Kedslies in Poland
You will find most information on the Kedslies in Poland under KEDSLIE ADEXANDER AND JANE but it us worth some consideration here too.
Alexander and Jane were to become my great great grandparents.
I have a rather damp damaged photo album from Poland. Its pages have been compiled of those of an even earlier album, almost like a scrapbook. Perhaps the original was damaged during the difficult and sometimes dangerous final years there. The very format suggests an almost politically correct scope. It starts with family portraits; minitures arranged decoratively in sets. Very few have labels. Even a parrot. Some gentlemen in uniform. Then we come to a group of the family of Dr and Mrs Chence of Milbrook. Following them are various associates. - indivuals and couples. Almost as if to aid remembering them all. And in amonsgt those are names such as Laing and Frankenstein and Agnes Stevenson -"cousin" and Agnes Kedslie -"cousin", hinting that this album was compiled by a mutual relative. All of these pages are from Warsaw. Turn the page and you find royalty - from Wales to Prussia; the Russian Emperor and Empress to Napoleon and Eugenie. A few pages later and we find the Emperor and Empress of Austria and also a woman in male uniform a Miss Postoviztoff, the aid-de-camp to General Langiewiez of the Polish Revolution. And suddenly Garibaldi and Longfellow an dothers. The album is a sort of DIY encyclopedia of who is who in eastern Europe. As many photographs at that time were bought to add to collections, this would not be unusual, but the mix of family, friends, aristocracy and royalt and also revolutionaries together is. If found by the authorities or resistance then this mix would show that it was just a random collection.
This has been taken from a page of the album. Someone has labelled two people in pencil. I think "Alice" here may be Alice Watson, a cousin to the Kedslies, but who was to become Alice Garvie when married into that family (and through which the author Mona Kedslie McLeod is linked). In the centre there is the father Alexander with who we think are the grandchildren (extract as under Kedslie, Alexander and Jane). In positions 2 and 4 is a middle aged woman. That on the left has her linking arms with maybe a son (there were 4) or a son-in-law. In another photo in my possession, that very same middle aged woman with her hair swept back is labelled as "Agnes" in ink. On the very right someone has written "Agnes". I think this is their daughter, with the same name. The two labels of "cousins" suggests that this was a Watson family album.
I have two other photos of Kedslie women (thatnks to RR). These are of Agnes and Catherine and were taken in Poland.
Agnes Kedslie
Catherine Kedsle
I was surprised to see a tartan used as an illustration for Kedslies on the myheritage.com website so I looked into it. It was designed in 2017 by Alex Imrie. The website tells us : Of 26 entries submitted by citizens of Edinburgh in a competition to design a tartan for Kraków, the winning design by Alex Imrie was voted for by the citizens of Krakow from a shortlist of 5 finalists. The competition was co-organised by partner cities Kraków and Edinburgh with the support of the Scottish-Polish Cultural Association and the Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh. The winning design is presented to the Mayor of Kraków Jacek Majchrowski in September 2017, and evokes the city and spirit of Kraków and its enduring friendship with Edinburgh and Scotland.
