Thomas Shanks & Sarah Fleming/Fleeting Black

[matt muir]

Hi Amanda

Thank you for this - the info that I had been given regarding the children must have come from the list as it is exactly the same.

The origins of their parents Thomas & Sarah remains a bit of a mystery. I had been told that Thomas was buried in Portpatrick in 1865 and that his eldest son, also Thomas, is buried with him.  Sometime after this Sarah moved to Glasgow where she died in 1889.

The 1841 census for Mount Pleasant, Stranraer may hold a clue as it states that 'Dolly Shank 69 b. Ireland' was living with them.  It occurred to me that she may be Thomas' mother although I had been told that his parents were likely to have been Thomas Shanks & Martha Arlow/Arlour.  Presumably Dolly either died or moved away between the 1841 &1851 census.

Regards

Andrew

Re the above post, i have just found a MI for Portpatrick Old Kirkyard that relates to Thomas & his son, it reads as follows......
Sacred to the Memory of Thomas SHANKS late Merchant Stoneykirk who died
17th April 1865 aged 56 years.
Also his son Thomas SHANKS who died 14th August 1868 aged 38 years.
Hope this helps.
Rgds Matt

[andrew shanks]

Matt,

Thank you for this.  Since my original post in 2005 a lot of info has come to light and the MI that you quote is the correct one.

Regards