The Harley names

While tracing any line of ancestors presents its problems, the male line is relatively easy. But female ancestors present much more difficulty, given the absence of maiden names in most of the records (Scotland retains women’s maiden names). In many cases the census records provide clues that allow one, given lots of patience and some luck, to identify the women’s birth families.

Harley women were Martha Ellis (Edward), Nancy Blissett (John), Jane Round (Thomas), and Louisa Lilley (Frank) and finally Elizabeth Gilvray, who married Francis Cecil Harley.

Elizabeth Gilvray’s mothers and grandmothers bring in a number of other names. Her paternal line included Beat, Steel and Forrester, before settling on Gilvray. On her mother’s side there is Kent, Joy, and Vaughan, along with Nokes and maybe even Cantelo.