Relative in Stuartfield

[ruthhelen]

Hmm - if that is Jane Hutcheon's death registration, then she looks to have had at least one more child - her death has been registered by 'D Hutcheon, son'. Interestingly, there is a Donald Hutcheon, aged 11, with Jane in the 1891 census - and also an Alfred Hutcheon, 8, and a George Hutcheon, 2 - although they are all just classed as 'inmates' of the Poor House, so impossible to know if there is any relationship.

I can't see obvious births for any of these children on SP - they're all recorded in the census as being born in New Deer, but there aren't any good matches leaping out at me, so their place of birth may have been recorded incorrectly by the poorhouse. Worth following up though - quite a lot of illegitimate children though, if they are all Jane's 

Ruth

[Fogmoose]

Donald makes sense, since my Grandma used to correspond with an Uncle Donald back in Scotland. Do you think its worth looking for work records for Jane at any of those hospitals? Would they have them and would they contain anything of value?

And yes, with all these illegitimate children its no wonder my Grandmother never wanted to talk about her or her husbands family!

[flst]

The link below takes you to a site about poorhouses. You'll find lots of useful information on them. It appears that the Hutcheons were residents (and not staff) of the Buchan Combination Poorhouse. This is actually good news if the admission rolls remain for the period you are interested in. The admission rolls will contain information on them not available elsewhere. On the home page you will find a link to the Archivist. Request by email can be made
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Buchan/Buchan1881.shtml
flst

[Fogmoose]

Well that's good news....not that I'm happy to see my ancestors in the poorhouse (these would be the first Iv'e found in such circumstances) but at least good that information might be available. I'll check that out ASAP!

Thanks flst!

[Fogmoose]

Is it possible they weren't all her biological children? With all those years spent in workhouses and hospitals (as a nurse) I would assume she had contact with many of the most desperate. Mothers who perhaps died leaving young children with no relatives to take care of them. Could she have informally adopted one or more? Did that occur in those days?

[flst]

I think it's very unlikely. There was a very high rate of illegitimate children in the North East of Scotland. The easiest way to find out if they are her children is to search on scotlandspeople  for their birth certificates.
One of my own ancestors had several children, all with their (different) father's surnames
flst

[Fogmoose]

OK the plot thickens...took me a while to figure out my login stuff for the new SP web-sight (which by the way I think stinks compared to the old), but after I finally got on and accessed my credits....did some searching and found all the children in the 1891 census . All born in New Deer, with the surname Hutche(s)on! All illegitimate with mother Jane Hutcheson. So that makes 4 illegitimate so far....must be some kind of record!

[Forfarian]

So that makes 4 illegitimate so far....must be some kind of record!

She has some way to go to catch up with one of mine who had 10 children to 8 different fathers. However she did marry one of them and 3 of the children were his, so that's only 7 illegitimate ones by 7 different fathers. 

[Fogmoose]

So that makes 4 illegitimate so far....must be some kind of record!

She has some way to go to catch up with one of mine who had 10 children to 8 different fathers. However she did marry one of them and 3 of the children were his, so that's only 7 illegitimate ones by 7 different fathers.

Wow. I guess it isn't an exaggeration to say that Northeast Scotland had a lot of illegitimate children in the 19th century.... ;-)