Thompson/Pollock's of Paisley

[anne_p]

Rena,
 My Pollock (P in my username) family also came from Paisley.

I can trace them back to mid- late 18th century but records prior to this are really sketchy and in all honesty, I defy anyone to definitively work their lines back to the earlier generations listed
I do not know exactly where my earlier family came from.
My earliest ancestor born circa 1760 died between 1823 and 1841.
His widow was quite affluent but, this man did not leave a will and there is no way to determine his ancestry.
I also know that one of the Pollock mill owning families from the mid 1700 period was in fact, Irish !
If my memory serves me right, he was the Pollock in Pollock & Kerr

Renfrewshire is a huge parish and Paisley is in the opposite side of the parish to Busby or Mearns.
They border Lanarkshire

[c5el]

That's really interesting. and yes the records do get sketchy.

I've just been searching through baptism records and i have two potential leads on the Thompson's.
One is a church of Scotland record registered in lochwinnoch? do you think this would be too far away from Paisley to say "I was born in Paisley" on a census?

The other is Paisley Reformed Presbyterian, registered in Paisley. Both records have the correct father, James Thompson/Thomson.

[Rena]

I can sympathise with your quandary about the earlier generations due to paucity of definite documentation, as I have the same problem with my Crum line, who were mostly in the weaving trade.

I managed to get further back, not due to Crum wills but to my family's given names.  One child had been named after a family friend and when I found the friend's rich widow Lillias had left a will, I bought it and discovered she'd named two of her cousins (John the printer in Kilmarnock and John who owned a stationery company in Glasgow); one being my ancestor.  By linking the three cousins I traced them all back to one ancestor.

[MonicaL]

Hi All 

A possible lead on Janet Thomson's family...maybe!

There is this family in London for the 1851 census:

John Thompson 42 porter and Chelsea Pensioner b. Scotland
Mary Thompson 44 b. Scotland
Ann Thompson 18 b. Scotland
James Thompson 16 b. Middlesex
John Thompson 5 b. Middlesex
Jane Thompson 4 b. Middlesex
Marian Thompson 73 mother b. Scotland
Robt Pollock 4 newphew b. Scotland
Wm Foot 3

Wondered whether newphew Robert Pollock's birth place had been given as Scotland in error?

I think mother Marian is a Marian Merry, married to a James Thomson in 1803 https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTNW-N4D

Some children for them, but no Janet although there is a gap for her birth:

John 1804 b. Kilmarnock
Marion 1807 b. Kilmarnock
James 1809 b. Kilmarnock
William 1817 b. Abbey Paisley
David 1819 b. Abbey Paisley

These details are from the Old Parish Registers on Scotlands People. As always, no idea what detail is included on these OPR entries until you look at them to check.

There is this possible entry for John and wife Mary Thomson in 1861, showing a Kilmarnock birth place (which is very helpful always, with an English census, to include this detail) https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7LZ-2M1

Something to work with hopefully.

Monica

[MonicaL]

The address on the 1846 Pollock/Thompson marriage plus the witness named Margaret Pollock is revealing.
Look at the address.

1851:
This is also Smallbrook Place   
At a guess, this is John's married brother and his unmarried sister.

Robt Pollack   32 B Scotland
Susan Pollack   33  wife B Scotland
Robt Pollack   9
John Pollack   7
Isabella Pollack   1 Mo
Margaret Pollack   23 Sister B Scotland

Margaret Pollock married Alfred Westwood in 1852

From Anne's info earlier, this looks to be Robert, Susan and family in in 1851 https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7NT-3J2 and 1861 https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5TM-KLW

From a post on another forum https://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1617&start=10, there is:

My connection to the Pollock"s is through a Isobel Findlay who married a James Moir 1st june 1815 and their daughter Susan Steel Moir married a Robert Pollock 17th Aug 1840. These Pollock's moved to Birmingham England,but i am sure they left a lot of other parts of the family in Glasgow.


There is a Pollock couple, William and Agnes Armour, having children in Paisley in the 1820s that you could consider. The married there in 1821. Four births showing there:

Jean 1821
John 1824
Margaret 1828
Agnes 1831

Robert Pollock, husband of Susan, born c. 1819.

Monica