Note from J.W.B. - Are We Heirs to an Estate??

Isn't this a find!  When her children were going through Randy's late Aunt Mary Milliken's genealogy papers and mementos from her trip to England, this note was one thing they passed on to me.  A genealogist's dream!  Mary's mother was Elsie Norah Bushby Boulton (pictured to the left about 1900) and the J.W.B. initials at the bottom are Elsie's father, James William Bushby. 

With Google and the internet, I can sit at home and find out things that would have taken Mary miles and volumes to learn.  I vaguely remember some of the lessons in High School when reading Chaucer and Shakespeare about some of the Scottish and English battles but had to read this note several times to make sense of it.

Cousin Faye has a typed copy of the same message.

James Cunnigham, the 14th Earl of Glencairn can certainly be found easily and this picture is from Wikipedia although it says he died in 1791, not 96. He seems to be most remembered for his friendship with the poet Robbie Burns .  He was succeeded by his brother John, the 15th Earl who did die in 1796 and is buried in Edinburgh.  He and his wife had no children so the online source says the title went dormant. Lady Harriet Don is mentioned  as being Lady Henrietta Cunningham (born 23 Sept 1752; died 12 Mar 1801), married in 1778 to Sir Alexander Don of Newton Don.  

Lady Harriet's portrait from about 1800 was found online here .  She had 2 daughters who were drowned young and a son, Alexander (1780-1826) who had no children of his own but did have a step son William (1825-1865)who went on to be an actor.
In my Ancestry research, James Bushby's paternal great grandmothers don't seem to match this lady but I've only traced his maternal side to his mother Eleanor Moore (1819-1903). 

The link to this clipping from the Ottawa Journal in 1968 includes some Bushby family names but a different title - Lord of the Manor of Wormley, Hertfordshire.  

Sorry cousins - the fortune seems to be a Google dead end. But I'll keep looking... 

Lenna Boulton King (1889 - 1951)

The middle child of 12 born to Thomas and Margaret in 1889 was Lenna Margaret Boulton.  She grew up on the farm and  married Henry "Elton" King in Lyn, Ontario on February 22, 1911 with her sister Mary and her future husband George Herbison as witnesses. She was 21 years old and he was 22. Elton's sister Ethel Jane "Jennie" had married Lenna's brother Abraham earlier that month on February 8 in Brockville as told about in their blog entry here.  

Lenna and Elton were farmers near Yonge Mill, Ontario.  They didn't have children of their own but a son was born in 1931 to the Westcombe family and was adopted by Elton and Lenna.  It became official on March 21, 1938 at Brockville and they changed his name to Donald Elton King.  The photo above is cousins Audrey Morris (daughter of Edith) and Donald at the King home in about 1940.  Looks like garden produce they've been harvesting - corn at their feet and paint pails of tomatoes or potatoes and a pumpkin!

Lenna and Elton are pictured above with their nephew, Edith's son Ray Morris.  They also had Ray living with them for a time when his parents Edith and Moulton were working out east. The two scans of a panoramic photo of the  Number 17 Platoon in June of 1945 indicates Ray was second from the right on the first row.  He gave this picture to his Aunt Lenna signed "Raymie". His daughter tells me the official name on his birth certificate was actually John Raymie Morris.  At some point he started using John Raymond on documents like his driver's license but was always known as Ray or Raymie.   

Lenna died in 1951 and Elton in 1966.  They are buried outside of Lyn, Ontario in a beautiful cemetery that I was able to visit in 2015. Some of the oldest grave markers have been mounted on the stone walls surrounding the grounds which have been in use since 1784. A peaceful resting place after lives well lived.