Dear Chalfont and MonicaL, We brought the Aberdeen visit forward by several weeks to see if we could gain a better insight into the whole matter of Mary H Stevenson. We went by car and it took us about 1.5 hours to get into 164 King Street, Aberdeen sign in at the reception and round the corner. Our first roadblock was the 1926 newspapers are not in their collection as they stop at 1899. Undaunted the helpers around there made an "immense effort" to show us their IT capabilites with screens of map after map of what was Banffshire until I was driven to dispair and showed them my old paper copy that covered everything in a matter of moments. After that it was a number of data base searches that took us to near lunch time and nothing to help in finding Mary. The "black and white" picture was examined and commented on by a few interested ones that came by to chip in with their local knowledge. A "lovely Headstone for sure" but that does not look like a Cemetery anywhere we know off. Is that two "coos" in the background (the two light specs in the distance to the left of the headstone!) so they were beginning to think beyond the IT stuff by this stage which was a great relief to us. By the way "coos" are cows in local slang! In the end they finally relented and gave us the location of the "old fashioned newspaper archives" away into another part of Aberdeen. We made it there a bit foot sore, climbed the three flights of stairs and found the desk to ask for the 1926 paper we wanted. It did not take long for them to produce the film which we were quick enough to mount on the machine and wind forward to June 1926. We found a short entry for the death of Mary but NO LOCATION of burial which was a big disappointment. However, it does have a thread that links the apparently disjointed bits (to us at this end!) that does direct our attention to a better corner of countryside for that Headstone.
It is more leg work, more than twice as far to travel and more expense with no guarantee of success. If she were my relative I would be inclined to take the risk and the expense as no amount of IT will deliver the "evidence" and the possible joy you seek.
Have a good think about it as I can write off the several tens of pounds that has gone into this as I elected to go and spend the day in Aberdeen on Mary Henderson Stevenson for my personal satisfaction. I can draw a line under it at this stage as I can see the thread of credability running through it all and I am happy with it at this point in time.
I am glad that you are enjoying the technology and the sight of the whins around Boyndie Bay but it is looking less likely that she is in there.
Best wishes, nw_whiskers.
