Author Topic: Alexander MILROY - help needed  (Read 2576 times)

Offline davidmilroy

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Alexander MILROY - help needed
« on: Sunday 15 April 18 18:20 BST (UK) »
I'm looking for help to break down a brick wall with my 2nd great grandfather Alexander Milroy.
Census records indicate that he was born in Kirkcowan around 1826 and that he later married Janet/Jessie Dodds who was born in Stoneykirk. I cannot find a definitive marriage record for them, but there is a Kirkcowan OPR of a marriage between Alexander Milroy and Janet Douglas on 22 December 1846. He is a farm servant resident in Colmonnel and she is a resident of “Kirkowen”. While the date is sort of right the name difference makes it far from conclusive.
As far as I can tell they had six children, Jess, Barbara, James, Alexander, John (my great gf), Marion and May.
From census records I can track the couple in Woodparks Farm, Old Luce (1851), Spittal Cottages, Kirkcowan (1861) and Main St, Kirkcowan (1871).  By sometime between 1871 and 1881 it seems he might no longer have lived with Jessie. She shows up in Newton Stewart in the 1881, 1891 and 1901 census records as “head” of the household. She died there in 1904. Alexander seems to turn up in Whithorn in 1881, aged 54, working as an agricultural labourer and then in 1891 in Kirkinner, aged 65, where he was a "rag gatherer", sharing an address with Elizabeth Hershon (43) "general servant - domestic"
His death record shows he died as a pauper (formerly a hawker) in Whauphiill, Kirkinner in 1911. The informant of his death was an Inspector of Poor. The record confirms he was widower of Jessie Dodds; it omits any information about his parents.
I have searched potential birth records for him. The nearest I could find was an Alexander born to Alexander Milroy and Margaret Aitkins on 14 November 1827 in Kirkcowan. This kind of matches the c.1826 birth, but he is claimed by another Milroy line as having gone to Australia, had a family and died there.
So, I'm stuck with a guy with an uncertain beginning and a sad demise. No sign of connections to more established documented lines nor the mill owning Milroys in Kirkcowan. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

David Milroy
Wigtown:Milroy,Paterson,McClelland,Kelly/Miskelly,McPherson,Dodds,McCulloch,Stewart,Broadfoot,Donnan,Carnochan,Agnew,Blair/Blain,Jackson,Brown,McGill,Montgomery,Davidson,Donaldson
Lanark:Kay,Young,McAllister,Muir,Buchanan
Kirkcudbright:Hutchison,Robertson
Renfrew:Loudon,Harper,Miller,Anderson
Fife:Barnett,Mcdonald,Thomson,Lumsden,Wood,Pryde,Melville,Stevenson,Inglis
Moray:Sutherland,Waite
Stirling:Sharp,Grosart,Gray,Mitchell,Morison
Berwick:Craig
Ayr:Kennedy,Barclay,McKenna
Kinross:Henderson

Offline ev

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Re: Alexander MILROY - help needed
« Reply #1 on: Sunday 15 April 18 19:55 BST (UK) »
Hi David ,

Was the son Alexander born in 1855 , or any of the other children born after 1860 ?
https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/statutory-register-births#1855%20register%20entries

Those birth certificates might gave you the date and place of the parents marriage , not that it would help you get further back.


ev

Added -
Quote
, but there is a Kirkcowan OPR of a marriage between Alexander Milroy and Janet Douglas on 22 December 1846.
Looks like Alexander Milroy and Janet Douglas had a son William McGowan Milroy 1851 Kirkcowan , that would make me think that marriage is not the one you want  :-\
Census information Crown copyright , All Census information from transcriptions - check original records , Familysearch/IGI is a finding tool only - check original records

Offline MonicaL

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Re: Alexander MILROY - help needed
« Reply #2 on: Sunday 15 April 18 22:00 BST (UK) »
Their son Alexander was born on  8 April 1855 in Penninghame which is good for further details as you mention, Ev.

Monica  :)
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Offline davidmilroy

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Re: Alexander MILROY - help needed
« Reply #3 on: Monday 16 April 18 01:43 BST (UK) »
Hi Ev (and hi Monica)

You guys are great. Thanks for coming back so quickly. I hadn't appreciated the usefulness of the 1855 records. That record for their son Alexander has helped. It rules out the tenuous 1846 marriage. It does confirm they were married in 1846 (no actual date), but in Glenluce village. From ages given on the record it also indicates that he was born in Kirkcowan between May 1826 and May 1827. This also seems to rule out any claim to the Alexander Milroy-Margaret Aitkins parentage to an Alexander born on14 November 1827. Still, it inches me forward and every little bit is a small victory!

David
Wigtown:Milroy,Paterson,McClelland,Kelly/Miskelly,McPherson,Dodds,McCulloch,Stewart,Broadfoot,Donnan,Carnochan,Agnew,Blair/Blain,Jackson,Brown,McGill,Montgomery,Davidson,Donaldson
Lanark:Kay,Young,McAllister,Muir,Buchanan
Kirkcudbright:Hutchison,Robertson
Renfrew:Loudon,Harper,Miller,Anderson
Fife:Barnett,Mcdonald,Thomson,Lumsden,Wood,Pryde,Melville,Stevenson,Inglis
Moray:Sutherland,Waite
Stirling:Sharp,Grosart,Gray,Mitchell,Morison
Berwick:Craig
Ayr:Kennedy,Barclay,McKenna
Kinross:Henderson


Offline MonicaL

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Re: Alexander MILROY - help needed
« Reply #4 on: Monday 16 April 18 22:17 BST (UK) »
David, the other thing that would help in taking out the Alexander, son of Alexander and Margaret Atkins, is that he shows with his mother doesn't he in 1851. By this time your Alexander was married to Jessie and shows with her in the 1851 census. The other Alexander I think is this one in Drumore, Kirkmaiden:

Margaret Milroy 53 b. Ballantrae, Ayrshire
Alexander Milroy 23 mariner b. Kirkmaiden
William Milroy 15
Rosana Milroy 10

Monica
Census information Crown Copyright, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline davidmilroy

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Re: Alexander MILROY - help needed
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday 17 April 18 14:39 BST (UK) »
Thanks again Monica. Indeed, I have now accepted that I am able to exclude this possibility along with the very speculative marriage record. Which leaves me with the knotty problem of finding out if and how I can track down birth and marriage records/details where none seem to appear in the OPRs held by Scotland's People. So, I took a chance by purchasing one more birth record, for Mary Milroy in 1864 (she appeared in the transcribed 1871 census as May Melroy!), and this has given marriage details for Alexander & Jessie as 7 June 1848 in Glenluce. Small steps!

David
Wigtown:Milroy,Paterson,McClelland,Kelly/Miskelly,McPherson,Dodds,McCulloch,Stewart,Broadfoot,Donnan,Carnochan,Agnew,Blair/Blain,Jackson,Brown,McGill,Montgomery,Davidson,Donaldson
Lanark:Kay,Young,McAllister,Muir,Buchanan
Kirkcudbright:Hutchison,Robertson
Renfrew:Loudon,Harper,Miller,Anderson
Fife:Barnett,Mcdonald,Thomson,Lumsden,Wood,Pryde,Melville,Stevenson,Inglis
Moray:Sutherland,Waite
Stirling:Sharp,Grosart,Gray,Mitchell,Morison
Berwick:Craig
Ayr:Kennedy,Barclay,McKenna
Kinross:Henderson

Offline MonicaL

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Re: Alexander MILROY - help needed
« Reply #6 on: Tuesday 17 April 18 16:52 BST (UK) »
Just something to note for future searches, David. Births certs will include parents' marriage details in births from the early 1860s onwards. In addition, as you found with young Alexander, you have the magic BMD certs of 1855  ;)

Monica
Census information Crown Copyright, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline MonicaL

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Re: Alexander MILROY - help needed
« Reply #7 on: Tuesday 17 April 18 16:54 BST (UK) »
...she appeared in the transcribed 1871 census as May Melroy!)

Scots and Irish loved their first name variants. There are many! Some you can guess, some surprise you.

This is great site for checking possible variants with a strong Scottish bias http://www.whatsinaname.net/php/search.php?action=search2&search_name=may

Monica
Census information Crown Copyright, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline davidmilroy

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Re: Alexander MILROY - help needed
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday 17 April 18 17:08 BST (UK) »
You just reminded me my mum was one of three cousins christened Mary but always known as Mamie, Maisie and Molly! - David
Wigtown:Milroy,Paterson,McClelland,Kelly/Miskelly,McPherson,Dodds,McCulloch,Stewart,Broadfoot,Donnan,Carnochan,Agnew,Blair/Blain,Jackson,Brown,McGill,Montgomery,Davidson,Donaldson
Lanark:Kay,Young,McAllister,Muir,Buchanan
Kirkcudbright:Hutchison,Robertson
Renfrew:Loudon,Harper,Miller,Anderson
Fife:Barnett,Mcdonald,Thomson,Lumsden,Wood,Pryde,Melville,Stevenson,Inglis
Moray:Sutherland,Waite
Stirling:Sharp,Grosart,Gray,Mitchell,Morison
Berwick:Craig
Ayr:Kennedy,Barclay,McKenna
Kinross:Henderson