A day of research leads to a breakthrough

In researching my husband’s Scottish ancestors two weeks ago, I managed to take his great-grandmother Jemima Durie’s maternal line back another generation—always an exciting accomplishment. I was actually working on the Athya surname, documenting the children of James Wylie Athya and Jemima Durie. I had a good start but wanted to confirm their birth and death dates. ScotlandsPeople is one of the sites I used to cobble this family together and that’s where I needed to go to download their birth and death records. 

Each record cost 6 credits and the site offered bundles of 30, 40, 80, or 160 credits for purchase. Since I knew of 10 children born to this family, I selected the 80-credit option. I was successful with 11 of 12 records by the time I got to the remaining 8 credits, having confirmed the 10 children I knew of, and discovering one more. For my last download, I decided to look for someone in the Durie line. I knew Jemima’s parents were James Durie and Jane Braidwood, but that’s it. In searching the statutory registers of deaths, I found a Jane Durie, age 77, who died 1908 in Springburn, a district of Glasgow, Scotland. 

Statutory registers of death index for Jane Braidwood Durie
(click to enlarge)

I remembered seeing Springburn in one of the children’s records so took a chance. Luckily, it was the right person.

Name: Jane Durie
Profession: Widow of James Durie (Engineer)
Date/place of death: October 28, 1908, Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow, Scotland
Age: 77 years
Father: Andrew Braidwood, Engineer, deceased
Mother: Mary Braidwood, maiden surname Liddell, deceased
Cause of death: Senile Cardiac Arterio Sclerosis
Informant: Annie Durie, daughter-in-law, 42 Stewartville Street, Partick (Glasgow, Scotland)

The death record showed Jane was married to James Durie and her father was Andrew Braidwood. I knew her father was a Braidwood but didn’t know his forename. The record told me Jane’s mother was Mary Liddell. A quick search on Ancestry.com and I learned that Andrew Braidwood and Mary Liddell married on June 20, 1818 in Newton, Midlothian, Scotland. The 1851 Scotland census estimated Mary Liddell Braidwood was born about 1798 in Lasswade, Midlothian, Scotland. I’ve since discovered other researchers were already on this path, but I hadn’t found that or their research, so this was new territory for me! The record also showed that Jane Braidwood Durie had a daughter-in-law named Annie so that is another clue that should help down the road.

My Scottish research has been stagnant for many years. It feels good to be making progress.

References

• Athya, Jemima, Statutory Registers Deaths 644/4 1426, National Records of Scotland.
• Durie, Jane, Statutory Registers Deaths 644/6 881, National Records of Scotland.
• Glasgow, St. George, Scotland Census, 1851.
• Liddell, Mary and Braidwood, Andrew, Scotland, Select Marriages, 1561–1910.