Generation Labelling

RLM 1974:

Notes on the Family Tables attached herewith.

Firstly, to find your own place in the Family, it is needful that you should know mine, and accept the labelling of the generations as used by me consistently throughout all my notes. I, Robert Lindsay Mackay, born at 42, Bank Street, Hillhead, Glasgow, on 30th July 1896, belong to Generation D. So do my 29 paternal cousins, of whom only 5 survive today, each over 80 years of age!

My father, George, born at Asdle (Aisdale), Bonar Bridge, in 1866, was one of 33 first cousins on his mother's side who were alive in 1915 and who shared in the estate of William Murray, a retired bachelor who died in that year. These formed Generation C.

When I commenced this enquiry into my ancestry my father could only trace back to his grandparents, promptly labelled Generation A by me. Soon I discovered an earlier generation, and had to label it 'Apex'. This was followed by the discovery of the private Diary of Sergeant John Matheson (1772-1856). The information gained from it took our ancestry further back by one generation, not labelled by me.