Above: Part of the Burgess Roll of Glasgow showing the 1737 entry for Thomas Phillips, Weaver (father of Janet Phillips, maternal grandfather of James McAllister as already found in other records above). It reads:

"Philps B&GB [Burgess & Guild Brother]...The sd [said] day, Thomas Philps, Weiver [Weaver] is made Burgess & Guild Brother of the as eldest lawful son to Jon [John] Philps, Weaver, Burgess & Guild Brother, who has pd [paid] his [freedom] fynes and given his oath as use is.."

From this we learn Thomas Phillips' father's name - John Phillips, and that he too was a Weaver and Burgess of Glasgow, allowing his entry to be located (1716) as well as his wife's name, (janet Pollock) as his Burgess status was linked to his father-in-law, Thomas Pollock, as shown below, taking the line back even further. These details were also used to verify and locate Thomas Phillip's baptism in 1718 in Glasgow and his parents' marriage there in 1715

​

Continuing with selected research finding on this case, we will conclude the search on the McAllister side by looking at a brother to the client's direct ancestor Thomas McAllister (b.1829 Glasgow). Being the youngest of 12 children, this concerns his much older brother James McAllister (b. 1811). The example shows one of the uses of historical newspapers and that most ancestries reveal several 'stories' from the past - this case revealed that James had re-married two weeks before his death......from laundanum poisoning....three local newspapers reported on the incident.

Above: 1880 Census for Glasgow, Scotland, showing that John Campbell had returned to Scotland from New Jersey, USA. Our research also deals with ancestor's human nature - emigration was not always a final farewell. Passage to USA and other countries became easily affordable to families of average means. Whilst research showed that John Campbell died in 1895 in Glasgow, his children re-emigrated to USA in the years after 1914.

Original Irish baptism record (Church of Ireland) for 1830, showing the baptism of Sarah Sharpe, a daughter of Robert Sharpe, Constable, within Devensih parish, Co Fermanagh and his wife Dorothea Ingram. At this time they lived at a small collection of rural houses called Derryvarry.

Continuing research looked at the Campbell branch - Mary Jane Campbell, a great-great-grandmother of the client, and wife of Jason Sharpe.

A search into her ancestry revealed that she had come to Glasgow around 1847 too, like her husband - she too was Irish born, and by 1851, as a young girl, lived in Glasgow's Castle Street, near Glasgow Cathedral, with her parents William Campbell and Jane Kennedy and three older and one younger brother.  Emigration would feature in the Campbell family - two of Mary Jane's brother's emigrating to USA but not remaining there - one would move onto St. John's Quebec, to found his own pottery business and be featured in a publication 'History of Quebec' as a prominent figure; our research revealed the other brother returned to Glasgow Scotland, from USA (with a wife and family in tow)  Perhaps tellingly, all of his children when grown, later emigrated to the USA permanently.

Marriage record of the

parents of John Sharpe (b.1871), in 1858 in Glasgow, Scotland: Jason Sharpe, aged 22 and Mary Jane Campbell, aged 20. At this time Jason was recorded as a Labourer; by 1861 (census record, not shown here) he had begun an apprenticeship as a Slater, an occupation he maintained all his life.

The

Marriage record here also records his address, his parents names (Robert Sharpe and Dorothea Ingram, both deceased by 1858.

The census records revealed that the family were of Irish birth, but where in Ireland?

The record of burial of William Cassidy, at St. Peter's Roman Catholic Cemetery near Glasgow. William had died in 1871 after being only a few years in Glasgow, from his native rural Co. Donegal. He was a great-grandfather to our client's grandmother (Helen McAllister).

The grave plot number is shown here which, together with a Will found for Edward Cassidy 30 years later (in 1899), an unmarried son of William, referred to a family gravestone being erected - this led to further ancestral finds.

Further research on William Campbell and his family resulted in not only finding record of his death in 1922 (shown left) but led to living relatives in Quebec whose knowledge of William's life in Canada led to locating an entry for him in 'A History of Quebec', as a prominent figure, in terms of the Methodist Church and in business - owning his own pottery company (shown below).

Further results of this part of research led to a 'reunion' of the client and the relatives in Quebec, who were also keenly interested in their genealogy.

Kirk Street, Townhead, Glasgow, around the time when Jean Carrick's (wife of James McAllister) parents lived there. The spire of Glasgow Cathedral shown in the background

The 1901 Census record for Drumadoney, Co. Donegal, showing John Lahan (or Lawn) brother to Grace Lawn, wife of James Cassidy, the client's grandmother's (Helen McAllister) maternal grandparents.

Shown on this census is a son John Lawn, aged 17. A historic passport record was located for him (above) showing a photo of him in 1912. Having emigrated (like others of his family) to Massachusetts, USA, he returned to Donegal in 1912 when his father, John Lawn, died.

Above and Below: Photographs inside John Sharpe's place of work, the Caledonian Railway Company's waggon building works at St. Rollox, Glasgow.

A record of the gravestone inscription for Elizabeth Low's (McAllister) parents, William Low and Isobel Irons.

A fortunate discovery as the cemetery concerned, called the New Howff or Constitution Road Cemetery, Dundee, had been destroyed in the 1960s. Upon the ground was built a car park (parking lot). Bizarrely, the more ancient Old Howff ws untouched. 

Notes of what are written on our ancestor's gravestones are very valuable and often lead to locating the actual stone - though not in this case. 

Right: Extract from Roman Catholic marriage register Co. Donegal ( in Latin), located by us as part of our research into the Irish branch of the client's ancestry.

The final entry shows the marriage of John Lawn (from Drumadoney) to Margaret Devenny from nearby Cormullion townland - groupings of various sized small farms.

John's parents are recorded as John Lawn and Ann Mulhern, proof that he was a brother to our client's direct ancestor (great-great-grandmother) Grace Lawn, wife of James Cassidy, whose 1907 death record in Glasgow, recorded the same parentage.

Yes, it's about People..

Our research example so far has dealt with a variety of records. By now you will see that what we

find is about people. The events that shaped their lives.

Below, are further examples within the same client case, to illustrate the extent of findings that can be made for one family - records we use to

trace your family history.

These deal with events - happy....sad.....

details of life at work

Emigration...

Beyond the start of this example search, family connections lead

not just to Scotland but Ireland, England, the USA, Canada.

Note: We also deal with European and Native American and African-American cases,

though not shown in this one example.  By clicking on the buttons at the bottom of this

page you can see examples of our work on such cases.

ABOVE:  A family group chart showing the father of John Campbell Sharpe (b.1904), called John Sharpe (b.1870) as one of 9 children born to his Irish-born parents.  That they had been born in Ireland had been found from census searches (not shown here). Our expert research then went to work on locating the actual place of origin of in Irealnd of the family.

 Above: The 1871 birth, in Glasgow, of Ann Cassidy, grandmother of the client's own mother. Her parents' place of origin is referred to in the information given for their place of marriage - Drumadoney, Co. Donegal, Ireland

Below: the 1881 census at 262 Garngad Road, Glasgow, showing around 20 members of the Cassidy family living at different apartments within the building here. The client's  great-grandmother, Ann Cassidy is recorded, aged 9. 

Above and Left: three opening pages from legal type records involving the sequestration (bancruptcy) of the Low family 'estate', mainly their house and business properties.

This too led to discovering the exact locations of the houses they had owned and further genealogical detail.

And below (3 records shown), a return to the more basic sources in ancestry research: the baptism record in 1794 at Dundee of William Low, and his parents' marriage, also there in 1794 (Thomas Low, a Brewer and his wife Margaret Deuchars). William had died in 1843, as noted, leaving a large family, and his wife Isobel Irons, only two years later, in 1845. But a sister of his - Ann Low, whose death record was located by us in 1880 (below) recorded both her parentage, and showed the family member who registered her death as her nephew Peter Low, then in Glasgow. This provided record evidence that William's parents were also Thomas Low, Brewer and Margaret Deuchars, and his baptism was searched for and found in 1794 as noted.

Above: Marriage record 1867 of John Campbell (brother to client's great-great-grandmother Mary Jane Campbell) and his wife Elizabeth Baird, at Trenton, New Jersey, USA

The Testament of Isobel Irons, wife of William Low, who died 1845 at Dundee. Though she did not leave a Will, it was this testamentary type inventory, listing, among much other genealogical detail, rents owed to her by around 40 tenants, over several house properties she had her husband had owned, that led the professional researcher to be able to turn to property type records and the entries in the historical newspapers (above)

Above the 1773 baptism record of James McAllister, the client's great-great-great-grandfather

McAlister:  Peter McAlister, Weaver and Janet Philp, a l.[awful] son James born the 3rd [January].

Wit[nesses]: James & Finlay McAlister

(Below) Mary Ann's burial record, found in the registers for the Southern Necropolis, Glasgow, in a lair where her maternal grandparents (Campbell) were also laid to rest

Using the records found so far that have allowed the McAllister line to be extended (with record proof - the sign of professional research) onto James McAllister's mother's line (Janet Phillips), further trade type records and earlier baptisms and marriages were located, (below) verifying the names of the earlier generations. Here is shown only a small part of the findings, dealing with the client's direct ancestors.​​​

Bring Your Family Tree.....

Some further research on this client's family tree is shown briefly below - returning to the client's grandmother, Helen McAllister (b.1905 Glasgow, Scotland), as noted already, her father's McAllister and related lines was fully investigated. Her mother's side was Irish - her mother Ann Cassidy having been born in Glasgow in 1871 a couple of years after her parents had left their native rural Co. Donegal in north west Ireland.

In this case, Ann's birth record (below) recorded an Irish place as her parents place of marriage - Drumadoney, Co. Donegal.  This led our research into historic sources for that area, concerning both family who had remained there and those who had left, for Glasgow, Scotland, some others for USA.

Gravestone Inscription

Dundee: New Howff Cemetery

(Contitution Road)

Erected by William Low, Flesher,

Hilltown, Dundee

and 

Isobel Irons

his wife

in Memory of their daughter Ann who died 4 June 1841, aged 20 years.

Also their daughter Jane who died 7 February 1842 aged 18 months.

The above William Low died 14 February 1843, aged 48 years 5 months and his widow Isobel Irons

died 27 January 1845 aged 47 years.

His grandson William Low died

​16 November 1860 aged 21 months

The detailed historical sources used to research and put together a professional family tree are wide and varied. Some basic sources, others and their use in genealogy known to professional researchers. In our sample reports alone, here on our website we have shown:

RECORDS OF BIRTH & BAPTISM

MARRIAGE RECORDS of Ancestors

RECORDS OF WHERE ANCESTORS LAID TO REST

RECORDS OF THEIR DEATHS

HISTORIC NEWSPAPERS for varied uses

CENSUS RECORDS: Detailing  ancestral households

ANCESTRAL WILLS

OTHER LEGAL TYPE RECORDS: DEEDS/LAND & HOUSE OWNERSHIP RECORDS

TENANCY RECORDS (concerning rural ancestors before they perhaps migrated to a larger town or city)

OLD MAPS: Pinpointing ancestral locations

LOCAL HISTORIES: The social and political times your ancestors knew

HISTORIC TRADE/BUSINESS DIRECTORIES

HISTORIC RECORDS OF FINANCIAL RELIEF

OLD HOSPITAL RECORDS

TRADE/OCCUPATION RECORDS specific to ancestral jobs

TAX RECORDS

ELECTORAL REGISTERS

MILITARY RECORDS: ARMY, NAVY, MILITIA for individual ancestors

CRIMINAL RECORDS: Court Records/Prison Records

RECORDS OF EMIGRATION

OLD PHOTOS of ANCESTRAL LOCATIONS

HISTORIC PHOTOS OF ANCESTORS

RELATIVES TRACED Who Share same ancestry

​Below, part of the series of lair ownership records discovered for the family that allowed the ancestry to be extended 

A photo of David McAllister, the client's great-grandfather, in 1930 on holiday at the coastal Scottish town of Largs. This was obtained from a second cousin of the client whose location we traced.

Left: A Valuation record from the 1850s, showing the tenants of small farms within various townlands. Here, is shown Drumadoney where John Lahan and Grace Lahan (ancestors of the client) leased 5 and 18 acres of land respectively.

Historic records for such rural estates, often owned by prominent families in the neighbourhood, can then be consulted to add further ancestral detail.

Ancestry Doctor

Trongate, Glasgow, at Glasgow Cross, as the client's ancestors Thomas Phillips and family would have known it

The 1834 Trade Directory for Dundee showing one of the entries over several years for William Low, Butcher, the father of Elizabeth Low (McAllister). As today, such listings were not automatic. The person would need to be in business and advertising as such. This clue led to discovery of business related records, below - Wills; bankruptcy records etc.  And to the more basic records for the family - the baptism of William Low himself in 1794 and his parents' marriage, which allowed the ancestry to start being extended, as always with exact historical record evidence.

Before the family place of Irish origin was located by us, a variety of both basic sources and specialised records were unearthed along the way. Some are shown here.

To the left and below, the initial 4 pages of a Fatal Accident Enquiry concerning the father of John Campbell Sharpe (John Sharpe b. 1870). Our searches had found that he died in 1921 as the result of an accident at work. The corresponding Fatal Accident Enquiry, dealing with industrial accidents, narrated a lot of new information to add to the ancestral story - from precise details of his job at the Caledonian Railway Company in Glasgow (a locomotive builder) to names of his workmates who were called as witnesses. Here John Sharpe's exact words were recalled, almost bringing the incident to life.

Though taken to the local hospital, further research showed that sadly he died a week later during surgery, under anaesthetic.

Many family trees when thoroughly researched contain both ancestors involved in some manner of accident/local incident; and ancestors who joined the army or navy. Such records are rich genealogical sources and add to what we can discover for our clients.

Gateway into the Southern Necropolis, Glasgow; and within the cemetery

© Copyright

Photographic Archives of all sorts are used in our research. Here is shown two photos of the same location for comparison. Above - from the 1890s, the foot (bottom) of Hilltown, Dundee at its junction with Dudhope Wynd (later Street). Research had shown this was where the Low family had lived in the 1820s-1840s until the parents early deaths in their 40s leaving a large family behind. The photo to the left, from a few years before the image above, shows the old building (middle of photo) that was replaced by the 1890s. Its discovery allowed the client to see the very house where the Low family had lived in the 1820s-40s

Right: Section of a map from the 1830s showing the various Townlands (small farming settlements) in the neighbourhood of Donegal Parish, Co. Donegal, including Drumadoney, a couple miles east of Donegal Town at Donegal Bay.

Above, a record from 1835 from the Incorporation of Shoemakers (Glasgow) collection, showing the contribution they made towards paid up member James McAllister's funeral.

And below, the entry of his death and burial at High Church (Glasgow) burial ground, attached to Glasgow Cathedral. Attention to detail in our research leads to other records known to the specialist genealogist - in this burialexample, we learn that James McAllister was a Shoemaker, resident at Calton, a village a short distance east of Glasgow town (now part of Glasgow city). We learn the name of the undertaker (George Clark) whose records may shed more light on the ancestry and that James died aged 63 from asthma; but we also read that he was buried in the lair owned by James McAllister, in the Old section of the Catherdral Churchyard. It is this information that allows further research in original records held at a local archive - records of the ownership of the family burial lair which, following detailed research, provides the information allowing this branch of the family tree to be extended back in time a further 4 generations (to around 1715) from James McAllister.

...To Life!

Left and Below: the registration of the death of Mary Ann Goldon (after whom the child Mary Ann Goldon Sharpe was named), recording her parents as George Carr and Isabella Ingram.

Her marraige to George Golden or Goldon, located in 1845 at Devenish parish, Co. Fermanagh, Ireland; and an application for financial relief in Glasgow of a brother of Mary Ann's (George Kerr or Carr) as an elderly man, recording his birthplace as Derrygonnelly, Co. Fermanagh, also in the region of Devenish parish.

Research then located in Devensih parish records, the baptism of the client's direct ancestor (great-great-grandfather) Jason Sharpe, and his siblings, revealing that their father Robert Sharpe had been a local Constable, and tenant of a small farm in the parish before coming to Glasgow.

Thank You

for reading these samples of our research work for clients.

To proceed with

research on your own ancestry and have us trace Your Family Tree

scroll to the end of the page

To see some further examples of research reports

click on the appropriate buttons to the sides

of this image.

At such a point, research can now either go down the line of one branch or another. Our job is to deal with as many of your direct ancestors as possible as all are equally important. 

Going down  the line from David McAllister, above, age 27 at marriage in 1897. His birth record was found in 1870 in Glasgow, the parents' names matching those (as expected) on his marriage record:

Above: Local newspaper advert (Dundee, Scotland) for 1845 showing the auction notice for sale of house and business items of the late William Low (who had died 1843) and of his wife Isobel Irons who had died this year in 1845. One of their large family of 14 children was Elizabeth, then aged 14, the client's great-great-grandmother, who later married Thomas McaAllister in Glasgow. 

Above: Extract from an index to Wills and related legal records, for David McAllister's brother Thomas (b.1864), who died in 1934, a few weeks before his only brother David.  His recording in this index led to his Will, shown directly below, which revealed, among other details, that three of his daughters (full cousins to the client's grandmother) had emigrated - two to the USA and one to Canada, by the time he had made out his Will in 1928, six years prior to his death.

​Ancestry Doctor

​Much further research was carried out on this branch of the client's ancestry. For the purpose of this example report, we can now look at the client's other branches - these include Irish branches, notoriously difficult, in terms of records available and locating the actual place of origin in Ireland of an immigrant ancestor. However, AncestryDoctor has

years of experience in dealing with records for various countries and (in this case) Irish locations and original records can often be found for our clients.

Above: The 1880 Census for St. John's, Quebec, Canada, showing William, his daughter Jane, 20, who had been born in Glasgow, Scotland and a daughter Mary Sharpe Campbell, aged 12, who had been born in New Jersey. The girl's middle name was reference to William's brother-in-law Jason Sharpe, back in Glasgow, Scotland, his sister, Mary Jane's husband (the client's great-great-grandparents)

A SELECTION OF OTHER TYPES OF HISTORICAL RECORDS WE USE​

(Still Following our client's sample report)

Ancestry Doctor

Three further historic newspaper noticed above: one from Feb. 1845 calling in the monies owed to Mrs Isobel Low or Irons, shortly following her death.

And two notices from later in the 1840s advertising her house properties for sale.

This was part of a wider action that resulted in the deceased couple being declared bancrupt.

A newspaper notice from 1850 (left) refers to this

(which was researched in fuller detail than shown here) and lists all of the couple's surviving children, including Betsey or Elizabethy Low, our client's great-grandmother, who, as shown already, had fallen on hard times by the late 1860s, ending up temporarily in the poorhouse in Glasgow.

Above: Record of death for Ann Cassidy's grandfather, William Cassidy, three months before her birth, also at 154 Garngad Road, Glasgow. The family had only left Co. Donegal, Ireland a couple of years before this date. William's parents names are recorded - Patrick Cassidy, a Farmer and Hannah Gallagher, the information provided by his son, James Cassidy (Ann's father), the client's direct ancestor.

Whilst Ann's birth record of 1871 in Glasgow (above) had provided the place name Drumadoney, which research showed to be her mother, Grace Lahan's (Lawn) family residence, a fortunate discovery from a surviving extract of the otherwise destroyed 1851 Irish census (shown left) showed Ann's father's (James Cassidy) family at the Townland of Cormullin, a mile or so across fields of small farms, from Drumadoney.

Below, a variation on the standard family tree - showing three generations and various branches of the client's ancestry.

This example has so far death with the McAllister branch of the client's family tree. Below are now shown a variety 

of other historical records we use to build up a good, detailed picture of an ancestry. These deal with another branch of the same client's family tree - the Low side of the family: the mother of the above David McAllister (b.1870), who was known as Betsey (Elizabeth) Low: her ancestry was traced to the town of Dundee, Scotland where research revealed an upbringing of one of 14 children born to parents who owned several house properties

By 1861 when Jason Sharpe, then aged 25 registered his sister's death in Glasgow, the fuller extent of our research had shown also that his father had died in 1850 in the city, his mother Dorothea (also referred to as Dolly in records) Ingram in 1856 and his sister Margaret, in 1855 in childbirth. Our precise and detailed research work revealed that the family had come to Glasgow from Ireland in 1847.

But where in Ireland?

We followed a clue on the naming of one of Jason Sharpe's own children, shown below:

Returning to the marriage record in 1926 of the client's grandparents (shown near the top of this sample report), we see that Helen McAllister married John Campbell Sharpe. So far this sample has followed Helen McAllister's father's line; her mother's line  (Cassidy) was Irish.  But her husband (John Campbell Sharpe) also had Irish branches as our research revealed, including family members who had emigrated (via Scotland) to USA and Canada. 

Part of the census record for 1841 showing Elizabeth Low, aged 9, one of the younger children of her parents William Low, a Flesher (Butcher) and Isobel Irons.  Their names had been found already in the poor relief records for Elizabeth in Glasgow, as wife of Thomas McAllister in Glasgow in the 1860s-70s.

Further research, however, revealed that her origins were as part of a business-minded family in Dundee as further records verified.

Note also the nearby street Dudhope Wynd, written on the left side of the page. Research revealed the house that the family lived in was at the 'foot of Hilltown'  at the junction with Dudhope Wynd. In the Glasgow poor relief records Elizabeth had given her birthplace around 1831 as Dudhope Wynd but it had been written phonetically (as it sounded) as 'Dibbot's Wynd'. Likewise her pronunciation (in what must have been a thick Dundonian dialect) also resulted in the relief clerk recording her married surname as 'McCulster'  which (as shown in the already referred to detailed record of relief above) was later scored out and re-written as McAllister.

Above: The Irish marriage record in 1845 of Mary Ann Kerr (or Carr) [cousin to Jason Sharpe, the client's direct ancestor], at Monea Church in the Parish of Devenish. The family were Church of Ireland members (as distinct from the Roman Catholic faith which was prominent in Ireland) and by the family surnames - Sharpe, Ingram, Kerr, Carr, Golden, Graham - would have been descended from Scottish and English 'incomers'  at a point within the previous 200 years.  

​Some historical information on this subject was then incorporated into the research report.

His entry on the 1870 United States of America Census, showing that he still carried on the trade of Potter as he had done since boyhood in Glasgow. His brother, William Campbell, was also in Trenton with his wife at this time. Both had emigrated from Glasgow in the 1860s. They did not remain here, however. Research revealed that William went to Quebec, Canada, after his wife's death in 1879 in New Jersey, whilst John returned, with his wife and American born children to Glasgow. The 1881 Census for Glasgow, Scotland shows the family there.

Above: By 1835, the family, still within the parish of Devenish, lived at nearby Giltagh townland (a rural grouping of small farms) - above shows direct ancestor Jason Sharpe's baptism in 1835

​A PROFESSIONAL ANCESTRY RESEARCH SERVICE

On the previous generation, direct ancestor Jason Sharpe's sister, Elizabeth - her death record in 1861 when still a young woman and a corresponding medical case note record from 1859-60 during her time as a patient at the Infirmary in Glasgow. Her death record was signed by her brother Jason.