My great great grandfather John Gaull had eleven children. He was one of seven children born to Mary Jane Gaull. With that level of proliferation, I shouldn't be surprised that I would have many Gaull family cousins and relations. I've had the great fortune to not only make a connection with a number of my Gaull cousins but also to spend some time with a couple of them. Still, I am thrilled that I have made another connection within the family.
I was recently contacted by Robert Stables, a second cousin twice removed. Robert is the great grandson of Mary Jane. I was also subsequently contacted by Sandra Stables, Robert's sister-in-law, wife of Robert's brother Alan. In addition to the excitement of the new connections, Sandra, who has been doing some family history research, provided me with photos!
Never before had I seen the grave and headstone of Mary Jane, who died in 1925 and is buried in the Cluny Cemetery, Cluny, Aberdeenshire, Scotland along with her son James who died in 1919.
The generational difference between Robert, Alan and I is easily explained. While we share Mary Jane Gaull as our common ancestor, I am descended from Mary Jane's eldest son John Gaull (born 1860) and Robert and Alan are descended from Mary Jane's youngest son John Glennie (born 1873). The age difference is expanded again as I am descended from John Gaull's eldest daughter, Jessie McKenzie Gaull, while Robert and Alan descend from John Glennie's second youngest daughter, Elsie Ann Glennie who was born just a couple of years earlier than my father.
In addition to the headstone photos that Sandra sent to me, I received the wonderful photo of Tillyfro (below), the farm in Cluny that was the home of Mary Jane Gaull and her husband Alexander Glennie. There really something about seeing an ancestral home and being able to imagine your ancestors walking the property and working the fields. I have read the name 'Tillyfro' on many family records over the past 30 years but seeing it is such a bonus!
(Photos provided by Sandra Stables, copyright 2011. Used with permission)
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