AboutCharlotte L. Cowe Expertise As a professional Genealogist living in Scotland I can answer questions with regard to Scottish family history/research from about 1700 to the present day
Experience I have been working professionally since 1986 and have access to the main archives for Scotland which are held in Edinburgh.
Organizations belong to
The Association of Professional Genealogists
Question Hi Charlotte, I am researching my family tree but need some help if at all possible. My father Douglas Davidson was born 7.7.27 in Edinburgh to Margaret Davidson (apparently born in Caithness and died in Edinburgh around 1975/76) and an unknown father. Margaret Davidson also had another son Derek, with possibly different father. My father was adopted by the Mcewan family and took their surname. Mr and Mrs Mcewan died apparently somewhere around 1938. There were two other children adopted by this family, namely Wilhelmina and Bruce - I don't have any other info on them. The McEwans also had 2 children of their own. Is there any way of finding out any more info on either my grandmother or the adoptive parents. My father reverted to the name Davidson after he left school. He died in 1992 in South Africa.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Best Wishes
Answer Douglas
I could certainly help you with research and would suggest the following:
Search for the other children "adopted" by the McEwans i.e Wilhelmina and Bruce as their marriage certificates may give the christian names of the McEwans. If found, it should be possible to search for the marriage and deaths of Mr. & Mrs McEwan and also to find the names of their own children. I did not find an adoption record for the adoption of your father. Adoption did not become legal under the 1930's in Scotland. Any adoption arrangements prior to this date were informal ones and the couple "adopting" were related to the birth mother.
Search for the possible death of Margaret Davidson 1975/1876 as this will give the names of her parents. This would probably be a process of elimination to find a Margaret Davidson, unmarried and born in Caithness to the parents given on her death certificate. HOpefully the informant of her death would be one of her children or another family member i.e. brother, sister.
Did your father marry in Scotland? If so, then this marriage certificate may be useful. You may already have a copy of this marriage certificate anyway.
If you wish to pursue a search I would suggest contacting me directly via email so that we could discuss a search further. My email address is charlotte@dmains.co.uk
