Gene Notes

Some random and some not-so-random thoughts on family history.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Surname Saturday - Skirving

Isn't that a great name - Skirving. It's one of my Scots lines and direct line ancestry. The nearest Skirving to me was my great-great-great grandmother, Helen or Ellen Skirving. She was born in 1814 in Forres, Morayshire, Scotland while her father was employed there. Her parents were John Skirving and Margaret Wardlaw.

In April 1833, the family sailed from Cromarty in Scotland eventually reaching York, Ontario - present day Toronto - on July 9, 1833.  The emigration party consisted of Mother (Margaret Wardlaw Skirving) and children Margaret, Ellen (Helen), Kate, John, Annie, Mary, Chrissie, two women servants and one man servant. They sailed aboard the Triton.



John Skirving died September 22, 1833 of malaria in Etobicoke. This left his wife and seven children to fend for themselves, which they did by opening a school.

Ellen or Helen as we have her in other records, married Alexander Maitland on November 8, 1836 in York. The first six of their nine children were born in Canada.  The family moved back and forth between the US and Canada until eventually settling in Lexington, Missouri at the conclusion of the U. S. Civil War. Helen and Alexander are buried in MachPelah Cemetery in Lexington, Missouri, along with their daughter, Annie.

Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes

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