A snowy morning here on the West Coast of Scotland. A perfect morning for strong coffee, buttered toast and family history research
Hi Polly,
Just a few comments regarding your last post - then more new info !!!
Firstly regarding remarriage of a widow/ widower - in my personal FH experience and with helping others at Rootschat, I find that people often remarried very swiftly after the death of a partner, especially if there were young children. Widows needed the financial support, widowers needed a child-rearer and housekeeper.
Secondly, I understand your niggling doubt re. Marion Woodburn born 1819 to John Woodburn and Mary Brown being your Marion. Indeed there could have been another 10 Marions born around that time whose births were not recorded on OPRs or the records are lost.
I am positive the Marion Woodburn aged 20 on the 1841 Census is your ancestor - there are not that many Marion Woodburns on the 1841 Census - in fact in the whole of Scotland there are only 3 Marion/Marian Woodburns and they all live in Kilmarnock . One is 45, one is 20 and one is 9.
There is also a Mirron Woodburn aged 9 at Ochiltree Ayrshire.
People's ages on the 1841 Census can be a bit out. Adults had been instructed to round their ages down to the nearest 0 or 5. Some did. Some rounded up. Some ignored the instruction and gave their exact age. But you will find on that Census that most folk are ?0 years or ?5 years .
Thirdly, phew.... your Marion actually may not have known exactly what age she was
. People didn't have birth certificates to prove their age, they were working from a young age and birthdays would be no big deal. It is not unusual for a persons age to vary from record to record and on death records the info is always as good as the knowledge/memory of the person who provided it.
On her death cert in 1908 her age is given as 92 meaning a birth in 1815/1816 (depending on time of year)
On her headstone her age is 90 meaning a birth in 1817/1818.
On the ship to Australia 1848 she is 27 meaning a birth of 1820/1821
On 1841 Census she is 20 ( but that could have been rounded down or up) meaning a birth in 1820/1821.
Marion called her first daughter Mary - there is a very good chance therefore her mother was a Mary - wish there was a birth record for this
Marion called her fourth son John Woodburn McEwin - the use of the surname Woodburn with this son would incline me to think that the forename John was his grandfather's name. She has not used it with 3 earlier sons and she didn't use it again.
Going to split the posts this is one huge reply
Looby