Author Topic: Where did 'my' James Robertson come from?!?  (Read 4007 times)

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Where did 'my' James Robertson come from?!?
« Reply #9 on: Saturday 25 February 17 11:26 GMT (UK) »
Quote
Was David's wife Jane's maiden name also Robertson?
At this point I just don't know

Ah.

In Scotland, a married woman does not legally lose her maiden name on marriage. The result is that she tends to be listed using her maiden surname in older records, and deaths of married women are indexed by both maiden and married surnames.

So what we know is that James Robertson and his wife Jane (who might also be recorded as Jean) had a child in Tasmania in 1832.  (It seems unlikely that the James Robertson who arrived in Tasmania on 30 September would be the father of a child born in Tasmania earlier the same month, surely?)

James could not have married before he was 14, and he is unlikely to have married before age 20, and he had left Scotland by 1832. The index at Scotland's People lists 21 marriages of a James Robertson to a Jane,  and 42 to a Jean, between 1820 and 1832.

If you are prepared to spend a bit of time on this, there is a way to narrow down the possibles.

Go to https://familysearch.org/search/collection/igi and search for children born to James Robertson and Jane between 1832 and 1854. Then compare the mothers' surnames to the list of Janes and Jeans from the SP marriages, and cross off any who were having family in Scotland in the 1830s and 1840s. This will leave you with a list of James Robertsons who married a Jane/Jean and were not having family after your James and Jane left Scotland.

This is not a perfect solution because (a) not all marriages are in the records (b) for completeness you would have to do the same exercise using the Roman Catholic and Other Churches sections of the SP web site (c) there could be couples who had no children or who also emigrated before 1832 (d) I am sure there will be other reasons I have not thought of. Whetever you do, it is never safe to assume that, just because there is only one possible candidate in the records, it has to be the right one. We have all made that mistake and spent time climbing the branches of a tree that isn't ours!

As an example, a James Robertson married a Jane Brodie in Perth in 1826. This couple had a son James, born 1830 in Perth, but no more children are listed. So this couple could have emigrated and had more children in Tasmania. (Did your David have an elder brother James, I wonder?)

On the other hand, James Robertson and Jean Mowbray, married in Edinburgh in 1827, had a daughter in Edinburgh on 4 June 1832, so you can safely cross this couple off the list of ones who might have been the parents of your David.

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 KennyD

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Re: Where did 'my' James Robertson come from?!?
« Reply #10 on: Tuesday 28 February 17 05:53 GMT (UK) »
Now things are moving!

I have managed to find Jane Robertson's death notice - and it was in Hobart, Tasmania!  Her husband was listed as James Scott in the index so it had thrown me off the track initially...

Jane/Jean Scott was born around 1804, died aged 51 of "Dropsy" in Hobart on 2nd March 1855 and was an engineers wife, living at Bathurst Street in Hobart at the time.

It now turns out David Robertson has likely sailed to Scotland almost immediately after his mother has died, taking either possessions or her ashes back to Scotland and then returning to Hobart on the 'Conway' which left Liverpool on 12th July 1855 on the return voyage to Hobart which arrived on 14th October 1855.  It looks like David Robertson spend late June / early July 1855 in Scotland before sailing back home.

This should now make the job of finding James and Jane Robertson a bit easier with a year of birth +/- 1 and Jane/Jean's Scott maiden name!

My thanks to everyone who has helped get me to this point!  The quest continues!

Kind regards, Ken.
Duus (Denmark & Australia),
Wright (Tasmania, Australia),
Evans (Australia),
Knipe (Australia),
Greer (Australia),
Swenson (Australia),
Severinsen (New Zealand),
Jensen (New Zealand),
Robertson (Tasmania, Australia and Scotland - New Monkland, Lanark),
Crane (Tasmania, Australia),
Leitch (Tasmania, Australia and Scotland - Paisley).

http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/230792847

Offline KennyD

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Re: Where did 'my' James Robertson come from?!?
« Reply #11 on: Sunday 07 May 17 08:42 BST (UK) »
Failure.

I have been unable to find any marriage record of James Robertson and Jean Scott which might have held a clue to the parents of either James or Jean and let me trace back any further.

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:97FY-RXB    This is 'my' James and Jean but it doesn't help me go back any further into the past.

<Sigh>
Duus (Denmark & Australia),
Wright (Tasmania, Australia),
Evans (Australia),
Knipe (Australia),
Greer (Australia),
Swenson (Australia),
Severinsen (New Zealand),
Jensen (New Zealand),
Robertson (Tasmania, Australia and Scotland - New Monkland, Lanark),
Crane (Tasmania, Australia),
Leitch (Tasmania, Australia and Scotland - Paisley).

http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/230792847

Offline ruthhelen

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Re: Where did 'my' James Robertson come from?!?
« Reply #12 on: Sunday 07 May 17 09:36 BST (UK) »
Do you have these two other children born to James Robertson, millwright, and Jean Scott:

James Alexander Robertson
b. 22 Jan 1843, Hobart
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q27M-4QCL

Margaret Robertson
b. 29 May 1847, Hobart
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q27M-4XHC

Ruth
McArthur, Milne, Mitchell, Black, Robertson, Morrison, Slessor, Lawrence - Aberdeenshire/Banffshire. Muir, Waddell, Fraser, Orr, Cowden - Lanarkshire/Renfrewshire/Dunbartonshire. Dalziel, Dalzell, Gourley, Cromie, Crombie, Bell - Co Down. Haymon, Baker, Corke, Cooley, Ginger - Kent/London.


Offline J11

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Re: Where did 'my' James Robertson come from?!?
« Reply #13 on: Sunday 07 May 17 11:04 BST (UK) »
The Maritime Times of Tasmania has an article on the James Robertson who arrived in Tasmania in 1832:

http://www.maritimetas.org/sites/all/files/maritime/maritimetimes_issue_50_autumn_2015.pdf

It is on pages 19 and 20

Offline KennyD

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Re: Where did 'my' James Robertson come from?!?
« Reply #14 on: Sunday 07 May 17 12:15 BST (UK) »
Hello Ruth - yes, those two children are part of 'my' Robertson family.  Sadly, none of their records that I have found (or had help to find) allow me to go further into the past of their parents.

Hello J11 - sadly, the James Robertsons included in that document are not 'my' James Robertson but it does look likely that 'my' James Robertson may have worked for Easby & Robertson at some point after he has left New Norfolk and before he died at his son David's residence in Geeveston. 'My' James Robertson can't be one of the Robertsons who arrived in Tasmania in 1832 on the Minerva.

I had hoped to find some linking document that would allow me to identify which of the many James Robertsons born around 1800 was 'my' James Robertson but I have not been able to.

My thanks to everyone who has helped me in my quest.

Kind regards,
Ken.
Duus (Denmark & Australia),
Wright (Tasmania, Australia),
Evans (Australia),
Knipe (Australia),
Greer (Australia),
Swenson (Australia),
Severinsen (New Zealand),
Jensen (New Zealand),
Robertson (Tasmania, Australia and Scotland - New Monkland, Lanark),
Crane (Tasmania, Australia),
Leitch (Tasmania, Australia and Scotland - Paisley).

http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/230792847

Offline J11

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Re: Where did 'my' James Robertson come from?!?
« Reply #15 on: Monday 08 May 17 10:28 BST (UK) »
I thought that was the case but posted as it is useful to be able to definitely exclude the James who arrived on the Minerva.  If you think your Robertsons could have worked at Easby and Robertson, it may be that they were related, say cousins or the like.  People often emigrated to where family were already established.  Yours may have come first and the other Robertsons followed on.  Might be an idea to see if you can find a tree for the E&R Robertsons and see if they could connect with yours.  The article says they came from Leith.  There are a couple of James Robertsons born in South Leith to a David which might be promising for your James.  Having said that, Robertson is a very common name in Scotland so it could be a total red herring but that is what I would try next.

Offline KennyD

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Re: Where did 'my' James Robertson come from?!?
« Reply #16 on: Monday 03 July 17 01:37 BST (UK) »
Still not there yet but possibly getting closer...

'My' James Robertson was sometimes known as 'John Robertson' (as shown on his burial record, for instance).

When his son David Robertson (my great-great-grandfather) sailed back to Tasmania on the 'Conway' in 1855, the McPhee family he sailed and was listed with in the voyage documents (in the Alphabetical List of Bounty Emigrants) were sponsored by 'John Robertson'... 

A Leitch family on the same ship were also sponsored by John Robertson and one of the Leitch daughters (Mary Ann (Ella) Leitch, born after they arrived in Tasmania) married one of David Robertson's sons (my great-grandfather William Erin Robertson).

The really interesting bit from discovering this link back to Scotland is that 'John Robertson' sponsored a total of nine families and all except one sailed on the 'Conway' in 1855 (the Harper family of three sailed on the 'James Baines' clipper) - and all of these nine families had listed connections to Paisley, Renfrewshire in Scotland.

Have I finally managed to at least pin down where 'my' James Robertson came from in Scotland?  It is surely much too large a coincidence that everyone sponsored by 'John Robertson' came from the same location and that James Robertson didn't also have a connection to Paisley...

The search continues...

Ken.
Duus (Denmark & Australia),
Wright (Tasmania, Australia),
Evans (Australia),
Knipe (Australia),
Greer (Australia),
Swenson (Australia),
Severinsen (New Zealand),
Jensen (New Zealand),
Robertson (Tasmania, Australia and Scotland - New Monkland, Lanark),
Crane (Tasmania, Australia),
Leitch (Tasmania, Australia and Scotland - Paisley).

http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/230792847

Offline J11

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Re: Where did 'my' James Robertson come from?!?
« Reply #17 on: Wednesday 05 July 17 10:22 BST (UK) »
Hmmm... Robertson is a very common name.  Also, the Paisley influx was a generation later than your James Robertson's immigration so probably coincidental.  I would look for a link to the Leith Robertsons of Easby and Robertson as more likely than the Robertsons who came over in the 1850s, particularly given the similarity of occupations.