Ah.... those random relatives who pop up unexpectedly in census returns because they happened to be around the night of the census (hence my non-strangers in the night title......) They can break down brick walls, or they can build new ones ;-)
I've got a couple mysterious half brothers who pop up in mid-nineteenth century Scottish census returns who have lead me down several interesting research side trips. In a fun quirk, both stories eventually involve different women named Mary Brown.
Note: Not sure what I was thinking when I signed up for this week ~ no idea how I thought I'd fit this diary in:-( Today is the last day of my graduate school's first summer session (just turned in the major paper for one class; yippee!) and I'm hosting a DKos/Cheers & Jeers meet-up tomorrow {if you are anywhere near western Maine and would like to join us, see details in this comment}. So I'm going with a repeat encore edition of a diary I did last summer. Hope some of you haven't seen it before ;-)
First mysterious half-brother:
Hendry McMun shows up as a half-brother in the household of William Keddie and his wife Mary Brown [Scottish women often kept their maiden names before about 1860], living at Ladhope Bank, Galashiels, on the 1851 census. Hendry is listed as aged 52, born in Lanark, and a Chelsea Pensioner.
Ladhope Bank now:
William Keddie, born about 1801 in Peebles, is the son of Peter Keddie (1782-1864) and Margaret Donald (exact dates not known, but she evidently died before 1864, when Peter's death record listed him as a widower, and likely before 1841, when Peter, a tea merchant, was living with his son Peter and grandson Peter in Peebles at the time of the census). But Peter Keddie and Margaret Donald had children (including William about 1801) about the same time that Henry was born (1799/1800, to be 18 in May 1818, from his army enlistment papers), so I'm guessing Hendry doesn't fit in there.
Peebles Old Town Northside, where the three Peter Keddies were living in 1841:
So I'm guessing that Henry was actually related to Mary Brown, as I've found much less on her (even the names I have for her parents -- George Brown and Janet Clark -- are in the best semi-educated guess category, rather than something well-documented), plus she's several years younger than William, leaving room for one of her parents to have had an earlier child with someone else.
One factor complicating the search is that these families seem to have affiliated with various seceding Presbyterian churches, which kept less good records than the established church -- and the records that do exist are much harder to track down, especially from a distance. For example, William Keddie was baptized by John Dalyell, the seceding minister at Earlston (witnesses were John Gorudleck, wright, and William Dutch, mason, both from Peebles), instead of a more local established church.
In my search for more details on Hendry, I found the summary of the Kew holdings for Chelsea pensioners that lists him as discharged with pension, aged 42 in 1842. (Kew National Archives WO 97/835/21). I ordered a copy of the record, which was fascinating reading:
Highlights of his record:
Enlisted in what looks like the 71st Highland Light Infantry/Regiment of Foot in 1818 at the age of 18. Says he's a weaver born in Barony (Glasgow).
He's assigned to the Stirlingshire Militia later in 1818, then rejoins the 71st from 1822 to 1828.
He deserted on 8 Nov. 1830 but it looks like he rejoined the same day. Gets a pay/service deduction and a couple months in prison for it. In 1837, he gets former service (and pay!) restored for good conduct by a secretary of war letter dated 15 July 1837. The letter mentions him and a Private George Gifford who deserted on the the same day.
Served 11 years 4 months in Canada (hospitalized in Lower Canada) and 2 years 10 months in Bermuda.
Discharge processed 14 June 1842 in Montreal, effective 13 Sept. 1842. It is prompted by several hospitalizations for fever and paralysis in St. Johns, Canada, in 1841 and 1842.
Barely legible pencil entry on the first page says Intends to reside at Peebles, Scotland, which is where I found him in the 1851 census.
I've looked in later censuses and haven't found him. Nor have I found a death record in Scotland; I'm guessing there's a high likelihood (especially given his health issues that were the reason for his army discharge) that he died between the 1851 census and the start of civil registration on January 1, 1855.
Based on the tentative outline of families for William Keddie and his wife Mary Brown, I can't figure out where Hendry could possibly fit in the family tree...... Three of the four parents for William Keddie and Mary Brown died before civil registration (although, as I said, the parents I currently have for Mary are guesstimates, since there are no parental names on her church marriage record or civil registration death certificate). The one -- Peter Keddie -- who was courteous enough to live past January 1, 1855 doesn't have other spouses listed on the death record.
Although, as my other mysterious half brother shows, there may not have been another spouse......
Second mysterious half-brother:
29 James St, St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, a Thomas Wilson, half brother, aged 16 b. Edinburgh, printer compositor, on the 1871 census living with William Paterson (b. abt 1837) and William's wife Isabella (birth name Jacobina Isabella Bain Ralston) and their children.
Tracing back, I find Thomas Paterson aged 6 in 1861, living at 13 Horse Wynd, Edinburgh, with his father William Paterson, a tailor b. about 1811/2, and Williams' older children Adam, Helen, and Isabella (William, the son I'm descended from, is a newlywed with an infant daughter a couple closes away).
1851 finds father William living at 2 Dunbar's close with children Charlotte, William, John, Isabella, Helen and Adam.
Dunbar's Close:
So my first guess was that William's first wife Charlotte died before the 1851 census, and that he married (maybe; there's no second wife listed on the death record......and the variation in Thomas's surname could lead to the conclusion that his parents didn't marry) again between that census (as there's no wife listed) and the mid-1850s, when Thomas was born. His second wife would have then died before the 1861 census, since she's not listed there. William, Thomas's likely father, died shortly later, in 1862.
I was so hoping that Thomas was born in 1855 (that would have been too easy....as that is the amazing first year of civil registration and its detailed records) but I haven't found a birth record for him. I also looked for a death record for his mother* (using the maiden/married name feature at Scotlandspeople, hoping find a second wife for the older William) but haven't found one for her or for Thomas. I also hadn't found found a definitive Thomas in later census returns, either.......
* Just women named Paterson dying in Edinburgh from 1855 to 1861 provides lots of choices, too many for me to skim using SP, while adding Wilson as an alternate surname narrows it down too much, to women in their 70s and 80s.....
So, I turned to the very helpful people at the TalkingScot forum, and with their assistance, we find Thomas in 1881:
8 Murdieston St
West Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland
Marr Age Sex Birthplace
Thomas WILSON M 25 M Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland
Rel: Head Occ: Carpenter
Jessie WILSON M 21 F Eddleston, Peeble, Scotland
Rel: Wife
William F. WILSON 2 M Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland
Rel: Son
John WILSON 6 m M Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland
Rel: Son
Jean's thought for how she found him:
Before you say....but how did you find him in Greenock as a carpenter???? Well...at first I doubted seriously this was the right guy...but I persisted and searched on Ancestry in 1891 for a Thomas Wilson with occupation of "printer" in a reasonable age range anywhere....and you know there was only one and he was with a family and wife in St. Rollox but was listed as born Edinburgh and was a printer compositor....soooooo.....I quickly examined the ages of the kiddies and selected one young chap born approx 1880-1881 in Greenock and went looking for a BC...and 4 came up and I got lucky and chose right the first time......as the parents names were good and the father was a printer....so quickly taking the parents date of marriage and mom's maiden name I plugged these in to a marriage search on SP and there is only one and bingo....he looks good with a father named William Wilson, tailor, deceased and I'll let you find the mums name for yourself. Marriage is in 1877. So all in all I'd say the carpenter occupation was a mistake on someones part as shown on the 1881 census above!!!
Then she worries:
You know....... after firing this one off as I was leaving the office last night I didn't give it a second thought....but then at some point during the night it popped up and I started running it through my head and then had to get out of bed and read it again .....Wow I thought to myself....I really blew that one!!! His father wasn't William Wilson...it was spose to be William Patterson!!! Crikey I've been here going back and forth and recreating and comparing notes and whew....thankfully.....I still think it's your mysterious Thomas's marriage!!! Compare the address of William Paterson and family in 1851 census to the one on Thomas's MC....
My response:
So here's how I expect the conversation at the marriage registration went:
Registrar: Groom, what is your name?
Him: Thomas Wilson.
Registrar writes Thomas Wilson.
Registrar: Groom, what is your father's name and occupation?
Him: William; he was a tailor.
Registrar writes William Wilson, tailor..
His marriage shows his mother as Mary Wilson m.s. Brown. Yup, Mary Brown turns up again ;-)
Thomas neglects to say that his daddy was actually named William Paterson and the registrar doesn't ask, neither of them realizing that 130 years later a couple-greats-grandniece will be looking for Thomas, trying to figure out how he fits among her relatives.
Runs in the family; the half brother William I descend from managed to immigrate to the US with wife Isabella and all the kids except my great-grandma -- and leave no trace of that immigration in family legend, despite the fact that great-great-grandma Isabella survived late enough to see my grandfather, the son of the one daughter who stayed in Scotland, arrive in the US and live in the same town for several years.........Another of Thomas's half brothers managed to supposedly have a couple kids with his wife several years after he last saw his wife, based on the various declarations on birth certificates of said children........)
So I'm guessing that the reason that Thomas settles on Wilson rather than Paterson is that his parents never married...... At least I'll go by that theory until I find evidence otherwise.
Am I the only one who has ever wished for ancestors or other collateral relatives named Cornelia MacHumplethwaite?