RootsChat.Com
Independent Islands => Isle of Man => Topic started by: Joney on Friday 04 November 16 19:08 GMT (UK)
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Apologies for this post, but I'm trying to make contact with a second cousin who recently replied to a message I sent him on Ancestry. I know I can't give his name, but he's descended from John Thomas Morrison who I believe may have been a ship's captain in the late nineteenth / early twentieth century.
Lydia Harriet was my grandmother and was married in Maughold church in 1911. I thought if I posted a message with our ancestors' names in the title, it might be easier for a newcomer to the site to reply to this, rather than posting a new message of their own.
Hello, cousin ! I hope you spot this. You can't send me a personal message until you have made 3 posts. You don't have to say much. Just a hello will do. You could tell me if I'm correct in thinking your ancestor was a ship's captain for starters.
Best wishes,
Joan
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Hi
Sorry but I'm a bit puzzled - if he replied to your message on Ancestry why are you unable to maintain contact with him that way or exchange email addresses via that reply?
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These look likely births?
John Thomas Morrison, born 1886 in Rushen.
Lydia H Morrison, born 1879 in Maughold.
That's practically at opposite ends of the island?
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I don't have a current Ancestry subscription so was unable to contact my cousin that way. I don't want to pay for one at the moment because I have one on Find My Past.
I have a partial family tree drawn up in the 1980s by Constance Radcliffe, which shows John Thomas Morrison born 1871. The tree does not include all available details because I suspect that my uncle, who commissioned it, made it pretty clear that he wanted it to show that all earlier generations of the family were thoroughly respectable, ie. no children born within weeks of a marriage. This would be because he had been thoroughly shaken by some 'digging' I had already done. I have since filled in some of the details previously missing, which my uncle would definitely not have wanted to know (!), but have not found a definite baptism for John Thomas. The family always lived in Maughold. At least, they are there in every census, but I wouldn't be surprised to find this baptism elsewhere on the island. In 1911, John Thomas Morrison is a mariner living in Ramsey and puts himself down as born in Maughold.
My downloaded documents are on another machine so I cannot give further detail at the minute. Still hoping my cousin sees this ! Thanks.
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Compulsory registration of births only started in 1878.
I was using ManxBMD.com to search for births - but if he was born in 1871, I will need to look at Parish Registers.
The Manx Museum (www.imuseum.im) has this baptism?
22 January 1870, at Maughold
John Thomas Morrison, son of Thomas Morrison (labourer) and Anne Jane Morrison(maiden name Corkill). Residence Ballafayle
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Bingo ! You've got it, so I can tick it off my list of missing items. Thank you for that. I've waded through loads of entries and it began to seem Morrison was the most common surname on the island. The name John didn't exactly help either. I don't find the Manx museum site very easy to navigate but I could kick myself now. I'm really grateful.
Joan
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The iMuseum site used to have an Advanced Search option, in which you could select the parish of interest, and the type of record to search for.
But it seems to have changed recently?!
I simply entered his full name, and it was the 2nd hit! ;D
Have you tried FamilySearch.org?
They copied IoM Parish Registers, so images should be on there?
ADDED: It is, but the baptism date in 22nd January 1871?!
Manx baptisms are very useful, as they usually quote the mother's maiden name! ;D
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Yes, I had always found what I wanted on a simple search on the Manx museum site before now, so not sure why I coldn't find it. I have downloaded every Manx register entry from the tree I got from my uncle over the last two years or so, so last night I got the baptism entries for John Thomas Morrison and his children, which helpfully include addresses, so I had realised it was 1871. The mistake was understandable to some extent, since whoever had written it had started by writing 1870, then amended it to 1871. It's nice to see the same mistake I make every January with any form I'm filling in appearing here. :) Some things don't change.
I started tracing family in the Manx museum in the 1970s, using the IGI and was very impressed with the quality of the church record keeping at the time. Now it is possible to see the images of the actual register pages, it throws more light on things. My male Harrisons are literate early in the nineteenth century but their wives are not until 1870, judging by the marriage entries for example. Presumably it was considered more important for girls to learn to cook, sew and run a house, which is no surprise. Transcriptions are a very very poor substitute for seeing the real document. Thank you again.
Joan
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If you need any clarifications, and can't find the answers online, please ask.
I live just 5 minutes walk away from the Manx Museum! ;D
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Gosh what an offer ! I'll make a note of that for the future. I was hoping to get to the island early next year, but my husband has now booked me to track his mother's family round Northumberland in the spring.
Thanks again.
Joan
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If you've received a message from him even though you don't have a current Ancestry subscription surely you can reply to him? It's initiating messages that you can't do. Have a try.
Blue
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I believe I found myself in this situation once before, but couldn't answer the message. Ok, I've nothing to lose so I'll give it another try. Thanks.