I've recently started looking into families connected with Andrew MILLAR (1795-1882), a writer (lawyer) in Paisley. He married Elizabeth MANN (1804-1876), and I know of 14 children. One of these children, Jessie (officially Janet; 1835-1909) married James Steven WILSON (1824-1897) in 1861. He was also from Paisley, but had settled in Bradford, WRY, where he later owned a textile mill. They had 6 children, among them Jessie Millar WILSON, who worked with the YMCA in France during World War One and was subsequently appointed MBE. Surnames connected by marriage include FERGUSON and BAIRD (in Scotland) and DUNCAN in Otley, WRY; the DUNCAN family were also originally from Scotland - I've traced them back to Carmichael, LKS. I'd be interested to hear from anyone with connections to any of these.
Arthur, how did your research go into this family and particularly Jessie MILLAR Wilson MBE? Because my own Wilson family also came from Renfrewshire I researched them a little to check whether there was a connection with your Wilsons and have had a PhD student contact me about Jessie because of her involvement with the suffragette movement.
I'd forgotten I'd posted this, and it's now a while since I did much on these families, though I do have some bits and pieces on them. However, I do know more about Jessie Millar Wilson - her nephew married my aunt, and I inherited her papers etc. My aunt self-published some of her diaries from WW1 when she was a volunteer with the YMCA in France (I still have copies available), and I've since found a bit more about her life in the years before WW1 when she was working in a community for alcoholic women, and then her involvement in the suffragette movement in Bradford. There's also something I'm hoping to look into in the next few months which could potentially tie these pre-war activities together. I'd be very happy for the PhD student to contact me, if you're still in touch with him/her, and I could send you my email address by private message. And if they have any fresh information, I'd be very interested to hear of it. Thanks for resurrecting this thread - although they're not my ancestors, I'm always happy to do my bit for them.
They certainly seem to be interesting people Arthur. I have sent you details in a conversation message.
