More on Brownlow and the 'family painting' A report by Suzi Buyers For many weeks now, most of the research regarding the family tree has been focusedon the artist George washington Brownlow (1835-1876). The reason for this has been to identify the people in the 'family painting', painted by Brownlow in 1865. Many family members have photographs of the painting, but no one can tell me anything about it - apart from the fact that they had always been told the people in the painting were ancestors, and may be Christies, Massons or Woods. Brownlow painted very few scenes from this area and he supposedly spent some time between 1862 and 1865 at Muchalls. The only paintings of Brownlow's identified for the North east of Scotland are: 1 'Scene at Stonehaven jail during the persecution of the Scottish Episcopal Church in the year 1746' (1865) 2 'Daddy's Comin' ' (Scene in a Findon fisherman's cottage exhibited at Glasgow Institute, 1870) 3. 'A Findon fisherman's fireside' (exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1866) Until this week (16 April 2000) I could make no connection with our ancestors and Findon, but was sure the photograph we have is 'A Findon fisherman's fireside'. I know for a fact that there is no evidence of Christies or Massons living at Findon (1840-1869). However, a visit to the only living child of John Christie and Helen Wood, on Thursday 13th of April, proved very interesting and gave me the break I'd been looking for. Helen (Nell) is one of the 14 children and is the sister of my granny, Janet. Nell's long-term memory was very good. She remembered all the names of her brothers and sisters when shown the family photograph of her parents and siblings. When shown a photograph of the Brownlow 'family painting', she immediately said it belonged to her mother, Helen Wood. This statement was very important as we must remember that Helen Wood was orphaned at an early age. Knowing the painting was hers led to more clues later on. During the visit, we talked with her son, John, a fishmonger, about the origin of the 'Finnin Haddock'. When Nell heard us talking, she immediately said that her mother was brought up at 'Finnin' (Findon). This was to be the connection I was looking for. That evening was spent researching families who lived in Findon. Sure enough, living at No 9 Findon, were the people who had adopted Helen Wood - George Wood and Isabella (Leiper). They had eight children of their own, all born at No 9. In 1865, when GW Brownlow painted our 'family painting' - George Wood would have been 37, his father, also George Wood, would have been 57, his wife, Isabella, would have been 35 and one of their children, Jane Wood, was two and a half years old. Are these, then, the people in the pianting? A study of the Census records of Findon showed the following: 1861 (8th April) - No 9 Findon *Head - Jospeh Leiper, widower; 79; whitefisher Daughter: Jane Leiper, u/m; 33; domestic servant *Son-in-law: George Wood, married; 34; whitefisher *Daughter: Isabel Wood, married; 31; whitefisher's wife Grand-daughter: Ann Wood; 8; scholar Grand-daughter: Isabel Wood; 6; scholar Grand-son: George Wood; 9 months 1871 (3rd April) No 9 Findon Head - George Wood; 42, fisherman Wife: Isabella Wood; 41 Children: Isabella; 16 George: 11 * Jane: 7 James; 2 Wife's sister: Jane Leiper, unmarried; 48; pauper 1891 (5th April) - 6 Baker St., Torry Head: George Wood, 64; whitefisher Wife: Isabella, 63 Children: George, 30 James, 22 Isabella, 34 Jane, 28 * Possible people illustrated in Brownlow's 1865 painting (with Jane, b. 1863)