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Dear Friends,
My name is LEE ALISON CAHILL and I live in Johannesburg, South Africa. I'm trying to find out more about my father's family and here's what I know so far, in as much detail as I have:
GENERATION 1
I'm the daughter of PERCIVAL DENNIS CAHILL and GLORIA LESLIE CAHILL (nee WALLACE), and was born on 9 November 1958 in Johannesburg. I have a sister, Tracy Lesle Cahill, who was born on 14 April 1962, also in Johannesburg.
My parents were married in the city on 22 December 1956.
GENERATION 2 (FATHER)
My father was born in the Benoni area on 18 March 1927, and died in Johannesburg on 9 February 1965.
He was one of three children, the elder two being Michael (a.k.a. Micky) and Jean. Micky passed away in East London in the late 1970's, but Jean is still alive (now 82), and lives in East London.
GENERATIONS 3, 4 and 5(FATHER'S MOTHER)
My father's mother, JANE STEWART MELVIN (a.k.a. JEAN or Jennie), was born at 7 West Street, Glasgow on 2 October 1892.
She was the daughter of WILLIAM MELVIN(Boilermaker)and JANE MELVIN(nee Brown), who were married on 18 June 1891 in Glasgow.
JANE MELVIN'S mother, in turn, was one of four STEWART daughters.
As far as later locations in Scotland are concerned, I have a photograph of my grandmother (JEAN MELVIN) taken at 181 King Street, Middleton, Aberdeen (which may have been the family home at the time), aged about two; as well as a postcard of "my old home", a house in Wyndham Park, Port Bannatyne, Rothesay, Scotland.
It seems JEAN was one of five children: two older daughters, an older son, and two much younger sons. The three oldest children were Jean, Margaret and Willie, while the two youngest were Albert and Jack.
They had family in Livingstone Sneddon, and relatives that included cousins Duncan Melvin and Ian Melvin (BSC, MA), and another cousin, Jack Hastie. Duncan and Ian's parents may have been John Melvin and Kate Peacock, and there was another uncle and aunt, Mr and Mrs Hastie.
The MELVIN family seems to have re-located to South Africa in the early 1900's (on board the HMS Briton?), and the two younger siblings may have been born here. The older son, Willie, was later a soldier in World War One.
JEAN later qualified as a piano teacher, becoming an Associate of the Trinity College of Music in London in 1916. Her sister, Margaret, also studied music through Trinity, and later married Edward Brown, previously a Lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry (SA).
JEAN'S father,and my paternal great-grandfather, WILLIAM MELVIN, worked on the Old Simmer East gold mine in Germiston, where the family also lived. I have a photograph of him showing that he was one of the "Manager and Staff" of Simmer East Limited in 1907.
GENERATION 3 (FATHER'S FATHER)
My father's father, and my paternal grandfather, was MICHAEL MORRIS CAHILL. He was apparently of Irish Catholic stock and, when he married JANE STEWART MELVIN, a Presbytarian, this was something of a family scandal. As a result, my father and his siblings were referred to as "illigitimate" by their cousins, as they were the products of a "mixed" marriage.
I believe MICHAEL MORRIS CAHILL was one of five Cahill brothers who came out to South Africa together, and that some of them later farmed in the Middleburg area of the old Transvaal.
My grandparents, JANE/JEAN STEWART MELVIN and MICHAEL MORRIS CAHILL, were married in Heidelberg on 22 September 1922. They both died in the 50's, and their ashes are interred in Durban.
ANY INFORMATION ABOUT MY FATHER'S FAMILY WOULD BE GRATEFULLY APPRECIATED. THANK YOU ALL.
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