American, British Subject

[anitah1972]

You know, I was JUST looking at the Census records and wondering about that Mary Glen, which came up as a potential hint - and here I was about to dismiss it as "it must be some other Mary Cant!" 

There are other Ancestry trees (so unreliable, yet sometimes spot on) that have her born in Brechin, Angus (and also list her as Mary Kent - ?!).  So yes, I'd say that with what you've found about her parents, it seems very likely that she's the connection to Dundee.  It's not especially close - 55 miles by the best route today (via Google maps) ... it seems like that would have been much further back then, but I don't have a good handle on how much traveling people actually did.

You're spending hours helping me out here - it's very sweet of you and I really appreciate it!

[tigger_lass]

Ok...now for David Jarvi(e)s......

SP has only 4 OPR births for a J*RV* DAVID between 1810 and 1825

David Jarvie 30 Nov 1815 in Kilsyth, Stirling to John Jarvie and Isobel Patrick
David Jarvie 10 Jul 1823 in Campsie, Stirling to Alexander Jarvie and Agnes Buchanan
David Jarvis 10 Jun 1818 in Dunottar, Kincardine to Edward Jarvis and Mary Walker
David Jervis 2 Jan 1814 in St Cyrus, Kincardine to James Jervis and Elizabeth Watt

I guess you can discount the Campsie one but my guess is that the two in Kincardine are contenders.

Tracey

[tigger_lass]

Lol...its no problem....I like a challenge and its been a lazy day today so what better to do than some family digging  I've had lots of help from people on here so it's nice to return the favour.

My hubby's due in from work soon so it may be the last for me tonight...maybe someone else can pick up?

As to people moving about don't let that stop you - as you've found, Helen went all the way to America and back again! The worst thing I've found is to dismiss possible links due to a few miles distance...it can lead you down the completely wrong path.

Have a great evening and good luck!

Tracey

[anitah1972]

Ok... so I have this death cert for Isabella Miller in Dundee in 1824 - and the last few lines are a little confusing; I'm hoping someone can clue me in to the code.

I see she died of Rheumatic fever... but what does the "new"(?) in the next column mean? (There's no header for this at the top of the page.) and what does the code '1029-A' for "Place of Interment" mean?  Would that indicate the cemetary, or a plot in a particular cemetary?

Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!

UPDATE: crossposted to the Deciphering/Recognition board, then to the Angus board (for Dundee!) and got the answer: this is for the New Howff cemetery. 

[anitah1972]

Thanks a BUNCH to tigger_lass for the help w/puzzling out the records!  I've successfully built another several branches of the tree. 

Looks like they were part of a close-knit leather-working/shoe-making industry, which makes Helen's heading to America with a cabinetmaker/wright all the more confusing... and I'm still clueless about what might have happened to them in the States.   But that's probably outside the scope of this board, so I'm going to mark this one completed.   Thanks again!

[OregonD]

Hi,  Mary Hardy McGregor, b 25 Dec 1828, was my g-g-grandmother. I've enjoyed learning a bit more about her family.  Thank you for posting.  Thank you, Tracey, for researching and sharing.

If Mary McGregor accompanied Helen & David Jarvis to the US in 1842, she would have been 13.  Perhaps another records mix up at the port?  I've misplaced my research with her immigration info, but the timing makes sense, because her father had died, mother had remarried, and there were still lots of younger children at home.  Lots!

Mary Hardy McGregor (and probably the Jarvis family) lived in Paterson, New Jersey.  She married John Mitchell (born Dundee in 1815) in October 1847 in Brooklyn, New York, and their eldest child and my ancestor, Eliza Sedgewick Mitchell, was born in Paterson in September 1848.  The family gradually moved West, first living in Wisconsin and then Nebraska, before settling in Oregon.  Eliza married a Union Civil War veteran who emigrated with his family from Prussia.  They met and married in Wisconsin.

Thank you, again.  I learned more about my McGregors from reading this thread than I did from my several visits to the National Archives in Edinburgh many years ago. Computers have certainly streamlined family research. All the best.   

[anitah1972]

Hi there!  Mary Hardy McGregor is (thanks to Ancestry for figuring this) my 4th great grand aunt. 

For her, I now have the following facts:

1828 25 Dec
  Birth
        Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland

1842 Mar
    Age: 13
  Departure
        Dundee, Scotland
        (+/-, given standard length of sailing voyages at that time.)

1842 31 May
    Age: 13
  Arrival
        New York, New York

1847  22 Oct
    Age: 18
  Marriage to John Mitchell
        East Brooklyn, New York, United States

1870
    Age: 42
  Residence
        Blue Mounds, Dane, Wisconsin, United States

1880
    Age: 52
  Residence
        Riverton, Franklin, Nebraska, United States
 
1900
    Age: 72
  Residence
        Willamett, Bellfountain, and Monroe Precincts, Benton, Oregon
 
1909 10 Jul
    Age: 80
  Death
        Inavale, Benton, Oregon, United States

I have her children as:
Eliza Sedgewick Mitchell 1848 – 1941
Mary Jane Mitchell 1850 – 1896
Anna Adamson Mitchell 1853 –
Margaret Fender Mitchell 1856 – 1943
Emma Ellen Mitchell 1858 – 1946
John William Mitchell 1860 – 1950
Robert Elliott Mitchell 1863 – 1946
Martha Stephen Mitchell 1866 – 1954
Boy Mitchell 1868 – 1868
Martin Mitchell 1869 – 1869
August Andrew Mitchell 1870 – 1879

I don't have any record of them in Patterson - for me their lives between marriage and the 1870 Census seem to be blank... do you have any information about that time?  If they stayed near/with the Jarvis', it might help me track them also?

Thanks a bunch - and yes, isn't the internet a wonderful thing?!  )
Anita

[OregonD]

Hi,  So glad you replied.  I have a copy of a 26-page "as told to" manuscript of Margaret Mitchell Womer's memories.  "That You May Know," transcribed in December 1935, is in the Nebraska Archives.  Margaret, namesake of Mary Hardy McGregor Mitchell's sister Margaret Fender Mitchell, was a sister of my great grandmother Eliza Sedgewick Mitchell Pierstorff.

Unfortunately, the Jarvis family isn't mentioned in the transcript, but perhaps Margaret Womer's story has clues for further research.  Margaret Womer said Mary Hardy McGregor lived in East Brooklyn, NY with her sister, Margaret Fender, and was married at Margaret's home by Rev Jonathan Greenleaf, a Presbyterian minister, in September 1847.  The three oldest girls were born in "our New York home"--not further identified--and Margaret Womer was born in Jersey City, NJ.  So, my Paterson, NJ info could be wrong. Familysearch dot org shows Paterson, Passaic Co, NJ as Eliza Sedgewick Mitchell's birthplace, but familysearch data isn't guaranteed to be accurate these days.  One family story I've heard is that Eliza was originally to be named Elizabeth, but her Scottish father didn't want his daughter named after a British queen. 

Mary H. McGregor and Margaret McGregor sailed on the Sterling of Dundee in 1842; they were at sea for 8 weeks.  John Mitchell sailed on the packet ship New York of Newark, also in 1842, and settled in New York. he was overseer of looms and dresser of tools in a large [unnamed] factory, but later a postmaster, teacher, storekeeper.  The manuscript doesn't say how the Mitchells met, but it sounds like they were active in a Scottish community--possibly through church and/or industrial contacts--in the NY and NJ area.   John Mitchell was very well read for the times, according to his daughter, and Mary Hardy McGregor Mitchell was "strong in body and a tower of might in the guidance of her family." (I think that means stubborn.) 

Just for the record, Margaret Womer and a sister saw Old Abe, an eagle that served as the Union mascot, and President Grant at a Wisconsin State Fair.  (The bird was mentioned first in the manuscript.)  When traveling to Nebraska, she and her father saw still-smoldering Chicago after the Great Fire.

Sorry that I can't provide more definitive info on the Jarvis family.  Rev Greenleaf's Presbyterian church would be in a very urbanized area now, if it still exists.  Perhaps burial or funeral records have been archived.  Best of luck. 

[jboggs49]

Hi,
I am a gr. gr. grandson of John and Mary McGregor Mitchell (their son, John, was the father of my maternal grandmother Florence Mitchell Chaffin). I am doing some research prior to my upcoming trip to Scotland.
Thanks,
Jim Boggs
jkb@kdsi.net