This page describes the key sources of information on the website.

If you are interested in the source material, please contact us.

This site was started by RWP McWhirter, normally known as Peter, ( RWPMW).  The research in to the McWhirter family was mostly done by Peter’s father, John Gairdner McWhirter (1897 – 1985).  Where his initials (JGMW) are followed by a page number it gives the reference to the page in The ‘Saga’, where he recorded all his researches. The ‘Saga’ is the name he gave to the large notebook in which it is all written in his neat handwriting. Some of the work has been added to by Peter, and this is acknowledged by initials (RWPMW) and the date when the information was entered into a genealogical database. There are some references to DOCs. These are the numbers given to various documents stored in paper form and not (currently) available on this website.

Other sources are

Richard Pettit

Jean Webster also noted as JW

Tom Paxton & Beryl Paxton

Margaret Wolferstan his daughter, Christina and  Judith Paxton his granddaughters[3] (referenced as MCJ)

Edna Black

(To be developed)