William Forsyth and Marion Grant of Edinburgh

[Malcolm33]

   I have to have a little chuckle looking at John Grant Piano Maker Foreman in 1851 as my son is John Grant Hutton and he is magic on the keyboard.    His wife Leanne - descendant of the John Grant Piano Maker is a whiz with cake making so that tells me that the two William Forsyth's are connected.

[MonicaL]

Obviously the gene pool is alive and well 

Have to admit I am lost after 1871 in both England and Scotland though. Can't see them after this    Is there anything in William Jnr's registrations in NZ which show how long he had lived in NZ or possible travel dates for him?

I am wondering whether the whole family may have left the UK? Only because I can't see anything more on the censuses really so far...

Monica

[Malcolm33]

Well Allan Forsyth is the expert on the Forsyth Family from the time William appears in NZ, which I understand was about 1886 when he married May Borkoski.  See http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/f/o/r/Allan-Forsyth/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0057.html

  We have searched for shipping details but cannot identify him.   He may have come to OZ first as did so many others I know of, e.g. Benjamin Willis who came to Melbourne then turned up in Dunedin for about ten years having been a Ship's Cook in between.  He made a name for himself in Dunedin as a Chef, searching for Gold at the same time.    I see some similarity here and wonder if William Forsyth may have worked on ships and perhaps jumped ship in South Island.

   

[MonicaL]

I am sure you have all looked for shipping entries. I too (for the very little time I have looked) cannot see anything for him either.

Monica

[tidybooks]

Hi All,

I go out to party and come back to find you have had an amazing time, as did I, by the way. Well done, Monica as usual, never far from the scene and it is appreciated, thanks.

Tom

[Malcolm33]

  It certainly is appreciated both of you Tom and Monica.    There are many descendants of this family of William Forsyth and Marion Grant and they are just rapt.  Thank you again.

[tidybooks]

    There is something else which I find quite curious.    In 1881 the 21 year old William Forsyth gives his birth place as 'Haddingtonshire' instead of 'Edinburgh' or 'Midlothian' as in earlier census.  But Haddingtonshire was the name for the Royal Borough of Haddington before 1921 which is some 20 miles east of Edinburgh.
    It is possible that Marion was at Haddington when William was born, but I then thought that there was another explanation, because the 16 year old William Forsyth Father who was the 'baker' was living at 7 Haddington Place in Edinburgh in 1851 which was so very close to where Marion Grant was living.
    I have a vague feeling that I spotted Haddington somewhere else - maybe in the shipping lists so I'll just have to go through those again.

Hi all,

Another thing about Haddington, there were many breweries in the town and surrounding area, thrived on all the locally produced crops. Will try and find any William Forsyths connected there.

Just had another look at the 1881 census, it is not the 21yo William Forsyth that gives Haddingtonshire but his spouse Margaret, and that is from the family of bakers not brewers.

Tom

[MonicaL]

Just as additional info.

I think the Alexander and John who you found Malcolm in that 1871 entry in Bermondsey area in London were very likely twins.....just in case it went on to run in the family!

Alexander A Forsyth
John G(? maybe for Grant) Forsyth

References for both births are the same: 2nd Qrt 1866 Bermondsey, London. Volume 1d, page 103....but would need to be confirmed.

The address for the family in 1871 is 8 Black Raven Court. This is smack in the historic area of the City of London. Lots of references to various Black Raven Court/Passage/Alley etc going back centuries. To add some atmosphere  , an image of Black Raven Alley http://rbkclocalstudies.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/black-raven-alley.jpg (main site here http://rbkclocalstudies.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/dark-citylondon-in-the-30s/). Black Ravens (as in the birds, and is there any other colour apart from black  ) are part of the history and folklore of the Tower of London, in the City.

Anyhow....still no trace of the family after 1871 

Monica

[MonicaL]

Think I might have found something that adds to the probability that William, Marion and children left the UK.

I found entries for the Australian Electoral Rolls for a John Grant Forsyth in Queensland between 1925-49.

A search here for deaths - www.bdm.qld.gov.au/IndexSearch/querySubmit.m?ReportName=DeathSearch shows:

John Grant Forsyth died in 1953. Ref: C3730
Parents William Forsyth and Marion Grant.

Added: found an online tree for William Jnr which quotes from his death cert on 7 April 1950 as stating that William had lived in NZ for 75 years, taking the family's arrival to mid 1870s?

Monica