Mary. Blair Thornhill

[Maifitz]

Looking for info on my mother-in-laws family. Her grandmother was Mary Blair not sure if this was her married name. Her daughter was Catherine Blair and her granddaughter was Mary(May) Blair my mother-in-law. May was born in Burnside cottage in Thornhill  having difficulty reconciling GRO records for this family.

[fifer1947]

What dates are we talking about here?

[Maifitz]

Sorry should have thought of that

My mother in law was b 16 Mar, 1940 Burnside Cottage Thornhill d. 31 Aug 2007
Her mother is listed on her Death certificate as Catherine Blair or Douglas and on her Birth certificate as Catherine Blair.  Her father is not listed we do know that she was illegitimate.

I believe the following is her mother Catherine Robinson Blair 25 may 1920 Burnside cottage Thornhill.  This is where the discrepancies start on Catherine's death certificate her Birth date is listed as 24/04/1920 and her mother is listed as Mary Blair or McPhee and no father listed. I have been unable to locate a record of a marriage for a mary blair to Mcphee. or a catherine blair with this date of birth.

On catherine's marriage to John Douglas  in 1942 she does not have a father listed, mother is listed as Mary Blair, Robert Blair is listed as a witness... and her address is listed as burnside cottage thornhill which matches where Mary was born. We know that this is the right marriage for his Grandmother.

I was able to find a birth record for a Catherine Robinson Blair also born at burnside cottage with a date of birth of 25/5/1920 which has Mary Ellen Rae  listed as her mother and Robert Harrison Blair as her father.  Which I suspect is correct but not sure how to be 100% sure.

Not sure why Robert would not be listed on her death certificate or her marriage certificate. 

Now for Mary Blair - I know that she was living in a nursing home outside of Stirling as I visited her with my husband and mother-in-law in the mid 80's.  She was referred to as Granny Blair but my husband knows little this side of the family.  I attended her funeral shortly before leaving for Canada in 1987.  We visited with family in thornhill at the time, my husband cannot remember any names nor can I.

I found a death certificate for a Mary Helen Buchanan 21/5/1987 stirling which matches the right time frame.   This lists her marital status as divorced and lists two marriages Robert Blair and Andrew Buchanan and her maiden surname as Gray.  Could it be possible that Rae should have been documented as Gray on Catherine's birth certificate, and her M.S was missed on Catherine's marriage certificate?  I don't want to pursue this unless I can some how confirm that this is the case and have no idea how to do this.

Catherine's death certificate lists her mother as Blair or McPhee.  I have not been able to find any death certificates for a Mary Blair or a Mary McPhee in the right time frame.

Did Robert and Mary divorce and is that why he is not listed on any documents other than her birth certificate?? Cannot find a death certificate for him prior to Catherine's marriage.   I was able to find a marriage certificate for a Robert H Blair and Mary E Gray. but nothing for Robert Blair and Mary Rae. or for a mary blair to McPhee.  I was able to find a Robert Harrison Blair who died in Fife in the 1950's but do not want to request the record if i'm going an a wild goose chase.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.           

[MonicaL]

Tricky, tricky!

Doesn't help at all that most of these records are outside of the period that you can download and view BMDs online on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk  Because of your location, you have to be more confident of events before ordering at £12 per extract which is understandable.

You know for a fact that your mother in law, Mary Blair, was born illegitimately to Catherine Blair in 1940 at Burnside Cottage, Thornhill.

You also have a birth for a Catherine Blair in 1920, a month later in May than what was stated on her death cert.  The link to both is the address of Burnside Cottage, Thornhill which is key to you to try to link events and people it seems from what you have.

You then are moving on to Mary, Catherine Blair's mother, and there the picture is confusing. The Robert Harrison Blair death that you mention in Fife in 1859 shows that Robert as single, so not sure that will help here at this point.

Maifitz, if I can give you any words of comfort here....it is not that you are not putting the pieces together incorrectly in the research, more likely that people 'were economical' with the facts and were approximate with details. Often happens when a family line is confusing (particularly with illegitimate births by different generations), and more tricky when you can't view clues easier outside of the data protection years due to the cost (main reason why www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk gets addictive for those years where you can do an instant download for the years before the cutoffs!).

Monica 

[MonicaL]

I found a death certificate for a Mary Helen Buchanan 21/5/1987 stirling which matches the right time frame.   This lists her marital status as divorced and lists two marriages Robert Blair and Andrew Buchanan and her maiden surname as Gray.

Who reported Mary's death? What was her age, her parents' names? Any other details from the cert that could help in tracing her birth?

Monica

[hume]

Hi all,

I think Monica is right when she said a lot of the confusion is down to errors, intentional or not. You are on the right tracks with what you have. I think the Rae and McPhee names have been the result of misinformation.

There's a divorce record for Mary E Gray or Blair v Robert H Blair, dated 1944 at http://www.nas.gov.uk/onlineCatalogue/.

The 1920 1919* marriage of Robert and Mary has an RCE (Register of Corrected Entries) attached, showing action from Mary (of Burnside Cottage) against Robert (of 30 Ochil Street, Tullibody); divorce granted 7th July 1944.

Burnside Cottage may be lead to a further connection through Mary's family. In 1915, an Archibald Douglas was tenant although not sure if connected to Catherine's future husband.

Robert's death in 1959 should show as divorced of course but it's down to the informant and what information they provided at the time.

hume

*edited to correct.

[MonicaL]

Hi Hume 

Good to have you on board too 

The parents of the Robert H Blair who married a Mary E(LLEN?) Gray at the end of 1919 match the parents of the Robert Harrison Blair who died (as single) in Dunfermline of a heart attack in 1959...

Snippet from his death cert:

[MonicaL]

With what we are building up so far....

With Hume's divorce dates, Mary looks to have remarried as you had from her death cert:

Mary Helen Blair married Andrew Buchanan in 1944 in Stirling, Stirlingshire.

This cert is not available to view and would need to be ordered as it is outside the period you can view instantly online (currently, the cut off on SP is 1936).

Monica

[hume]

Hi Monica,

It's tricky when they're outside the online dates ..

Mary's parents were John Gray, mason's labourer and Mary Gray m.s. McAlpine.

No marriage I can see for them in Scotland (surprise!) but two possible deaths for Mary (McAlpine):

1910, aged 50 in Paisley (b. c. 1860)
1955, aged 77 in Cadder (b. c. 1878).

Mary Helen/Ellen Gray was born c. 1900 according to marriage and either 1901/1902 from her death.

hume