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United States of America / Owen Ward "Died in America in 1924"
« on: Sunday 01 October 17 21:42 BST (UK)  »
Unfortunately that is all the information I have about Owen Ward's supposed death.

Born in Ireland in 1896, he married a Catherine (Katie) Ward nee McManus in Scotland in 1916. They had 2 daughters - Margaret in 1917 and Catherine in September 1923. The trail then goes cold until  his wife, Catherine (Katie) had an illegitimate child in June 1938 whom she named Patrick. It says on Patricks birth certificate that his mother is the widow of Owen Ward who died in America in 1924.

I have looked long and hard for any trace of his death in Scotland, England, Ireland and mining disasters in the USA but I can find nothing.   I also cant find any record of him actually going to America, or any other country for that matter.

Can anybody advise? I am aware the American story could have been concocted by Catherine when she had the illegitimate child but its quite specific.

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West Lothian (Linlithgowshire) / Baby born in Bellsdyke 1938?!
« on: Sunday 01 October 17 20:28 BST (UK)  »
I'm wondering if somebody better informed than I can confirm whether Bellsdyke was only a mental institute in 1938, or had it become a general hospital by then?

To cut a very long story short, a relative of mine has 'Bellsdyke, near Larbert' as his place of birth. There is no father on the certificate and his mother had been a widow 12 years by the time he was born (age 38). We had never been able to find his mothers death entry (I was looking for Catherine Ward) but we now know she died under a different name (Katie Cumming) and we have foujd her death in 1977. Extensive research has failed to find a marriage between her and Mr Cumming.

So is it possible that she was an inpatient in Bellsdyke and had an illegitimate baby there? Is that why the informatiom is so vague on his death entry.

Still learning about family history, especially as we didn't know that a huge part of the family existed until recently so have no family knowledge to help.

Thanks, Iona

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