Hi there,
I'm trying to track down the origins of my ancestor Charles McDougal who has a rather confusing history. I was hoping someone might be able to help me
This is what I've found so far...
He was born about 1813 according to the 1851 and 1871 censuses. He is listed as being born in Germany, but it also says British Subject.
He next appears marrying a woman called Jane Kahle on 4th Dec 1837 in Stepney, London. She has a rather complicated history. She is listed as a widow on the marriage certificate, and I've found her maiden name is Lusby. She appears to have married a man called Johann Kahle in 1831 in Kingston upon Hull. She possibly had two daughters with this first husband, called Eliza and Elizabeth. I haven't found out what happened to these daughters or when her first husband died.
The witnesses for the McDougal wedding also had germanic names - Ann KOHFAHL and Ernst KOHFAHL. It seems there was a german community in Stepney at the time, perhaps this is how she met her second german husband?
Anyway, Charles lists his father as a John McDougal, profession 'Gent' on the marriage certificate. However, I have not been able to find any John McDougal from Germany, just a rough date of birth of 1795. Charles' profession is a cigar maker.
I think Charles and Jane had six children: Carl, Francis, Sameul, Anne, Thomas and Eliza.
Charles appears to have died in 1871 in Islington, London.
My questions are numerous! Charles' name changes in various records, some of his children record him as 'Carl McDougal' instead of Charles in their marriage certificates, a hint to an anglicizing of his name? McDougal is not a very german name, so did he change it when he came to England? If so, did he change it from something similar or did he just pick McDougal out of the air! Or was his father also a British subject who happened to be living in Germany and so Charles was born there?
I found this great discussion on the same ancestors which gave me a lot of the above information:
https://www.british-genealogy.com/archive/index.php/t-54069.htmlI've looked on Ancestry and Familysearch but just can't seem to find anything that fits. I've tried looking for more germanic names too but no luck.
So any help or suggestions of where to look and what to look for would be greatly appreciated. It would be great if I could work out where he came from! Thanks