Free Access Weekend to Ancestry UK

It seems doubtful that Ancestry have announced their free weekend just for the Berwick 900 Family History Festival but let's make good use of it.

Free access is until midnight British Summer Time.

I'm puzzled that the Ancestry page says "UK Records Free Access" but lists only immigration and emigration records.

The records include

• 19th-Century Emigration from Kreis Simmern (Hunsrueck), Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany to Brazil, England, Russian Poland, and USA
• A List of Emigrants from England to America, 1682-1692 and 1718-1759
• American Migrations 1765-1799
• An Alphabetical Index to Ulster Emigration to Philadelphia, 1803-1850

Please note you'll need to login (and register if you haven't logged in before.

A Photo of Ann Davy, wife of William Turnbull

From Alan Turnbull, USA

I'm fairly certain that this photo is of Ann Davy, born Wooler, Northumberland,
wife of William Turnbull, my great grandfather. 
It would date from about 1870.

No picture of William survives.
He was struck and killed by a Northwestern Railway passenger train in Highwood, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, USA, in 1859.

A Turnbull Emigrant Family in USA

From Alan Turnbull, USA:

My great grandfather, William Turnbull, (born around 1813) emigrated in 1834, sailing from Berwick to Canada, accompanied by his wife, Ann Davy, of Wooler, and his slightly older brother, Thomas.

William is said to have been born in Yetholm, Roxburghshire, and in US census records he reports his birthplace as “Scotland”, while Thomas claimed Chillingham, England.

Both boys attended school together, perhaps in Chillingham, or somewhere nearby.  Some of their school exercise books have survived, and doodles on the inside cover show several place names, Chillingham being the most prominent.  I am trying to establish who the brothers’ parents were.  The trio did not stay in Canada, but moved on, ending up in Illinois. William died in 1859.

I’m aware of one ship that sailed from Berwick to Quebec in 1834 -The Good Czar, but I have not found a passenger list.

About the Davy family of Wooler, I know quite a lot, but the Turnbulls have been elusive.


Are you related to this family ?

Do you know which ship, William sailed on ?

If you do, please tell us in the comments below.

More about John Clay and Sarah Clay

Yesterday's article about Clay and Glynne Emigrants to the USA from Susan Johnson drew a flurry of responses.

Val Glass emailed me about John Clay, a Scottish farmer, an online biography of John Clay that mentions daughter, Sarah Clay, later Glynne.

That biography says "John Clay was bom at Dykegatehead, a farm in the parish of Whitsome, in the county of Berwick, on November 5, 1824" and that his portrait used to hang in his daughter, Sarah's house in Castle Terrace, Berwick-on-Tweed.

Val also said "I went to a talk about 10 years ago on the Clay family by, I think, Trevor Swan of Coldstream. All about their lives in USA. It is probably the same family who emigrated." and Tom Esk commented "I seem to remember that Trevor Swan gave a talk about a Clay family, possibly around March 2005 and it might have been in the Borders Family History Society magazine."

They're both right, and a search of the Borders Family History Society Article Index for 'Clay' shows a long article in issue 58 (which I think is June 2005) titlled 'The Purves, Clays, and the Crimean War' by Will Murray and Trevor Swan; the article is the text of the authors' talk to the Society titled 'James Charles Purves: a Coldstream Lad at the Charge' on 20th March 2005 about one of the participants in the charge of the Light Brigade, the battle, and some of James' family.

Trevor rang me this morning and confirmed that it is the same family that he has been researching, so I've sent an email from him to Susan and I hope that she'll be in touch.

If you know know more about this family or related families, please add a comment.

Does anyone have any pictures ?

Clay and Glynne Emigrants to the USA

From Susan Johnson, USA:

My great-great grandparents emigrated from Berwick in the 19th century. My great-great grandmother was Sarah Clay, daughter of the farmer, John Clay. John managed several farms within his lifetime. Their family farmed in the area for generations. Their last farm, is still in existence, as a horse farm.

Sarah marred John Glynne and emigrated to New York City. John Glynne was a farm hand we think. We don't know where exactly he came from. My cousin found that Glynne was younger than Sarah, and they may have eloped. This could be around 1875 or so. I have dates somewhere.

Their oldest son was Darling John Glynne, my great grandfather.
He might have been born in Berwick, or New York City.
There may be some painted portraits of Sarah and the Clays somewhere in Berwick.The younger John Clay wrote a book about his father in Berwick, "John Clay: A Scottish Farmer", which he published in 1906.

I have several interesting stories about the Clays. John Clay's son, John, also emigrated to USA, and wrote several books about his father as well as his own new life in Wyoming. John Clay the younger was a cattle rancher and a significant figure in the development of the western frontier in Wyoming.

The younger son of Sarah and John Glynne, Michael Glynne, grew up to be a vaudeville impresario in New York. One of his theatres in Long Island, has been restored.

2 years ago, I met a long-lost cousin of my grandmother. He is younger than me ! It turns out the youngest child of Sarah and John Glynne was a girl who married an Italian in New York. She was disowned (although it seems Sarah kept in contact). She had ten children, the youngest of which became the father at a late age, hence my long-lost cousin !  In any case, meeting him is particularly important because my grandmother died in 1969, and had lost both her parents and her sister to the flu within a week in 1929.

My mother, Margaret Glynne Korth Johnson, and her sister, Joan, both had red hair. My grandmother had dark violet eyes, and so it was a family joke as to where the red hair came from. Of course, it was Berwick-upon -Tweed. We don't know Sarah's colouring, but chances are there are plenty of red genes. My brother and sister both have auburn hair, while I am dark gold.

John and Robert Brown, First Settlers of Berwick, Pennsylvania, USA

 In my blog, How Berwick, Pennsyslvania, USA, Got its Name, I asked if we can discover the first name and maiden surname of the wife, of John Brown or Robert Brown, as she was said to have come from Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Find A Grave has memorials to John, son of Robert and Mary McIntosh-Barrett;  John Brown, born 1760 died 1839, (which lists his wife as Amelia or Susan F.) and Robert Brown, died 1821, which lists his wife as Mary McIntosh-Barrett, died 1838.

On Family Search, I looked for John Brown and Robert Brown with various combinations of their birth, death, and residence but there are too many of them and I found no Mary McIntosh-Barrett, though lots of Mary McIntoshes and Mary Barretts, who died in 1838. There are no McIntosh-Barretts listed in FindMyPast.

Are this John and Robert Brown the first settlers of Berwick, Pennsylvania, USA ?

Mary McIntosh-Barrett was married to Charles Barrett who died in 1773, so her maiden name is presumably McIntosh, but I've not found a marriage to Robert Brown (except in 1873).

How Berwick, Pennsyslvania, USA, Got its Name

Thanks to Berwick St David's Masonic Lodge who sent me a link to Berwick, Pennsyslvania's history page.

In 1786, Evan Owen, an Englishman, decided to settle on the land which is now called Berwick. 

He persuaded fellow countrymen, John and Robert Brown to settle.   They called the settlement “Owensburg” but Owen renamed the land “Berwick” because the wife of one of the Brown brothers came from Berwick-upon-Tweed.

I wonder if we can discover this wife's first name and maiden surname and find her family in Berwick-upon-Tweed?

Which Berwick ?

Berwick-upon-Tweed town centre from the Elizabethan Ramparts

I was talking to Linda Bankier of Berwick Record Office about other places named Berwick and she told me some interesting stories about the confusion with the other Berwick in England, the place in East Sussex as well as some of the people who think that Berwick is still in Berwickshire (in Scotland).

We see Berwick-upon-Tweed called Berwick-on-Tweed, and most often Berwick but there are other places named Berwick in the world.

There's:
Berwick, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Berwick, Louisiana, USA
Berwick, Maine, USA
Berwick, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Berwick, New Brunswick, Canada
Berwick, Nova Scotia, Canada
Berwick, Ontario, Canada
Berwick, Otago, New Zealand
Berwick, Pennsylvania, USA
Berwick, South Africa
Berwick, Sussex, England
North Berwick, Scotland




Find A Grave says that Berwick, Louisiana, USA was named after Thomas Berwick (1740-1792), a surveyor from Pennsylvania and Wikipedia states that he was the first white settler to trek through the wilderness in that part of America.

According to the town history of Berwick, Nova Scotia, Canada, it's named after Berwick-upon-Tweed, the bear on the Canadian town's arms being taken from Berwick-upon-Tweed's arms.

Berwick, Pennsylvania is a twin town of Berwick-upon-Tweed and is named after Berwick-upon-Tweed.

According to Wikipedia, the Berwick suburb of Melbourne is named after Berwick-upon-Tweed, as was Berwick, Maine (perhaps due to the transported Scots prisoners of war from the Battle of Dunbar in 1650 ?)



The origins of Berwick, Sussex, England and North Berwick, Scotland suggest that like Berwick-upon-Tweed, the name Berwick is derived from the old English words 'bere' meaning barley and 'wic' meaning farmstead or settlement.

I'm disappointed that I haven't managed to find out about why these places were named Berwick:
Berwick, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Berwick, New Brunswick, Canada
Berwick, Ontario, Canada
Berwick, Otago, New Zealand
Berwick, South Africa
but I hope you'll leave me a comment below or send me a tweet @Berwick900.

I've probably left out several other places named Berwick and if that's the case, please don't hesitate to let me know.