Readers offer information on 1800s Bella
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A HUNTLY EXPRESS reader has helped solve the mystery of who owned the bible found in a local church ceiling.
Local historian Marina Alexander read the article with interest about a bible which had been discovered by a decorator at St Andrew's Kirk in Glass.
The worker had to use scaffolding to reach a wooden arch in need of painting and while he was up there he found a bible dating back to 1894 lodged in the arch.
Chair of the trustees at St Andrew's, Ted Andrews, put out a plea for information after discovering the name Bella McGregor inside the front cover.
Mrs Alexander said: "I have been researching my family history for about 40 years and there is nothing I enjoy better than trying to solve any mysteries I have come across during that time.
"Knowing that I had McGregor ancestry, I had a search through my notes and found an Isabella McGregor born November 18 1882 at Cairnarget, Glass, to Alexander McGregor and Mary Ann Mitchell.
"My mother’s family came from Glass and as a result I have contributed to the Glass Community Association web page, looking into the history of the parish and its people. For such a small parish there it has a long history yet to be explored."
Mrs Alexander explained that her research showed she must be a second cousin twice removed of the bible owner from the 1800s.
The historian went on to reveal more about Bella: "She married William Robertson on June 10, 1910, in Stewart's Hall, Huntly, and died on March 31, 1978, in the Jubilee Hospital.
"They had two children that I know of – Alexander McGregor Robertson and Robert Robertson. Alexander died in 2005 in The Meadows Nursing Home, Huntly.
"I feel sure the descendants of this branch of the McGregor family still live in the area."
Mrs Alexander also worked out that her three times great grandparents were Bella's great grandparents.
"A slim link," she adds, "but nevertheless we are both part of the McGregor family who lived I think, first at Westfolds, Glass and then Cairnarget, Glass.
"Westfolds is a very interesting ruin, which may have been a mill or some sort in the past. Cairnarget is still in existence."
"I found the mystery of how the Bible came to be found in such an odd place very interesting."
Another reader sent a birth certificate to Mr Andrews at the church.
