Author Topic: Searching for family of John THOM, b.1860 Durris Kincardineshire  (Read 6404 times)

Offline Keith Sherwood

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Searching for family of John THOM, b.1860 Durris Kincardineshire
« on: Tuesday 30 July 13 17:35 BST (UK) »
Hi, Everyone,
This is the first time I have ever posted on this particular board, but I'm curious about the origins and family of a John THOM who appears in the 1901 and 1911 Census as a lodger in my gt-grandmother's house at Charterhouse Square London, aged 51, born in Durris, Kincardineshire, a mechanical engineer cold storage.
By 1911 he was living in my gt-grandmother's house as a visitor, but he in fact became a lifelong companion after my gt-grandfather moved out of the family home - I will make no further comment about that situation at this juncture!
I have in my possession a rather lovely cairngorm brooch that he apparently gave to my gt-grandmother Alice GURNER, who in turn passed it on to my father in about 1946, when he was himself in a highland regiment.  He never wore it, however, but it remained tucked away safely in a drawer. My mother gave it to me the other day, and on a recent visit to Scotland a silversmith in Glasgow admired its workmanship.  The setting is solid silver, but the yellow/orange stone may simply be citrine, though I would need a spectrometer to determine the exact nature of the stone.
Would be lovely to discover where it came from, it's obviously at least 100 years old.  But more importantly, I would love to discover the origins of the mysterious "Mr THOM", as he was known in our family...
Regards, Keith

Offline GR2

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Re: Searching for family of John THOM, b.1860 Durris Kincardineshire
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 30 July 13 18:30 BST (UK) »
Using Family Search and FreeCEN, James Cowie Thom and Elizabeth Philip married at Banchory Ternan (what is now usually called Banchory), Kincardineshire, on 15-1-1857. They had the following children born in Durris: John (b. 18-12-1859), Alexander and James Cowie, twins (b. 14-11-1861), Mary Christian (b. 6-2-1865) and William (b. 22-3-1872).


Offline Keith Sherwood

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Re: Searching for family of John THOM, b.1860 Durris Kincardineshire
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 30 July 13 21:48 BST (UK) »
GR2,
Thanks so much for this!  It looks as though his youngest sibling William is indeed also present in Charterhouse Square in the GURNER household in the 1911 Census - he's another kind of engineer with (it looks like) Southern Electric.  John THOM as far as I can gather did not marry, but his younger brother William is already married, though there's no sign of his wife here in London...
regards, keith...
...so I'm still wondering what the provenance of that cairngorm is, how long it had been in the THOM family, and who had perhaps worn it - it certainly hasn't been worn for at least 100 years now...

Offline Lawrence thom

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Re: Searching for family of John THOM, b.1860 Durris Kincardineshire
« Reply #3 on: Sunday 29 May 16 21:41 BST (UK) »
Hi there. I have just found this post as i have been searching the same person.
 John Thom would be my great grandfather.
 Recently my father, grandson of John Thom, went through some old suitcases of his late father to find a lot of information on John Thom.
 It seems he was the chief engineer on a Merchant ship call the SS Nineveh. Then onto his cold storage engineering.
 Huge coinsidence to find your post


Offline Keith Sherwood

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Re: Searching for family of John THOM, b.1860 Durris Kincardineshire
« Reply #4 on: Sunday 29 May 16 22:51 BST (UK) »
Hi, Lawrence, and welcome to Rootschat!
I'm very interested indeed to read your post today, and would very much like to communicate with you about your great-grandfather. Perhaps this ought to be by PM (Personal Message)on here, but I believe to be able to do this you need to do at least 3 posts on Rootschat.  If you at least acknowledge my reply on this thread, then we're somewhere towards achieving this…
Many thanks, Keith

Offline Oliviathom

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Re: Searching for family of John THOM, b.1860 Durris Kincardineshire
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday 21 June 16 16:23 BST (UK) »
Hi, John would have also been my great grandfather. I am Lawrence's sister. I have several questions regarding you first post so will reply to enable us to speak privately