The Search for David Borthwick
A Family History
By Burnett Borthwick Pender
In my Grandfather Borthwick’s house, “Bothkenny” in Glenpatrick road, Elderslie, Renfrewshire, where I was born and brought up, there was, on the half-landing of the stairs, a small table on which rested a brass-bound campaign desk filled with Borthwick family memorabilia among which were two old letters dated August and November 1865 from my Grandfather’s Uncle David written home from New Zealand to his brother and sisters in Scotland.
My Mother used to tell me that Uncle David had emigrated to New Zealand, written those two letters home, and then it seemed, had disappeared from the face of the earth. The family never heard from him again.
Research in Register House in Edinburgh elicited a little more information about David’s background, which I give below:
- The Search for David Borthwick - Chapter 1
- The Search for David Borthwick - Chapter 2
- The Search for David Borthwick - Chapter 3
- The Search for David Borthwick - Appendix
Download the whole story as one PDF file.
