Published: Tuesday, 17th June, 2008 09:30
Family re-united
By Andrew Gibson
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Agnes McNeillage
AN epic quest involving the Dumbarton Reporter has reconnected a South African church organist with a lost branch of his Dunbartonshire family.
Springbok Andre Strydom, who now lives in Arkansas in the United States, contacted the Reporter recently in order to find relatives with ties to his great, great grandfather.
Andre, 46, has been investigating his family tree for some time and has managed to track as far back as James and Agnes McNeillage — great, great grandparents — who lived in Old Kilpatrick in the early 1800s.
James, who was a canal lock keeper, had six children with his wife Agnes, one of whom moved to South Africa.
And now through an appeal in the Dumbarton Reporter and its sister paper the Clydebank Post, Andre was contacted by 46-year-old Mhairi Webber from Old Kilpatrick.
Mhairi’s great grandmother, also Agnes McNeillage, was a daughter of James and Agnes and sister of Andre’s great grandfather.
Mhairi and Andre discovered they were born only a month apart.
Mhairi, who had began to trace her family tree, is now delighted Andre can fill in some gaps.
Andre now plans to visit this year and Mhairi and her family have agreed to give him a small tour of the area as well as show him the graves of Agnes and James McNeillage, which sit in Old Kilpatrick Parish churchyard.
Andre added: “I can hardly wait to get to Old Kilpatrick — it is going to be a very emotional experience for me. I’m looking forward to seeing Scotland so that I can meet and get to know ‘mae ainfolk’.”
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