There are many ways to uncover the lives of people ‘lost’ to history. If you look at the articles on this site you will find evidence of most of them:
- parish records ☑
- census records ☑
- military records ☑
- hospital records (particularly the hospitals at Chelsea (Army) and Greenwich (Navy)) ☑
- birth, marriage and death records ☑
- paintings ☑ and
- churchyards and gravestones. ☑
Of course, each article will use a mixture of the above (and probably others).
John Ellis’ most recent article is based almost entirely on another source – newspaper reports. More and more old newspapers are being digitised and you can search them easily enough from the comfort of your own home. The British Newspaper Archive currently claims to give access to over 48 million pages. And we aren’t just talking about the big names of the newspaper publishing world. John’s article about ‘Black Geordie’ Graham, draws its content from The Lanarkshire Upper Ward Examiner, The Hamilton Advertiser and the Ayr Observer, which, with respect, were hardly household names (in most households at any rate) even in 1886 when the stories appeared.
But enough on methodology, what of the story?
The newspaper reports from 1886 tell of a ‘strange visitor’ who appeared mysteriously in the countryside of Ayrshire near the small village of Cumnock ‘half a century ago.’ Variously described as a ‘foreigner’, a ‘sable stranger’, this man of ‘ebony colour’ was clearly initially regarded as a curiosity, but gradually the villagers came to know his story, why he disappeared for months on end and how he came to make his living, for ‘Black Geordie’, as he came to be known, was a man of surprising talents and unsuspected skills. The story could have ended sadly with ‘Black Geordie’ found dead in one of the fast flowing streams or deep pools in the countryside around Cumnock but … well, it’s best to just read John’s article for yourself to see how it ends: