My Family History Journey

  Be it your own name or that of your parents or grandparents, every story starts with a single name.   A well-known commercial family history website advertises that all you need to do is enter a name in the search box and all this information will come tumbling out. If only it was that simple! It doesn’t take long to discover that families had naming traditions. The most obvious one is that the first born son would be named after the father and the first born daughter would be named after the mother. You soon find long lines of male ancestors sharing the same name. In my own family William Armstrong is a name that goes back into the 18 th century. My wife’s family has a line of Thomas Anderson going back to the 1820s and a line of Robert Ramseys going back to 1789. You find the same names repeat themselves in families so the siblings of each generation often share names so you will have long lists of James, David, Sarah or Susan. A lot has been written about Scottish naming

  Johnnie Armstrong and the day we nearly bought a tower!   We won’t be the first family of Armstrongs to try and find a genealogical link to the notorious Border Reiver, Johnnie Armstrong, and I’m pretty sure we won’t be the last but back in 1990 we nearly bought one of his towers!   Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie was a famous Scottish Border Reiver, or raider, in the early 16 th century who was eventually captured and hanged by King James V at Caerlanrig along with 36 of his men. There are a number of legends associated with Johnnie including one that he inspired the term ‘blackmail’ due to his black chainmail which he wore. Johnnie would capture livestock and people from the English and then ransom them back.   Memorial at Caerlanrig Chapel There is a romanticised version of Johnnie Armstrong promoted by the writings of the like of Sir Walter Scott and Herbert Maxwell and he is immortalised in the ‘Ballad of Johnnie Armstrong.’ In reality Johnnie was a ruthless plundere