Author Topic: Agnes Mason d about 1823 M William Hay  (Read 1038 times)

Offline kb0fhp

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Agnes Mason d about 1823 M William Hay
« on: Tuesday 01 December 15 23:00 GMT (UK) »
I am trying to ascertain the parents and death of Agnes Mason died approximately 1823 born about 1780.

The statutory death certificate for Margaret Hay 1817 Hopeman, Moray d 12 November 1887 who married Alexander McKenzie (1815-1891) indicates that Margaret's parents were William Hay (1787-1866) and Agnes Mason.  I have not been able to find anything regarding her death.  I strongly think she died in childbirth at the birth of their daughter Elizabeth - but that is speculation on my part. 

Known children of William Hay and Agnes Mason:

Jane Hay 1801-
Archibald Hay 1816-
Margaret Hay 1817-1887
Anne Hay 1819-

William Hay appears to have married Anne Fraser 28 Jan 1823 in Duffus. 

Any help you can provide would be a huge help.  I am in the process of reviewing my Hay family line.

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Agnes Mason d about 1823 M William Hay
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 01 December 15 23:20 GMT (UK) »
I'm confused - you have not listed an Elizabeth among the known children, yet you think that Agnes Mason died giving birth to Elizabeth in 1823?

Also, were all the children born in Hopeman? Do you think Agnes died in Hopeman?

A couple of things spring to mind.

Hopeman is in the parish of Duffus, so any early records would be in Duffus. However the LDS, for reasons best known to themselves, did not index the 1820-1854 volume of the Duffus parish register when they were starting the IGI, and it was (and may still be - I have not checked recently) also missing from the index on the Scotland's People web site. The Moray Local Heritage Centre has indexed this missing information and it can be sought at http://libindx.moray.gov.uk/mainmenu.asp

The second is that the early Duffus burial records are among the most defective I have ever encountered. There are few, if any, records before the early 20th century, and even as late as the 1940s some of the burial information is sketchy, to say the least.

So if Agnes died in Hopeman in the parish of Duffus, in 1823, and there isn't a headstone, the chances of you finding anything more about her are not good.

Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline kb0fhp

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Re: Agnes Mason d about 1823 M William Hay
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 01 December 15 23:41 GMT (UK) »
There is a birth of Elizabeth but it is so close to her death - I am not sure yet if it was hers or to the new wife.

I know I have looked on Libinex with no luck as well as SP with the same luck.

Offline kb0fhp

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Re: Agnes Mason d about 1823 M William Hay
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday 02 December 15 03:02 GMT (UK) »
OK - It looks I messed up and all my previous ideas (and people) were wrong.  The line I thought was solid turned out to be someone else after verifying some things on SP.  At this point, I only know the following:

  • William Hay married Agnes Mason - date unknown.  This is from the statutory death certificate of Margaret Hay 1817-1887. They had issue:
  • Jane Hay 13 September 1801 Nairn
  • Archibald Hay 23 September 1816 Inverness
  • Anne Hay 24 April 1819 Inverness
  • Elizabeth Hay 24 November 1824 Nairn

So right now I am looking in the wrong place and I should be looking elsewhere.  Now I am looking for the parents of William Hay and Agnes Mason. 





Offline Forfarian

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Re: Agnes Mason d about 1823 M William Hay
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday 02 December 15 09:21 GMT (UK) »
Could this be yours?

In the 1851 census there is an Archibald Hay, 35, cooper, born Inverness, with wife Janet, 38, born Dyke and sons William, David and John, living at Balnageith, Forres. The IGI suggests that she is Janet Sinclair, and their marriage is recorded in both Forres and Auldearn in 1838. Archibald, Janet and William were in the same place in 1841, plus Alexander Manly, aged 6. However by 1861 Archibald, Janet and John had moved to Nairn.  See the transcriptions for yourself at http://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

That move back to Nairn could explain why I found nothing on LIBINDX. (Note: it's LIBINDX not Libinex or Libindex. It dates from the days when file names could only have a maximum of 8 letters, and that was the chosen 8-letter abbreviation of 'library index'. There is a totally different web site called LibIndex which is an index of Liberty Ships.)
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline kb0fhp

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Re: Agnes Mason d about 1823 M William Hay
« Reply #5 on: Wednesday 02 December 15 14:16 GMT (UK) »
Thank you....

I believe that this Archibald Hay that married Janet Sinclair is the son of William Hay.  Archibald was born 23 September 1816 Inverness.  The OPR indicated that William Hay was a cooper.

I spent quite a few credits last night on SP trying to figure out this side of the family - only to find more errors. 

I am going back through my great grandmother's letters (I have letters from two different sides of the family) and trying to discern where I turned down the wrong path.

I appreciate your help.

P.S. Thank you about the info regarding LIBINDX and LIBINDEX - I wondered why I came across a bunch of liberty ships one time :)

Scott