Good evening!
In May, my spouse and I will be travelling to Greenock to celebrate our first anniversary. Last year, when we were in Greenock to be married, I found the Watt Library with a wealth of information but only a couple of hours to spend looking at it (census records, etc.) I found the one person I was searching for in 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871, but I can't find his spouse, their children or the spouse's children by her marriage in any of the census other than 1861.
I have checked the Roman Catholic and Episcopal church records for baptisms and registrations using the known surnames but no one shows up. I do have a poor relief application which lists various addresses but the information just doesn't jive.
Would anyone have any suggestions as to how I can methodically go through this material and try to find people., especially given that I am using rather common surnames. I have been searching registration and old parochial records for close to 25 years in trying to find the births of my great-grandmother (1860)and her sister (1854), the marriage of her mother and father (not sure they were).
My interests are (starting with most recent) are Brown, Gillespie, McDougall, McKellar, McLachlan, based out of Renfrewshire (Greenock) and possibly Ireland.
Your collective pieces of wisdom would be most appreciated.
Chaplain
