How were George and Kate Findlay first introduced to the Mormon church? That was such a pivotal moment that would lead to their conversion and forever change the course of their lives. But it was a detail that remained a mystery to many of their descendents until this past July, when cousin ES (a great grandson of George and Kate) shared a scanned copy of the Life History of George and Katherine Findlay. This is their life history as Kate told to her grandson NS, who recorded it on tapes and it was later transcribed. Thank you to the various S Family members who worked to preserve these details!
The information below is an excerpt from that history. The formatting has been adjusted slightly to improve readability, and minor clarifications have been added in brackets.
If you have additional details to add or any clarifications to make, please do! Send that to me via the "Contact Form" at the bottom of this page.
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We got married in 1927 and in 1930 we thought we would like to have a holiday. I wrote to a friend of my mother’s from Shetland, a Mrs. Smith. She lived in Leith [just north of Edinburgh]. She wrote back and said they had a room. I had said to ask for bed and breakfast because then we could go out and just come back anytime. This woman, Mrs. Smith, when we went to the address there was a note on the door that said, very sorry but have been sent for to go to Shetland because my mother is very ill. Go to Mrs. [Agnes] Jamieson who lives next door and she will take you.
We went there and she was a nice lady and I know she was from Shetland from the way she spoke. Next morning at breakfast she said to me, “Mrs. Findlay, are you a Bruce?” I said, “Well my mother was a Bruce and Bruce is in my name.” She said, “I thought so. Was your mother(1) born in Burravoe?” I said she was. “Well”, she said, “My father was bailiff to your mother’s mother and father.” A bailiff is like a manager to an estate.
Now my mother had told me things about the place and she had said they had been a well-known family and had money, but it went in here and out there because I didn’t know if it was true or not. I have faint recollections of being in Shetland. She took me there and I did know that I was in a big house. This woman said my mother was telling the truth. She said, “If you look out my window (and she lifted the window) and if you look out from here down to there (and this was the end of the street). That is the length of the banqueting hall.” I was quite surprised.
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The Manor House in Burravoe, Yell, Shetland, where Kate's mother Ursilla
Katherine Bruce was born - Photo taken Sept 2014 |
Then she says, “Oh but you know you had relatives that came to see me.” I said, “Relatives! I havena got such a thing. I’m an only child and mother’s two brothers died. I don’t have any relatives.”
She said, “Oh, but you do. They are from America. These two fellas that came to the door and one of them was looking for me," said Mrs. Jamieson. The family in America, they knew her name and where she lived because the station her father had, had been manager, and she said these fellas want very much to get in touch with your mother. I thought, “That’s strange. I can’t understand that because she has no relatives in America. She has an uncle in Australia but he would be dead now and he made money in beer. He built a big factory and was a millionaire."
She said, “But you do have relatives in America.” She described him and he was a very nice clean living boy and there is one thing I have to tell you. They were Mormons.(2)
George and me nearly had a fit because you know Mormons were something terrible and I was afraid of them. They would be back but they hadn’t been yet. I left my address and said I would be glad to see them.
That was July and we were on holiday in Edinburgh and when we went back I spoke to my mother about it, and she said yes, she knew Mrs. Jamieson, and I asked about this family in America. She thought a minute and said she knew.
Her aunt Mary Bruce married a Scott Anderson and they became Mormons and had five children. And he was a lawyer and left from Liverpool to go to Salt Lake City. And they were never heard from again.
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| Scott and Mary Bruce Anderson. Image source: Family Search |
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Elder William S. Costley was the first
missionary to contact George and Kate
Findlay in Aberdeen in October 1930.
Image Source: Life History of George
and Katherine Findlay |
That was July and in October a knock comes to the door and it was this young fella in a black suit and he offered me a pamphlet. I took it and he represented The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I said I had never heard of it and he said it was better known as the Mormons. From there on the missionaries came and I was ready for them. That missionary lived in Ogden and his name was Elder Costley.(3)
At that time one missionary went down one side of the street and the other missionary went down the other side. He said his companion was across the street and could they come and visit and they would tell more about the gospel. I thinks to myself - Mormons - they can’t come here. But I said, well come on Saturday and from then on the elders came.
Well to finish the story about Mary and Scott Anderson. Every different elder that came I asked to try and find them but it seemed that there were lots of Andersons in Salt Lake City. Two years passed and then we joined the church. I was ready to join in a year but I waited for George.
Kate was baptized on 11 June 1932 by branch president Le Grand Gentry Sharp and confirmed on 12 June 1932 by missionary Elder Carl Condie.(4) George was baptized on 13 June 1932.(5)
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Certificate of Baptism for Ursula Katherine Bruce Findlay, 11-12 June 1932
Source: Life History of George and Katherine Findlay |
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Baptism of George Findlay in the
River Dee - 13 June 1932 |
The following year after we were baptized, Patriarch [James H. Wallis], the only patriarch that had ever been to Scotland, came and it was announced that we could have a patriarchal blessing. None of us had ever heard of patriarchal blessings and we didn’t know what it was. They said to put your name in if you were in good standing and you would have to go to Glasgow where they were having conference.
We decided we couldn’t ask for a blessing because we had only been members for a year. The elders came on Saturday and said they hadn’t heard from Brother Findlay that we wanted a blessing. George said he didn’t know what a blessing was and anyway they had only been members a year. They told him what it was and said it didn’t matter how long you had been in the church and they had been praying about it because they felt and were very sure, that someday you will be very needful of this blessing, and this blessing will really help you.
So we went to Glasgow and got a blessing [on 11 June 1933, by Patriarch James H. Wallis]. This was years before the war but the elder had been inspired to say this.
President [John A.] Widtsoe, who was president of the mission(6), and the president(7), and patriarch [Wallis] were going up to Wick. President [David O.] McKay(8) asked them to please go and visit and tell him how the people were. So they went to Wick and they sent word to Aberdeen to tell them to have a meeting and gather their friends. Of course the elders were busy and I was busy trying to get people to come to the meeting.
It was a very small branch of regular members - there might have been 12. But there were others who had heard of us and we went to them. There were about 30 or 40. They were on the stage and some of the elders were with them and every time I lifted my head I could see this patriarch. He was an old man at the time. I have a picture of them.
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The Aberdeen Branch at a picnic social. George and Kate's daughters,
Ella and Ina, are in the front row on the far left. Date? |
He looked at me quite a lot and I said to myself, what have I done? I kind of got scared. They announced after the meeting that President (9) would like to go around and shake hands with everybody and talk to them and get a general idea of who people were.
He went around the room and every time I saw him getting closer I moved. I did speak to President Widtsoe, and this patriarch [Wallis] eventually caught me (10) and he said, “What’s troubling you? Are you a member of the church?” I said, “Oh yes, I’m a member of the church and I believe the church and the gospel.” He asked what was troubling me. I said, “I’m searching for people in Salt Lake City and I can’t find them. Every elder goes and tries to find them. If I can find them I can get my start in my genealogical work.” He said, “Tell me who they are.” And I told him about Scott Anderson and Mary Bruce and she was my mother’s aunt from Shetland.
A smile came across his face and [he] put his arms around me and said there are six sons and three daughters. … Three daughters Elizabeth, May, and Kate. ... Then he asked me if I got the Children’s Friend [magazine], and I said the elders were very kind and have given it to me. Well, he said, have you seen a picture of a lady in there, May Anderson? Well, that is the daughter.”
May Anderson was a [first cousin once removed] to me.(11) She edited the magazine and also later
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May Anderson, first cousin once removed
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on she was the one proposed getting a children’s hospital and was in charge of the secretarial work in getting the money to build the hospital and I have the big bit with her picture that was in the paper after she died.(12)
He said she was a very good friend, and I’m going to write to her tonight. He gave me her address and asked me to write. She got my letter the same time she got his and I got a letter back and from then on it was a bit easier but I still had a lot of struggle to get this first start in genealogical work.
……….
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Perhaps this is the same "big bit"/article that
Kate referred to. Grandma Ella shared this copy with KF.
Click to enlarge. |
I wonder to what extent Kate Findlay and May Anderson then kept in touch. Unfortunately, May passed away in 1946, 2-3 years before the Findlays emigrated, so they never had the chance to meet in person.
But when the time came for Kate and daughter Ella to emigrate in May 1949(12), they were in contact with other American cousins from the Anderson family, also members of the church. As they crossed the US by train from New York to Salt Lake City, before they boarded a bus to Arizona, they were hosted for a few days in Salt Lake by Kate's second cousin: Louise Undine Loftus Anderson Clark. She was the daughter of Scott W. Anderson (May Anderson's brother) and Mary Ann Loftus.
In March of this year, I got in touch through Family Search with a grandson of Undine Clark: HC in Texas. I was curious to learn about how his branch of the Bruce line (his ancestors Mary Bruce and Scott Anderson from Shetland) had been introduced to the church and emigrated to Salt Lake City.(13) I was also wondering how Kate would have been in touch with these cousins across oceans and continents. At the time I was merely curious but hadn't yet received the Life History of George and Katherine Findlay (that would come in July), so I didn't know the details of Mrs. Jamieson in Leith first telling Kate of her American cousins.
Cousin HC replied in an email to me: I remember as a boy hearing her talk about the time her relatives came to see her on their way from Scotland to Arizona. I don't remember her saying they were LDS but she so loved seeing them she talked about it for years. That must have been your grandmother. Tell her Undine often talked lovingly about that visit from the "old country" to her grandchildren. She told me she made rack of lamb with mint jelly!
This past July, as we were in Utah on vacation, we visited the graves of Mary Bruce and Scott Anderson and their daughter May Anderson at the Salt Lake City Cemetery. I took a moment to tell them thanks - thanks for looking out for their cousins from the "old country" and for helping to forever change the course of our lives.
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Photos taken of the Anderson family graves in the
Salt Lake City Cemetery - July 2017 |
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How is Kate Findlay related to these American cousins? See above.
Click to enlarge. |
Also see these related posts:
Notes:
- Kate Findlay's full name was Ursula Katherine Bruce Findlay (pronounced ER-sill-a). Her mother was Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie (pronounced yer-SILL-a).
- If I’m understanding correctly, two Mormon missionaries knocked on Mrs. Jamieson’s door in Leith, having heard of Mrs. Jamieson's family and her bailiff father, and also wanting to get in touch with Kate's mother, Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie...Is that correct? Then, was one of those missionaries a cousin? Based on the timeframe, could that elder have been of the grandchildren of Mary Bruce and Scott Anderson?
- Elder William Sycivell Costley served in the British Mission from June 1929 to August 1931. Source: https://history.lds.org/missionary/individual/william-sycivell-costley-1910?lang=eng.
- Elder Carl Condie served in the British Mission from June 1930 to September 1932. Source: https://history.lds.org/missionary/individual/carl-condie-1909?lang=eng.
- Does anyone know who baptized and confirmed George? Does anyone have a copy of or the original baptismal certificate?
- John A. Widtsoe was actually president of the British Mission just prior to this, from November 1927 to December 1928. Source: https://history.lds.org/missionary/individual/john-andreas-widtsoe-1872?lang=eng] James Henry Douglass, would have been the mission president at this time, who served from December 1931 to January 1935. Source: https://history.lds.org/missionary/individual/james-henry-douglas-1858?lang=eng]
- Is it clear which president this is referring to?
- I'm not sure what David O. McKay's church calling was in 1933 as he was previously president of the European Mission (1923-1925) and had not yet served as a counselor in the First Presidency (1934-1951) and this was years before he would be ordained President of the church (1951). However, he would have had the title of "president" in all of these positions. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_O._McKay#Member_of_the_Quorum_of_the_Twelve
- Would this have been the mission president?
- I wonder whether Kate got the order of events slightly mixed up. Would she have first met Patriarch Wallis at the conference, when he asked her "What's troubling you?", and later given her the patriarchal blessing? As it's written, she received her blessing from Patriarch Wallis but then it sounds like they met for the first time afterward. It's a minor detail that does not affect the ending of the story.
- Kate Findlay had recorded that she was second cousins to May Anderson, but she was actually a first cousin once removed as Kate's mother, Ursilla Katherine Bruce was first cousins with May.
- May Anderson was the editor-in-chief of The Children’s Friend magazine from its inception in 1902, and she served as the first counselor to general Primary president Louie B. Felt from 1905 to 1925, then served as the second general president of the Primary from 1925-1939. Sources: https://history.lds.org/media/may-andersonlg?lang=eng#1; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
- George had emigrated to the United States previously, in December 1948. Kate and younger daughter Ella followed in May 1949 while their older daughter Ina arrived in October 1949.
- Cousin HC is working on compiling memories and information about his ancestors' conversion, Mary Bruce and Scott Anderson. As he prepares details, I hope to share relevant information on this blog.
