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Topics - GordonD

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The Lighter Side / Finally found them!

« on: Wednesday 04 April 07 13:18 BST (UK) »

I'd had some trouble locating John and Georgina Tripney and their children on the 1881 census but finally found them and felt like sharing it!!

I was pretty sure that they should be in New Monkland in Lanarkshire and the surname has been spelt various ways so used wildcards on Scotlandspeople that I thought would cover it. I couldn't find anything that matched. I knew that James was born in West Lonrigg, New Monkland in 1879 and that from the time of the birth of Peter in 1883 to the 1890s they lived in Auchingray, New Monkland so was convinced they should still be in New Monkland but kept the search wider than that. Trying to search for Auch*ngray as an address didn't find them. Wasn't sure how to locate them as the serch required a surname or address.

I tried a couple of variants on Ancestry but couldn't locate them. This morning I decided to searched for John with spouse Georgina on Ancestry and found a John and Georgina Treppenny at 16 Auchngray Rows. That was them definitely them ast their ages, names and ages of the 3 sons they had at that point and all the birthplaces matched.

The Treppenny spelling should have been picked up with the wildcards that I used on SP so was puzzled as to why couldn't find them there. Auchngray Row as on ancestry didn't pick up anything on the address. Auch*ngray Row was only picking up housenumbers 2 and 3 on the search. Used the "see others on page" tool on Ancestry to pick someone with an easier surname on their page to look for them on SP.Found that number 14 Auchingray was spelt Auclingray on the transcription on Scotlandspeople. Searching for 16 Auchlingray Row brought up the family of John and Georgina McPenny and sons.

Don't know which of the transcriptions is closer to how Tripney was spelt on the census as getting the original image is not that easy for the Scottish 1881 as for the others(should hopefully get up to the Mitchell later in the year where I can view it on microfilm rather than paying £10 for an extract from SP).

Finding them doesn't solve any other mysteries just completes the data for these ancestors.

Has anybody else tracked down anybody elusive lately?

Gordon

The Common Room / Archaic Medical Terms Website

« on: Tuesday 10 October 06 13:18 BST (UK) »

Has anybody been onto Paul Smith's Archaic Medical Terms website(http://www.paul_smith.doctors.org.uk/ArchaicMedicalTerms.htm) recently?
Have found this site really helpful in the past but when I tried to access it today it says that the website is unavailable. Does anyone know if it's been moved or deleted?

Gordon

Occupation Interests / Grocer/coalminer

« on: Tuesday 10 October 06 10:26 BST (UK) »

On the 1861 census my ggg grandfather gave his occupation as a grocer and coalminer and this was the same on the 1862 birth cert of his youngest daughter. By 1871 census he is back to being just a coalminer. I was always a little bit puzzled by this but now think I may have a explanation and was wondering if anybody had any thoughts on the likelihood of my new conclusions.

I've been reading a short book about the industrial development of Wishaw, Lanarkshire. In it the author describes how from the big development of the mines in the area in the late 1840s/early 1850s until into the 1870s the miners were often paid only every 5 weeks. People starting a new employment would struggle for cash but they were able to get advances on the pay. Interest was charged on this(normally a shilling for every pound earned) and there was often a percentage of the wage was given in the form of credit in a store run by the mining company and not in cash.

I'm wondering now if the grocer bit of the occupation comes from working in the store run by the mine. Has anyone else come across stores run by the mines?

Gordon

Dumfriesshire / Lochmaben MIs

« on: Thursday 07 September 06 10:44 BST (UK) »

I found an MI for my gggg grandmother who died in 1845 in a book of MIs for Lochmaben that was published in the late 1960s. The entry noted that there were post 1855 inscriptions on the stone. I was wondering if anybody knew of a newer book/internet source that may include the post 1855 inscriptions. I know that the main focus for MIs is those before statuatory registration as often the only source to find a death. The Lanarkshire FHS has started a new range of booklets that include post 1855 MIs and was wondering if there something similar in Dumfries.

I think I know most of the deaths that would be on the stone but was wondering if anything else would be on there that I don't know of.

Gordon

The Common Room / Dealing with multiple spellings of surnames?

« on: Wednesday 06 September 06 11:45 BST (UK) »

I was wondering how people recorded the surnames of ancestors whose surnames varied wildly in spelling when adding them to your tree/writing about them? Particularly for those ancestors who were illiterate and the name spelt the way the registrar/enumerator thought it should be.

If the surname survived in my family to immediate relatives I will generally adopt the spelling used in modern times when writing about people/adding them to the tree but keep a note of the alternatives.

When the surname has died out in the immediate family do people use the spelling which was most frequent, the simplest phonetic spelling or other a different method?

For example the maiden name of Ann Davidson has been spelt 8 ways from different BMD certificates. 3 times it was recorded as Killilea and 3 times it was recorded as Killelea and one occassion each it was as Killalay, Killila, Killale, Killaley, Killala and Killillae.

I've tended to refer to her as Ann Killilea(?) but was wondering how others addressed the problem.

Gordon

Lanarkshire / Advice on deciding if it is the correct marriage

« on: Tuesday 05 September 06 13:29 BST (UK) »

I found a possible marriage between Terrence Cunningham and Mary Campbell in the OPRs a little while ago. It was dated in the register as 20th August 1854 and was between Torrance Cunninghame and Mary Campbell and in the register he was a collier which ties in with the occupation I have for my Terrence. From registration of his children's births Terrence was illiterate(well always made his mark not signed his name) so I feel the difference in spelling doesn't automatically rule it out. Terrence and Mary both from Ireland(Armagh and Derry respectively).

The date of parent's marriage is extremely variable throughout all the birth certs of the children which doesn't really help:

Birth in 1855 : 1854 Glasgow
in 1857 and 59: Not required on certificate
in 1861 : 11 Sep 1854 Glasgow
in 1864 : 31 Dec 1856 Glasgow
in 1866: Jul 1855 Glasgow
in 1868: about Jul 1855 New Dalmarnock Road, Glasgow
in 1869: Jul 1854 St Mary's Chapel, Glasgow
in 1871: about 18 years ago Glasgow
in 1873: about Jul 12 1853 Glasgow
in 1876: Jul 1852 Glasgow
in 1878: 1853 Jul St Mary's Chapel Glasgow

I had been a bit wary of the OPR entry being correct as the 1869 birth cert relates to my Jane Cunningham and generally chapel refers to a RC church.

I further thought that this might be wrong as in the poor relief application Terrence made in 1889 his religion is down as Roman Catholic. From the marriages of the three children who were married at the time of the poor relief application two were married in the Catholic Church and one was married in the Church of Scotland. Jane married later in that year and she was married in the Church of Scotland (although her husband's parents were married in a Presbyterian Church in Antrim). So even if there wasn't a mixed marriage between Mary and Terrence then there were some with their children.

Their first son was born in January 1855 in New Dalmarnock Rd, Bridgeton. While the later marriage dates are variable the one with an exact closest to the time of marriage could tie in with the OPR record(if marriage proclaimed for first time on 20th Aug-although that's not indicated in the entry-, then on the 27 Aug and 3rd Sep and then marrying on the 11th). Taking the one that mentions New Dalmarnock Rd not been able to find a church there. The only Roman Catholic marriages I've looked at in Statuatory Registration have always been in the church(whereas Church of Scotland often outwith the church building) so if it was in New Dalmarnock Road leads to think possibly not RC. There is a St Mary's RC church that opened in 1842 in Abercromby Street closeby. The Tron (St Mary's) church wasn't to far away so that keeps a Church of Scotland possibly there too with the St Mary's connection. Although having said that I'm not sure if the church at the Tron was more popularly referred to as the Tron or Tron(St Mary's). (In the 2nd statistical account of Scotland one of the author's was referred to as Minister of the Tron Church in the list of author's but the poor law district in the parish relating to the Tron was called St Mary's).

Obviously seeing if the relevant parish register is in the National Archives of Scotland and looking for an entry should confirm if there was a Catholic marriage at that time.

Sorry for being longwinded but was wondering if people thought that on the information that I have that I should discard the OPR marriage? Any knowledge on the churches in the Bridgeton area at that time would be good (to rule out/in the Tron or St Mary's RC options) or opinions on how to confirm/rule out the OPR marriage would be very welcome.

Many thanks

Gordon

Ireland / Marriage Cert 1857

« on: Thursday 31 August 06 11:14 BST (UK) »

I've just received a photocopy of a marriage entry from Roscommon from 1857. I'm a bit stuck with a word underneath the entry and was wondering if you could help me. Unfortunately don't have a scanner so can't post it here. Underneath the entry it reads

Married in the 1st Presbyterian Church according to the Form and Discipline of the Presbyterian Church, by ? , by me, D Adams

The underlined bits are where there are handwritten words with the rest being typed. I think that the word that I've indicated by the ? reads license and was wondering if from people's experience of certificates at this time that this word would made sense.

Gordon

Armed Forces / Can anyone tell a regiment?

« on: Tuesday 29 August 06 11:15 BST (UK) »

When my mum and dad were clearing out her aunt's house (the house were my great grandparents also stayed) they came across this picture of a soldier. It is a chalk drawing (think of the people that offer to draw your picture around tourist traps). We're not sure who it is in the picture. Can't find a medal card for Francis(or F) Laughlan (and variant spellings) so don't think it's my g grandfather. Both his and my g grandmother's brothers were too young for the war but was wondering if it could be an uncle as the younger brothers of their parents were born in the late 1880s/early1890s.

As it is a picture the detail on the cap badge is not very good but as a step in trying to find out who was in the picture was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on what they regiment might be?
Also I was wondering if this was a maybe a general picture that people may have bought at the time of a generic soldier and therefore not connected to the family. If connected to the family would have been from the Airdrie area of Lanarkshire if that's any help.

Gordon

Scotland Resources / Gazeteer for Scotland

« on: Sunday 27 August 06 17:21 BST (UK) »

Found a gazeteer for Scotland that gives both a modern description of towns, villages, areas as well as historical descriptions similar to those on Genuki. Also modern photos of many of the areas. The link is:

http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/gaztitle.html

Gordon