John Muir by William Dargavel [Carte de visite]

Photo details:

Title John Muir by William Dargavel Date 1876 ±2 Collection Georgina Auld nee Muir photo album Digital ID apc-000007 Photo Type Carte de visite Mount Size 64 x 106 mm Mount Thickness 0.55 mm Mount Colour Cream Mount Edges Straight Mount Corners Round Image Size 58 x 97 mm Technology Albumen Features Front Imprint Small purple lettering Back Imprint Medium sized, ornate text and artwork

Front face Rear face

Front face:

John Muir by William Dargavel (front face)
[Auld Photograph Collection apc-000007-s1]

Larger version on Flickr

Imprint on the front face is small text and reads "WM DARGAVEL  AYR".

Written on the page in the album where this photograph was placed is the following identification text:

Grandfather Muir (mothers father)
(Georgina's father & J.H.G. Auld's maternal grandfather)

Georgina Muir's parents are John Muir and Elizabeth Millar. John Muir was born 28 July 1800 in Kilmaurs, AYR, SCT - he was christened 3 August 1800. John married Elizabeth when he was eighteen years old on 20 March 1819. Over the twenty four year period of 1820 through to 1844, the couple had twelve children in total - they were:

• Dalrymple Muir
• Jean Muir
• Elizabeth Muir
• Mary Muir
• Hugh Muir
• Agnes Muir
• Wilhelmina Muir
• John Muir
• James Muir
• Christina Muir
• Janet Muir
• Georgina Muir

Based on the dating evidence from the rear imprint (see below), John Muir (Georgina's father) would be approximately seventy six years old in the photograph.

Rear face:

John Muir by William Dargavel (rear face)
[Auld Photograph Collection apc-000007-s2]

Larger version on Flickr

Imprint on rear face is medium sized and includes both ornate text and artwork. Inscription of the text reads as:

WM DARGAVEL
PHOTO ARTIST
4 MURRAY PLACE
Newton
AYR
NEGATIVES KEPT COPIES OR ENLARGEMENTS
CAN BE HAD AT ANY TIME
COLORED WORK IN ALL ITS BRANCHES

See William Dargavel, Newton, Ayr [Photographer] for more information on William Dargavel and his photographic studio in Newton, Ayr. As discussed in that post, the documentary evidence based solely on the information provided on the back imprint dates the photo to 1876 ±2 years.

Trove Tuesday : The family of James Muir

This week I have been continuing the quest to identify photographs contained in the Georgina Auld nee Muir album. Several carte de visite photographs in the album were taken by photographers located in Brisbane and it is the Muir's from Queensland that today's post is concentrated around.

Marriage of James Muir and Kathrin Gray Coutts

Searching the archived newspapers on Trove for a Muir family related to Georgina Muir, resulted in a marriage notice printed in The Brisbane Courier in 1884. The clue was a reference to Georgina's father, [the late] John Muir, who was a Colliery Manager who lived in Gatehead, Ayrshire, Scotland. Gatehead being located within the Parish of Kilmaurs and is approximately 3.5 miles (or 5.6 kilometers) from Kilmarnock.

This particular marriage was between James Muir (youngest son of John Muir) and Kathrin Gray Coutts (daughter of Donald Coutts) and occurred on 15 September 1884. The marriage notice reads as follows:

Source: Family Notices. (1884, September 16). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 1. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3434153

Confirming James Muir as a brother to Georgina

From previous research undertaken, I knew that Georgina Muir did have a brother named James and that their father was John Muir. Research also confirmed that James Muir was the youngest son of John Muir and Elizabeth Miller. A quick search of the online Queensland BDM registers for a death for James Muir (index number 1916/B23755) also confirmed both parents names in full.

Two Muir / Coutts marriages

An additional search for a marriage index number between MUIR and COUTTS came back with two results for our James Muir. The marriage previously identified with Kathrin Gray Coutts in 1884 was listed (index number 1884/B009137) as was another marriage in 1874 to Elizabeth Coutts (index number 1874/B004577).

Marriage of James Muir and Elizabeth Coutts

An additional search in Trove confirmed the details located in the registers. This first marriage occurred on 15 December 1874 between James Muir (youngest son of John Muir) and Kathrin Gray Coutts older sister, Elizabeth Coutts (eldest daughter of Donald Coutts). Again reference is made to James' father John Muir from Ayrshire Scotland. The notice appeared as follows:

Source: Family Notices. (1874, December 16). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 2. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1392469

The family of James Muir

Looking for Muir births with a Coutts mother in the Queensland birth indexes, we find eleven children. Four children with Elizabeth (first wife of James), and seven children with Kathrin Gray (second wife of James). The children and their birth year/reference numbers are:

Children of James Muir and Elizabeth Coutts

• 1876/B20863 - John Donald Coutts
• 1877/B22664 - James
• 1879/B24813 - Hugh Dalrymple Coutts
• 1881/B28157 - William Thomas Miller

Children of James Muir and Kathrin Gray Coutts

• 1885/B34298 - Donald Coutts
• 1886/C8033 - Elizebeth Wilhelmina
• 1888/C9124 - Oswald
• 1888/C9125 - Walter Gray
• 1889/C9760 - Kathrine Georgina
• 1891/C4419 - Christina Janet
• 1895/B55875 - Agnes

Interestingly, based on the consecutive numbers, it appears that in 1888 James and Kathrin had twin boys, Oswald and Walter. This detail is confirmed with a birth notice that appeared in The Queenslander:

Source: Family Notices. (1888, February 25). The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), p. 281. Retrieved May 28, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19930654

Trove Tuesday: Obituary for Georgina Auld

Following on from my previous (5 April) Trove Tuesday post on the Obituary for Rev. John Auld, today  I want to concentrate on John Auld's wife Georgina. The reasoning being that I am in possession of an old photograph album that was donated to me back in October last year. I have given several talks over the last couple of years on Digitial Preservation & Scanning and Identifying and Preserving your Family Photographs and am currently working on digitising this unique Auld family album to share with fellow researchers. More information will be forthcoming, as well as a series of posts relating to digitial preservation in general, so stay tuned...but back to today's Trove find...

Born 1844 in Kilmaurs (AYR, SCT) to parents John Muir and Elizabeth Millar, Georgina Muir married Reverend John Auld (son of John Auld and Janet Thomson) on 18 August 1873 in Kilmanock (AYR, SCT). John and Georgina immigrated to Sydney (NSW, AUS) shortly after their marriage. Georgina survived her husband of twenty nine years by a further ten years, passing away at the residence of her son, the Reverend John Hay Goodlet Auld in Nowra (NSW, AUS).

A search on Trove reveals the following obituary:

Source: OBITUARY. (1923, February 20). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 10. Retrieved March 24, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16045572

...a transcript of the obituary reads:

OBITUARY.
MRS. GEORGINA AULD.

The funeral of Mrs. Georgina Auld, widow of the late Rev. J. Auld, moved from St. Stephens Church, Phillip-strcet, yesterday, to Rookwood Cemetery, after a service had been conducted by Revs. Alexander Clarke, J. C. McDonald, and John Macaulay.
There were amongst those present the Rev. J. H. S. Auld, B.A., Messrs. David T., Robert, and J. Muir Auld (sons of the deceased), Mrs. F. H. Greaves, of Wollstonecraft (daughter), the Rev. John Ferguson, the Rev. A. Thain Anderson, the Rev. John Edwards, the Rev. A. Doig, the Rev. W. A. S. Anderson, Mesdames J. H. G. Auld, D. T. Auld, and Robert Auld (daughters-in-law), Messrs. Robert Auld and Alvah Auld (nephews), Mrs. Robert Auld (sis- ter-in-law), and Dr. R. S. McKinnon.

Interestingly Georgina's obituary gives a full account of both surviving and past members of the family unit. Further searching reveals that Georgina died at her sons residence at The Manse in Nowra...more evidence for the database.

Source: Family Notices. (1923, February 19). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 8. Retrieved March 26, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16035855

Trove Tuesday - Obituary for Rev. John Auld

Are you researching your own family history and ever wondered how newspapers could assist you in your research. Newspaper obituaries for one are a fantastic resource which can help flesh out your ancestors history, getting you out of the standard birth, marriage and death details that we all collect.

With the wealth of resources that is now available on Trove and new material constantly being added, this Trove Tuesday I will be looking at an obituary that can be found in the Digitised Australian Newspapers section of Trove.

Born 12 April 1842 in Stevenston (AYR, SCT) to parents John Auld and Janet Thomson, John Auld was the second born of ten children. The 1861 Scottish Census lists John as working as an enginer locomotive, but this early predilection was not to be his future calling. By 1873 Reverend John Auld had graduated with an MA from the University of Edinburgh, married Georgina Muir (daughter of John Muir and Elizabeth Millar) on 18 August 1873 at Langlands Brae, Kilmarnock (AYR, SCT), before immigrating to Sydney (NSW, AUS) in December, onboard the Christina & Thompson as passengers in saloon.

After spending a career dedicated to the Presbyterian church, Rev. John Auld passed away 14 August 1912 in Mosman (NSW, AUS). His obituary appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald the following day and reads as follows:

DEATH OF REV. JOHN AULD. 

The death took place at Mosman yesterday of the Rev. John Auld, M.A., who was widely known in the State owing to his prominent connection with the Presbyterian Church. He was a native of Ayrshire, Scotland, and had reached his 70th birthday. In 1873 he took his M.A. degree at the Edinburgh University, and also received his license as a preacher for the Free Presbytery of Edinburgh. In the same year he married Miss Georgina Muir, of Kilmarnock, and set sail for New South Wales. Mr. Auld was the first of three ministers who were sent for by the Church Extension Committee of the Presbyterian Church in this State on the foundation of a provision made by the late Joseph Paxton. Shortly after his arrival, through his success as a preacher, he received competing calls from Wollongong and Dobroyde. He chose the latter, and settled in the charge in 1874. The district having been divided in two he chose the Ashfield portion, and removed to the Liverpool-road church, where he remained for 32 years-till 1906. Two years later he settled at Auburn, but after three years' service he became ill, and he retired to a home at Mosman, there to end his days. For many years he was clerk of the Sydney Presbytery, and in 1888 he was appointed Moderator, the highest office in his Church. The family consists of Rev. J. H. S. Auld, M.A., of Muswellbrook; Mr. David T. Auld, of Scott, Henderson, and Co.; Mr. Robert Auld, of J. J. Weeks, Ltd.; Mr. J. Muir Auld, the well-known artist and Mrs. F. H,Greaves, wife of Mr. F. H. Greaves, a Sydney solicitor. Mrs. Auld also survives. 

Source: DEATH OF REV. JOHN AULD. (1912, August 15). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved March 3, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15347990

Apart from the fabulous information relating to the church service of Rev. John Auld, what this particular obituary does do is give some invaluable insights into his family. Not only does it list all surviving members of his immediate family, it gives us clues for his daughters marriage as well as occupations of all sons and son-in-law. So, instead of thinking of a newspaper obituary as the last word on your ancestor, think of it as a potential starting point for additional research.

Time permitting I hope to give you regular entries for Trove Tuesday - enjoy.