hugh spence wilson

[poppysmum]

hi
I have a person in my family tree who seems to have vanished.  He was born in 1899 in peebles to my great grannys sister, jessie wilson.  He was illigitimate.  I cant find any record of hi, after this except for a photo of him sitting on his granpas knee outside peebles cemetry.  he looks about 8 or 9.  On the back of the photo it says "granpa wilson and cousin dod" When we showed my granny the photo, she said "Oh thats cousin dod, on of those illigitimate kids"
If anyone has any info or ideas i would be very grateful!

[ScottishAncestry]

I tell you what it could be: although he was registered as illegitimate he could be in the census under his fathers name. You see when a child was illegitimate the father would have to register the birth for his name to appear on the certificate however as everybody may know who the father was he would be known by his fathers name.

To proceed, first look up in the census all the family members he might have lived with, often if the mother married or went into service an illegitimate child would go to a Grandparent or other family member. In this case you have only got the 1901 census to do this trick with so if you still can’t find him go to the death records. He should be indexed under his birth name so even if he has taken on his fathers name the Wilson will still appear.

If you can’t get to Edinburgh or Glasgow Scotland’s people may prove expensive. This is the type of job a researcher can often do cheaper than Scotland’s people so it might be worth checking them out.

Emma

[poppysmum]

Hi
Thanks for that.  I have him in the 1901 census and then i don't know where he went.  I am planning to go to the general register office next week so i will see if i can find his death certificate.

[poppysmum]

jus to update, this morning I found a mention of him in te peebles newspaper and he had died in 1918 in WW1.  We went to the heritage hub in Hawick and looke through the war time newspapers for something else and I noticed a memorial for him for his mother. 
It's quite sad really, I don't like to think that the little boy in the picture went to war to be killed as a young man

caroline