WDYTYA? Live 2013

Last week I went to the Who Do You Think You Are? Live event at London Olympia and had a really great time.

Tickets

Tickets

WDYTYA Live is a genealogy exhibition and conference built on the success of the TV series (and companion magazine) of the same name and it is said to be the biggest genealogy event in the world. It was the first such event I’ve attended – and it won’t be my last!

View of the ground floor

View of the ground floor

All the big guns had a stand: Ancestry, FindMyPast, and FamilySearch.

MyHeritage, Mocavo, Deceased Online, TheGenealogist, etc. were there too. There was also a Military pavilion and a whole section dedicated to Migration.

There were several celebrities who have featured on the TV show being interviewed in the main theatre, but there were also guest speakers organised by the Society of Genealogists.

Pat Whatley's talk

Pat Whatley’s talk

I went to 3 different 45min talks:

  • Scottish Kirk Session records by Bruce Bishop
  • Google Search strategies by Lisa Louise Cooke
  • Scottish Poor Law records by Pat Whatley

All 3 were excellent and I learned a lot!

I bought the book Tracing Your First World War Ancestors by Simon Fowler at the Pen and Sword Books stand for the discounted price of £10 and also got a couple of freebie magazines. I visited the stand for Dundee University’s Centre for Archive and Information Studies who run the post-graduate course that I’m currently undertaking and I got a free USB pen drive. I also talked to Lisa Louise Cooke of the Genealogy Gems podcast and signed up to her Premium Membership – and got her autograph too :-)

Swag

Swag

Earlier on I had an Ask The Expert one-to-one session lasting 20 minutes where I asked about Australian records. So I now know where to start searching on that continent for RETTIE migrants for my One-Name Study.

I would recommend this show for anyone interested in genealogy. For anyone outside of London, it also provides an ideal opportunity to visit the National Archives at Kew, which I did on the afternoon before the show and the morning after.

Next time I think I will go for 2 days instead of 1 – Friday and Sunday – with a full day at the National Archives in between. I’m looking forward to it already!

Confessions of a Mature Student

Haven’t posted for a while – that’s because I’ve been busy with my University course.

I’ve started studying for a Masters degree in Family and Local History via distance learning at the University of Dundee.

Module Structure

Each module is split into a number of units. Each unit covers a distinct element of the module and has a task to complete at the end. Some of these tasks are assessed and have to be emailed to the module tutor for marking, but others are not assessed and involve emailing other students or posting onto the module discussion forum. A guideline mark together with helpful comments are sent back from the module tutor for each assessed task.

At the end of the Skills and Sources for Family and Local History in Scotland module there were also two main assignments – an Essay and a Report. These were 2,500 and 2,000 words respectively and had to have proper footnotes and a bibliography. I rather left things to the last minute and rushed both of these, but I was reasonably happy with what I submitted. Time will tell if I did enough to pass…

Too Much On My Plate

At the start of the course I had a problem accessing my email account at Dundee University and this led to me starting the first module a bit late. Also, due to bad planning on my part, the Pharos course on One-Name Studies started at the same time!

I pretty quickly realised I’d bitten off a bit more than I could chew by trying to do 2 courses at the same time and learn a new job (my previous Java Developer role was offshored to India and I’m now retraining as a Database Administrator). I knew the Masters course would be demanding, so adding other stuff on top was really pushing things…

I had to make a decision to drop something and I chose the unmarked module tasks. These are mostly to encourage interaction among the students and are a good idea. But, since they aren’t graded, I thought they could be sacrificed. Luckily the Pharos course was not assessed, but I rather missed out on some of the joint class exercises involved.

As a consequence, I didn’t get as much out of that course as I could have – but it was very good and highly recommended. It too had a discussion forum and there was also a weekly chatroom conversation which was always entertaining with folks chipping in their opinions from all over the globe (well, at least Scotland, England, USA and Australia).

Lessons Learned

This first University module has really opened my eyes into the number of sources available for Scottish family history research. Suddenly there is whole wealth of data that I’m going to have to include in both my one-name study into the RETTIE surname and my own family history.

I also learned a lot about the social, political and economic history of Scotland by seeing the level of detail that some of the records contain. Burgh records in particular were a real eye-opener. See example from Inverness Burgh accounts.

Up Next

The next module – Military History – just started on Monday and, being only a 10 credit course, last two months. I’m really looking forward to it and will be trying to improve my time management skills – hopefully leading to a better grade.

Interestingly, the module tutor is Simon Fowler who has written a number of family history books relating to military records e.g ‘Tracing Your Army Ancestors‘, ‘Tracing Your Naval Ancestors‘, etc. So, he obviously knows his stuff!

The Future

I’ve now decided on the four modules I’m going to study to achieve the 60 credits required for a Postgraduate Certificate. However, I’m not sure at the moment if I really do want to go on and undertake the Diploma afterwards – it’s a lot of work…

Year Module Title Credits
1 Skills and Sources for Family and Local History in Scotland 20
1 Military History 10
2 Heraldry 20
2 Ecclesiastical Archives 10

Old Family Photographs

What a great treasure old family photographs are!

Thankfully my Dad is still around to help me identify his Grandparents in the first photograph below, though when you look closely it seems obvious that the young girl on the right in the first one and the silver-haired woman on the right in the third one is one and the same person – my Great Aunt Muriel.

Also noticeable is the ‘RETTIE nose’ shared by my Great Grandfather and his son – and also my Dad and me too!

My Great Grandfather George RETTIE with his wife Elizabeth Findlay SMITH and their youngest child Muriel circa 1932

George RETTIE and his wife Charlotte Leeder IRVING

My Grandfather George RETTIE (seated) and his wife Charlotte Leeder IRVING (also seated), on their Wedding Day in 1929

From left to right: My Grandmother Charlotte Leeder IRVING, her husband George RETTIE, and his youngest sister Muriel RETTIE, at their 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1979

Graveyard at Innerpeffray Chapel

Today we were again up at Loch Earn and on the way home decided to drop in on Innerpeffray Library to see the oldest lending library in Scotland – only to discover it was closed for the winter! However, an unexpected plus was that there is also a Chapel on the site with a graveyard surrounding it. Here are the photographs I took:

Never Mind The Trossachs, Here’s The Six Pictures!

Last week we had an enjoyable trip up to the beautiful Trossachs, just an hour’s drive from Glasgow. We stopped by Balquidder Parish Church, site of the grave of legendary Scottish outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor.

There is also a nice easy-ish 1 hour walk starting just beside the church which takes you up to Creag an Tuirc (Boar’s Rock) which was the rallying point of Clan MacLaren. From here there are wonderful views of Loch Voil below.

Splitting In Two

One of the things I’ve learned on my Introduction to One-Name Studies course is that you should separate your One-Name Study from your own family history.

So, I’ve now moved all the relevant pages from this blog across to a new one at http://rettiefamilyhistory.wordpress.com

From now on this site will be purely for blogging about Genealogy in general and finding my own ancestors.

Introduction to One-Name Studies

I’m getting excited about the ‘Introduction to One-Name Studies’ course run by Pharos Tutors which starts next week.

It’s an online distance learning course and I received the links to the course forum and chat room today. I’ve just signed in to the forum and left a post under the ‘Introduce Yourself’ topic. So far, there is a nice mix of fellow students both geographically and experience-wise.

I also purchased the recommended course reading book, which is ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’ – The Art of One-Name Studies published by the Guild of One-Name Studies.

I hope the course will provide the outline of a disciplined approach to conducting a One-Name Study, as it’s obviously a different approach to tracing a single family tree. I’m guessing there will be a recommended order of Census Records first then Statutory Records then Old Parish Records then other sources (e.g. Military Records). Or maybe just pick one set of records and don’t move on until you’ve documented all the entries for the surname you are researching. I’ve already made a start and documented all the OPR Births & Baptisms for RETTIE in Scotland – though I still have to do those damned surname deviants!

I’m also hoping the course will touch on what software to use to record and present your findings. At the moment I’m unsure as to the merits of either webtrees or TNG…

Drowned in the Tennessee River

Thanks to WorldVitalRecords from MyHeritage, I may have just found a RETTIE who served with the 12th Ohio Cavalry during the American Civil War.

Mustered In

Louis RETTIE was (allegedly) 18 when he enlisted on 1 Sep 1863 in Company E of the 12th Ohio Cavalry.1,4 This company was recruited from the Highland, Mahoning and Summit counties of Ohio.2 The 12th Ohio Cavalry was organized at Camp Taylor in Cleveland, Ohio and mustered in on 24 Nov 1863 for a three year period of service under the command of Colonel Robert W. Ratliff.2,3 The regiment was involved in the Battles of Cynthiana and Saltville I and II.3 (As an aside, there’s an interesting article here on the Saltville Massacre).

Mustered Out

Sadly, having outlived the end of the war, the young Private RETTIE drowned a few months afterwards on 1 Sep 1865 in the Tennessee River at Pen Hook Ferry, Tennessee.1,4 Perhaps the rider and his horse were swept away by the current whilst attempting to ford the river? Or perhaps the ferry itself got into difficulties?

Around the time of this tragic incident, the regiment was attached to Cavalry Brigade, District East Tennessee from Jul 1865 to Nov 1865 and it saw duty in middle Tennessee, eastern Tennessee, and North Carolina.2,3 The 12th Ohio Cavalry mustered out of service on 14 Nov 1865 at Nashville, Tennessee.2,3

Questions

Q. Was his name really Louis RETTIE?1 An alternative source says it is Lewis RETTY!4 Clearly one or both of the transcribers has it wrong.

Q. Was the location of his death really Pen Hook Ferry?1 Again we have a transcription issue, with the alternative source saying Pin-hook Ferry.4

Q. Where exactly is Pen Hook/Pin-hook Ferry? There is a Pen Hook Road near Monterey in Tennessee, but it’s a long way from the river. However, I can find ‘Pin Hook Road’, ‘East Pin Hook Road’ and ‘South Pin Hook Road’ about 14 miles due West of Sparta, TN – the last of which leads down to the Tennessee River…

Q. Where was Louis born and who were his parents? I’m currently looking through the 1850 census rolls for the 3 counties where Company E was recruited from…

Sources

  1. The Roster Commission, Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1866, vol. 11 (Akron, Ohio: The Werner Printing & Lithographing Company, 1891), p. 600, http://archive.org/details/officialrosterof11ohio. This source says ‘Louis RETTIE‘ drowned at ‘Pen Hook Ferry’.
  2. Larry Stevens, “12th Ohio Cavalry,” Ohio in the Civil War, January 11, 2012, http://www.ohiocivilwar.com/cwc12.html.
  3. Wikipedia contributors, “12th Ohio Cavalry,” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., July 17, 2012), http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=12th_Ohio_Cavalry&oldid=493574416.
  4. F.H. Mason, The Twelfth Ohio Cavalry: A Record of Its Organization and Services in the War of the Rebellion, Together with a  Complete Roster of the Regiment. (Cleveland, Ohio: Nevins Steam Printing House, 1871), p. 18, https://sites.google.com/site/lstevens5300/. This source says ‘Lewis RETTY‘ drowned at ‘Pin-hook Ferry’.

How Popular Is YOUR Surname?

Thanks to my new membership of the Guild of One-Name Studies, I just discovered a couple of (legitimate!) web sites which reveal the popularity of a given surname.

The United States Census Bureau has a downloadable zip file containing all surnames with more than 100 entries in the 2000 Census.
RETTIE ranks =111,119 with 147 people.

Surnames of England and Wales – the ONS list is an extract of an Office of National Statistics database, and contains a list of surnames in use in England, Wales and the Isle of Mann in September 2002.
RETTIE ranks =28,353 with 128 people.

Unfortunately, I’ve yet to find a page providing surname statistics from the Scotland Census…not to mention Canada, Australia, etc. Does anyone have these URL’s?

UPDATE: Found a couple more sites, as a result of the course I’m currently doing:

Behind the Name
Though RETTIE was not found, it does return results for more popular surnames for USA, England and Scotland.

World Family Names
This site gives the frequency of a surname per million of a countries population.
RETTIE returns 6.02 for the UK, 1.83 for Canada, and 0.78 for USA.

Surname Variants or Deviants?

As can be seen from the various sources quoted under History of Land Ownership, there appear to be a number of different spellings of RETTIE used in the past.

The permutations consist of either ‘ea’, ‘ai’ or ‘a’ instead of the initial ‘e’ together with either a single or double ‘t’.

Data

I entered these permutations into ScotlandPeople with the following results:

Total Births

Variant Births 1538-1854 Births 1855-2009 Earliest Latest Mode Parish
RAITIE 24 0 1689 1781 New Deer (6)
RAITTIE 26 10 1675 1817 Monquhitter (18)
RATIE 13 0 1689 1817 Gamrie and Macduff (4)
RATTIE 8 0 1689 1892 Monquhitter (2) & Boyndie (2)
REATIE 19 0 1697 1783 Turriff (6)
REATTIE 4 0 1734 1777 New Deer (3)
RETIE 10 0 1610 1793 Monquhitter (5)
RETTIE 216 951 1610 2009

Example Births

Consider also the following examples listing parents, parish, date of birth and name of child:

RAITIE –> RATIE

William RAITIE & Christian ESLEMENT of New Deer
24 Feb 1751 Anne
31 Mar 1753 Alexander
14 May 1755 Isobel
01 Jun 1757 William
16 Sep 1759 James

William RATIE & Chirsten ESSELMENT of New Deer
01 Nov 1761 Adam

REATTIE –> RETTIE –> REATIE –> RAITIE –> RETTIE

Alexander REATTIE & Christen HEPBURN of New Deer
10 Sep 1765 William

ALEXANDER RETTIE & Christian HEBRON of New Deer
07 Mar 1767 Alexander

Alexander REATIE & Christian HEBREN of New Deer
30 Jan 1774 George
16 Jun 1777 Peter

Alexander RAITIE & Christian HEPBURN of King Edward
14 Aug 1781 Jane

Alexander RETTIE & Christian HEPBURN of King Edward
28 Sep 1785 Adam

Note also the variations in the Mothers’ names!

Analysis

  • Barring one entry from Fife, all other entries are from Aberdeenshire and Banffshire in North-East Scotland. This strongly suggests the surnames are just alternative spellings of the same original family name.
  • RETTIE is by far the most popular spelling, both in Old Parish Registers and Statutory Registers.
  • RETTIE is the only spelling which survives into the 20th Century, with all others apart from RAITTIE terminating upon the adoption of Statutory Registers in 1855.

This suggests that RETTIE is the de facto correct spelling.

The Guild of One Name Studies differentiates between a surname variant and a surname deviant.
A variant is:

a name spelling used by officials on a consistent and persistent basis over a period of years.

None of the alternative spellings of RETTIE meet this rule.

A deviant, however, is defined as:

any other spelling recorded, including cases where the spelling occurs in official records, but only randomly and inconsistently.

Given the above examples, it appears that the alternative spellings are indeed used inconsistently.

Conclusion

The surname RETTIE has no variants, only deviants due to transcription errors and mis-spelling.