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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Dumfriesshire => Topic started by: suecolville on Monday 12 August 19 09:05 BST (UK)
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I'm hoping someone can help me with a brick wall. I've discovered just this week on a page called Scottish indexes that my 3rd gt grandmother Jane Hewitson 1812-1849 had a child in 1840, before she married my 3x gt grandfather James Muirhead. The respondent was Robert Kennedy esq.of Riddings, Morton in Dumfries and he was ordered to support the child called Mary (although the judgement says it was a son, the OPR said it was a daughter called Mary. I can't find this child anywhere. Jane Hewitson, by then Muirhead, went on to have two children with James, Alexander in 1844 and another child called Mary in 1848. Why would she call a second child the same name? ( I know that children are sometimes named after deceased siblings but cant find a death of Mary)
Jane died in 1849. It doesn't help that there are lots and lots of Hewitsons and name variations of Howatson, Hewetson, Honatson and Hoatson.
Jane's brother Robert Hewiston b.1809 also married her husband's sister Nicholas Muirhead, just to add to the story!
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Have you considered whether Mary might have been raised by her father’s family?
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it's something that I didn't consider as the child was born in 1840 and Robert Kennedy was named as the father and ordered to pay towards the child's upkeep in 1843. The 'pursuers' were Janet Hewitson and her husband James Muirhead.
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it's something that I didn't consider as the child was born in 1840 and Robert Kennedy was named as the father and ordered to pay towards the child's upkeep in 1843. The 'pursuers' were Janet Hewitson and her husband James Muirhead.
Maybe not very likely, but I would not rule it out completely. Perhaps Robert decided that if he was going to have to pay for the child he wanted to raise her himself.
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HEWETSON JANET JAMES HEWETSON/MARY KER 15/12/1812 Penpont
I’m guessing the above is your 3 x GGM – As her mother was Mary the name would be important.
As there is no baptism record on https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk However the fact the child was being supported would suggest she did not die, it may be that Mary was brought by another family?
In saying that I cannot find the other children you mention on Scotland’s People?
Very few parishes have death records in Dumfriesshire.
Colin
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Hi Sue,
I read your post with great interest. My great great great grandfather was Robert Hewitson, husband of Nicholas Muirhead. I understood that Nicholas' brother James had married a Janet Hewitson but I see that you refer to a Jane Howatson instead.
I do not know much regarding Robert Hewitson's siblings other than he was the 9th of 11 children of James Hewetson and Mary Kerr from Penpont in Dumfriesshire. It would be good to learn more about Robert and his siblings.
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Just to note -
From the Scottish Indexes the defender was Robert Kennedy Esquire, of Dalwhat, Dalwhat, Glencairn , childs date of birth 16th April 1840.
1841 Census transcription on FreeCEN.
Glencairn , Dumfries-shire
Janet Howtson 25 female servant
Robert Kennedy 1
https://www.scottishindexes.com/41transcript.aspx?houseid=82601002
Could that be the child ?
ev
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1851 Census transcription FreeCEN.
Straiton , Ayr , Ayrshire
William Howitson 33 Sheepheard born Penpont Dumfries-shire
& family
Robert Kennedy 10 nephew scholar born Glencairn Dumfries-shire
ev
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Very interesting story .
I think the last solution is very likely
Is William H one of Jane's siblings?
Payment from birth father could be used to pay for child's board with a foster family .
Did this Robert Kennedy continue to use this surname all his life ?
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Looking at the Census returns I think Robert Kennedy went on to marry Jessie Ann McKay in 1866 Straiton Ayr.
1881 Census(LDS Scotlandspeople)
Fore Starr , Straiton , Ayr
Robert Kennedy 40 shepherd born Glencairn Dumfries
Jessie A Kennedy 35 wife born Carsphairn Kirkcudbright
ev
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My gt gt gt grandmother was Jane Hewitson 1812-1849). Her parents were James Hewitson and Mary Kerr of Penpont.I have recently found out that she had been "taken advantage of" by a wealthy farmer's son (she was a servant) and had a baby before she married James Muirhead. The baby was named Robert Kennedy, and the birth father was Robert Kennedy. The baby was born in 1840 and I have court records from 1844 in which ongoing child support was contested. Robert Kennedy's family was from Dalwhat and were wealthy land owners.
I have no idea what happened to the baby Robert Kennedy and would appreciate any help.
I found her and baby Robert in the 1841 census but she died before the 1851 census. The surname Hewitson also has a number of different spellings
thank you for your help
Threads merged.
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I note Robert and his mother Janet Howtson as noted on the 1841 at Blaroch, Glencairn but I couldn’t find a baptism record for Robert.
I did see Robert Kennedy senior age 25 in 1841 with his family at Dalwhat.
The only Robert Kennedy age about 9 - 13 I can find in the County in 1851 is with a Kennedy family in the town of Dumfries and would not appear to be him (Scotland’s People census). It is possible that Robert died in 1872 age 33.
I cannot see a likely marriage for Robert or a death before 1855 or after, did you find a burial record for his mother?
Colin
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Have you looked for Robert as either Robert H*tson or Robert Muirhead in the 1851 census?
EDIT: this question was posted before the two duplicate threads were merged. In the light of the combined thread my question plainly makes no sense, because the child had already been found in the 1851 census as Robert Kennedy, but the OP did not include a link to the earlier thread or include all the information that had already been posted there, which makes both my question and ColC's post look silly.
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From the earlier thread-
Looking at the Census returns I think Robert Kennedy went on to marry Jessie Ann McKay in 1866 Straiton Ayr.
1881 Census(LDS Scotlandspeople)
Fore Starr , Straiton , Ayr
Robert Kennedy 40 shepherd born Glencairn Dumfries
Jessie A Kennedy 35 wife born Carsphairn Kirkcudbright
ev
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Who was named father on his marriage ? And death
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although the judgement says it was a son, the OPR said it was a daughter called Mary. I can't find this child anywhere.
This appears to be self-contradictory. If you know what the OPR says, then you have, by definition, found the child.
I wonder whether you are confusing Mary, baptised in Dalry, Ayrshire, on 9 March 1841 to Robert Kennedy and Janet Hewitson, with the older child Robert Kennedy, who appears in the 1841 census aged 1, suggesting a birth in 1839 or 1840, and in the 1851 census aged 10, implying a birth in 1840 or 1841.
What exactly does Mary Kennedy's baptism record say?
I see from ev's reply #6 above that Robert was born on 16 April 1840.
Mary was baptised 11 months later so there should be no confusion.
I speculate that the timeline goes something like this
1840 Birth of Robert Kennedy Jr
1841 Birth of Mary Kennedy
1841 or 1842 Death of Mary Kennedy. The absence of a record of the death is immaterial; most deaths before 1855 went unrecorded.
1843 Marriage of James Muirhead and Janet H*w*tson
1843 James Muirhead and Jane(t) H*w*tson pursue Robert Kennedy Sr for the upkeep of his child Robert Kennedy Jr.
Obviously, if the child Mary was a sibling of Robert Jr, they would have pursued him for upkeep of both children, but if Mary had died in infancy it would explain (a) your confusion (b) why her stepfather and mother did not pursue her father for upkeep and (c) why Jane(t) named her daughter by James Muirhead Mary; she had no living older child of the same name and wished to name her eldest daughter after her own mother.
If, however, Mary was not a sibling, then she is irrelevant.
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My gt gt gt grandmother was Jane Hewitson 1812-1849). I have recently found out that she had been "taken advantage of" by a wealthy farmer's son (she was a servant) and had a baby before she married James Muirhead. The baby was named Robert Kennedy, and the birth father was Robert Kennedy. The baby was born in 1840
"taken advantage of" at almost 30 yrs of age for a 2nd time ??? if the info. posted by Forfarian is correct.
With wealth involved, have you considered this to be untrue?
Annie
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On 8 December 2019 you posted the following
I have no idea what happened to the baby Robert Kennedy and would appreciate any help.
but two months before this, on 10 October 2019, ev had already posted a suggestion on your earlier threadLooking at the Census returns I think Robert Kennedy went on to marry Jessie Ann McKay in 1866 Straiton Ayr.
1881 Census(LDS Scotlandspeople)
Fore Starr , Straiton , Ayr
Robert Kennedy 40 shepherd born Glencairn Dumfries
Jessie A Kennedy 35 wife born Carsphairn Kirkcudbright
Have you looked at that marriage certificate? If not, you should do so now.
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Thank you so much for all your help and apologies for duplicate posting. I have seen the marriage certificate and, yes it is the correct Robert Kennedy.
Your other comment is interesting too and I am looking further into the circumstances surrounding the "relationship" between Jane/Janet Hewitson and robert kennedy. I'm going to look closely at the transcripts from the court hearing where Robert Kennedy makes a number of admissions about his inappropriate behaviour towards Janet Hewitson.
Thanks again