While tracing the children of one ancestor and seeing where they all ended up, I came across a woman whose relationship to my own lot appears a little confusing. I've had a lot of trouble tracing her outside of these two census returns, and finding the other family involved in this is proving just as difficult, so I'd appreciate any help or ideas.
Okay, so I was following Janet Rankin (nee Alexander) and her children. In 1891 Janet Rankin and her daughter Annie Rankin are living with/visiting Janet's other daughter, Janet Leishman (nee Rankin) and her family. Janet Sr is listed as mother-in-law and Annie is sister-in-law, both in relation to Janet Jr's husband William Leishman. Simple so far!
In 1901 Janet Rankin has probably passed on, and her daughter Annie Forrest Rankin (b. 1848, but in some censuses she's listed as between 1846 and 1859) is still living with Janet and William Leishman. Annie is, again, listed as a sister-in-law to William. Then there is another family group in the same household, or at least this is what ancestry tells me. On ScotlandsPeople they're separated by a page turn, so I'm not sure if they're actually in the same household or separate. However the way Elizabeth is referred to as 'sister-in-law' rather than 'head' makes me think otherwise. Anyway, so this new group. We have Elizabeth McKinnie (or McMinnie) (54) and Elizabeth McKenzie, Robert McKenzie, Anne D McKenzie, Nettie McKenzie, and David McKenzie. The children aside from David are either born in Rangoon, Burmah or what Ancestry has transcribed as Moatmeson.
So Elizabeth is my sticking point here, because she's listed as single. If she's an unknown sister of Janet Leishman (nee Rankin) then she would be a Rankin, and if she was a wife of one of William Leishman's brothers, she'd be a Leishman?
I followed her into 1911 and found her away from the Leishman household but still with the McKenzie children and this time their parents, Archibald and Jemima McKenzie. For a second time, Elizabeth McMinnie is listed as a sister-in-law to the head of the household, Archibald. So now she's maybe Jemima's sister or wife to one of Archibald McKenzie's brothers, but again she's single. She could be Jemima's sister and Jemima was a McKinnie/McMinnie before her marriage, but I can't find a marriage for Archibald and Jemima (which, according to the 1911 census, was 29 years prior, so about 1882) and then how would I link her and Jemima to my Rankin/Leishman households?
I tried to find anything on the McKenzie lot to see if that helped me out, but I can't find anything that seems to fit. One child was born in Scotland apparently, and so were both parents, but I'm running short. Same for Elizabeth herself. I've had a brief attempt at searching through British Indian records and travel records but no luck either so far.
Can anyone help me get my head around this? Or am I just fixating and the 1901 census was just two households smooshed into one accidentally? I'd be happy to leave the McKenzie lot alone but I just want to make sure I haven't missed off a child from another branch of mine.
Any help or ideas of where to look next would be very welcome!
