Author Topic: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson  (Read 12535 times)

Offline Forfarian

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Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« on: Sunday 14 October 12 23:23 BST (UK) »
The purpose of this message is to place on public record a correction of a gross error in a number of family trees published online. I hope that it will be picked up by anyone searching for this family in future.

According to these trees, Sir James Young Simpson's great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson was the mother, at the age of 14, of an illegitimate child named William MacDonald Simpson, born in Dingwall on 5 January 1888.

This is, quite simply, completely untrue.

The Mary Simpson who bore William McDonald Simpson in Dingwall on 5 January 1888 was an entirely different Mary Simpson. I have researched her exhaustively using a variety of sources including the Dingwall parochial board records and the records of Craig Dunain Hospital in Inverness.

This Mary Simpson was the daughter of William Simpson, carpenter, and Ann Mackenzie, and she was born in Ledvarget, Dingwall on 25 April 1863. I have William McDonald Simpson's birth certificate, describing his mother as 'carpenter's daughter' and giving his place of birth as Ledvarget. (Mary Beatrice's father John Simpson was a chemist.) I have the 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911 census records showing that Mary lived all her life at Ledvarget, Dingwall, and the death certificate showing that Mary died unmarried in Inverness on 6 July 1926.

The claim that it was Mary Beatrice Simpson who was the mother of William MacDonald Simpson is an entirely unwarranted aspersion on Mary Beatrice.

The error seems to have originated in the 'Simpson-Beck' online family tree, and it is repeated in several other online trees, including that of Bonnie Hickox who cites Simpson-Beck as her source. I have attempted to contact the authors of both trees without success.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline argus-uk

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Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 14 October 14 13:31 BST (UK) »
Hi,

This is David Mill, from Dundee.

I've just had call from a PR person at First Group. She said they are about to launch some new buses which will feature famous Scots in some way.

For the launch, they have been tracing and inviting ancestors of those Scots and, according to their research, Sir James Young Simpson - who discovered the anaesthetic qualities of chloroform - is my Great, Great Grandfather!

This is news to me. But would it possibly fit with anything you know about James Simpson?

David

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Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 14 October 14 15:31 BST (UK) »
Sir James Young Simpson had nine children. Only one of those children married and had a family. This was Sir Walter Grindlay Simpson (1843-1898).

Sir Walter had two sons and two daughters. Neither son married or, as far as I know, had any family.

One daughter married Sir Bertram Long and had one son, who was killed in the second world war.

The other married Sir Arthur Willert and had one son, Paul Odo Willert. He was twice married and had three daughters.

It is always possible, of course, that I have missed one or more other children of one of Sir JYS' granddaughters, or that there was an illegitimate child somewhere that I don't know about.

Does any of that match anything you recognise?
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

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Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday 14 October 14 15:42 BST (UK) »
Great, info. Many thanks for that. Seems to cast doubt on the other findings. But I've asked for a copy of their research.


Offline keeperofthearchives

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Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #4 on: Friday 15 May 15 14:09 BST (UK) »
I have been fortunate to be choosen as the keeper of the family archives of both sides of my family.  My maiden name is Simpson and have grown up with the story of somehow been related to James Young Simpson.  Today I spent some time reading the information I have on this side of the family and through the family tree can confidently say I am the Great Great Grand-daughter of Alexander Simpson, James brother making James my Great Great Uncle.

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Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #5 on: Friday 15 May 15 22:20 BST (UK) »
I have been fortunate to be choosen as the keeper of the family archives of both sides of my family.  My maiden name is Simpson and have grown up with the story of somehow been related to James Young Simpson.  Today I spent some time reading the information I have on this side of the family and through the family tree can confidently say I am the Great Great Grand-daughter of Alexander Simpson, James brother making James my Great Great Uncle.

Excellent! I would love to exchange notes with you, but I'm not allowed to put contact details on the forum and I can't use the Personal Message system until you have made three posts to the forum.

I have found, so far, 132 direct descendants of Sir JYS' brother Alexander, plus 64 spouses. I am sure that there must be more.

My connection is through Sir JYS' and Alexander's mother, Mary Jarvey. Her mother was Mary Cleland, and her grandmother was Elizabeth Storry (or Storey/Storie/Storrie etc), whose brother John was my 4th-great-grandfather.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline keeperofthearchives

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Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #6 on: Monday 18 May 15 07:42 BST (UK) »
I have been fortunate to be choosen as the keeper of the family archives of both sides of my family.  My maiden name is Simpson and have grown up with the story of somehow been related to James Young Simpson.  Today I spent some time reading the information I have on this side of the family and through the family tree can confidently say I am the Great Great Grand-daughter of Alexander Simpson, James brother making James my Great Great Uncle.

Excellent! I would love to exchange notes with you, but I'm not allowed to put contact details on the forum and I can't use the Personal Message system until you have made three posts to the forum.

I have found, so far, 132 direct descendants of Sir JYS' brother Alexander, plus 64 spouses. I am sure that there must be more.

My connection is through Sir JYS' and Alexander's mother, Mary Jarvey. Her mother was Mary Cleland, and her grandmother was Elizabeth Storry (or Storey/Storie/Storrie etc), whose brother John was my 4th-great-grandfather.

I found it interesting to read on another forum that you also belong to, a lady claimed to be a descendant through a brother of Sir Jame's that didn't exist.  What did intrigue me is that lady claims this descendent moved to New Zealand.  Alexander's son (my great-father) did move to New Zealand and that is where I was born and lived until moving to Australia 2 years ago.

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Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #7 on: Monday 18 May 15 08:07 BST (UK) »
I found it interesting to read on another forum that you also belong to, a lady claimed to be a descendant through a brother of Sir Jame's that didn't exist.
I don't specifically recall that exchange (was it on Rootsweb?), but I do recall that someone thought they were descended from Sir JYS' brother John, via a child born in about 1846. As Sir JYS' brother John died in Bathgate 1841, you can draw your own conclusion about that.

Quote
What did intrigue me is that lady claims this descendent moved to New Zealand.  Alexander's son (my great-father) did move to New Zealand and that is where I was born and lived until moving to Australia 2 years ago.
Which son was that?
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline keeperofthearchives

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Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday 19 May 15 11:12 BST (UK) »
The webite was ancestryaid.  This lady claimed she was descended from Dundas Simpson.  Her message is a bit rambling but I think she seems to think Dundas was a brother of Sir James.  I do see what you mean though by so many people claiming to be his descendant.