Visiting the Past...

Recently I read somewhere that the past can not be reclaimed... but you can visit it...

I seem to spend quite a bit of time doing that (every day!),  that is my excuse for not blogging recently .

 On one of my a daily visit to the past to my surprise I came across...

Ellen C Begg

1875-1902

Ellen was not a stranger to me but to find her photograph on ancestry.com was a nice surprise.

I had written about her family on a Post back in September of 2010 when I found her parents burial place in Nebraska.

Ellen is the eldest daughter of my great grand uncle  Reverend William Proudfoot Craig Begg and his wife Fannie Miles Smith, which makes Ellen my 2nd cousin 2xremoved.

I spotted Ellen's name on a private family tree on ancestry.com and as it was not available for me to look at I wrote to the member who had published the tree and asked permission to view it.

Susan gave me permission and I received this photograph with her explanation as to why she had it on her tree.  She was not related at all to Ellen but had been adopted as a child in to a family where one of her great aunts was a good friend of Ellen's and had this picture of them together...

Ellen was born in New Brunswick, Canada, by 1881 at age 6 she traveled to Scotland with her family and was living in Dalry, Ayrshire where her Father was the Minister of  Kerstan Baron Church.

I would imagine my 2nd great grandparents William Begg and Helen Craig were delighted to have their son and his new family living close to them.

It wasn't to be for more than a few years as William and his wife and family returned to Canada before moving to New York and on to Nebraska.

 1891 Census Nova Scotia Canada

Ellen married Ralph James Messenger around 1899 in Nova Scotia and had two children.

Donald B Messenger 1900-

and a daughter

 Frances Jean Messenger 1901-1979

So very sad that Ellen passed away in 1902 at age 27 leaving behind her new husband and two babies.

My thanks to my new friend Susan for preserving, publishing and sharing this information with me.