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Can anybody help me read the occupation of my gg-g'mother Annie L. Rose (13) in Wandsworth in 1871?  It looks to me like "painter" or "plaiter" "of Sultana Hali", but surely that can't be right (sounds remarkably exotic for Wandsworth!)  I can find no similar occupation on surrounding pages (RG10/711 folio 40 page 40).

Many thanks in advance

Anna

Forfarian, you were absolutely right about the British Library - it had the roll not only for Aberdeen itself but also for both predecessor colleges (though incomplete).  John MacGregor of Cromdale graduated from King's College Aberdeeb with his first degree in 1850 and I believe that is where he is likely to have studied for his M.D. thereafter. It now remains for me to check the medical registers to make sure his subsequent career ties in appropriately.

Thank you, again, for all your help.

Anna

Many thanks, Forfarian, for your very helpful reply, and especially for pointing me to FreeCEN - I hadn't realised it was so good on the early Scottish censuses. Thank you also for pointing out my error on the family from the "wrong" Kirkmichael. I see from FreeCEN that there is an intriguing John McGregor, college student, aged 19 in 1851 who is staying in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire with the family of a Donald McGregor b Kirkmichael, Banff. John's own birthplace is given as Cromdale, Inverness-shire, which my map suggests borders on the parish of Kirkmichael, Banff.  I'm beginning to wonder if he was orphaned early on and could be the same John who was with the Frasers in 1841.

John was mysteriously inconsistent about his age.  Here's what I've got from sources where I definitely know it's the right John (i.e. marriage and later):

Marriage certificate (Dundee, Feb 1869): M.D. aged 32
US 1870 census (Avoca, Nebraska Jul 1870): physician aged 31
US 1880 census (Yankton, Dakota Territory Jun 1880): physician aged 42
US 1900 census (Yankton, South Dakota Jun 1900): physician aged 68 DOB Jun 1831
US 1910 census (Yankton, South Dakota Apr 1910): physician aged 78

A handwritten family tree passed down to me from one of the American descendants has John's birthdate written in as 21 June 1831 (his parents not shown on tree), but the person who drew up the tree died 20 years ago so I don't know where he got that from. I am absolutely certain that the marriage certificate and the censuses all relate to the same person because his in-laws, named on the marriage certificate, emigrated at about the same time and father-in-law Robert Barnes was living with John and Mary in Yankton in 1880. John never moved away from Yankton and died there in 1918.

One thing I have noticed from looking at the censuses again is that in 1910 John lists the mother tongue of himself and his parents as Gaelic. I'm hoping this might help me narrow down the geographical areas of Scotland he might have come from (?)

Thank you again for your help.

Anna

Dear All,

I am new here, and wondering whether anybody can help me trace the background of my 3x great grandfather John MacGregor who emigrated to the United States in 1869.  I know from his Feb 1869 Dundee marriage certificate (to Mary Barnes of Kilmarnock) that he was qualified M.D. - he continued to practise as a physician in the US. The US censuses show that he was born in June 1831 somewhere in Scotland.

The marriage certificate tells me that John's father was also John McGregor, a farmer, deceased at the date of the marriage (26 Feb 1869).  His mother was Mary McGregor nee Stirling, and it does not say that she was deceased. I cannot find the death of a Mary M(a)cGregor nee Stirling in the Scottish statutory deaths database - it may be that she too emigrated to the US but there is no obvious sign of her there either.

The most likely candidate in the 1861 census is a John McGregor, unmarried, 29, b Kirkmichael, Banffshire who is a medical attendant at some sort of medical establishment in Edinburgh.  Does anybody here have any information as to who this John was? I don't want to be chasing after the wrong John - and IGI has a John McGregor baptised Kirkmichael Banff in May 1832, son of Alexander McGregor and Christina Macpherson and another in 1831 shown as being baptised to Donald McGregor & Elizabeth Petrie. It would be a big coincidence if either of those had become a doctor, but I'd love to know for sure whether or not the 1861 John is the right one!

Any information as to parents John M(a)cGregor and Mary nee Stirling would be greatly appreciated too.  I have nothing at all on them other than their son's marriage certificate (which shows that the marriage was performed according to the forms of the U[nited] P[resbyterian] Church, so the family may have slipped under the Church of Scotland radar). There may have been a Helen or Helena M(a)cGregor in the family who appears as a witness at John's wedding to Mary Barnes, but the first name is very hard to read.

Many thanks in advance for any tips at all!

Anna

Hi - I'm new here, and hoping that somebody here will be able to break down my Kilmarnock brick walls!

My 3x great grandmother Mary C. Barnes was born in Kilmarnock.  Her entry in the 1900 US census (she emigrated after marriage to John MacGregor in 1869) gave her birthdate as September 1842.  I cannot find any record of her birth or baptism on ScotlandsPeople; she married (in Dundee) according to the forms of the United Presbyterian Church so may not have been baptised in the established church.  Any help on her baptism would be greatly appreciated, as I am hoping that if I find out what her middle initial "C" stood for I might find clues to earlier generations.

I do know who Mary's parents were: the 1861 census shows the family in Kilmarnock, and they too emigrated in due course to the US.  The family that I know of is as follows:

Mary's father: Robert J. Barnes, b. abt 1820 in Ireland (per 1861) or Scotland (per later censuses). Occupation variously labourer/ironworks labourer/foundry labourer.

Mary's mother: Ann (nee Wyllie), b. Sep 1818 in Ireland (per 1861 and US 1900 censuses) or Scotland (per US 1880 census).

I have not found the marriage of Robert and Ann, but since Mary (their first child that I know of) was born in Kilmarnock in 1842 I am hoping that they married in Kilmarnock rather than Ireland since it is likely to be easier to trace.

Mary had several younger siblings that I know of:

(1) David Barnes b abt 1845 Ireland (per 1861)
(2) William Wyllie Barnes b Nov 1846 in Ireland (per 1861) or Scotland (per later censuses)
(3) Robert J. Barnes b Feb 1849 Kilmarnock
(4) Hannah Barnes b abt 1851 Kilmarnock
(5) Hugh W. Barnes supposedly b Mar 1855 Kilmarnock but I cannot find a statutory birth entry for him.
(6) Ann Jane Barnes b 31 Jan 1856 Kilmarnock
(7) James Banks Barnes b 9 Feb 1858 Kilmarnock.

This message has got rather long - apologies for that.  I would be most grateful if anybody had information or ideas as to how I can find out more about Mary's ancestors.  I have had no access to pre-1861 censuses but have exhausted the usual online resources (ScotlandsPeople, IGI, ancestry.com etc).

Many thanks in advance

Anna