RootsChat.Com

First, if Annie was aged 6 on the date of the 1861 census, the chances are that she was born in 1854, because the census was taken on 7 April, so if her birthday was after 7 April 1854 she would not yet have reached her 7th birthday by census day. Or, of course, her age in the census may be incorrect.

Unfortunately the records of the Sanquhar Kirk Session, which might have shed some light, do not appear to have survived.

I agree that Annie's father was probably a Mr Wilson. It is very common for illegitimate children to be listed by one parent's name in one census and the other parent's name in the next census.

There is plenty of time for another child. Have you found Elizabeth's parents in the 1871 or later census? Is there a grandchild with them who could be William?

As for the later information, it is not unknown for an illegitimate person to be economical with the truth about their parents on their marriage certificate, in order to avoid the stigma of illegitimacy, and Elizabeth herself may well have misled both Annie and William into believing that she had been respectably married and widowed.

• my 3 x g grandmother is Elizabeth Johnston, born in 1836 in Colvend / Buittle
• Elizabeth is the daughter of Hamilton Johnston and Cathrine Reid and can be found in the 1841 census living in Keir
• by 1851, Hamilton, Cathrine and family had moved to Sanquhar with Hamilton a gamekeeper on one of the estates.  Elizabeth however is not with them and I cant find her anywhere in the 1851 census .. presumably she is working elsewhere
• by 1861 Elizabeth, now aged 25, is back with the family in Sanquhar, is unmarried but has a 6 year old daughter listed as Annie Wilson, born in Sanquhar 
• by 1871 both Elizabeth and Annie (now called Annie Johnstone) have moved out and are working as "live in "help" albeit in different locations. Elizabeth is a servant in Dunscore and Annie is a dairy maid in Durisdeer 
• by the mid 1870s the majority of the Johnston family have moved move to the Glasgow area. in 1875 Annie marries a coal miner and moves to Kirkintilloch. I cannot though locate Elizabeth in any of the subsequent census records and cannot confirm whether she moved to Glasgow with the rest of her family
• the next time Elizabeth appears is in 1892 when she dies at Annie's home in Kirkintilloch although she is not there at the time of the 1891 census
• bewilderingly Elizabeth's death is registered by "W Johnston", her son who I cannot find in any previous record and given Elizabeth is on her own until 1871 can only guess was born at some point thereafter. 

• There is no birth record for Annie Wilson or Annie Johnston(e) in or around the Sanquhar area
• Annie's marriage from 1875 and death certificate both list her father as James Johnstone (deceased) and her mother as Elizabeth Johnstone, ms Johnston which indicates Elizabeth was previously married and strangely to someone of the same family name
• Elizabeth's death certificate, bearing in mind she died at Annie's house, instead lists her husband as William Johnstone not James
• Finally, having again checked on scotlandspeople there is no corresponding marriage certificate for Elizabeth  to any person named Johnston (if anyone searches, I have purchased the certificate and ruled out the Johnston's married in Kirkintilloch) 

• she remarried Adam Barr in 1873 in Dalry
• moved to Bellshill in the 1890s .... the same time as James and his family also moved
• died in Bellshill in 1908 and lists ROBERT White, a general labourer, as her first husband on the death certificate