|
When Cammy Campbell, host at Scotland’s
Northsound Radio, gave me a slip of paper with an address on it, I was
skeptical about the wisdom of doing what he was strongly recommending:
To go to the Aberdeen Town Registry to have William Mackenzie Peter’s
name entered in a search for any record of him. But Cammy’s composure as
he authoritatively eased his “go-forth” onto me was serious. As he
shooed me into the cab he had called to take me there, his last words
rang like a benediction: “Ya nev-RR know what’ll turRn up!”
My few trips to archives had given me
several unfavorable impressions. You sign in, get a registration card,
put white cotton gloves on to handle any original papers, keep
absolutely quiet, show your registration card to a dour-looking desk
boss, and sign out. The thought of having to do any of this turned me
right off. But here I was in my searched-for grandfather’s country, and
why was I here, if it’s not to search for him?
The Aberdeen Town Registry reminded me of
a bank. It had rows of sectional booths, which resembled teller’s
wickets. I was pleasantly surprised by not having to do any signing-in
registration-paper routine. People simply lined up like customers at a
bank for an available teller, and the lines weren’t long. Before I had
time to think idle thoughts, I was soon in front of a server, a
middle-aged woman who exuded confidence.
I gave her the name of my subject, and the
year of birth of my mother. This was like handing crumbs of food to
somebody who really needed a sumptuous feast. But the dear archivist
thankfully took these crumbs without making me feel guilty for offering
so pathetically little. She asked me to wait as she bolted energetically
to a back room, looking like she had some great important mission to
perform.
The archivist reappeared after 15 minutes,
holding a sheaf of papers, which she placed sideways, so we each had to
turn out heads sideways to look at them. The first was an entry from a
census recorded in 1901, for the Parish Ward of Broughty Ferry, the
Ecclesiastical Parish of Monifieth, in the Village or Hamlet of
Barnhill.
The entry listed William M. Peter, age 36,
linen and jute goods agent, born in Forfarshire, Lochee. Here was the
first needle, found in the Scottish haystack! I felt a tingling
sensation caused by discovering nuggets of gold! The geographical names
listed in the records didn’t yet mean a thing to me. But I had
discovered a name, which I had lost, seemingly beyond any hope, in the
daily journal entries of the HBC archives. Even if there were thousands
of people in Scotland with this same name, it was going to be a joy to
start narrowing down the list! |
