Any relatives?

Contributed

8 August 2014 07:24

I am from Glasgow and my gran was from Shetland. I’m looking for some more information about where she was from and if any of her relatives are in Shetland now.

As her mother died (I think of TB) when she was a child, she and her two brothers and two sisters (that I knew about, but on http://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/ there seems to be another four sisters, three to another father and one living brother or sister) were all separated and put into care.

I don’t know the circumstances of her father’s death but it was three years after her mother. I have my gran always known as Barbara Irvine, but her name on Bayanne seems to be Jarvis after her mother, so she is Barbara Irvine Jarvis.

She was born on 2/10/23 in Weathersta Ness, Brae, Delting, and died on 25/08/09 in Glasgow. She met two of her brothers and two of her sisters in her 50s, and I think one of her sisters that I knew of is still alive.

I was also very interested to read about my gran’s oldest ancestor Abram Brown, born about 1625.

The note on Bayanne says: “Abram Brown was born and bred in Scotland. In the year 1650 he was commissioned, with another Scotsman named Gifford, by the Scottish Government to escort the Royal Prince of Scotland to the Shetland Isles, to see him established on land at Sumburgh Head, Parish of Dunrossness, being a grant by the Scottish Government for services rendered, Abram Brown received a grant of land in the Parish of Bixter, at Clusta Voe, Shetland, and the Isle of Vementry, which was a bold, rugged piece of rock facing the North Sea.

“It was almost inaccessible on three sides, but was the home of wild fowl and seals, and therefore a valued possession. It is on record that Abram was the first Scottish migrant of the name of Brown to arrive in Shetland. He married into a Scottish family in Shetland, and made Clusta the home of himself and his descendants, with the proviso that the eldest son of the eldest son was to occupy the house and land of Clusta Voe.

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“Abram Brown become noted amongst his Viking friends and neighbours for his fearless and capable seamanship, and his prowess was sung in their sagas.”

Any more information would be greatly appreciated.

I would like to visit Shetland sometime and see where my gran came from; any suggestions for doing that on a tight budget are welcome too!

Suzanne Low
Glasgow
suzanne_low@yahoo.co.uk