McKechnie - Death 1853 - may interest some one

[Murphyz]

May be of interest to some one, but may not, I am having a clear out of some scribbled notes -

From the Glasgow Saturday Post October 1853

"The wreck of the Annie Jane - We regret to learn that a family belonging to Sneddon Street, Paisley, of the name of McKechnie, consisting of a wife and five children were all lost in this ill-fated vessel. Mrs McKechnie was on her way to Quebec to join her husband who has been sometime in Canada."

Doesn't give any other details of the wife or childrens' names.

[kahu]

I'm wondering if anyone has a lead on who this family might be?  My interest is a possible connection with my own McKechnie ancestors who had relatives in New Sneddon Street, Paisley around the time of this tragedy.

I have not found a passenger list for the 'Annie Jane', only a list of survivors from The Times Digital Archive.

I also cannot see a likely family in Seddon Street in the 1851 Census (not helped by FindMyPast putting most of Paisley in Greenock).  However there is this family in New Sneddon Street in the 1841 census:

McKechnie, Daniel      age 50  b Scotland
     "          Isobella          35          "
     "          William           15     Renfrewshire
     "          Daniel              6           "
     "          Isobella          10           "
     "          Alexander       10 mths   "

I cannot find this family in later census.  Nor can I find a record of Daniel & Isobella's marriage or children's births, which might help identify them.

The reason that I am wondering about a possible connection with my McKechnie family is that in 1841 the above family are living next door to my 3xgt grandfather's brother and sister, Daniel and Mary Mckechnie.  This Daniel and Mary both recorded age 50 but from other records they were in their 60's.

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who might be able to shed light on either the family lost on the 'Annie Jane' (wrecked on Barra Head 29 September 1853 with loss of 348 souls) or the family living in New Sneddon street in the 1841 census.

My McKechnies were originally from Islay.

Bob   

[Vatersay]

The names of the children were Catherine, Jessie, Mary, Eliza and Malcolm sorry no name was given for the mother. Hope this is of help. I to trawled Sneddon St to no avail.
But I found an article in one newspaper giving the children's names.

Regards Allan

[ev]

Hi all ,

From Allan's information I wonder if this is the family in 1851(FreeCEN) ? -
9 Kiln Lane , Paisley , Renfrewshire
Malcome McKechnie 35
Janet McKechnie 34
Katherin McKechnie 11
Mary McKechnie 9
Jessy McKechnie 7
Elizabeth McKechnie 3
Malcome McKechnie 4m



ev

[Rosinish]

A possible marriage......

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XYQC-QNB

There are others but this one was closest in terms for the age of Katherin as eldest child.

Annie

[Vatersay]

Hello all

Thanks for that, never knew about this site but I can see it's going to be useful.
That looks like a perfect match.
The reason for my interest is I am trying to make a list of the survivors and all the casualties on the Annie Jane shipwreck in 1853 . I have 103 survivors names and the names of 306 of those lost in that tragedy though by contemporary accounts there could have been close to 400. Will be posting them online on a website soon. I am looking for places of origin, ages etc and also any information about where the survivors ended up.Its to big a job for one man with the bulk being  Irish emigrants also Scottish, English, German and Swiss/French so I will be appealing for help to finish this project.
I will add the children's ages to my list.

Regards Allan

[kahu]

Thank you Allan, Ev and Annie.  That does look like the right family in Kiln Lane 1851.  I seemed to have completely missed this family in the 1851 census and will explore further as 'Malcome' the father is a good age match for my gggrandmother's brother Malcolm born Middle Parish Paisley 12 January 1815.  I have found nothing more for him and thought he might have died young.

I had concluded (maybe prematurely) there was no connection with my McKechnies when I found this family tree, suggesting it was a different family on the 'Annie Jane'
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dalmanic&id=I106424
which appears to be this family at 8 Espedair Street in 1851:
William McKechnie 35
Jane                     33
James         "         10
Margaret     "          8
Janet          "          6
William       "          4
Andrew       "          2

Also William 20, Jean 20 and James 1 in Stock Street 1841 (and no known connection with my family).

However these are different children from those found by Allan.  Hmmm

The Kiln Lane family has to be the more credible given the children's names an exact match with the newspaper article.  Can you give me a link to that please Allan, or send me a copy?

Anyway great work all.  I will look closer at this family.

Thanks again.

Regards
Bob

[kahu]

Well one thing leads to another and it does seem reasonably likely that this is my gggrandmother's brother Malcolm's family.

Firstly, the 1951 census records the Kiln Lane Malcolm's occupation as "Shawl Manufacturer employing 25 men and ??5G", a similar occupation to two of my Malcolm's brothers and also his father, who all seem to have been reasonably successful in the weaving industry.

This seems to be the same family in the 1841 census, living in McFarlane's Lane:
Malcome McKetchine   25  Silk HLW
Janet             "             25
Janet             "               4
Cathrine        "               1

Daughter Janet is not with them in 1851 so maybe died or is living somewhere else.  However her birth around 1837 ties in well with the 1836 marriage found by Annie.

The second discovery is a cemetery record for a Malcolm McKechnie in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada giving birth Jan 13, 1815 Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland.  That's only one day after my Malcolm's birth date!

Family links included for the Sherbrooke Malcolm are wife Jean Younie and seven children with births starting from 1856.  If this is the same Malcolm, it appears he remarried about two years after the loss of his first family.

The 1881 Canada census records what appears to be the same family in Sherbrooke with some additional children's names and the older ones seem to have left home.  Malcolm's occupation is recorded as Merchant.

Lastly, there is a Malcolm McKechnie age 37 Trader a passenger on the 'Corra Linn' ex Glasgow arriving New York 10 March 1853.  That would tie in with Malcolm being in Quebec sometime before the departure of his family (assuming again it's the same one).

None of this is unequivocal, but it certainly seems a strong possibility that the Malcolm in Sherbrooke is my gggrandmother's brother and possibly the husband/father of the unfortunate family on the 'Annie Jane'.  I will dig some more and see if I can find Malcolm's marriage or death record in Quebec that might record his parents name.

Many thanks Allan, Ev and Annie.  This has really got the ball rolling again

Regards
Bob
 

[kahu]

Update.  Found the marriage and burial records for Malcolm McKechnie in Sherbrooke, Quebec.  Unfortunately neither document records the names of his parents, but the marriage record does say he was a Widower.  Another tick.

So I think we are on reasonably solid ground with the Kiln Lane family Allen.  Not a thing is inconsistent except for that other family tree, mentioned earlier, suggesting it was a different family on the 'Annie Jane'

As an aside, I also found a probable sister of my Malcolm and gggrandmother in Canada, Jane/Jean McKechnie m Robert Greenwood appears to have emigrated with at least one child in 1854.  Her death record in Ontario has same parents names and age and birthplace are consistent with other records.

Bob