Henry Giles

[HOUSE2000]

Does anyone have any information about my gg grandfather Henry Giles or his family? As far as I know he was a gardener and he died before 1874 - this information I have from his son Henry's (1853-1915) marriage certificate. Henry junior was born in Lochgelly, Fife, Scotland and his mother was Barbara Whyte (1828-1883) I know that Barbara married Daniel Mathieson 1856 at Lochgelly but I can't find a marriage for her and Henry Giles senior. I can't find Henry Snr on any Census so any information would be appreciated. Thank you.

[loobylooayr]

Hi,
Have you viewed Barbara'a marriage certificate to Daniel Mathieson? Is she recorded as a widow?
If Henry jnr was born in 1853 and she remarried in 1856 that gives a small window of time when Henry snr must have died and if he died after start of 1855 in Scotland there should also be a death registration.
Looby

[HOUSE2000]

Thank you for your reply. I'm just a beginner at family tree research so I need a lot of help! I've looked at Barbara Whyte and Daniel Mathieson/Mathewson's marriage on "Scotland's People" and she was a "Spinster" so her and Henry Giles were not married. I can't find a death or census for Henry so he's a bit of a mystery!

[loobylooayr]

Hi again.
I sort of suspected when you said you couldn't find a marriage and couldn't find a Census entry that maybe Barbara and Henry were not married. This of course means Henry Giles  (if he existed with that name ) may have been alive when Barbara marries. Is he mentioned on young Henry's marriage cert as deceased?

Have you found the Old Parish record of Henry jnr's birth or is your information on year and date based on Census data? Henry may have been recorded at birth as Whyte/White.

Looby

[HOUSE2000]

Henry jnr's birth information is from Census information. I looked for his birth in OPR on Scotland's People but I didn't find it. I'll try looking under Whyte/White.

Now this is very confusing - Henry was married three times and each time there are different details given for his parents

Marriage (1) 1873 Parents - Henry Giles, Gardener, Deceased and Barbara Mathewson previously    Giles ms White

Marriage (2) 1883 Parents - Henry Giles, Gardener, Deceased and Barbara Giles ms White

Marriage (3) 1896 Parents - Henry Mathieson, Gardener, Deceased and Barbara ms White

[loobylooayr]

Having used www.freecen.org.uk to do some searches I can't find anyone with the surname Giles on the 1851 Census in all of Fife. So Henry Giles must have been an incomer to the area if he met Barbara c.1853 unless Barbara met him outside of FIFE. She could have been working away from home in domestic service (as was very common).
In fact there are not a lot of Giles in the whole of Scotland at this Census - only 40 males according to Scotlands People although there could be more (name mis-spelt as Geils , Gells etc). Most of these men are in Aberdeenshire, and none are called Henry.....the mystery deepens

Henry has certainly been consistent in naming his father as Henry and has used Giles in his first 2 marriage certs so he seems adamant that this was his father's name. As you probably know it looks like as a child he was known by his stepfather's name as he is recorded as Mathewson on the 1861 Census - https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VBH6-6N1

Strangely the only Henry Giles I can find on the 1851 and 1861 Census is this chap listed at Paisley Renfrewshire = https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VYYM-N2X
He is a Henry William Giles born in England and his occupation is Comedian!
He is lodging with a family in Johnstone and looks to have a wife Janet and two children William and Charlotte. This Henry obviously travels around a fair bit - perhaps appearing in theatres all over the country as from what I can see he marries in Arbroath, Angus and his son is born in Aberdeenshire and his daughter in Lanarkshire. I think Janet is his second wife and she is also listed as a Comedian in 1851. By 1861 Census  this Henry Giles is in Cannongate Edinburgh.
Looby

[HOUSE2000]

It's all very strange! On all the registration of his seven childrens births he is "Henry Giles" On the death of his second wife in 1893 he is "Henry Giles known as Henry Mathieson" His daughter, my Granny, was born Barbara Giles but on her marriage appears " Barbara Mathieson formerly Barbara White Giles". She obviously knew of the name change at the time of her marriage but whether it was an official change of name we will never know. It's all very confusing and will probably remain that way. Thank you for taking the time to try to help me.

[loobylooayr]

I am no expert but I think it would be unlikely that any name change was done officially at that time.
Is Henry also registered on the 1871 Census as Mathieson? I think I've found him in Airdrie on that one with Barbara, Daniel and a sister Mary.
So what you have is Henry on 2 Censuses using Mathewson/Mathieson and no Old Parish Birth Record (yet). Of course, not all births pre 1855 were registered with the Parish Church , and not all records have survived so there might be no record of Henry's birth in existence.
It could be that Henry was never known as Giles and for some reason changed his name at the time of his first wedding. And gave the name to his mother too!
Did he have any sons and if so what did he call them and did he give them middle names?

I've also looked for, and failed to find, Daniel Mathewson/Mathieson on 1851 Census to see how far away he was living from Barbara at that time.

Lastly I wondered if Giles was a misspelling of Gillies bearing in mind that not everyone could read/write/spell and names (and their pronunciation) can vary greatly from record to record.

Sadly you are correct, the mystery may never be solved. But don't give up yet...it's early days
Looby

[HOUSE2000]

The plot thickens! Henry jnr (and wives one and two) had 7 children between 1874-1893 all registered with surname Giles. Henry signed his name on all seven birth registrations as "Giles" On each census 1961-1901 he and his family appear as Mathewson/Matheson/Mathieson. I found Henry's only son Daniel Giles death and it read "Daniel Mathieson formerly Giles" My guess is that Henry Giles jnr was illegitimate his father being Henry Giles too. His mother Barbara Whyte married Daniel Mathieson and Henry took his stepfather's surname eventually and his children changed their name from Giles to Mathieson too. This could explain the change but not the inconsistencies over the years but that will remain a mystery!