Agnes Hendry Kerr Smith 1895 Larbert mystery.

[creamolafoam]

Hi
Can anyone help?  Agnes Hendry Kerr Smith was my Great Aunt.  Have been told she may have been drowned at sea but can find no death record for her on Scotlands people or ancestry? Last record of her was on the 1911 census for Larbert and she was aged 15 and working at Carron Iron Works (brick making).She was born in Larbert on December 12th at 108 West Carron. Her father Thomas Smith worked there also and her mother's name was Sarah Ballantine. She had brothers and sisters who I have various BMD's for over the years but cannot find a marriage or death record for Agnes.  They moved to Fife as a family in 1920's but nothing on Agnes. What newspaper could I check for an article if she did drown, and would she be likely to have a MI in local graveyard ? If so which one would it likely be in?  There is no mention of her on her parents headstone in Fife. Thanks creamolafoam

[portybelle]

The Scotsman does have archive material although it is pay per view.

Where about in Fife did they move to? One of the other rootschatters (NorrieG I think)  has lots of MI info and photos. If you look in the Fife forum you'll find his threads and maybe one of those might help.

If she died at sea, there may not be a record or grave if the body wasn't recovered.

[Seoras]

Hi creamolafoam,I presume you have checked the two Agnes Smith marriages in Larbert in 1918.One to a James Allan and one to a James McCrindle.

[creamolafoam]

Hi Seoras

Yes I did check out the McCrindle and Allan marriages to AGNES SMITH 1918.   McCCRINDLE marriage has wrong parents for her. (A James Smith and Isabella Crawford).... However on double checking the JAMES ALLAN marriage to AGNES SMITH I have discovered it is showing the MCCRINDLE image view again and not the ALLAN marriage so there appears to be an indexing mistake. I have informed Scotlandspeople today and await their reply. How I missed that first time around I don't know.  Still might not be her though as I am not sure where, when and or how she drowned? Thanks 

[Seoras]

I had one where the wrong image opened.SP were very good and sent me the correct one.Good luck with it.

[creamolafoam]

Hi Seoras

SP got back to me very quickly on this and both the records are linked due to step parents. James McCrindle and James Allan are one and the same.  If you check out 'what's in the database' it explains that they record all details.  So both images are different.  Not for our Agnes H K Smith though .  Alas it isn't her .They were very good and offered me my credits back as I hadn't realised the procedure but it was more that I had hoped there had been an error which had an answer for me. thanks

[Alison Fair]

Hi there, Agnes Hendry Kerr (married name Smith) was my great great grandmother.  Her husband was Thomas Smith and they married 30/12/1870 at Greenock east.  Thomas Smith was a watchmaker, and Agnes was a millener.  Agnes's mum was Catherine Kerr m.n McArthur and her dad Stewart Kerr who was a teacher.

Agnes and Thomas Smith's son was Thomas Smith and he married Sarah Ballantine.  They stayed in east Adam St Edinburgh.  Their daughter was Mary Ann Mcknight Smith and she was my father's mother.  My father was Thomas Smith Brown.

Would love to hear from you!!

[creamolafoam]

Hi Alison Good to hear from you! We seem to be from the same family as Thomas Smith and Sarah Ballantine were also my great grandparents. Their son, also Thomas Smith was my grandfather and Mary Anne McKnight Smith's brother. He married Alice Bonthron. One of their sons,John Bonthron Smith is my father. He was a few years younger than the two Brown boys and remembers them being called in for their violin lesson  when they came down to Ninelums in Burntisland to visit their Aunty Jane (Jean Ballantine Smith,married name Birrell.) and grandparents Tom and Sarah Smith who lived there too back then. Do you know what happened to your gran's sister,Agnes Henry Kerr Smith(named after her grandmother)?  Family story has it that she may have drowned? I have a marriage for her to a William Preston when she was 21 years old but after that no trace. Do you have a Family Tree on Ancestry? If you send a request to view it I will open it for you. My Dad has one he has started and I think it is a public tree. Love to hear any thing we could share on the family from your line. Can pm you some info and photos if you like as we have been in contact with other family members within last few years.  Carol

[Alison Fair]

WOW!! Thanks so much for replying.  That's fascinating.   So your dad and my dad were cousins?  I remember as a child coming to Burntisland to visit.  I have a photo of me and my mum and dad on a beach with a little boy who looks about 3 years old with red curly hair.  The photo must have been taken about 40 years ago because I look about 7 years in the pic.  Im new to this sight and unsure how to post things.  All my family tree stuff is stuck in a folder in no particular order...I really need to work out a filing system..lol!.

Btw I didn't know my gran Mary Ann had a sister Agnes Hendry Kerr.  I only knew of the one further back in the tree (your dad's grt gran). I will ask my brother if he knows any stories of drownings.

I would love to see your photos and other stuff.  I will try to post this photo that I have to you too  and see if you know who the young boy is.  Im guessing he was my dad's Auntie Jean's grandson.

Apparently my dad hated the violin and ive heard my grandfather (Andrew Brown)was quite cruel to the boys, hence the reason my dad joined the merchant navy at the age of 15 yrs.  Anyway will leave this for another time.  Will speak soon.  Alison