McLEAN/McCLAN

[SophiaG]

Hi Shane,

Yes that is definitely the line I am descended from.  If you have more information on Rhoda and James's ancestors I would be extremely grateful as I know nothing about them or their ancestors.  You can private message me if you prefer. Many many thanks.

[silvery]

What a very interesting thread!   It's great that you've all found each other!  The power of rootschat, eh?   

You need to have 3 posts or so before you can send or receive a private message (PM), just a hint, before you start to wonder.  Just click on  a person's name will do the trick for a PM.  Or on the green scrolly thing, if they're online and it's bright green.

Please do keep us informed how you all get on, we love to know.

[SophiaG]

Thanks.  In 1871 Sophia Goodwin was visiting with her daughter Beatrice and staying with her brother (?) George McLean in the district of St Pancreas. Ten years before she seems to have been in Ipswich with her parents and siblings.

[Shane H]

Hi - Shane here again after several years, having lost Ruth's contacts details for the time being. I think I may have worked out who the boys in the photo are. Mary Ann Gaze, sister of Rhoda, my 3x great grandmother (who married James McLean), married Benjamin Bensley in 1837 at Colby, Norfolk. They then emigrated to Ontario, where son Robert was born in 1838. His eldest daughter, Helen Bensley, born 1858, married Charles Kerr, leading to 4 sons, George Robert Vandeleur Kerr (b 1882), John Benjamin Bensley Kerr (1884), Charles Russell Kerr (1886) and Gordon Douglas Kerr (1889). The names and link to Norfolk seem too much of a coincidence for the boys in the photo to be anyone other than these 4, though this would put the date of the photo to 1890/91, maybe. Regards, Shane

[idlecat]

Hi Shane, bit late to this discussion but found it very interesting. I am descended from Charles Macklin
1745 Cambridgeshire and Sarah Smith 1757.Grandchester Huntingtonshire They were both from travelling Gypsy families. There were 2 sons who are traceable, my  4 x ggf  Charles Macklin known as the Gypsy fiddler born b. 1778  and Samuel 1788 who married Theodoria Harding daughter of Will Harding and Mary Howe father of James Macklin 1821 who married Rhoda Gaze and is your line
Charles married Sophia Haines in 1799 … parents not found but it's her name Sophia which carries through every generation ( my grandaughter is Sophie) . Charles also had a daughter with Sarah Curtis b. 1772 named Elizabeth .Sarah  married Thomas Thorogood in 1792 and in 1795 Elizabeth was baptised naming Thomas as her father.  Elizabeth married my 3x ggfather Joseph Hyde in 1814 and then they settle in Frankton Warwickshire … a favoured Gypsy stopping place. These facts are now confirmed with many dna matches  with Charles and Sophia’s offspring … many being within the Loveridge, Gray, Draper travelling families . 
I grew up being told about the stories in my father’s family and I so wish that he had known that it was all true.  He played a fiddle ( handed down) and squeeze boxes and his father used to go to entertain the crowds at half time at the local FC club in Leicester. Several generations of the family still worked as door to door travelling salesman until very recently as did their forefathers. It’s all very fascinating . Someone earlier talked about the Scottish connection. My dna gives me a 14% Scandinavian marker( Norway)  and a fair amount of Scottish. My dna matches seem to have the same. It’s likely that our family came to Scotland in 17 century but there’s no way of knowing yet

[Shane H]

Hi cousin idlecat - well, isn't that amazing? Great to hear from you and, as one of the earlier contributors to the thread said, the magic of Rootschat!
I'm currently awaiting the results of an Ancestry DNA test, so it will be interesting to see if that confirms me as having a dash of gypsy blood and any further Macklin/McClean/McClan links. I was aware of having gypsy ancestry on this line, though the 18th and early 19th century details were provided to me by another researcher.
I wasn't aware of that nickname for Charles Macklin, though I seem to recall that the information I received referred to him as having been in the local militia in Huntingdonshire or Bedfordshire as a musician. I'll see if I can dig the papers out.
In regard to the photo of 'cousins in Ontario' that started this thread, my late nanna's original photo is sadly missing now, but I did photocopy it many years ago and I recently went onto a facebook page for Hamilton, Ontario and posted that copy up in an attempt to contact any descendants over there: see https://www.facebook.com/groups/2428674406/?multi_permalinks=10161886033299407&notif_id=1716544506764100&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif
So far, there have been lots of likes and some helpful comments, but no descendants have come forward. There's at least one other facebook group for Hamilton I can try, so I'll probably give that another go.
I've another photocopy photo (original missing again) from 1872 showing my great-grandfather aged 4 with his McClean aunts.
I've further information on my Ancestry pages if you have access, otherwise I'm thinking to be in touch again once the DNA results arrive - meant to be in about a month's time.
Regards
Shane

 

[idlecat]

Morning Shane, amazingly you saw my post and responded immediately. It’s good to talk to you. My family descendants travelled around Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire Cambridge Northants and Warwickshire , I was in this part of the world last week where both of my children live now and as I drove near to the places I recognised from the bmd’s census and gaol sentences😀 I felt a deep sense of belonging and nostalgia. I would like to spend more time visiting the old stopping places as Damian le Bas did in his book but time is running out…. I didn’t know about Charles’s connection with the military, and if you could root out the old stuff that you had I’ll try to research that. I have another old relly William Green from Lutterworth who wrote a book about Waterloo which is fascinating .
I hope you get your dna results soon, it opens up a whole new world and that will be the end of life as you know it.
Upload to GEDMATCH for the really interesting stuff. It’s great to get confirmation of what we’re just Grannies tales. I discovered that the rumour that we had Russian aristocracy in the family turned out to be true. Another cousin of Gg Hyde married Count Tolstoy whose father had been Chamberlain to Nicholas II . Their son Dimitri was smuggled out of Russia on the secret boat that King George sent along with some of the Royal family ( now denied).  His Grandaughter Countess Alexandra Tolstoy is a well known broadcaster and infamous by being married to Sergei Pugachev. I bet she doesn’t know she has Gypsy blood.
It’s a shame your pic  went missing, I’ve retrieved a copy from Facebook I hope you won’t mind me using it. Your post seems to have revived a bit more interest . Look  forward to reading more from you.
Patti

[Shane H]

Hi Patti
Yes, sure, that's fine.
I've tried to upload with this message the other photo I mentioned, of my great grandfather William Cook with his Maclean aunts, taken in 1872, when he was 4. However, the upload has failed, as the attachment size is too big, so I'll have to try shrinking it or finding another avenue.
I've also found the paperwork I mentioned, with mentions of militia service. My memory fails me, but I think I must have received this from my nanna's cousin Harold Cook, who had been in touch with Ruth MacDonald (mentioned earlier in this thread) and he got it from her, but it mentions Ruth in the third person at one point, so someone else again put at least some of it together. There's a copy letter to Ruth within it, though, from 1987, which focusses on whether Maclean or it's variants was a known gypsy name, but also has interesting comments on Silence Smith and more. I'll have to copy this all to you.  They're not great photocopies, though, so I'll try taking photos with my phone, but I may have to transcribe at least some of it.
I've an interesting book 'Tolstoy in London' re a trip Leo Tolstoy made there in 1861 - I suppose he's a relative of ours now, too, if a little bit distant and not blood. On another line I do happen to be not so distantly blood-related to the present King of Jordan, as his father King Hussein married a Suffolk lass. Could maybe come in handy if I ever visit Petra....
Shane

[Shane H]

Hi Patti

I've transcribed the pages of Macklin notes I received many years ago - hopefully a small enough document to upload. I'll see if the 1987 letter it mentions will also upload - I'll do that separately.

Shane