bodhi tree swaying

Today would have been the 98th birthday of my mother’s mother, Marjory Tragham, née Marjory Robertson Duncan. This picture is of her with my Grandad, Thomas Tragham (born Tragheim).

Today, in 1998 my grandmother, Marjory Tragham, née Duncan, passed away at the age of 87. She was born 1911, in Scoonie, Fife, Scotland. Died Sep 26, 1998, Dundee, Scotland. She was married twice, first to Alex Ritchie, who left her a widow with a young child, my Aunt Margaret. She then remarried my grandad, Thomas Tragham (né Tragheim). They were married for over 60 years, until she predeceased him.

My grandmother (always known as “Nana”) was an extraordinarily lovely woman. I never knew her to be anything but kind. She was canny with money as well. When she died, it transpired she salted away something in the order of $60,000 in a shoebox in a cupboard!

This photograph of my Nana and Grandad was taken in the 1930′s, I believe.

Today my grandfather would have been 99 years old.

This picture is marked as having been taken in 1928, when he was 18. He’s on the right, and we don’t know who the other young man is according to my parents the other young man is probably his friend, George Warden, who was also a painter and who had ran a shop on the Hilltown with his brother, Bert. His wife, Mae, is still alive. I also don’t know what the fancy occasion was or where the photograph was taken, although it was most likely in or around Dundee.

This is my grandfather, grandmother (my nana), and my uncle Alan. Alan was born in 1953, and he looks like he’s about four or five years old here, so I’m guessing this was taken about 1957 or 1958. (Claire, …

My great great great grandmother, Catherine Winton. Born 1837, died 1914. Married to John (Samuel) Tragheim. Had five children. Later remarried George Wright.

OK, not entirely wordless this week. These are my great-grandparents, Edward Tragheim (1881 – 1971) and Jane Ann Waddell (1879 – 1973). They are my mother’s father’s parents.

I’ve been doing some intensive genealogical research recently and Edward was the son of Edward Tragheim (1861-1939), who was the son of Samuel Tragheim (1834 – ????), who was the son of Mendel Tragheim, from Hasenpoth (Aizpute), in Courland, Latvia, which was at that time part of Russia. Mendel and Samuel were certainly Jewish, but Samuel married in church and no one in my family had any notion of a Jewish connection until last week. They’re taking it well

I’d really like to figure out where and when Samuel died. He appears to have left his family in Scotland to move to London, where he made at least two patent applications. He then moved to …

This is my grandfather, Thomas Waddell Tragheim (he started going by Tragham during the second world war). He died three years ago today. The girl is my mother, Eleanor, and since she was born in 1938 I’m guessing this was taken in 1940 (I’m assuming she’s about two years old here). My grandad was born in 1910 and worked as a house painter. He loved animals and used to breed and show cage birds. According to a note I have the picture was taken on the Law in Dundee, Scotland. The Law is a hill right in the middle of the city.

Today my grandmother, Marjory Tragham, née Duncan, would have been 97 years old. Born 1911, Scoonie, Fife, Scotland. Died Sep 26, 1998, Dundee, Scotland.

I’m guessing she would have been about 6 years old in this picture, which would date it to around 1917.

Another shot of Maia’s great great great grandfather, Leslie Lickley. Born 1840. Died 1910.

This is my great great grandmother, Mary Lickley (née Robertson). She was married to Leslie Lickley.

I believe she was born 1841 and died 1907. Married 1859.

My Great Great Grandfather Peter Wallace (my father’s mother’s father’s father). Born 1827. This is a very primitive photograph, and much faded. This scan brings out pretty much all the retrievable information.

In December I used some money I got from my family as a gift to participate in the National Geographic “Genographic” project. I sent off a swab of my cheek cells to have my Y chromosome tested. I just got the results back the other day. No big surprises — I’m a mamber of Haplogroup R1b, which is the most common haplogroup in Scotland (where I’m from).

But what is more interesting is that my family’s journey begins, as does that of all human beings alive on the planet today, in or around Ethiopia, where last spring my wife and I adopted Maia. So over the last 60,000 years or so my family has migrated in a large loop from Ethiopia, up to Scotland, and in my case over to the US. And then we’ve headed back to Ethiopia to adopt. I guess that means …