RootsChat.Com

This young lady ( http://martinsawers.co.uk/links/MysteryGirl.jpg ) is a bit of a mystery.  I would dearly like to identify her.

I have approached the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery Whyte Photographic Archive and, when their experienced archivist is available, I'm sure she'll do her best to work through the 140,000 plate in the collection!

In the meantime, I thought it worth a punt to see if anyone on here recognised her!

I'm trying to establish a link between my known Sawers ancestral tree and another Sawers branch.

I've actually posted this question before in 2012 - here - but did not get a reply to the question itself at that time; perhaps a fresh look will generate some new ideas.

My own well-known tree fragment looks like this:

James Sawers (probably weaver) b1728-1734, d1786 [my direct ancestor]
Married Janet McKesson (b1718, d1795) in 1757
Issue:
William, b13.5.1758 (became planter in Jamaica)
John, b18.2.1761 (became planter in Jamaica) (son John, b1817, became Provost
                           of Stirling, 1849-1858)
                        (son Robert, b1821, apprenticed
                        to Sawers & Sconce, Writers)
James, b17.4.1763 (also planter Jam.)     
Isabel, b11.11.1765


The other well-researched tree fragment I think mine links to is:

William Sawers, bc1695, probably cooper
Married Jean Greenock c1720
Issue:
John, b31.8.1721
Margaret, b9.11.1723
William, b21.1.1726
James, b11.1.1729 (I think this is 'my' James, above)
Elizabeth, b12.5.1733
Thomas, b18.10.1734
Jane, b25.6.1737
Alexander, b1744

I believe that James, b1729, is likely to be my ancestor James.

There are a couple of bits of evidence pointing in this direction:

James's first son is called William; according to the tradition of name choice, this suggests James's father was called William, as the first son is normally called after his paternal grandfather.

James's second surviving grandson Robert, b1821 (younger brother of Provost), became a writer (lawyer), having been apprenticed to Sawers & Sconce;  John Sawers, b1790, grandson of John, b1721, above, was joint Procurator Fiscal with Robert Sconce and partner in this firm.  The apprenticeship suggests a family connection to me.  If I'm right, John b1790 and Robert b1821 would have been second cousins.

Is this all far-fetched?  How would you go about attempting to 'cement' the link?

Here are two 19th photos, one earlier than the other.  I would like to try and narrow down the date of each, if at all possible.




I know most of the people in the pictures, and this obviously helps. For example, the man in both is John Sawers (1817-1905), banker and Provost of Stirling (1849-1858).  He fled to Gothenburg after being arrested for embezzlement in 1858, and both photos were taken there.

In the first, with a granddaughter, he's in middle age, and I'm guessing it's about 1865 or so, but do the clothes corroborate this?

In the second, John is elderly and in declining health, has put on weight and lost some teeth!  I'm guessing this is about 1900 but, again, am wondering if the ladies' fashions might lend a clue to a more accurate dating?

I'm trying to establish a link between my known Sawers ancestral tree and another Sawers branch.

My known tree fragment looks like this:

James Sawers (probably weaver) b1728-1734, d1786
Married Janet McKesson (b1718, d1795) in 1757
Issue:
William, b13.5.1758 (became planter in Jamaica)
John, b18.2.1761 (became planter in Jamaica) (son John, b1817, became Provost
                           of Stirling, 1849-1858)
                        (son Robert, b1821, apprenticed
                        to Sawers & Sconce, Writers)
James, b17.4.1763 (also planter Jam.)     
Isabel, b11.11.1765


The tree fragment I think mine links to is:

William Sawers, bc1695, probably cooper
Married Jean Greenock c1720
Issue:
John, b31.8.1721
Margaret, b9.11.1723
William, b21.1.1726
James, b11.1.1729 (I think this is 'my' James, above)
Elizabeth, b12.5.1733
Thomas, b18.10.1734
Jane, b25.6.1737
Alexander, b1744

I believe that James, b1729, is likely to be my ancestor James.

There are a couple of bits of evidence pointing in this direction:

James's first son is called William; according to the tradition of name choice, this suggests James's father was called William, as the first son is normally called after his paternal grandfather.

James's second surviving grandson Robert, b1821 (younger brother of Provost), became a writer (lawyer), having been apprenticed to Sawers & Sconce;  John Sawers, b1790, grandson of John, b1721, above, was joint Procurator Fiscal with Robert Sconce and partner in this firm.  The apprenticeship suggests a family connection to me.  If I'm right, John b1790 and Robert b1821 would have been second cousins.

Is this all far-fetched?  How would you go about attempting to 'cement' the link?


 

I'm wondering if this file format has a maximum size.

The reason for this is that, with file sharing facilities nowadays such as Dropbox, it should be increasingly easy to store large files, reports and charts centrally, providing access without having to email huge attachments, and permitting easy updating of shared family trees by collaborating family members, who might be on the other side of the world from each other.  A huge family tree with perhaps more than 1500 individuals would make for a pretty big GEDCOM, though smaller than output produced by family history programs of course.

Would I be right in thinking that it's probably more computer specification limits rather than GEDCOM file size limits that are the issue here?