Dear Paul,

I thought I would take you up on your kind offer of researching Blantyre people. Before I ask my questions, I'll just put you in the picture. My gran, Margaret McKnight neé Lees (nicknamed Meg), actually appears in a couple of pictures of social events here, such as: https://blantyreproject.com/2017/04/1967-womens-guild-outing/

"Meg" was born on 16.04.1911 in Uddingston was adopted by a Blantyre family - namely by by William (1885-1946) and Elisabeth Lees (1887-1964). You may be interested to know that her adopted sister was Mary Lees (1920-2014) who later married the well-known Blantyre proprieter John Scott (1915-1994) but I digress.

Now to my questions:

1) Is there any way to know when exactly Ellen aka. "Meg" was adopted by the Lees family?

2) Can you shed any light on my gran's biological parents at all? I only know that Rose Tonner was deceased in 1945 when Meg got married to Harry McKnight.

3) In the 1940s and 1950s, "Meg" worked as a nurse and the registration papers refer to her as "Margaret Stein McKnight neé Lees." who lived at 9 Oaklea Crescent, Blantyre. I have no clue as to where the name STEIN would come from? it is neither on her birth certificate nor wedding certificate. And I can't find anything in her adopted parents family tree on Ancestry. Do you think Stein could be the surname of her biological father which she maybe found out or guessed? It is all such a mystery!

Unfortunately my gran didn't talk about any of these family matters with her children, no doubt because of the stigma of being adopted at the start of the last century ... Maybe she has taken part of her secret to her grave or maybe you can help shed a little light on things?

Thanks in advance,

Heather

P.S. I have a few photos which I will send later to this site by email.