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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: RichardK on Friday 26 January 18 07:19 GMT (UK)
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Can anyone help work out what this birthplace is meant to say please? It's from the 1851 census for Alexander McKenzie, a Scottish tailor living in St Pancras. Class HO107; Piece 1493; Folio 563; Page 8. Anything I can make of it doesn't seem to be a real place. This was the only census in which Alexander gave a more precise place of birth than 'Scotland'. Confidence isn't inspired by the fact that his wife was from Woburn in Bedfordshire, and there are plenty of streets named after Woburn in that part of London, yet her birthplace has come out as 'Waurbourn'.
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I can find Kilfinichen (aka Chil Fhinichin)
http://brydondale.com/genealogy/tng/placesearch.php?tree=bryd2&psearch=Kilfinichen+%26+Kilvicheon%2C+Mull%2C+Argyllshire%2C+Scotland
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=149147&Y=728614&A=Y&Z=120
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I wasnt sure if it was a k or an r.
Have you tried looking at old maps gazetteer , going through all Scottish counties looking for place names that you could garble to resemble the 1851 entry?
https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Gazetteer
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I thought it was Ros?finic and had a look at the census to check the ‘R’ and the ‘K’. I think it is ‘R’ .
However, I can’t find a place. :-\
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There is a Daniel McKenzie at 1851 1494/625/32 who is also a Tailor in St Pancras. He is from Paisley.
He might be no relation but I thought I would mention him.
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I thought it was 'Rosefinie'.
I found this - it may have put on by you - if not, somebody else also can't find the place!
https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Alexander_McKenzie_%2821%29
Had a quick look through Scotlandsplaces - a fabulous site if you can find a specific place.
https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk
Still no luck I'm afraid.
Do you know any of Alexander's siblings you could look for in the Censuses to see if there's anything written as their place of birth?
Added: Snap idea heywood!
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Thanks all - good ideas. Looking through the gazetteer I have spotted 'Rhughasinish' on South Uist - wonder if the Gaelic pronunciation would be something closer to Rosefinie? (The WeRelate page was me.) Equally, Daniel from Paisley being a tailor also in St Pancras sounds worth a bit more investigation.
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Different angle, but I see that Alexander married Mary Gobbey at St James, Westminster on 23 Aug 1831.
Have the marriage witnesses, Robert Millar Strathern and Amelia Edmunds, been traced?
The former, in particular, looks promising for being connected to Alexander’s Scottish origins.
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Different angle, but I see that Alexander married Mary Gobbey at St Jmes, Westminster on 23 Aug 1831.
Have the marriage witnesses, Robert Millar Strathern and Amelia Edmunds, been traced?
The former, in particular, looks promising for being connected to Alexander’s Scottish origins.
In fact, Alexander McKenzie had been one of the witnesses a couple of months earlier when Robert Millar Strathern married Hannah Boden at St George Hanover Square on 26 June 1831.
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Unfortunately Robert Millar Strathern died aged 26 in 1835 (buried St James Westminster 10 May 1835) so no census entries for him.
He was a tailor, of Portland St, according to the 1832 baptism of daughter Alice. Abode was Kemp’s Court by the time of his death, per burial register.
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A book search shows up a place called Rosefini
MDunder, John Jobson, Esq; of RoseFini, to Miss Stevenson, of Dundee. fo. 6. Lord Viscount Montague, to Miss Hero Mauby, daughter of Thomas Mau# ts; of Bead's Hall, county of Essex. 7. At Dundee, the Rev. Patrick Mac F, one of the ministers of that town, to * Agnes Gibson, daughter of the late * John Gibson, minister of ...
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zl4AAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA143&lpg=PA143&dq=Rosefinie+scotland&source=bl&ots=s1KsbXME1v&sig=B-4sBBhuMlTOPIex53Qa4yhF7n4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwif_4Dis_XYAhWpA8AKHft4CNAQ6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=Rosefinie%20scotland&f=false
But I can't find anything about where it is
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A book search shows up a place called Rosefini
MDunder, John Jobson, Esq; of RoseFini, to Miss Stevenson, of Dundee. fo. 6. Lord Viscount Montague, to Miss Hero Mauby, daughter of Thomas Mau# ts; of Bead's Hall, county of Essex. 7. At Dundee, the Rev. Patrick Mac F, one of the ministers of that town, to * Agnes Gibson, daughter of the late * John Gibson, minister of ...
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zl4AAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA143&lpg=PA143&dq=Rosefinie+scotland&source=bl&ots=s1KsbXME1v&sig=B-4sBBhuMlTOPIex53Qa4yhF7n4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwif_4Dis_XYAhWpA8AKHft4CNAQ6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=Rosefinie%20scotland&f=false
But I can't find anything about where it is
Looks like an OCR error - it seems to me to be Rosemount in the underlying document.
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I see something like 'Rossfinic' ??? rather than 'Rosefinie'.
ADDED: and this google book excerpt mentions Rosefinnick in Ayrshire
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01ler/
and this
http://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/archive/90670369?mode=transcription
see Fenwick on p 326
http://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/archive/90673933
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"The lands of Fenwick....appear to have been divided into two holdings "Ross-Finnick and Wattis-Finnick""
https://goo.gl/oY9yQF
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ScotlandsPeople has the baptism of an Alexander McKenzie in Fenwick in 1804: parents John McKenzie and Elizabeth Stevenson
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This may be of interest, although I couldn't spot Ross Finnick:
http://maps.nls.uk/view/74488611
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This shows Laigh Fenwick, south of Fenwick.
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14&lat=55.6609&lon=-4.4407&layers=1&b=1
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Excellent bit of sleuthing ShaunJ and everyone - here's the image of that 1804 baptism from Fenwick, Ayrshire. This Alexander was indeed born in Ross / Rose Fenwick. I think we have our answer.
Many thanks to all.
Richard.
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Well done everyone. What a good result. :)
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On John Thomson's "Atlas of Scotland 1832" on the west side of the road that runs N from Kilmarnock to Glasgow via Fenwick, Rose Fenwick is marked five place names before Fenwick village. (http://maps.nls.uk/view/74400169). Apologies for my non-standard method of referencing the location.
Istrice
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Thanks Istrice - nice to pinpoint it on the map. Looks like it's in the same area the Ordnance Survey today label Laigh Fenwick, around the junction of the roads now called Main Road and Waterslap (good name).