Readers' Contributions & Articles...

...This is where YOU, the Readers, can see yourselves in - as it were -print.

            We want to hear from you, out there, wherever you may be. So do lots of others, as your items of news, criticisms (of our sites, and things in general), interest, local stories from around the world, recipes, and so on, may be of more interest than the bits we put in: human interest is often more interesting. If you want to advertise your Scottish Society, we can put your text here, as well as showing a link through our Scottish Group Links pages

So, please don't be shy; if you have something to say that fits with our general websites mission statement, send it in. Each new item will, as is the general policy in this Magazine, be put at the top of the series, and the older items left for new readers to enjoy; (we do reserve the right to leave out any text that does not fit with the sites' commitment to quality and wholesomeness).

Here goes...

The first contribution is an ongoing one: a very large number of people are interested in their ethnic origins, but aren't too clear about how to start, or what to do, to check out their genealogy - or if there's any chance of success.

The Scot-talk site has a section where readers can ask for help with finding family connections;  have a read now of this success story from Mimsi, member of  'Scot-talk'   - and, because this story is ongoing, we'll have subsequent parts following on as Mimsi updates her tale... we're now showing part three:-

PART ONE:-  "The branch of my maternal grandmother's family, originated in Scotland. A man with the surname Gaybba. This was all the information I had. For two years, I trawled ancestry sites, for the name Gaybba in Scotland. So I decided to find Gaybba's in South Africa where my mother was born. By chance on a message board, I found the name Gaybba, so I fervently wrote to convey my interests in the name. After a while, I sent old photographs, of my mothers family, in a bid to see if there were any faces she may recognise. Alas there were none, but she suggested I send them to another Gaybba, who she'd contacted once before. So I tried. Again no joy with the photographs, but one did look similar to his aunt Babs. The picture he showed an interest in, also happened to be my aunt Babs! A few weeks later, I found someone who was researching my mothers maiden name, who, turned out to be the daughter of a cousin. I began questioning them all, to discover if they'd heard any stories about the family's history, and slowly a picture began to emerge. My aunts grandaughter, then put me in touch with another of my cousins, and that seemed to set off a chain reaction. I began to share the information each was passing on, untill eventually I put them all in touch. Suddenly, every Gaybba on the phone in South Africa was being contacted, and being asked questions. And now, right at this moment, the first Gaybba I contacted, is travelling along the Western Cape, visiting every Gaybba that has something to tell! We still only know that the original Gaybba came from Scotland, but it has been narrowed down to Glasgow. We know he stowed away on board a ship, and landed in Saldanha Bay, in the year 1850. That he married just 3 years later and we've been able to link our family relationship to each other. And strangely, we are all offspring of my grandmother and her sibling brothers. Hopefully before too long, we'll discover where that original Gaybba was born, if that was his name!...........Could it of been, Gibb - Gebbie - Cabe - McCabe - Gubb?

Mimsi
PS. There is talk of trying to get all the Gaybba's and their offspring together next year sometime!"          (22nd October 2009)

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PART TWO:-   The branches of my tree are extending and mingling.  Since my last blog, two more members of the 'Gaybba Clan' have emerged to join the search for our elusive patriarch James Andrew Gaybba!  Both,  have brought forth new siblings of our grand and great grandparents, but neither can add any little 'tit-bit' to the  origins of the name 'Gaybba'  However, the sixth and newest member of our group has confirmed, that one of grandmother's cousins married one of her husbands cousins, mingling and extending the Gaybba - Amon branch bringing us all just a little closer.   So, in a bid to try and crack the name code, I recently searched the South African White Pages for an alternative name 'Gebbie'  in South Africa, and also ran a search on Facebook for the name.   My reasoning was, if our GGG Grandfather did arrive in the country with 2 brothers, perhaps, they went their seperate ways!  They were probably illiterate, so another version of the name may be out there somewhere! 

 I e-mailed the gentleman I found on Facebook, who turned out to be a descendent of a man who had emigrated in 1880-90 for the gold and diamond rush in the country, and who it turned out was from Kilmarnock, Scotland!  Although not a relative, (that we can determine as yet!) what a coincidence.  I may not have found another family line (yet) but it has given me hope that I may be on the right track......mimsi    (27th November 2009)

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PART THREE:-  So much has happened in the last few months, I didn't realise just how quickly time flies when your having fun! Since my last blog, our little research team has been very busy connecting with other Gaybba's around South Africa, collating information, listening to stories handed down over the generations, and building the branches of our patriarch James Gaybba's tree. James had 8 children, 4 boys, 4 girls. At present we have descendents from 3 of his son's.
As the stories began to pour in, all stories had the same in common......He was born in Scotland, came from Glasgow, he jumped ship, had brothers, and now we had names that matched......Although, there was still no breakthrough with the surname. So I decided I had to take a chance on looking at all names that sounded remotely like Gaybba in Glasgow's Parish Records.........So I visited the Mitchell Library, in Glasgow.
I found a family in the 1841 census, that had so many matching pieces, I had to take a look. All family members bore the same names, as those of James descendents. Their surname was Gibb, but father was dead, and mother was referred to as 'Widow Gibb'. I checked the Parish births and marriages records and found entries for 6 of the children, and a marriage for an Andrew Gibb and Margaret Muir. I was so excited, the name Andrew clinched it for me. Andrew was a probable middle name that had been circulating for James. Unfortunately, it was on my last day in Glasgow, so I have to continue my search on-line at home.
I'm now in the process of following this family line, and trying very hard to keep my feet on the ground. ...................mimsi   (23rd March 2010)

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