Alexander Munro-Isabella Adam

[lochlann]

Hello, folks.....
I descend through my grandfather, Samuel George Munro, b. 23 Oct 1886, Aberdeen. His parents, Alexander Munro, b. 14 Nov 18 1840, Rothiemay, Banff-Isabella Adam, b.10 Jun 1846, Echt, Aberdeenshire, had in addition to Samuel, 4 daughters; Sophia, married George Ritchie.  Jemima, married Andrew Reid.  Mary, married Alexander Ross.  Barbara, married George McPetrie. I'm looking for other descendants of Alexander & Isabella. Samuel George married Mary Stewart in Aberdeen, and with their children, eventually settled in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.

[Flattybasher9]

Hi Lochlann and welcolme to the long nights of research. How sure of the information that you posted are you. Have you researched it yourself, or have you taken it from others? I ask, as there seems to be some anomalies with the names you have posted.

Regards

Malky

[Millmoor]

Hi Lochlan

Welcome to Roots Chat. Here is another sibling for you. The 1881 census shows that Alexander and Isabella had another son called John A. He is recorded as age 4. I cannot see another census entry for him. Scotlands People is the site to use if you haven't used it already for birth, marriage and death records in Scotland (it is credits only).

I don't know how much detail you have but there is  a transcript of Alexanders birth on Freecen which shows he was the illegitimate son of Charles Munro and Bathia Rhind. In the 1841 census he is with his mother in Huntly (transcribed as Alexr Monro). Charles and Bathia married in 1841. In subsequent censuses Alexander would appear to give his place of birth as Huntly, not Rothiemay. Like his father he seems to have been a tailor. In the 1891 census he would seem to be in the St Nicholas poorhouse, Aberdeen and recorded separately from Isabella in the 1901 census.

The libindx site (another free one) would seem to have a record of the death of Alexanders father Charles in Huntly.

Hope this helps


William

William

[lochlann]

Thank you both for your replies......

I was not aware that Charles Monro was born illegitimately, had heretofore seen nothing about it, and was also not aware that there was another son born to Alexander & Isabella!  I grew up, with my mother & brother in the household of my grandparents Munro, and really don't remember much discussion about family matters at all; grandmother, in particular was a rather close-mouthed person about family matters, and perhaps anything deemed scandalous was spoken about in private. I did get the impression, however, that Alexander was not around often, and my mother said that Isabella was a "dour auld wummin", and very religious, so makes sense to me!  I have exhausted my credits at moment for Scotlands People, and had become discouraged with this research concerning other family members from Islay, but these replies give me new hope. I am retired, not terribly computer savvy, or at research, it seems, and I'm so grateful for this site, and it's members that so generously give of their time for others.
As to the names of the daughters of this couple, and their marriages, my information comes from my brother, who wrote all this down years ago......I have not checked this myself, as was concentrating on the parents, and line back, which I now have (thanks to other Munros.) to Alexander Munro-Margaret Grant,married 31 Oct 1767, Ardersier, Invernesshire.
Again, thank you for information that was unknown, and as for son, John, he must have died young, otherwise, I think I would have heard about him. Grandfather's sister, Sophia (Phia) came to Kentucky to visit, a couple of times when I was growing up.

[Millmoor]

Hi Lochlan

I should have said freereg to see the transcript of Alexander's birth record. If you google freereg and search for Alexander Monro in Rothiemay, Banffshire you should be able to find it. Indeed since all the Rothiemay records seem to have been transcribed, you should also be able to find his fathers birth as well. He was the son of Charles Munro and Mary Wilson. The records for their other children are also there as is their marriage in 1804.

Freecen, which I mentioned in my previous post, as the name suggests is a free way of seeing census records. Banffshire has been transcribed for 1841, 1851 and 1861, Aberdeenshire for 1841 and 1851. Again if you google freecen you should be able to see some census records for your ancestors. The elder Charles Munro lived at Mossside in Rothiemay. Sadly the 1851 census shows him as a pauper. Alexander is, as I said before, with his mother Bathia Rhind in 1841 and with both his parents in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire in 1851. The most likely census entry for his father in 1841 shows him age 20, a tailor in Inverurie.(although his county of birth is given as Aberdeenshire it would appear to be him).

These sites freereg and freecen are well worth using. They certainly save using SP credits!


William

[Millmoor]

Hello again
I was wondering why the Barbara you mention does not appear with her parents in any census. Well in 1881 she is age 3 and living with her grandmother Barbara Adam age 70 in Echt. In1891 she is living with her aunt Mary Adam in Echt and is a general servant domestic. In 1901 she is recorded as a visitor with Mary Ross, presumably her sister, in Aberdeen. Barbara' s occupation is given as shop keeper grocer while Mary is recorded as a plasterer's wife and has a daughter Jane W age 4.

Finally just a general comment about Alexander being illegitimate. Illegitimacy was very common in Banffshire in this period, particularly in the agricultural  communities. I have lost count of the number of illegitimate births I have found for my own Banffshire ancestors!


William

[lochlann]

Hi, William........

I swear, y'all are truly amazing!  I did not know this about Barbara, either......you are certainly on the ball.  Guess I really do need to follow up on my grandfather's sisters. Your mention of a "Jane", daughter of Mary Ross, in brother's info.....she is listed as deceased, no date. There were others; Alexander, Isabella, Helen, & Lorraine. I knew Helen, she & husband, Howard, lived in Chicago.

As to the illegitimacy, it seems to run rampant!  I found, to my extreme surprise, that my mother was born "before the bell" so to speak, and grandparents married a couple yrs. later. Mary Stewart's father, James, of Newhills, was also illegitimate, given to mother's sister & husband to raise, and I expect to find more as I search. My brother was unaware of mother's birth situation, too, and we had a good laugh over it. We had wondered why all birth certificates were in the family "lockbox" but hers, and she was evasive about it, and now am curious if she even knew, with my "mums the word" grandmother!


Lochlann

[lochlann]

William.....

Just looked at the Freereg you suggested about Alexander, and had another laugh......noticed the way it was put.....born-"in fornication"......document on grandmother Mary Stewart's father reads, he was "born of uncleanness"!  Such picturesque terms were used, but suppose these were considered to be better than stating "the little bugger was a bastard"!  I'm still laughing!

[Millmoor]

Hi Lochlann

Exactly the same wording was used on my gg grandmothers birth record but because her parents did not marry (they married other people) even on her death cert it said she was illegitimate!

Charles and Bathia may well have been summoned to appear before the Kirk Session to be absolved of their sins but because they married later that year, as I understand it, in Scotland that would have legitimised Alexander's birth.

Have you used Family Search? You should be able to find Charles and Bathias marriage there. The site also seems to have records for Samuel eg the shipping record for his crossing to the USA and his First World War Draft Registration card.

William