transcribe all the death certificates for our family that exist on ScotlandsPeople. Then I would do births for the recent decades, and marriages where it was warranted to check identity or a particular ...

The visit to Edinburgh Castle in 2025 provided another serendipitous discovery of a Buchan connection. This was my description of that afternoon. Back to the castle. What a hot-potch. Wandering with Monica, my fellow medic, we agreed to see both the Prisons display (her choice, and it was very good), and the Scots Guards museum (my choice). You may remember that Big Bob, our relative, had joined the Scots Guards as a cadet and risen to become Commander-in-Chief at the time the regiment did two tours of Northern Ireland in the troubled 1970s.  Unfortunately Monica had not agreed to me reading every display. But once we hit Northern Ireland, I was looking for him. I found him in two photographs, and, of course, on the Colonels-in-Chief honour board. General Sir Robert Richardson … actually we share the same middle name - Francis/Frances. Had my parents known something even then, without even knowing it?… I would know that profile anywhere after reading his memoirs. There is a very go...

Alexander Buchan b1816 was the only one of the siblings to my knowledge who had a headstone. He was also the only one of the siblings to move outside Midlothian to work, see the brief biography to follow. As luck would have it I was staying in Roxburghshire, where he lived, died and was buried. I had hopes of finding the lovely headstone that adorned FindAGrave in Maxton Churchyard. Getting a hire car in Roxburghshire, which was initially not on the cards, did mean that I wanted to make an effort. Well it was really was not so much digging out, more scraping away - lichen. I went to Maxton Churchyard where Alexander, brother of Robert Buchan, was said to be buried with wife Jane and son James. I first saw Maxton as I drove out of the hire care place and headed towards Dryburgh Abbey, my first tourist spot! What luck I thought, here is Andrew! A day or so later, after my first day in Hawick Heritage Hub, I drove to Maxon, found the church and two cemeteries and spent an hour looking for...

  Recognizing the life of Robert Francis Richardson 1929 - 2014 He was known as “Big Bob” because he was tall and, I think, carried an air of competent authority. But his distinguished career was not handed to him on a plate.  He was a working class boy who worked and studied hard. He is Helen’s mother’s first cousin, and so he is my third cousin once removed.  Robert Francis Richardson came from a long line of wine and spirits merchants in the port town of Leith. Trade was probably good. His grandfather, father and many uncles were all in the trade, but there were risks. 1895 was a horror year for his family. In the space of a few months his grandfather died in a far-distant health facility, called the Hydropathic Institute, of an alcohol-induced mania, lasting just 2 days. It took some time to find his family several counties away. Soon after this his youngest child aged just one year and nine months died of scarlet fever, while his wife and mother of the other sons die...