Family Tree

[Jean19952]

Hi, this may be a lost cause, but I will give it a try. I am trying to find my family history. What I do have is that my Grandparents immigrated from Scotland to the US in 1913. My grandparents names were John Summers, he was from Stonehouse, and my Grandmothers name was Jean, or it could be spelled Jeanie Summers, her maiden name was Downie. I believe her fathers name was Robert Downie and her mothers name was Agnes Sorbie. I am not sure of this any help would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely Jean Sturla

[aNonnyMoose]

http://www.ellisislandrecords.org/

Try having a look through the records here. There does seem to be a John Summers from Stonehouse arriving in 1913. You'll have to register to see the actual records though.

[Jean19952]

Thanks for your response. I have been to the ellis island site and received the information of them arriving in the United States. What I am looking for is the History of the family in Scotland. I know my Grandmothers maiden name was Downie or Downey. Her Father was Robert and Her Mother was Agnes Sorbie. Her name was Jean or Jeanie. I have found her sister Lizzie listed in a research. They show her sister, a brother, and another sister but they do not show her. I know her sister was Elizabeth Downie and she married a Sorbie. She came to the United States before my grandparents and it is listed on the records from Ellis Island that she was here. She was born in 1886 in scotland. In Blantyre, Lanark, Scotland. I have no information on my grandfathers side. Just that his name was John Summers He was born in Feb of 1885. They left scotland from Stonehouse, Scotland. They came through Ellis Island on 10-05-1913 on the Columbia. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely Jean Sturla

[Mamie]

For your grandmother try the Lanark Family History Society message board as well.
http://www.lanarkshirefhs.org.uk/

The name Jean could also be Jane or Janet on her actual birth or marriage records so to search the http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk database you will need to check for the variations as well. Variations for Downie, Downy, Douny

Unless you know what county your grandfather is from it will mean checking for all records with his name and its possible variations in spelling.

If your grandparents were married in Scotland and then emigrated you should find their marriage on scotlandspeople. You register on the site and then buy credits with a credit card. 30 credits is about $10 US. Each successful search costs 1 credit and to look at a digital image of the record 5 credits.

A marriage record will tell you their names, their jobs, their ages, their residence at that time and their parents names and if they were deceased. It will also tell you which church sanctioned the marriage. This is will help determine where to look for earlier records. If a Church of Scotland marriage then births of other ancestors can be searched for on the free to use http://www.familysearch.org site

Prior to 1855 births and marriages are indexed here but only for the Church of Scotland. There are some indexed records up to 1875 as well which came from the civil registrations.

Since Stonehouse is a parish in Lanark it is quite likely your grandfather may been born there as well. Most Sorbies were from parishes in Lanark.

I see on the IGI a marriage for Robert Downey and Agnes Sorbie in 1883 in Blantyre indicates he may have been born ~ 1855 in Ireland.

Agnes Sorbie was born in Stonehouse Oct 26 1863 to Thomas Sorbie and Jean Robison( her birth could be registered as Jean, Jane or Janet Robertson also). With her parents names on the familysearch site you should get the names of siblings.

Variations of Summers are Sommers, Summars, Sumer, Somers and even Somner.