Meet George Calder who was born in Wick, Caithness in 1842. He emigrated to the USA in 1870, when he was 28, and married and had a family there.
At the age of 80, he decided to return to Scotland to visit his family. He sailed from New York to arrive in Plymouth on 6 July 1923. Presumably he travelled up to Scotland from there as he sailed from Glasgow almost 8 weeks later to return to New York.
George was my first cousin, three times removed. Does it make more sense if I say he was my grandfather’s first cousin, once removed?
This isn’t a family photo. I discovered it when I found his 1923 US passport application on www.ancestry.com
Now meet his daughter Helen
She applied for her passport in 1919.
In addition to the photo, we also get a physical description.
She was 5 feet 10 3/4 inches tall, with grey-blue eyes, brown-grey hair and a light complexion. Her face was long-oval with a straight nose, round chin and a medium mouth.
She was a missionary worker and was planning to travel to China, Japan, Ceylon [now Sri Lanka] and India to inspect missions.
Isn’t the internet wonderful!
Sheena