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Messages - ruthhelen

Pages: [1] 2 3 4 ... 45
1
Aberdeenshire / Re: Im at a crossroads perhaps dead end and need help
« on: Friday 19 January 24 18:11 GMT (UK)  »
Strange how shes taken her maiden name back (which i doubt a wife would do if husband died)

That's not uncommon in Scotland - women aren't required to give up their maiden names on marriage, so you often see widows using their maiden names after their husbands die. You'll also see married women referred to as 'Firstname MaidenName or MarriedName' on most legal records in Scotland.

Ruth

2
Aberdeenshire / Re: Mary Ann Berry ( M.S Riach )
« on: Tuesday 09 January 24 18:16 GMT (UK)  »
I can't find the mysterious Mary Ann Riach either, but a couple of other discoveries which may help (or not!).

On Thomas Berry's death registration, there is no mention of him being married to Mary Ann Riach (although he definitely was - 16 Sep 1911, so after the 1911 census), only to Isabella Robb Strachan (who he married in 1898 in Aberdeen, and divorced in 1908 - there is an RCE against the marriage to this effect) and Elizabeth Smith (married in 1931 in St Fergus). His death was registered by a friend, rather than family - although his wife, Elizabeth Smith was seemingly still alive.

On his 1911 marriage to Mary Ann Riach, he says he's a widower, but that may not have been true - Isabella Robb Strachan remarried in Edinburgh in 1908 to James Galt. Can't immediately see a death for her though.

There's no record of a divorce between Thomas Berry and Mary Ann Riach, so I wonder if the reason he married Elizabeth Smith in 1931 - apparently after the birth of their two children - was that he was still technically married to Mary Ann Riach? He and Elizabeth Smith appear to be living as if married in the 1921 census in St Fergus (along with their eldest daughter Margaret Elizabeth Patricia Berry, who was born in 1918).

Although, as I say, I can't see an obvious additional marriage or death for Mary Ann Riach to confirm or deny that theory...

Ruth

3
Scotland / Re: Advice regarding 2 websites with indexes from NRS
« on: Sunday 05 November 23 13:34 GMT (UK)  »
Scottish Indexes is run by husband and wife genealogists Graham and Emma Maxwell, who are based in central Scotland. I've not used their paid-for services, but they've been running a regular series of free online genealogy conferences since the first Covid lock-down - the next one is on 25 November. Very helpful and informative.

Ruth

4
Scotland / Re: Adopted Children's Names Disclosed on Scotland's People
« on: Thursday 10 August 23 11:32 BST (UK)  »
As I understand it, prior to the last major update of the Scotland's People website, records that had 'NRH' as the RD Name (indicating that they were records of adoptees) didn't appear in the index, but after that update, they did - until yesterday, when they were removed again.

Ruth

5
Aberdeenshire / Re: Thomas Milne and his wife Janet (Jessie ) Henderson Burial
« on: Tuesday 25 July 23 09:12 BST (UK)  »
Thankyou for your reply, i have searched on Find a Grave and Billions of Graves and can't find anything about them.

The reference I gave you was from the index to the Aberdeen & North East Scotland Family History Society (ANESFHS) memorial inscriptions booklets, which you can view here: https://anesfhs.org.uk/databanks/memorial-inscriptions/miindex

The booklets are available to order from the ANESFHS website.

Ruth

6
Aberdeenshire / Re: Thomas Milne and his wife Janet (Jessie ) Henderson Burial
« on: Tuesday 25 July 23 07:18 BST (UK)  »
Looks like they are buried in Insch, although Jessie's date of death has been transcribed as 1869, rather than 1889 in the ANESFHS index - if you have the death registrations, you will be able to confirm the dates.

Kirkyard of Insch
Stone: 242

Jessie Henderson 11 Oct 1869
Thomas Milne 6 Mar 1872

Ruth

7
Scotland / Re: James Ramsay and Ann Low, Catholics brick wall
« on: Sunday 02 July 23 09:09 BST (UK)  »
Possible 1841 census for Ann Low
https://www.freecen.org.uk/search_records/5a149f10f4040b9d6e9bf41f/anne-low-1841-fife-dysart-1822-?locale=en

AND

1851 census backstreet Pathhead, Dysart
Ann Law 59 weaveress, born Cockpen Edinburgh
Margaret Law 16 daughter weaveress, born Dysart
William Black 8 grandson, born Dysart

Possible birth for Margaret LOW born 26/8/1834, baptised 8/ 5 /1836 in Dysart - daughter of John Low and Anne Honeyman

If that's the correct Low family, then it looks like our Ann Low was married previously - the grandson William Black is the son of William Black tin plate worker and Ann Low. William Black and Ann Low were married on 17 July 1841 in Dysart. Their son William was born about 1843, although there is no baptism that I can see.

William Black junior married Mary Ann Thomson in Tain in 1870. He was a stone mason and then superintendent of the water works at Edinburgh. He died in 1911.

On his marriage record, his parents are noted as William Black, tin plate worker (dec) and Ann Low (dec).

So, time for a bit of speculation  ;D

If this is the right Ann Low, did her first husband die and then she took up with James Ramsay? If that's the case, then it seems probable that James Ramsay, aged 10, who appears with the family in 1851, is actually the son of James Ramsay's first wife Catherine Wilson, who died in 1841. And Ann left her son, William Black to be raised by his grandmother?

Still doesn't help with finding a death for Ann Low. She was still alive in 1866 when her son David died in Alyth. If we are to believe William Black's marriage registration in 1870, she was dead by then. Her mother, Ann Low (nee Honeyman) died in 1870 in Leslie, Fife.

Ruth

8
Scotland / Re: James Ramsay and Ann Low, Catholics brick wall
« on: Sunday 02 July 23 07:07 BST (UK)  »

Do you have a death certificate for James Ramsay?
There is a death registration in Alyth 1859 for a James Ramsay (age 61 – mother Briscoe)

Have you found a death for the mother Ann Low? I didn’t see one, either.
If that is James death in 1859, I wonder if she married again? She would only have been in her late 30s, and if so her death may have been recorded under another surname.

I thought that might be him - but it's a different James Ramsay.

Ruth

9
Scotland / Re: James Ramsay and Ann Low, Catholics brick wall
« on: Sunday 02 July 23 06:39 BST (UK)  »
I'm not sure you're going to find a marriage for James Ramsay and Ann Low - or baptisms for their children - as it looks likely they weren't married.

This does appear to be them in 1851 in Dundee Road, Forfar:

James Ramsay, head, 50, handloom weaver, Dysart, Fife
Ann Ramsay, wife, 31, winder, Dysart, Fife
James Ramsay, son, 10, scholar, Dysart, Fife
Ann Ramsay, daughter, 6, scholar, Dysart, Fife
David Ramsay, son, 1, Forfar, Angus

I haven't had any luck tracking down a death for James Ramsay senior, Ann Low or James Ramsay junior. However, David Ramsay died aged 15 in 1866 in Alyth, Perthshire. On the death record he is described as illegitimate, with James Ramsay (deceased) being the 'reputed father' - the record was signed by Ann Low, mother.

Ruth

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