history of Lybster?

[d.polson]

Hello All ,
I,ts quite a while since I,ve visited but living down here in sunny Glasgow I find it a bit difficult to join in the local chat as I have no local history .
Now down to business ,Donald Young,s book Lybster 200 page68 bottom r.h. corner photo & note covering George Thomson Fishery Officer 1855-1878 gift of a portable bureau and documents box to Donald Polson on May 1878 , as I believe Donald could be my G G Grandfather does anybody know why or what the reason for the Gift was , all information welcome .
Update on my own situation , now 72 years young I,m coming back up on the13th this month for 2 days to hope fully meet Donald Cormack as I think he may be another relative . On the evening of Wednesday the 7th this month I start nightschool fo0r 10 weeks on an Introduction to digital video course who says you are to old?.
Bye the way I look in on the site most days but I just feel I,ve nothing constructive to add .
Well thats all for now cheers Don Polson .

PS I,ll be staying at The Commercial Hotel if your in the area .. TTFN...

[trinkie]

I dont have that book, but can you work out the age of Donald Polson, as it might have been a Retirement Gift.

Just a thought ,
Trinkie

[d.polson]

Hi Trinkie,
Thanks for the quick reply its one I hadn,t considered,Iwas hoping it was for some sort of service to the community, as at this stage in my research into family history I understood Donald to be a farmer and could not work a connection with the harbour and George? still you never know stranger things have happened .

Thanks again Don

[trinkie]

I hate working in the dark ! I wish I could see the book...

Was Donald Polson born in Lybster ?

His date of birth ?

Did he have a sister Margaret ?

From the picture, was the presentation made in Lybster ?

Are there any other people in the picture ? names etc please.

Trinkie

[d.polson]

Hello again Trinkie,
Well here we go if you live in the Lybster area a copy of the book is on display in the Waterlines museum for all to see .
As there are quite a few Donald Polson,s around that time I,m hoping I,ve got the right one, details from his death certificate as follows Donald Polson-crofter -died 1-50 am September 23 at Badreiskie Forse 1907 aged 63 years his father was Angus Polson deceased ,mother Elizabeth Polson deceased , no information on family at this time .
The photo of the writing box has it sitting on a table with nothing else in view, it is noted that an inscription on lid states To Mr Donald Polson from George Thomson with best wishes.May 1878.

The box was handed on from the effects of James Cormack and James,s wife Bessie Polson who both passed in the 1960,s and as it happens I,m meeting Bessie,s nephew when I come up next week so we will see what develops and I,ll let you know the outcome, looking at the dates and counting on my fingers could a wedding present be possible ????
Well thanks for the intrest and quick response Don..

[trinkie]

Hi again, I'm a long way from Lybster!!

I've been trying to trace back and see that a son Angus was born c. 1882 - so they were likely married around that time, and that would rule out a wedding present. I dont think a Wedding gift would warrant a photo in the book ! It must have been for another event, and maybe more akin to Farming ? What do you think ?

[d.polson]

Hi Trinkie,
I,m not sure where Angus comes into the history of the box , it was presented to Donald Polson by George Thomson for reasons unknown at this time. Upon his death it passed to Bessie Polson his daughter and was then known as Bessie,s box until she passed.
I think it would have made quite a grand wedding present for a crofter as it would appear like something from an Antiques show on T.V.
when opened it would have a cloth covered sloping writing shelf surrounded by various small drawers and compartments and in the photo it looks as if there is an inlaid decorative banding round the top.

I,ve got 2 cenus forms one dated1/1/1891 the other 1/1/1901 details as listed
1/1/1891 Donald Polson
Isabella "
Angus "
Christina "
Elizabeth "

1/1/1901 Donald Polson
Isabella "
Christina "
Elizabeth "
Christina Sutherland mother in law (Isabella,s mother)

As you see Angus has disappeared ? but will show up again in Bellshill near Glasgow in 1909 getting married to Elizabeth Jenkins a local lass but unfortunately he died in a works accident in 1911 aged 29 and as it turns out he was my unknown G.Father .
If you go to the Polson pages you will find a bit more of my own story but including all the above and more .

Well thats enough for tonight it,s now1.00 am in Glasgow by the sound of it you,ll be tucked up in bed??

Thanks again for showing interest Don......

[cuthill]

It was not a wedding present as they were married on 10/02/1881 at Badrisky,Forse,Latheron.He was 37 she was 25 .The plot thickens.

[cuthill]

I found Angus Polson married Elizabeth Bremner on 01/01/1836 Latheron and there children were
Donald Polson b 08/03/1837 Latheron
c 19/03/1837 He must have died
Janet Polson b 28/10/1838 Latheron
c25/11/1838
William Polson b 13/09/1841 Latheron
c20/09/1841
Donald Polson b 09/12/1842 Latheron
c10/01/1843
Barbera Polson b 20/04/1847 Latheron
c 25/04/1841

William b 1841 went on to marry Jessie Allan at Haimer Thurso 20/01/1870 he was 27 she was 19. i know the age does not work out but that happens all the time.

[sassylass]

Hi Cousin Donald, have you talked to htwood about this? She is quite the font of information :D good luck!

[d.polson]

Hello Sassylass,
It,s a wee while since we had a chat ,did you get the croft photo ok ? as you will have read the previous letters you will know I,m going North again on Mon. the 13th to meet some more relatives including Donald Cormack who may have a photo of Bessie that I might be able to copy. I havent been in touch with HT as all the information I have is a straight copy of all the paper work she sent me so I feel I,m giving out factual info. anyway the wind blows in sooo many directions I dont know where I,ll end up.

I,ll close for now and try to answer the other questions.

Bye for now Best wishes cousin Don

[d.polson]

Hello Cuthill,
I think this is the first time we have contacted each other thanks for the response but I beg to differ at the moment, your Angus is from a different line I,ll try to be a bit clearer in my thoughts as follows,

In 1881 Donald Polson 37yrs old married Isabella Sutherland25yrs old on the 10th of February at Badreiskie Forse the marriage certificate has Donald,s father as Angus Polson crofter deceased , mother Elizabeth Polson m.s. Bremner . If you look at the 2 sample cenus forms Isent to Trinkie you will see the 2nd Angus and what happened to him,as I suggested to Trinkie look at the Polson pages to see a much fuller explanation by H.T.Wood who is much more experienced in this family than I am and she is my cousin as is Sassylass .The 2nd Angus ( Bellishill ) turned out to be my unknown G.Father .

I hope this helps to adjust our thoughts ?

Best Wishes till the next time Don

[cuthill]

Hi again this is not my family,just looking it up out of interest but the Angus and Elizabeth i found were Donalds Parents and his Siblings i think.

[d.polson]

Hello again Cuthill,
At the moment I think your dates go back 2 generations further than mine as do the named individuals . The Angus I am related is the one who left Caithness between 1/1/1891 when he was 9yrs old and1/1/1901 and came downto the Bellshill area to work in the steelworks he met and married Elizabeth Jenkins when he was 28yrs. old she was 26 yrs old .They married in November 1909 and unfortunately he had a fatal works accident on December 1911 and some where in these 2yrs he managed to produce 2 children one was my father Donald Polson and the second was his daughter Elizabeth Polson and as you will have gathered I am also Donald Polson, my own thoughts are back then sons were named after their father/g father like a seesaw with few variations and I think that is what happened here ??

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this out of general interest as I appreciate you are not family but an interested party, as you,ll see on other pages I,ll print up a report on my return from the North next week and hope to have a answer on THE BOX amongst other reasons for my visit which I found most enjoyable on my last visit ..

Well I,ll close now in friendship ,thank you Don .

[sassylass]

yes Donald, I got the photo, thank you very much. It was interesting to see the croft as it had been instead of it's current tumbledown condition. Hope you have a good trip north :)

[d.polson]

Hello All,
Quick update for all who were interested enough to reply to my opening request for help. I have seen THE BOX touched the box and photo graphed it, it,s pretty much as described visually but with at least 6 families involved in its life, but still no reason for the presentation??.

Maybe I,ll be thinking clear after a good sleep and Ill try to fill in some of the gaps..

Best wishes to all Don.

[Duncansby]

Hi Don

Have you tried having a look through the John O' Groat Journal and Caithness Courier for that year? Wick Library have copies of the papers on microfeiche - you might find an article about it in one of those.

Good luck with your search - I hope you get to the bottom of it.

[George Brims]

Sassy - where have you been hiding? Haven't seen you post in a while.

[George Brims]

Is this Donald Polson any relation to Johnny, the famous DJ?

[d.polson]

Hello again all,
Have sort of recovered from my trip, left at 5 am MON . and did,nt finish with visits until 10 pm so quite along day. Tues. 9 am start finish 10 pm. Wed. 9am start the trip home 6pm finish.

THE BOX, the Antiques Road Show would describe it as a country piece made by a local craftsman ,a paper label on top has the words written in a
style I wish I could do, not copper plate but very presentable reads
To Mr Donald Polson, from George Thomson, With Best Wishes , May1878. As it happens this was the year George retired from the job, is this a clue ?? George did,nt die until 16 May 1891 .

On Donald,s death the box passed to his daughter Elizabeth ( Bessie ) Polson who used it until her passing when her husband James Cormack was the next owner then there is a misty period when at least 3 people had it including the present holder. Various suggestions were spoken over and at this moment it was decided to leave it where it was.

[sassylass]

Donald, I'm glad you had a nice, successfull trip. I wish I could see that box, maybe next trip :)

George, I've been lurking ;)

[d.polson]

Hi cousin ,
Not quite" you shall go to the ball" although the box will remain up north where it belongs I do have some photos which I,ll send via HT, I,m still not sure how to get them on this site so that all the folks who showed an intrest can see the results ?
I,ve seen earlier suggestions to other people but I,m using windows 7 which has caused problems compared to my time with XP, no suggestions will be turned away?? it could be I,m just rubbish with a P.C.
There,s also Bessies photo which has,nt seen the light of day for over 50 years and I copied that too still who knows , one day I might find the right way and all will be revealed..

I,ll be in touch soon Don