Orkney Image Library

Hi,

One of my grandfathers was a Spence... maybe a relation? His name was Andrew Spence (Born 1831) and he was married to Anne Matches. My great grandmother was Frances Mary Bedford Corrigall (Born Spence) who died in Orkney in 1962 aged 102. My grandmother was Maggie Corrigall from Northbigging. She had at least 2 sisters who's names were Annie and Doreen.

Thanks,

I would love to know how Robert Matches met my grandmother, Margaret Shearer Stewart, born in Keith in 1892 and living in Aberdeen in 1920 (she died there after giving birth to my mother). He was living in Portland, Oregon at the time and just visiting Scotland - we know what he did during his visit! - and I wonder if he knew Margaret's family in Portland before meeting her. They were Elizabeth Simpson Stewart (who adopted my mother) and George McHardy Stewart, Margaret's sister and brother.

Hi Derek, I'm so sorry I never replied to your comment, I have just seen it. There was an Anne Matches in the 1941 census in Deerness, a place called Millhill. Apparently those Matches, although they were also in Deerness, are not related to "my" Matches, who lived at Horries and Pictil. Or perhaps it just goes so far back that no-one knows.

oops, that should be the 1841 census, of course! (I WISH we could already see the 1941 one...)

My grandmother Christina Laird, born Stromness 1889, had a younger brother called John Robert (known as Bertie) born Stromness 1892. Their father was Andrew Laird (1852 - 1898) who was factor at the Bu of Burray until about 1884. I know from my research that Bertie married Maggie Lizzie Flett and they had a little girl called Iris Marion Laird. I also know that Bertie sailed over to USA on his own and settled in Detroit. He applied to American citizenship in 1913 and stated that he was married to Margaret who 'still lives in Scotland'. Did he divorce Maggie? I do know that he later married Edna Yeckley and they had two girls. Later Edna shows up in California as 'head of household' and divorced. I believe my great uncle Bertie was a bit of a scoundrel. I was happy to see that Maggie married Robert Matches late in life. I do hope they were happy together.

Hello Tina, I'm so sorry, I've only just seen your comment about Bertie. Yes, he must have divorced Maggie. I knew Maggie's grandson, Robert Swanney,(Iris's son); he had worked with Maggie and Robert Matches at the Ayre Hotel and he said that Maggie was, for my grandfather, the "love of his life". Robert waited a long time to marry her, as she did for him, while he was in America. (Perhaps that is why he didn't marry my grandmother, poor lady! Talking of scoundrels...) I think they must have been happy. I heard some stories about them and the hotel from Robert Swanney. I was in Orkney for the first time in 1992 and I missed meeting Maggie by ONE YEAR! She had died in 1991, age 99.