* COMPLETED *Helena Omond nee Stevenson Comox B.C.

[nw_whiskers]

Dear Sandra,  Yes, that would be correct as Helena would be going to see her younger sister who was called Bertha Janet and her husband who stayed at Seafield House (Council Offices these days) in Banff.   Sadly Great Auant Bertha died in 1979.  My Mother-in-Law always spoke most fondly of her Aunts and Uncles.  Seafield House is just across the road from Banff Castle where another member of the family stayed for some time during the 1930s or so.  My wife and I were at both of these places in 2006 when we were doing some earlier research into the family history.

Isabella is most certainly a family name as she was the eldest sister b 1865 near Brechin, Angus & d 1951.  One Grandmother was also called Isabella b 1787 & d 1872.  I am scratching my head on where the name Helena Northey came from as it is not a name in the family from earlier generations so it could be after the wife or daughter of an important Banffshire person (VIP or toff if you will forgive the expression!).  We will keep working on that one from this end.

Many thanks for your "super finds and interest" on the subject.

Best wishes,  nw_whiskers.



 

 

[A.Stevenson]

nw_whiskers:

I am a descendant of Alexander Ogilvie Stevenson and Barbara Stevenson. My Great-Grandfather was their son, Alexander Ogilvie Stevenson, who came to Mexico with some of his brothers to work as mining engineers.  The names of his brothers, the three that came to Mexico with him are George, Edward and Norman.  George and Alexander died in Durango, Mexico; Edward died very young in Real de Catorce and Norman died on San Luis Potosi.  The farthest I was able to trace my ancestry was to Robert Ogilvie Stevenson and Isabella Watt. Does any of this sound familiar to you? Please let me know! I have some birth/death certificates and some census data.

My best,

Alex

[nw_whiskers]

Dear Alex,  Many thanks for your reply and PLEASE accept my most sincere  apology for the delay in getting back to you but I thought that I had closed the Helena Stevenson from Canada connection.
Yes, you are most certainly correct with all your details from your end.  Alexander Ogilvie Stevenson and Barbara Stevenson lived just outside Banff.  As you say his parents were Robert Ogilvie Stevenson and Isabella Watt.  The generation before that was George Stevenson (b. 1748) and Margaret Fordyce.  The one before that was William Stevenson  and Janet Smith.  William was born about 1715 if his grave stone is correct.  His grave stone says that he died at Marnoch in 1771 aged 55 years.  We think that his father was called James but that record is in VERY poor condition so we are having difficulty in reading it.
If I can give you any more details please let me know and I will do my very best to fill out the details we know.  I warn you that there is lots of it but I will try to keep it clear and concise. Yes, we will be delighted to get your end of the family as we are short on that part.  We did have a visit to Scotland from another part of your family two years ago ( 9  of them!) so we took them to see Careston Castle near Brechin where Alexander O Stevenson was after he came home from Mexico.   Best wishes, nw_whiskers
 

[nw_whiskers]

Dear Alex,  I have made a new post for Alex & Barbara Stevenson so that you can reply there without getting tied up with Helena Stevenson.  I did NOT intend to give you an excess of info and put you off the Stevenson subject.  It looks a lot but I will guide you through.  A map of Banff & Huntly would be a big help to you as there are a few place names.  I use Number 29 Landranger of the Ordnance Survey range.  It is on Ebay.co.uk for a few UK £.  Best wishes, nw_whiskers.

From MonicaL the site moderator:-
I thought that this might be what you wanted to do and it makes a lot of sense   However, Alex Stevenson won't know about your post here. Do you want to add a further post on your Canadian post www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,596985.0.html that Alex joined to direct him to this new post here
 
www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,611048.0.html

[dbarron604]

Forgive me for the very late reply but I've just come across this site and thread while casually searching ancestors on Google. I (David Barron) am a Canadian descendant of Helena Omond nee Stevenson: she and her husband David Omond were my great grandparents. Helena Omond had two daughters Isabel and Hilda. Hilda was childless but a wonderful great aunt to us. Isabel married Alan Gordon Brown and had four children: my mother Barbara Northey Barron (nee Brown) d., David Brown of Whistler B.C., Deborrah Hope (nee Brown) of Anmore B.C., and Bonny Bitz (nee Brown) of Enderby B.C. 

Barbara married Kenneth Barron and had 4 children Philip (Toronto Ontario), David (me - Sudbury Ontario), Andrew (New Westminster BC - 2 children Connor and Jenna) and Darcy (Priddis Alberta- 2 children Carly and Levi).
David married Dale Reid and had 2 children Carmen and Christopher.
Deborrah married Roger Hope and had 2 children Katharine and Roxanne.
Bonny married Edward Bitz and had 2 children Michael and Amy.

Bonny Bitz has photo albums including Helena Stevenson and David Omond that my mother Barbara put togther. Bonny also probably has more information.

I remember a few things about Helena. She was a wonderful great grandmother who always seemed to be wearing her fur stole and stout shoes. The last house that Helena and David Omond owned was in Vancouver and our family, who also lived in Vancouver visited them there many times. It is still standing as a B&B (The English Bay Inn) amongst the tall high rise buildings of the west end of Vancouver near Stanley Park. Great-gran once gave my older brother a packet of peanuts and told him not to stick them up his nose, so of course he did. When I turned 5 years old she gave me a five dollar bill which was a real fortune back then. She also gave me a big hug and a kiss which I still remember 52 years later.

It was a treat remembering these kind old folks and I hope this information is useful - if you ever see it!

P.S. We have also had a few visits from Mexican relatives (Stevensons) staying with Hilda and James Magee in Campbell River and the Barrons in Vancouver. The visitors I best remember are Roberto (or possibly Ricardo) and Estrella Valenzuela of Mexicali. I seem to recall they owned stationary stores.

[nw_whiskers]

Dear dbarron604,  Lovely to hear from you as we kind of lost contact with the Canadian side of the family some years ago.  Mary Ogilvie my late mother in law (bless her heart!) was the one that kept in contact for many years but that was in the days of pen and paper so it is a long time ago. We have not been into the Stevenson side for some time but we did try to figure out where the "name" Helena came from as it is not a family name. The lovely house that they lived has been extensively renovated so it looks GREAT!  I will try and find a photograph for you.  Great hearing from you, nw_whiskers.