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Sandra, thanks so much. That's an astonishing number or articles you've found in a very short time, and a big help as I don't currently have a newspapers.com subscription.

I did make contact with one descendant of William Lumsden Swanson a couple of years ago. I was hoping that the family might have some old photographs - the three siblings travelled to Scotland several times in the 1920s to visit their elderly mother and must surely have taken photographs. Unfortunately none had survived in that branch of the family, and they weren't in contact with other branches. i will try to find others. They too may be looking for Scottish relatives and might come across this post.

Thanks, that's very interesting. Yes, I'm descended from Helen Cunningham, daughter of Alexander Cunningham and Margaret Brash. Helen really did marry a Theophilus John Paterson. He obviously didn't like his name as he always used only John. Theophilus is a Greek name from the Bible meaning beloved by God, or loving God - his parents must have been pretty religious. But in a family of ag. labs he probably didn't want to stick out from the crowd. Also, he was probably not very religious as he married Helen in an irregular ceremony. They were later "severely admonished and rebuked" by the kirk session and the marriage was confirmed.

Interestingly, a daughter, Margaret Paterson, her husband Archibald Thomson and their children spent 8 years or more in St. Petersburg, including during the Crimean War (where it didn't seem to matter that they were 'enemy aliens' - they weren't interned.

I think I'll leave it at that - my main purpose for posting was to make available my findings on the three children of David Brash and margaret Easton that are well documented.

thanks, I've had a look at those posts but I can't see any overlap with those names. I see on Scotlandspeople there are over 1500 Brash death certificates - 30% of them are in Midlothian, so it's a more common name than I though.

I've just come across a lookup post from 2011 mentioning Ebenezer Milner and the Brash family of Leith. I've been researching this family for a while. I'll add a link to this post in the other forum.

Margaret Brash, born 1767 in Linlithgow, daughter of David Brash and Margaret Easton, was my 5xG-grandmother.
I've followed 3 other branches of David and Margaret's children Jean (1771-1864), David (1778-1864) and Alexander (1780-1838). Also two other daughters of my direct ancestor Margaret Brash and Alexander Cunningham, Jean (1786-1862) and Margaret (1793-1860) Cunningham. My direct ancestor is their sister Helen (1788-1865).

I use the GenoPro genealogy program where you draw diagrams of the family relationships. For branch lines, I create links to a new page where there's room to display them. Here's a PDF file (attached) showing the abovementioned branch lines for Jean, David and Alexander Brash, and Jean and Margaret Cunningham. All 5 are displayed with large circles/squares to show they link back to my main page.

I've come across some interesting stories. David was obviously a well established merchant who was active in campaigning against the "unjust, impolitic, and oppressive" Excise Laws. He was a juror in the Burke and Hare trial - they sat though the night with the jury retiring to consider at 8:30 on Christmas morning and came back with their verdict after 50 minutes. David went bankrupt in 1849 (those damned Excise laws!) but was back in business a couple of years later.
I see David's son John was transported to Australia in 1850 - I don't know what happened to him afterwards.

Among David's other descendants was David Brash Dick (1846-1925) a successful architect in Canada, and Robina Brash who died within a month of her husband Ebenezer Milner leaving 4 orphaned children. I found a number of newspaper articles on Ebenezer, a respected doctor known for helping the poor. I see one of his descendants played in a band in the 1960's in Sussex with Keith Emerson, later of prog-rock band ELP fame.

In the PDF display I've coloured individuals who moved overseas dark red - those who later returned in a lighter red. The thin arrows between some individuals is marked 'lived-with' in GenoPro - it gives a good overview of where orphans and others ended up.

links to individuals

Margaret Brash born 1767              https://familytrees.genopro.com/bonjedward/terkelanderik/Brash-Margaret-ind01312.htm
Jean Brash (1771-1864)                 https://familytrees.genopro.com/bonjedward/terkelanderik/Brash-Jean-ind02674.htm
David Brash 1778-1864)                 https://familytrees.genopro.com/bonjedward/terkelanderik/Brash-David-ind01316.htm
Alexander Brash 1780-1838)           https://familytrees.genopro.com/bonjedward/terkelanderik/Brash-Alexander-ind01319.htm
Jean Cunningham (1786-1862)         https://familytrees.genopro.com/bonjedward/terkelanderik/family-AlexanderCuninghamAndMargaretBrash-fam00409.htm#Cunningham-Jean-ind05654.htm
Margaret Cunningham (1793-1860)   https://familytrees.genopro.com/bonjedward/terkelanderik/family-AlexanderCuninghamAndMargaretBrash-fam00409.htm#Cunningham-Margaret-ind01631.htm
Ebenezer Milner (1819-1866)            https://familytrees.genopro.com/bonjedward/terkelanderik/Milner-Ebenezer-ind03331.htm

You can browse the tree from there, or start at the list of names:     http://familytrees.genopro.com/bonjedward/terkelanderik/default.htm?page=toc_individuals.htm

Thanks, there are some wonderful photos there.