Help....can't find James Currie's mother!

[carolineasb]

Hi all,

Yes, jennywren001, I managed to find that the James Currie married to Margaret Sharkie/Sharkey died in 1901 and his DC states only his mother and that she was Margaret Currie subsequently married to John Marr.  I note that their marriage took place in 1864 when young James Currie would have been about 4.

Carolineasb

[kshaw]

That's Crazy! So in other words Margaret CURRIE had James before she married, who knows if John was his father or not...I'm guessing more likely not...than since he John MARR was no longer alive, Margaret and James told a little 'white lie' switching the surnames so her's matched his....and pressto changeho... he wasn't illegitimate!

Now going to see if I can find the records to match this...crazy tale! Thank you so much All... can you send me the DC you found Carolineasb??

[carolineasb]

Sorry to say that my IT skills are not up to managing to send that to you but it is on SP.

Also, everbody seems to think that illegitimacy is a modern thing, and I've found that it is most definitely not! From the gap between James' birth and Margaret's marriage, I would say that it is unlikely though, of course, still possible that John was James father.  I suppose the next place to look would be the 1861 Census.

[jennywren001]

Hi All,
I think what I'd do next is check the 71 census to put James and mother together...check his age/place of birth. Then I'd revisit the BCs...armed with a more accurate birth year. I see three where it looks like no father listed for a James Currie born to a Margaret Currie.  After that I'd root around and see who was living with whom....
Good luck
Jen

[kshaw]

where are the three located? I'm going to have a look on familysearch right now....don't have a sub at the moment, I wasn't using it enough...and I couldn't figure this mess out! lol

[kshaw]

Thank you Everyone!

As it turns out James Currie's mother was Margaret Currie and he was born with no father in 1858, She than 2 Aug 1864 married a man called John Marr and gave birth to their first child 29 Dec 1864. Margaret has her age listed in 1881 as 35 which means that she was just 14 when she had James... It looks like she told one other lie... on James MC in 1874 he's listed as 18, on his DC in 1901 he's listed as 41....about 2 years out... so I'm guessing that she lied and about his year of birth to make her age when he arrived a bit better.

I can now fill in this branch of the tree....I must admit this is one of the craziest I've run into!! Thank you again all for the help!

[ecksdochter]

Hello kshaw,
     Found this 1901 Census on Ancestry. I think the name is a transcription error and you should be able to check it on SP.
          Margaret Cunie  41
          Neil Cunie         15
          Elizabeth Cunie  12
          Mary Cunie        10
          John Cunie          8
          Robina Cunie       6
          William Cunie      4
          Walter Cunie       2
          Agnes Fraser     16 (Other Relative)
          Margaret Green  62
          James Saylor     15 (Boarder)
     All born Glasgow, Lanarkshire. Address is: Belvidere Ave. Civil Parish: Camlachie, Glasgow.
     From the age of the youngest child, Walter, that narrowed James' death down to 1898-1901. The only James Currie death found on SP in the Glasgow area in that time was the 1901 death at Dennistoun already mentioned in a post. James Currie with Marr entered in the 'Other Name' box came up a match. Leave you to check that out on SP.
     Good Luck with your search.
               Regards,     Dod.

[Forfarian]

Also, everbody seems to think that illegitimacy is a modern thing, and I've found that it is most definitely not!

Anything but. T C Smout wrote in his A Century of the Scottish People, "[In] the 1850s, the Registrar-General for Scotland published, for the first time, the statistics of illegitimate births. These showed three salient and remarkable features. First, illegitimacy was higher in Scotland than in England and most of Europe. Second, it was generally higher in the countryside than in the towns, which was unusual in a European context. Lastly, it was very much higher in some parts of the countryside than in others. In 1861-5, for example, the proportion of illegitimate births was 16.6 per cent in Banffshire compared to 4.2 per cent in Ross and Cromarty ...."

[kshaw]

Hello ecksdochter

I now have James's DC from SP... thank you, that was the document that finally confirmed that there was no John Currie & Margaret Marr that marriage and had James..... Looks like Margaret did a wee name switch putting her maiden name as her married, and married as maiden name on James's MC. Not sure if this was done to hide that James was born fatherless or was simply a mix up. Seems odd that they would than admit that he was fatherless when he died, if it was a lie.....but the only ones that know that are long gone.

I am now trying to find Miss Margaret Currie with her family in the 1851 census than again in the 1861 .... with her new son James Currie b. 1858 or 1860. That way I can maybe get her parents/ siblings.... maybe her BC and maybe figure out when poor mixed up James was born.

I found a BC that seems to match for James, but it puts his birth in May 1858.... but both other documents put him born in 1860, given her age and the other 'mix ups' she could have lied about his birth year or it was a mistake.... really not sure with this one.

I didn't have a subscription at the moment so I'm trying to figure this out using FS..... not easy.