Lorraine Speers inherited a mysterious photograph from an elderly aunt who passed away recently. This special photo is clearly an important piece of Lorraine's past. It originally belonged to Lorraine's grandmother, who gave it to the now deceased aunt, who in turn passed it on to Lorraine. Although Lorraine can only offer a handful of information about these 10 mystery cousins, she can certainly hope that someone may recognize a name, place, date, or face from this interesting photograph.

On the back of the photo is written: "Scottish Cousins of Sarah Smith nee: Whitelaw". Lorraine does know that Sarah Whitelaw was a twin sister to Lorraine's great-grandfather, Jacob Whitelaw. The twins were the children of Robert Whitelaw and Janet Calder. The twins were born July 28, 1849 in Duns, Berwickshire, Scotland. As the youngest children of 8, the twins' brothers and sisters were: James b. Jan 13, 1831, Peter b. Feb 22, 1833, George b. March 11, 1835, Isabel b. June 17, 1837, Margaret b. April 26, 1840 and John b. Feb 11, 1846. For generations the Whitelaws lived in Duns and the surrounding towns and villages in the Borders of Scotland.

Lorraine tells us that Sarah and Jacob Whitelaw and their spouses immigrated to Canada in 1873, first settling in Montreal for 7 years then permanantly settling in the Gregg/Carberry area of Manitoba.

As far as Lorraine knows some family names that intermarried with her family include: Calder, Cockburn, Darling, Liddle, Thompson, Ingram, Ramsay, Maxwell, Gordon, Purves, McLean, and Lowe.

Besides the lost names in this mysterious photo, Lorraine also lost all connections with the old country, Scotland. Once the twins Sarah and Jacob immigrated to Canada all connections were lost. Apparently one nephew of the twins came to Canada in the late 1890's, but he returned to Scotland and then eventually immigrated to NSW Australia. If anyone out there can provide this family with any information regarding the men and women in the photo or to add a piece to the Whitelaw family mystery, it would be greatly appreciated by Lorraine Speers. Don't let the faces in this picture fade away to the next generation who will also find missing pieces when researching their family history.

If anyone can help Lorraine and her family, please write to editor@tartans.com .

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