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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Midlothian => Topic started by: AsH62 on Saturday 24 February 18 00:46 GMT (UK)

Title: Johana Whitson
Post by: AsH62 on Saturday 24 February 18 00:46 GMT (UK)
Hi. A bit embarrassing but I have been loking for a man instead of a woman! Johana Whitson was born in 1888 in Penicuik. I originally had the name without the final ‘a’ and was looking for a boy. The family fascinates me because Johana and her sister were both illegitimate, born seventeen years apart (Barbara born in 1905) and despite the fact that their grandfather was a local police inspector, their mother Janet Duff Whitson lived in the same house with her parents and children and the police inspector was even a witness on one of the birth certificates. Janet’s death certificate shows that she never married and that on her death in 1953 in Newington it was Barbara who was the witness. Barbara stayed single and died in 1986 but I have absolutely no idea what happened to Johana. I have just returned from an annual trip to the Edinburgh archives and found that I was always going to fail because I was looking for a man! Has anyone come across Johana please, it must have been odd in those days for a ‘respectable’ family to have a daughter with two illegitimate children living in the house with them.
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Gadget on Saturday 24 February 18 08:35 GMT (UK)
Hi

My 2 x grt grandmother had a sister named Johan(n)a (b. Kirkcudbrightshire)  but was down on censuses as Jo/Joan and female. It took me ages to find her baptism and follower her through marriage and death. 

What is your last 'sighting'  of Johana/Johanna?

Gadget

Added - I have her up to the 1901 census
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: *Sandra* on Saturday 24 February 18 08:40 GMT (UK)
Could this be the family you refer to  ???

1901 10 Windmill St Edinburgh Buccleuch Midlothian

John Whitson   62 Clerk of City Market.
Barbara Whitson   64
Janet Duff Whitson   31 Envelope Marker.
Thomas Duff Whitson   29 Spirit Merchant Assistant
Johann Whitson   12 Granddaughter born Penicuik, Edinburgh

Johan Whitson - F - 1888 - 697/ 143 - Penicuik


Sandra
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Gadget on Saturday 24 February 18 08:41 GMT (UK)
Yes - that's the family I've found.

Don't see a death though.
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: AsH62 on Saturday 24 February 18 08:56 GMT (UK)
Good morning Sandra and gadget
Thanks for the reply.
Yes that is the right family I last saw her in the 1901 census that you have found where her grandfather had left the police and was a city clerk. After that I haven’t found anything, marriage, travel, death ...
I am kicking myself for not realising until I got back from Scotland, I wasted ages trying to find Johan/John/Jo ...
In the 1901 census it gives her father as Thoma Duff Whitson but he was her uncle.
It’s an unusual name and an unusual situation so I really want to unravel it.
Alison x
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Gadget on Saturday 24 February 18 08:57 GMT (UK)
Did you find the rest of the family on 1911?
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: *Sandra* on Saturday 24 February 18 09:17 GMT (UK)
John Whitson (widowed)and Thomas D are together in 1911 - 15 Gardners Cres.
Barbara Whitson passed away 1908

Barbara Whitson  - 72 years -  1908 - 685/4 643 - St Giles

Sandra
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Gadget on Saturday 24 February 18 09:22 GMT (UK)
Any sign of Barbara, jnr?  I think I found Janet.

I'm wondering if Johana reverted to her putative fathre's surname. It was fairly common in Scotland.
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Forfarian on Saturday 24 February 18 10:05 GMT (UK)
Have you looked for her as Joan/Joanna/Joanne?

Quote
the police inspector was even a witness on one of the birth certificates
Unless the person registering the birth was unable to write and signed the certificate with an 'x', witnesses do not feature on Scottish birth certificates. Do you mean that the birth was registered by the baby's grandfather?

Quote
In the 1901 census it gives her father as Thoma Duff Whitson but he was her uncle.
No. The census says that she was the granddaughter of the head of the household, John Whitson. It says nothing about her relationship to Barbara, Janet or Thomas.
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: AsH62 on Saturday 24 February 18 11:00 GMT (UK)
Hi. I found the widowed John and his son in 1911 but I have got Barbara senior's death certificate from Scotlands People in 1908 at 10 Brighton Street, Edinburgh, the witness was her husband and she was 80 years old.
When you talk about her father's 'putative' name, I assume you mean the surname of the biological father? That would make sense but I don't know if it is possible to trace that.
I have just had another look at the 1901 census, the Ancestry transcription gives Thomas Duff Whitson as her father but that could just be Ancestry!
I wrote down the details of Barbara junior's death at the archives hoping it would give her father but the space for both parents was left blank. She died in 19896 27th March in Edinburgh, her usual address was 2 West Newington Place gardens. The odd thing was that the death certificate gave the witness as her 'son' Jo Whitson of the same address.
BTW you are quite right, the death was registered by her grandfather, he wasn't a witness.
This is looking more complicated by the hour
Alison
 
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: AsH62 on Saturday 24 February 18 11:02 GMT (UK)
I should have added that Barbara was single when she died in 1986 and so the son is another bit of the mystery
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: *Sandra* on Saturday 24 February 18 11:15 GMT (UK)
Think AsH62 rfers to this on the 1901 census............anc version

Name Johann Whitson
Age 12
Estimated birth year abt 1889
Relationship Grandaughter (Granddaughter)
Father's name Thomas Duff Whitson
Where born Penicuik, Edinburghshire

Sandra
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Forfarian on Saturday 24 February 18 11:47 GMT (UK)
I have just had another look at the 1901 census, the Ancestry transcription gives Thomas Duff Whitson as her father but that could just be Ancestry!
Yes, it is Ancestry making unwarranted assumptions. They have a habit of doing that. Never, ever, trust anything you find on Ancestry (or any similar web site) unless it is an image of an original document.

Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Forfarian on Saturday 24 February 18 11:50 GMT (UK)
I wrote down the details of Barbara junior's death at the archives hoping it would give her father but the space for both parents was left blank. She died in 19896 27th March in Edinburgh, her usual address was 2 West Newington Place gardens. The odd thing was that the death certificate gave the witness as her 'son' Jo Whitson of the same address.

Quote
I should have added that Barbara was single when she died in 1986 and so the son is another bit of the mystery
Not really - probably another illegitimate birth.
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: AsH62 on Saturday 24 February 18 11:56 GMT (UK)
True and the closer we get to the current date the more cautious I am about upsetting people. It is just the frustration of Johana disappearing completely and my idiocy in spending precious days at the archives following the wrong gender!
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Gadget on Saturday 24 February 18 12:01 GMT (UK)
Have you found Barbara, jnr, on the 1911 census?

add - a quick search doesn't find her. Could she and Johanna (variations) bee in same place?
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: AsH62 on Saturday 24 February 18 12:05 GMT (UK)
Good point, no I haven't but I will have a look now.
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Gadget on Saturday 24 February 18 12:06 GMT (UK)
Have you found Barbara, jnr, on the 1911 census?

add - a quick search doesn't find her. Could she and Johanna (variations) be in same place?

Just added this
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: AsH62 on Saturday 24 February 18 12:12 GMT (UK)
I can't find either of them in 1911, there is a Johanna Whitson in Edinburgh of the right age but she is with her parents so it's not the right one. Now that I look at it, their mother isn't anywhere in 1911...
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: *Sandra* on Saturday 24 February 18 12:12 GMT (UK)


No luck here, had a few attempts this morning  :-\

Sandra
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Gadget on Saturday 24 February 18 12:16 GMT (UK)
I did find a possible Janet - will have to go and look back at my images. I did a search for a Bar* (4-7) with a Jo* and surname * in Midlothian and it came up with 4 possibles - one in Newington - surname Allan, I think.
I've not tried a Janet (variations) with a Ba* yet.
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Gadget on Saturday 24 February 18 12:21 GMT (UK)
This was the nearest to Janet. Age a bit out but...:
1911
17 Craigmillar P(l or k?), Newington
Eliza J Archibald, 64
Minnie Ingranm, serv, 21
Janet, Whitson, ser, 50, companion, b. Edinburgh

Sun is shinning right on laptop screen  :(
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: AsH62 on Saturday 24 February 18 12:21 GMT (UK)
Thanks for looking Sandra
That sounds incredible gadget - I know that it is possible to do wild card things like this but it is beyond my abilities at the moment.
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Gadget on Saturday 24 February 18 12:26 GMT (UK)
I think you might have missed the Janet entry that I put up, as we posted same time - what do you think:

This was the nearest to Janet. Age a bit out but...:
1911
17 Craigmillar P(l or k?), Newington
Eliza J Archibald, 64
Minnie Ingranm, serv, 21
Janet, Whitson, ser, 50, companion, b. Edinburgh

Sun is shinning right on laptop screen  :(
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: AsH62 on Saturday 24 February 18 12:27 GMT (UK)
Something to go on! thank you I will have a look at this straight away and see if I can find any links to the family or her history.
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Gadget on Saturday 24 February 18 13:13 GMT (UK)
Do you know of any relatives that they might have stayed with or, sometimes, the Poor Houses used just initials. Sad.

Once, while doing a look up, I found a possible death registration with just the initials.
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: AsH62 on Saturday 24 February 18 13:19 GMT (UK)
I'm going to work up the details of all of Janet's siblings and see if I can work out where everyone was. For some reason she has got under my skin and I want to record her, i get like this with people in my tree who were outsiders. The workhouse is a good thought, if sad.
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Gadget on Saturday 24 February 18 14:05 GMT (UK)
Another possible:
Passengers leaving the UK:

15 August 1909 - ship California: depart Glasgow to New York - J B Watson, 23. Female. Occupation - Domestic Servant

I've not checked US records - Sandra might have some sources that I don't.

Gadget
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: Gadget on Saturday 24 February 18 14:10 GMT (UK)
Found a marriage of a Joanna Whitson to a Robert Hellwig - 5 Jan 1909 Warren County , Indiana

 :(  Wrong parents and birthplace
Title: Re: Johana Whitson
Post by: AsH62 on Saturday 24 February 18 14:28 GMT (UK)
Bother, it's such an unusual name that you'd think it must be the right one!