Remembering my Grandmother, Helen Rowan, on her Birthday

On January 27, 1894, my grandmother, Helen McMillan, was born at 81 Roxburgh Street, Greenock, Scotland.  Her parents were Robert Sheddon McMillan of Greenock and Jane (Jean) Blackburn, formerly of Loch Winnoch, Scotland.  I am very much enjoying looking into the family genealogy.

Here is a picture of my grandmother at about age 12:

Helen McMillan

Robert and Jane had six children: 

1. Jean McMillan, born in 1882, who married William McLay.  They have descendants living in Victoria, Canada;

2.  Anne Sheddon McMillan who married Henry Currie in 1908.  She died in Victoria about 1946.

3.  Margaret McMillan who died at the age of 10.

4. Thomas McMillan born in 1889, who died in Victoria in 1961 with no descendants.

5.  Elizabeth McMillan, born in 1892, who married Robert Sharp, and died in North Vancouver, BC; and

6.  Helen McMillan (my grandmother), who died in Victoria, Canada on January 15, 1988.    Helen immigrated to Canada in 1912 and married Robert Spiers Rowan in Victoria, BC. in 1913.  Her descendants live in Vancouver, Victoria, Vancouver Island, Calgary, and Prince Edward Island.

I am fortunate to have a collection of old postcards of Greenock, Scotland, which my grandmother may have brought with her to Canada.  The scenes look quite old and give an impression of what the area looked like when she lived there as a child.

Here are a few:

West End, Greenock

On the Cut, Greenock

The Cut from Loch Thom, Greenock

Lady Alice Park, Greenock

Grosvenor Bowling Greens, Greenock

Unfortunately, there is very little information about my grandmother's life prior to immigrating to Canada in 1912.  However, I do have a hard cover book called "The Blessedness of Irene Farquhar" by Eglanton Thorne, which was awarded to "Nellie McMillan" as the First Prize in the Scripture Knowledge Examination in December, 1904 (she would have been 10) by the Free West Church of Greenock:

The above drawing of the Free West Church  of Greenock was taken from the Archseek website

I searched the author, Eglanton Thorne, and discovered this name was a pseudonym for Elizabeth Emily Charlton.  There are no biographical details available for her.  She wrote over 50 children's stories, with an inspirational Christian, romantic theme.  Her books are out of print, of course, but available free online (eg Google books).

So there is still lots to discover through my genealogy searches.