It may have taken a few decades, but it looks like our branch of the Littles in the Borders region of Scotland did redeem themselves, through my great great grandfather Jimmy Little, who was a Police Constable in Hawick in the mid-1800s. Through police records, we learned that he had blue eyes, dark brown hair, and a fair complexion, and that he was considered a good policeman. In 1869 he was granted leave to go to America with his new wife. (Picture of official police record with description of Jimmy and permission to move away.)
Through relatives in the US, Cindy had found his actual hand-written police log, which she scanned into a PDF file and transcribed. After the historic society in Hawick, called Heritage Hub, found out about this, they were so excited to have a copy of the log that they arranged a private meeting for us during off-hours, and they let us have private use of the archives for the afternoon with their help and guidance. It was very exciting, and we felt honored! The next picture is of Cindy and the historian looking at the actual handwritten police records from the local headquarters. We were able to see the eventual results of the cases PC Little had written in his personal log. They plan to use some of the more interesting cases along with Jimmy's story to help bring local history alive for school children.
Next piece of exciting news (for us) was that the house across from the archives was the police headquarters where Jimmy reported 150 years ago. (Picture with orange door)
Through information the women who work in the archives gave us, we were also able to locate and go to the house (or ruins) where Jimmy was born, called Salinside, just outside of Ashkirk:
...and the one where he lived with his family when he was five years old, at Clerklands:
All in all, a productive and exciting visit to Hawick and the surrounding towns.
No comments:
Post a Comment