Shep's Place Family Tree

Paisley.
4th. November, 1890.

Dear Mrs. Burns,

It gives me the greatest Pleasure in writing you these few lines to let you know that I received your very welcome letter all right, & I was very glad to hear that you got home safe and I am sure you were yourselves. We are all well at Present and hope David and yourself are the same & none the worse of your voyage & now Dear Friends a few words about The Marriage as I suppose you know we are spliced before this & we had a very good time of it you may be sure & I was sorry you had to go away before it took place as we had a very good nights fun. There were no strangers at the Wedding, all the Friends you visited were present and some came from a distance and the place was as full as it could hold & we have been getting on splendid ever since & doing well.

Dear Mr. & Mrs-Burns we both thank you very much for your kind wishes, but it is your turn first to sing Rock the Cradle David & as you say that will be where the fun comes in. Mr. & Mrs. Robertson send their Best Respects to you & are glad you got home safely. Aunt Jean ‎(Clark)‎ & Aunt Mary ‎(Millar)‎, Mr. & Mrs. ‎(Alex.)‎ Gray & Master ‎(Willie)‎ Gray send you their Best Respects & are glad you are well & will have a good big bunch of heather for you when you come back to see us all again. Mary sends her kind love to James ‎(Burns)‎ & wants to know when he is coming over to Scotland. So now dear Friends I will draw to a close & bid you Goodbye for the present - so with kindest regards & best wishes & hoping to hear from you soon, we remain yours ever,

Mr. & Mrs. Christie.

The writer of this cheerful effort was Robert Christie who had married Mary Gray, the only daughter of Alex. Gray, and she was a granddaughter of Margaret Burns' eldest sister Janet Gray. Mary's handwriting is quite unlike her husband's though also signed the same way. They were married September 1890. This is the 3rd. generation of the Robertson clan, as was Jenny Watson ‎(aged about 16)‎ whose mother was Ann Gray, sister of Alex.

from Robert Christie.

17 John Street,
Paisley.
June 10, 1893.

Dear Friends,

Just a few lines to let you know we are all well hoping this will find you both enjoying good health. We received your letter & beautiful cards all right & hope you will excuse us for not writing sooner but we were waiting to get the baby's cards taken and were disappointed two or three times not getting them so after we waited so long we did not like to write till we got them. Mary says she had an awful bother to get him for to sit & he had to be taken three times, but it is just like him as can be, he will soon be 12 months old & is getting on fine & getting that heavy that Mary says she can hardly carry him.

We are having splendid weather in Scotland just now & crops are a month or two earlier than usual & every prospect of a very good harvest but trade is very dull due at present to the failure of so many banks in Austtrila, it is making things worse than what they would be but everybody is looking forward for better times. Aunt Jane & Aunt Mary are as well as can be expected for their age & send you both their best repects & hope you will soon be over here again. Aunt Jane says she does not expect to see many more summers. Mr. & Mrs.Gray & Willie are well & send you their kind love & hope you are both well. I suppose you are having fine doings at the Great Chicago Worlds Fair & there are a great rush for berths on the fast steamers just now & I suppose you will be visiting it before it closes but I don't think any of us will be there as it is rather too far away. I think I will now draw to a close & bid you goodbye for the present, hoping James & John & family are all well & that you are both well yourselves, so with kind love to all & hoping to hear from you soon, we remain, yours truly,

Robert & Mary Christie. Goodbye.