Logan-Markwell Families (Grant-Bottoms-Middleton)

[jenn72]

Hello! It has been a few years since I have been on...for that I apologize. I am also sorry to the relatives I found through this site that I lost touch with over the past few years. I am back and with a new email and more time to work on finding out the mysteries of my family. Thank you in advance to all who are willing to help. It is truly appreciated. =)

I am very interested in finding more out about my grandmother's family and their time in Bedlington. My mother was born in Bedlington but they moved to Chicago (USA) in 1950 when my mother was only 3 years old. My grandmother passed away in 2007, and I don't have much to go on except from memory and my research. My mother's name was Alexandra Markwell (she had her name legally changed to Sandra when she was around 18 years old). My grandparents were Catherine Logan Markwell and Leslie Markwell. Here is what I have so far...

My grandfather, Leslie Markwell, was born 23 April 1921. His parents were Ralph Markwell and Robina Ferguson Markwell. His family was from Holy Island. Leslie was a coal miner. His older sister, Minnie, moved to Chicago and my grandfather followed with my grandmother, mother, aunt, and uncle. I have followed the family tree pretty far back with this line but feel like something is missing. It would be neat to find anyone who had any stories related to anyone in my family tree. Even if it is just remotely related to my family, it might help piece together what their life was like. Many thanks in advance.

The side I have the least about is my grandmother's family. I do have more than I expected a few years ago when I started. However, it is not much. I was able to find a niece and nephew of my grandmother through this site....Jean and Jim, I am very sorry we lost touch and hope you will try to reach out from this message because I have a new email from when we had been corresponding.

My grandmother was Catherine Logan Markwell. She was born 7 July 1923 to Bernard Logan and Hannah Jane Bottoms Middleton Logan. Hannah Jane was married to John Middleton who died in the first World War. She had several children with John Middleton. After Mr. Middleton died, she married a second time to Bernard Logan. They had several more children. Only two of the Logan children lived into adulthood...my grandmother and her brother James (aka Uncle Jimmy). James stayed in Bedlington and married Elsie (Grant?). They didn't have any children...although I sort of remember that they may have had a child who was stillborn or died shortly after birth...not too sure about that story though. Aunt Elsie had a brother (?) named Roger Grant who may very well still live in Bedlington with his wife Edna. I would love to find Roger and Edna and correspond with them. I met them a few times (when we visited Bedlington in 1989 and at my sister's wedding in USA in 1997) and they were wonderful people. I remember their daughters, Heather and Tracy, were about the same age as me and my sister. It would be fun to find them.

Back to my grandmother and her family. I have found that her parents were Hannah Jane and Bernard Logan. I found a little but not much on the Bottoms side. And I have absolutely nothing about the Logan side. I am despatate to find anything about Bernard Logan and his family. It has proved to be frustrating to search because so far all the names I have are nicknames and not given names. This has made research very difficult. For example, my great grandmother, Hannah Jane, just went by the name of Janie. There was an older brother (half brother) named John but went by the name of Tommy. It is most confusing. It has made research that much harder.

Bernard Logan was born in Morpeth around 1897 and died about 1939 and had been living in Bedlington at that time. If anyone could give me any information about him or his family, I would be very grateful. I do know that he was very poor and lived with a sister after his wife died. My grandmother, Catherine, left home at a young age and joined the army because the conditions at home were horrible. She only went to school until the fourth grade. It was so important to her to stress the value of education to me as a child. I am looking to start a scholarship fund in her name for our local school here or possible there in Bedlington. It would be nice to have more history to share about her and her family.

I know I have asked for a lot of information and I apologize for asking for so much. I had more success on this site than anywhere else and thought I would give it a try once more. I am willing to help anyone else in whatever ways I can. Your help is appreciate more than words will ever be able to say. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Jenn

[Brett]

I can't help with the family connections but welcome (back) to the site, and I wish you the best of luck in your search.