Help to find a Cunningham ancestor.

[MaryThorn]

I'm trying to trace my great grandmothers family in Scotland and I'm at a total loss.

My great grandmother Janet Cunningham, born 1875 is listed as being born at 'woods of Dunmore' in the 1911 census.

She married my great grandfather Watson Oliver Thornton, born 1874 in 1899 in Morpeth, Northumberland.  I can't find them on the 1901 census to see where her birthplace is listed on there.

I know from her marriage certificate that her father was called William Cunningham and that he was a Blacksmith but that's all I know.

Can anyone suggest where I should be looking to find this Cunningham family?

[CaroleW]

Here is the 1901 reference but her birthplace is just shown as Scotland

RG13 Piece 4839 Folio 51 Page 46

Somebody called RainbowRichard has added her maiden name to the 1901 entry so appears to have an interest in the family.  If you have an Ancestry subscription you could contact him

[CaroleW]

Have you checked the Scottish 1881 census for her

 

[CaroleW]

Janet is interchangeable with Jean/Jane etc in Scotland so I wonder if this is a possibility in 1881 but location is Ceres in Fife - everybody born there


William Cunningham   40   Blacksmith Emp, 2 Men
Jane   40
William  17
Eliza  13
Alexander  11
Maggie  8
Jane  6
Euphemia  4
Mary  9 Months
David Nicol   20 blacksmith
Ceres ED 4 Page 6 Line 14

[MaryThorn]

Thanks for the pointers Carole.

I've only done a general Scottish search on the 1881 census because I didn't really know where in Scotland to look.  I can't find where the Woods of Dunmore would be located, I know there is a song about the Woods of Dunmore and also a place name in Ireland but I can't find anything on trusty google as to where it is in Scotland.

It's interesting to hear that Janet is interchangeable with Jane and Jean.  I've found a birth on family search for a Jean Cunningham, father William in Ceres in 1875.

I thought the marriage certificate would give me a bit more information but the names of the witnesses don't give me any new leads.  They are Mary Philis Thornton and Thomas Johnson so doesn't point to any Cunningham family.  This doesn't surprise me as they were married 4 months after their first child was born so they may have been trying to avoid anymore shame.

[Kay99]

This Fife walking group programme makes specific reference to Dunmore and Dunmore Wood??
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01flg/

[MonicaL]

Mary, from all that has been suggested, map here for Dunmore Wood http://canmore.org.uk/site/162461/dunmore-wood-ice-house ...will help likely with general mapping.

My 3xgrandmother was born according to the 1901 census in a sheep fold in Gorsten Fern, Argyll (father Angus was a shepherd). Daft, but with a name of Margaret MacDonald from the Highlands in Glasgow, was the begining of me trying to find her and family 

Monica

[MonicaL]

From Family Search...mother may be Jane/Jean Nairn.

https://familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bsurname%3Acunningham~%20%2Bbirth_place%3Afife~%20%2Bbirth_year%3A1860-1885~%20%2Bfather_givenname%3Awilliam~%20%2Bmother_givenname%3Ajane~%20%2Bmother_surname%3Anairn~

Monica

[MaryThorn]

Thanks for all the pointers on this last year, sadly since then I haven't managed to get any further than this until this week when I think I had a Eureka moment.

Wondering why my Great grandmother may have headed from Scotland to Northumberland in the first place, I wondered if she had come with her family, so I set about looking for Cunninghams in the 1891 and 1901 cenus in the area she ended up living with my great grandfather.

This is where I think I might have struck lucky and wondered what others thought.

As well as my Great Grandmother, Janet Thornton living with her husband Watson Oliver Thornton and her family in Radcliffe, Northumberland in 1911, I also found a William Cunningham living with his wife Jane and family in the same village. 

Looking at statistics for Radclifffe, this wasn't a big place, a total population of about 700, in 1911 there are only 5 Cunninghams (all Williams family) and only 11 Thorntons (all Janet's family)

According to the cenus, Willam as born in 1862 so too young to be Janet's father but could be considered to be her brother, also interestingly so William was born in Selkirk and his wife in Falkirk, so much closer to the Woods of Dunmore connection for Janet.  Looking at a map of Radlciffe at the time, the streets that William and Janet were living in were perpendicular to each other.

I wonder if I'm just clutching at straws here or if there's a way of proving that Janet and William are related, can anyone give me any pointers on where to go now?