RootsChat.Com
Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Argyllshire => Topic started by: MissMacCallum on Wednesday 11 September 13 10:31 BST (UK)
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Hi.
I'm looking for my g-great grandmothers parents. Her name is Mary MacCallum and was born ca. 1856 (probably in Argyll) according to her death certificate (d. 1931, Oban, Argyll.)
Her parents names are given as Dugald McCallum & Catherine Campbell in her marriage certificate, and as Dougald MacCallum & Catherine Buchannan in her death certificate. I haven't found her birth certificate yet. Both names Campbell and Buchannan sound familiar to me after hearing my grandmother talk about Scotland, so I'm sure on of them might a middlename, and one of them the surname.
Mary married John Cameron in Oban in 1880.
Does anyone know anything about these people? I can't seem to find any info on them anywhere.. All help is much appreciated :)
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Any idea if she had any brothers or sisters? Am struggling to find her as a child on census with those parents names :-\
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I know! I can't find anyone with those parents. I can only find her in the census from 1881 and onwards..
I'm fairly certain she had a sister named Catherine Campbell, according to the 1901 census when she appears to be living with Mary and her family: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1901Scotland&indiv=try&h=1304653
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Do later Census returns give a consistant birthplace for Mary ?
ev
Added - MM , that link won't work unless you have paid membership.
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Here is what the census tells us of her birthplace:
1881 - Muckairn.
1891 . Lismore.
1901 - Muckairn.
I don't know if you'll be able to display this page, but it's worth a shot:
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/59675901/person/32048915376
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OK, I suspected that..
Catherine Campbell 32 sister in law(to John Cameron) servant b. Muckairn Argyll
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Sorry to be a pain MM ,
I've had to remove the screen shot as it is copyright to that site.
If you wish to show Census information please make your own transcription.
thanks
ev
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Ah, OK! Didn't know that - sorry :)
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If Catherine Campbell was unmarried on the 1901 Census(think you would have to look at the original Census for that) it might be worth looking for her on the 1861/1871 Census to see if it throws up anything on Mary :-\
1871 Census -
Look for Catherine Campbell born 1860 at Muckairn Argyll , think there is a Mary McCallum born 1859 Muckairn with her ?(Just looking at the indexes)
ev
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1871 from the transcript
Catherine Campbell born 1860 Muckairn Argyll is with
Alexander Campbell 57
Christina 49
Peter 29
Alexander 15
Mary 27
Catherine 11
Jessie 9
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In 1861 Catherine is with the same family age 1. No Mary McCallums lurking that I can see :-\
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Could this be Mary with grandparents?
1861
John McCallum 60 powdermaker
Mary 60 wife
Mary 5 granddaughter born Kilfinan Argyllshire
address Deargbuaich Farm
1871
John 72
Mary 72
Mary Stewart 15 granddaughter born Glasgow so hopefully this is a different granddaughter than before because I am getting very confused!
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Ev: I looked up the 1901 census, and Catherine Campbell is not married at that time. I'll have to look further into both of them. If only one of them would turn up with some sort of match for parents or birth year somewhere as a start.
Milliepede: You and me both! I'm so confused right now.. I found one Catherine Campbell born in Muckairn in 1869, but of course not with the right parents.. As for Mary I haven't found anyone that looks like a match other than the one you found with the grandparents which I stumbled upon last night. It's the closest so far, but yet I'm not convinced..
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In theory those grandparents should have had a son called Dugald to be the father of Mary (if indeed that is your Mary) so perhaps we can try and confirm or rule that out.
Grandparents both born same place as Mary if I recall Kilfinan.
Is Dugald a common Scottish name?
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From Family Search:
Mary BUCHANAN b 22 Jun 1855. Lismore, Argyll
Parent: Catherine Buchanan
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Milliepede: I'm not sure if Dugald is a very common name. I have a few relatives with that name, but if one person in the family is called that, children will be named after them. So, in my family it's fairly common, but I don't know about the rest of Scotland.
annep5892: Thank you for the information! It could of course be a possibility that she is an illegitimate child (I found the birth certificate of this Mary Buchanan. No father given.) Would Dougald MacCallum still be named as father on her marriage and death certificates if her mother married him later and she grew up with him as her "father"? I don't know how correct they had to be on the certificates..
Another alternative is of course that Catherine Buchanan and Dugald MacCallum is her parents even though he wasn't listed at the birth, but that Catherine and Dugald never married, and Catherine went on to marry someone named Campbell (and they had Catherine Campbell b. 1869 in Muckairn.)
I'm reaching with my theories now, but I'm really running out of options.. Haha :)
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I'm not sure if these certificates are allowed here, so I apologize in advance. Here is all the information I have on Mary:
Sorry MM , the images are copyright , you can post small portions for handwriting recognition or transcribe the information if you wish.
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OK, so now I used my last credit on SP to search for marriages involving Catherine Buchanan in Argyll. And what do you know.. One match - Catherine Buchanan marries Donald Campbell, 1860, Lismore, Argyll. I'm starting to think/hope that it's maybe an "alternative family" this Mary MacCallum came from.
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This is my guess...
The mother's maiden name was Buchanan but her "married" name was Campbell
The sister in law on the 1901 census, fits the profile of Catherine Campbell born in Lismore 1865, daughter of Donald Campbell and Catherine Buchanan who married in 1860.
The only spanner in the works is that Donald and Catherine also had a younger child called... Mary?
Look at family search for their children!
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Yes, I agree. I'm looking at a family on the 1871 census on Ancestry.com now with a Donald and Catherine Campbell with the children:
Augard 9
Jane 7
Catherine 7
John 4
Mary 1
Is this the same family you found on FamilySearch?
Yes, two daughters called Mary in the same family sounds a bit odd, but, this isn't the first time I've seen it if that should be the case. And, my Mary isn't living with the family at this time, so I don't know if that makes a difference. Maybe she grew up somewhere else?
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Very Possible.
That eldest child Augard is actually Dugald Campbell.
Donald, Catherine and daughter Mary Campbell vanish from Scottish census records in !881
A family very much resembling them materialise in British Columbia Canada at 1891?
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Yes, I noticed that there was an error in the transcript with Dugalds name. Augard sounded more Norwegian to me. It would certainly have been an unusual name in Scotland at least. Easier to track than Dugald ;)
Oh really? Well, maybe they did travel to the US. I'll have to think about upgrading my Ancestry membership if people start moving abroad.
Thank you for your help :)
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I need a second opinion on something..
OK - so, it's been some time since I did research on this side of the family. When I took a break from this family, I struggled to find Mary in the census or anywhere else in the period between her birth and her marriage in 1880. She wasn't listed with her mother and her new family in the census in 1861 and 1871. (For those who hasn't read the whole story - Mary was illegitimate and didn't live with her mother it appears. Her father is nowhere to be found.)
And now - when I opened the birth certificate of the Mary MacCallum (Buchanan at birth), I noticed that the witness that signed is given as John Carmichael - Uncle.
So, I thought I'd look for this John Carmichael in the census, and when I found one possible match from 1861, it turns out that there is one Mary McCallon living with them. His niece. Could this be the Mary I'm looking for? I'm really just asking for a second opinion, since I myself think it's reaching a bit. But it does match up pretty well. This Mary living with the Carmichaels is born in 1856. Mine in 1855. The family is living somewhere called Balenlan, Lismore. Mary's place of birth is given as something that looks like Balevolan, Lismore in her birth certificate.
And then, in 1871 John's wife name is given as Mary Buchanan. (Mary McCallon isn't living with them in 1871.)