Fanny McAlpine and Robert Stevenson Bannockburn

[ahtraM]

Hello everyone.  This my first post, so I hope I'm in the right place.

I am hoping that someone will be able to help me find this couple.  They are named as parents on my Gt Gt Grandfather's marriage certificate (William Stevenson and Janet Henderson married on 28th March 1856 at Newmarket, Bannockburn).   The marriage certificate states that William and Janet were both 21 at the time and that they both came from Bannockburn.

Robert is listed as a "Labourer" and Fanny McAlpine appears as "mother".

I have only been able to find one family with a Robert as father, Fanny as mother, with a William of roughly the right age, and with a Francis (who appears as a witness on the marriage certificate, and who I am hoping is a brother and not a cousin), and they appear on the 1841 and 1851 Census in the Parish of St Ninians.

I can't firm up any information as although ages are given on the Census forms, I can't find a Birth certificate for either Fanny or Robert, a Marriage cert/Proclamation for them, or Death Certificates either.   Of course "Googling" a combination of "Robert Stevenson" and "Fanny" brings up Robert Louis Stevenson.

I have tried Fanny/Fannie/Frances/Euphan/Euphemia/Eupham and McAlpin(e), and I can't find a trace of her.  And of course Stevenson is a common name in that area so Robert is a problem too.

I would appreciate any help which you can give me with this couple.

[JustJean]

Haven't spent alot of time on this one and have to go out now but here's what you have to consider.....

I've seen the 1851 census that looks like it might be your family.   They are:

Robert Stevenson     age 67
Fanny Stevenson    age 57
Robert Stevenson    age 33
John Stevenson    age 31
Francis Stevenson    age 25
Janet Stevenson    age 22
James Stevenson    age 20
William Stevenson    age 18
Margaret Stevenson age14

I've found them on the 1861 in St. Ninians and this is who is in the household at that point:

Robert Stevenson     age 78
Robert Stevenson    age 40
John Stevenson    age 38
Janet Stevenson    age 29
Margaret Stevenson age22
Thomas Stevenson    age 4

I've found the son Francis from the 1851 lot dying and his son informant saying the mum's maiden name was BIRKHILL (not McALPINE!)  I've found a death for patriarch Robert Stevenson above in 1866 named as the husband of Fanny BIRKHILL.  I found the death of son Robert naming Fanny BIRKHILL as mother.  I'm not finding Fanny's death though so it well could be in the unfortunate slot on 1851-1854 being just prior to statutory registration in 1855.  I'm truly wondering if it's possible your William stated his mum's name wrong in 1856.  It wouldn't be the first time!  I think you should do alot more lateral searching and see if this family can intersect with your line in more ways than the name Francis being a wedding witness.  I'm really thinking you have the right family....just need to have better proof!!

Best wishes
Jean

[JustJean]

OK I'm back.....

Got the death of Fanny....no wonder you couldn't find her....she's mis-indexed as a Janet.  Handwriting on the original isn't even questionable either!!!

1861   STEVENSON   JANET       BIRKHILL   F   63   ST NINIANS   /STIRLING   488/00 0014

Bad news though is there are no parents named for her.  This doesn't help connect her to your William yet....but I bet if you completed a contact form on the www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk website and told them you'd hunted yourself crazy for Fanny.....and she's incorrectly under Janet.....you might get some credit re-imbursement.  Doesn't hurt to ask!!!  

Best wishes
Jean

[ahtraM]

Jean

Thank you very much for your replies.  You have confirmed everything I thought.  I found the same family as you in the 1841 and 1851 Census, and by the 1861 Census Fanny had "disappeared".   I assumed that she had died between 1851 and 1854, and other than the official Census, as a family they seemed to prefer not to put anything down on paper.   I found her "husband's" death certificate in 1866 which has his wife as Fanny Birkhill, so I am not at all surprised that Birkhill seems to be coming up as her true name.  The name given on my gggrandad's wedding certificate is Mcalpine (but that is the ONLY place I can find Fanny Mcalpine).   

What I had not been able to find was her death certificate, which you say actually has her as Janet Birkhill.   This then changes her from Fanny McAlpine to Janet Birkhill, on scotlandspeople arghhhhhhhhh  I had been wondering about Mcalpines changing their names, so Birkhill seemed reasonable, but I would NEVER have thought of looking under Janet.

What has happened though is that with only the bear minimum of information which I gave you, you have come up with EXACTLY the same family as me, albeit with the conundrum of Fanny's true name, and a 100% connection to my gggrandad.   The main thing which still bothers me is that in the 1851 Census the William in this family is a coalminer, whereas by the time my gggrandad married in 1856 he was a Printer (on the Marriage Certificate).  BUT, I DO have a Robert as father, Fanny as mother, William and Francis (all appearing on the Marriage Certificate) and that William came from Bannockburn.   The family of Robert Stevenson in the 1841 Census has this same combination of people and living in Bannockburn.   So, with the information you have now given me about Fanny/Janet McAlpine/Birkhill, I now have a bit more information to try to firm this family up, and the connection to my gggrandad.

I had been totally blocked, and it is nice to find someone else agreeing with the conclusions I have come to, and.......finding Fanny's Death Certificate. 

Thank you so much

[JustJean]

I noticed the occupation change too....miner to printer.  I also noticed though that the Francis sibling is a miner changed to dyer.  What would be fantastic is to find a niece or nephew living in the household of your William or William as an informant (with matching signature!) on one of the records of the proposed siblings or some further evidence there is truly a fit.  I think there is a fit....I want there to be a fit....but technically there is no provable fit yet.  Frustrating!!!     I was hoping McAlpine would end up being a surname of some other family member of generation but that doesn't seem to be the case yet either.  Hard to say where that came from.  Hard to say too where Birkhill originates.  You'll see that in that spelling it's not common to Scotland.  With no parents named for Fanny/Janet you could be at a dead end with her.

Best wishes
Jean

[ahtraM]

Jean

I think you are right.  I haven't got a proven link, so I still have some work to do to tie my gggrandad into "this" family.

I had more or less decided that Fanny was probably going to be a dead-end with this line, but I really wanted to find out her true identity before I put her to one side.   There is a village near where I live called Birkhill, so that name jumped off the page at me. I found it amazing to find her name could be Birkhill, especially as that village is nowhere near Bannockburn.  Almost definitely no link with the village, but, a strange wee co-incidence.

I'll continue trying to tie up loose ends but thank you for your input.   As it ties in with what I had found out before I hit the frustrating McAlpine/Birkhill/Fanny/Janet brickwall I feel I can concentrate on rounding off Fanny as an ancestor.

Again thank you, especially for discovering Fanny mis-indexed under Janet

[ahtraM]

Of course, when I thought of the village near me named Birkhill, I decided to see if there is any information about a Birkhill nearer Bannockburn, and found an Estate called Birkhill in the 17th Century and Birkhill House and umpteem Birkhill connections to Cambusbarron and even the Parish of St Ninians (which contains Bannockburn)

Fanny has proved a bit of an enigma, and it may be that her name simply comes from the area she came from.   

I even wondered if as a McAlpine her parents generation may have changed their name to something else.   All speculation and no use in my quest, but, it is nice to find that although Birkhill may be an unusual name, it seems to have been all around her in placenames from where she lived during her life.

[ahtraM]

Jean

I had to come back and thank you for the help with Fanny Birkhill/Mcalpine.   I have been uploading documents for the children of the family and in amongst all of it, (there are a lot of children) there is a Marriage Certificate for Fanny and Robert's son Robert and his wife Isabella.   His parents are listed as Robert Stevenson and "Fanny Birkhill Stevenson, M.S. McAlpine".   So, we have managed to tie the McAlpine and Birkhill together as the same person.   A sad note is that Robert and Isabella were married for less than three months before Robert died.

It was a totally unexpected Eureka moment, and I now feel that as Fanny's Death Cert lists "Parents unknown", that I have probably gone as far back as I can with this line.   I cannot thank you enough for finding Fanny wrongly indexed as Janet, and giving me the incentive to just keep ploughing on.

I also took your advice and contacted Scotlandspeople to point out that Fanny was wrongly indexed as Janet.  Have to wait and see what they say.

I'll just keep ploughing on with Fanny's husband Robert and see, if after all this time, I can find a breakthrough with him (his parents are listed as Robert Stevenson and Catherine Mackieson on his Death Cert, so I think I will now concentrate on him.   Strange how you become a bit obsessed with one of your ancestors.   Fanny has been that one for me.

I cannot thank you enough for your help.

[JustJean]

That is fantastic news!!! Congrats on the breakthrough!!    Now you can see from example just how critical it is to examine all the records with close scrutiny.  While we're not certain just what Fanny's maiden name was....Birkhill.....McAlpine.....or whatever....we can be quite certain that you have the right couple and siblings to go with your William.  We all have those special mystery ancestors that tend to niggle us more than all the others.   

Continued success....and hope that SP comes back with a good response for you!!

Best wishes
Jean