SIB FOLK NEWS - Orkney Family History Society

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Issue No.47 September 2008 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 21 Ffollowed the clear diversion signs I arrived at the reception. As this was a first visit I had to sign in and receive a visitor’s pass. I was then directed to the cloakroom (I didn’t have a cloak!) where coats etc have to be deposited along with mobile phones, bags etc. You will need a £1 coin (refundable) for the locker. Your notebook and pencils then need to be put in a clear plastic bag, which is supplied. NB although the GRoS allows pens, as the access to microfiche there has stopped and it’s onscreen access only, the NAS has very valuable documents and only allows pencils. You need to walk up a stair though the Legal Search Room to the Historical Search Room where at the Enquiry Desk you can obtain a Reader’s Ticket. (I then had to go back to the cloakroom to collect my Photographic Identity e.g. Bus pass, Passport or Photo Drivers Licence and my proof of address e.g. Gas/Electricity Bill or Bank Statement). I was then allowed to go into the Historical Research Room and at their Enquiry Desk I checked in and had a seat allocated. I then used a computer terminal to order the document required. Luckily I had researched this before (see notes below) and had the reference number. My seat number ensured that the document was delivered to the correct place. When the box of microfilm arrived I exchanged it for my readers ticket and was shown where the microfilm readers were located in the Legal search room I had originally walked through. Luckily I knew how to work the machine but the one beside it had a printing facility (need cash for that and mine was locked away in – yes you guessed it, the Cloakroom!). I found my James Ritch in the index at the beginning and fast-forwarded to his page where I obtained the facts that: - The NLB records show an Assistant Keeper who entered service 11th July 1860 at the Bell Rock for 3 1/2 years then on 2-12-1863 transferred to Girdleness, Aberdeen for 3 years until his death. I also checked the pages for Hoy High and Hoy Low and examined who else were Keepers there. When I returned the Microfilm I was returned my reader’s ticket and then retrieved my Jacket etc before signing out. Next visit should be easier as all I need to do is to bring my ticket! A good days work. The items I searched were: - Records of Principal Keepers. Section 1, Assistant Keepers. Section 2, List of Keepers in each Lighthouse Section 3. Ref No Year Joined NLC4/1/1 1837-1852 NLC4/1/2 1822-1869 on same film NLC4/1/3 1869-1912 NLC4/1/4 1912-1921 NLC4/1/5 1922-1958 Have you got Isle of Man connections in your family tree? Has any member come across the tale of a Manxwoman in their family? Mary Ann Wareing, later Sutherland arrived in Orkney in 1840 or 41 and I am hoping that someone from the OFHS can tell me more about her family. She was my grandmother’s grandmother and when I was a wee girl I was told that she was an Englishwoman from Liverpool who eloped with a seaman to the Orkney Islands. Alas for romance, I found Mary Ann Wareing in the 1841 census, aged 12 and already living in Kirkwall. She did not marry John Sutherland, also of Kirkwall, until June 1851. I then lose track of the family until the marriage of their daughter Minnie Alice Sutherland to William Gillespie in 1877 in Edinburgh, when John Sutherland is described as an artist (deceased). He may of course have been a weekend painter and Minnie Alice was indulging in a spot of social climbing. I have no idea when they moved to Edinburgh despite checking the English censuses. Mary Ann Wareing was born in the Isle of Man, the daughter of James Wareing and Mary Ann Lawton. In 1841 she lived at Bridge Wynd, Kirkwall together with a 25 year old woman called Mary Ann Houston, described as a merchant seaman’s wife, and a 10 month old baby Sarah Houston, both born in England. I suspected that the older Mary Ann might have been the eloper, but not so. Mary Ann Slater, (daughter of Moses Slater and Sarah Wareing) married David Houston in Liverpool in 1838. Their daughter Sarah Wareing Houston was born there in 1840. Through genesreunited I have been in touch with a Houston descendant, and found that David and Mary Ann had other children, then emigrated to Australia in 1849. The tale was obviously much exaggerated in the telling, but I now know that I have a smidgen of Manx blood instead of real English blood. It’s still fascinating to think of little Mary Ann leaving home at 12 to look after a relative’s baby. I’m still hopeful of filling in the gaps so if anyone can remember any family tales of a Manx great, great grandmother or auntie I would be glad to hear from them. With many thanks. Madeleine Ulyett, 21 Esplanade, Hornsea, East Yorks. HU18 1NQ or e-mail me at uly_mac@hotmail.com Did you know On midsummer day in the Orkney Islands, the sun is above the horizon for 18 1/4 hours.
22 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No. 47 September 2008 S E R G E A N T JAMES SUTHERLAND By Stan Sutherland – Member No 225 James was born on 31st January 1890 at Whanclett Farm on the island of Flotta in Orkney. He was the eldest son of James Sutherland, a farmer’s son and Margaret Sutherland (née Simpson). James junior grew up on Flotta but at the age of twenty he left Flotta for Glasgow where, on the 1st April 1910, he boarded the 9.599 ton steamship Hesperian, bound for Boston, USA. Whanclett Farm, Flotta James Sutherland enlisted in the American army in Illinois and was drafted into the 305th Infantry Regiment, part of the United States 77th Division. It was New York’s National Army division (the American equivalent of a British New Army division), and was organised at Camp Upton, New York starting 25th August 1917. The 77th Dision was the first National Army division to arrive in France, between 13th April and 13th May 1918 D F C Upon arrival in France most of the 77th Division trained with British units in Picardy and Artois, but the artillery was sent to Bordeaux to train with the French. On the 19th June the 77th Division moved to the Baccarat sector in Lorraine, where it relieved the 42nd American Division and sent units into the line to serve with the 61st French Division. The French began to withdraw a month later and the 77th held a ‘quiet’ sector until 4th August. 77th Division relieved the 4th American Division on the 11th/12th August, in the Vesle Sector. This was a more active sector and, before it was relieved by the 8th Italian Division on 15th/16th September, 77th Division had advanced to cross the River Vesle and had reached the River Aisne. 77th Division was allocated an important opening role in America’s greatest battle of World War 1, the Meuse- Argonne offensive, which started on 26th September and continued until the end of the war. 77th Division attacked on the left of the American First Army, with the 1st Cavalry Division of the French Fourth Army on its left. Sadly, James Sutherland was killed during the fierce fighting in the Argonne Forest which made 77th Division famous, when a group of men from several of its units was cut off for five days behind German lines near Binarville and became known as the ‘Lost Battalion’. ‘Liberty’ Patch of the 77th American Infantry Division SUTHERLAND, JAMES Sergeant, U.S. Army Company E,305th Infantry Regiment 77th Division A.E.F. Date of Action October 3rd 1918 Citation The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to James Sutherland, Sergeant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action in the Forest of Argonne, France, October 3rd, 1918. Displaying exceptional devotion to duty and conspicuous courage, Sergeant Sutherland led his platoon up the steep slope of a ravine, under murderous machine-gun fire in an attack on a series of strong enemy machine-gun nests; and in so doing was seriously wounded
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Page 3 and 4: Issue No. 47 September 2008 Overloo
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Page 13 and 14: 14 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY
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Page 23: MEMBERSHIP subscriptions etc THE OR

SIB FOLK NEWS - Orkney Family History Society

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