Merchant Seamen's Details

[ore-dragon]

Hi All,

I am interested to find out where I may find details of merchant seamen with Dundee as their home port.

I have found two so far on my family tree and they are almost impossible to trace as they are never home on Census night.  The latest is Peter Baxter  c1830 - 1891.  He was married to Margaret Gray (d1863) then Catherine Robb (d1889) and then Elizabeth Tawse (I cannot find the marriage, but her name is on his death extract).  He had a number of children with both Margaret and Catherine.

I would be grateful for any information.

Regards

Ore Dragon

[Rowana]

Hi Ore Dragon,

I can't help directly, but when I was at Sea, many moons ago, all the records were held by the register of seamen in Cardiff, which I think now comes under the Maritime and Coastguard agency, or some such fancy title.

The old registers are held by the national archives in Kew, I think.

This link will take you to a information sheet issued by Lloyds Register, and It may help you in your quest -
http://www.lr.org/NR/rdonlyres/10C62850-89B7-4967-9645-9FFE187DE07F/56288/Info2Registryofshippingandseamen1.pd

Good luck!

Cheers,
Jim

[Betty Boo]

Hi Ore Dragon,

So do you mean that sometime within the two years that 2nd wife Catherine Robb died in 1889 and the death of Peter Baxter in 1891, he married Elizabeth Tawse?

Can't find anything of the marriage on Scotlands People!!

Betty

[ore-dragon]

Hi,

Thanks Jim, the document you posted looks really interesting and I think I need to plan a trip to Kew to get more information on Peter Baxter.

The short answer to your question Betty is yes. There are two spouces on Peter's death certificate the 1st was Catherine Robb and the 2nd Elizabeth Tawse (I had to get scotlandpeople.gov to confirm the surname).  But I know that Peter was initally married to Margaret Gray.  I cannot find Peter's marriage to Elizabeth Tawse on scotlandpeople.gov.  However the informant was named Shannon and he was Peter's step-son.  It could be that the marriage was under that surname and it is more than likely he may not have been aware of Peter's first marriage.

Interestingly Peter's son George Baxter lived with Isobella Addison and had about 9 children but they never married.  He is recorded as being single on his death certificate. Perhapes Peter followed his example with Elizabeth Tawse!

This family group are proving to be very difficult to trace through the census.

Regards

Ore Dragon

[Betty Boo]

Hi ore-dragon

Have you seen this death on Scotlands People in 1891 listed as Elizabeth Tawse who died in Dundee Angus in 1891.  It also has Shannon listed as one of her names which you said was also the informants name on the other one.


1 1891 TAWSE ELIZABETH ROBER   BAXTER SHANNON F 54 ST CLEMENT DUNDEE CITY/ANGUS 282/03 0433 VIEW (5 CREDITS) ORDER

Betty

[ore-dragon]

Hi Betty,

I had seen Elizabeth Tawse death entry on scotlandspeople .gov.  I serached for her and Catherine's deaths when I found their names on Peter's death entry. I have not downloaded them yet (so many certificates and so little time!)  I decided to get the wedding of Peter and Catherine first.  This showed that both Peter and Catherine had been previosly married.  I wanted to confirm that it was the same Peter Baxter that had been married to Margaret Gray.

I have found one possible entry (ancestry.co.uk) for Catherine Baxter on the 1871 Census.  Some of the childrens names tie up with those known to be born to Catherine & Peter (LDS entries).  There are a couple of children who were obviously Margaret's but I have no conformation of this.

In the 1861 there is an Elizabeth Baxter (seamans wife) who could possibly be Margaret, but that is all I have been able to find and trying to confirm the information is proving difficult.

Regards

Ore Dragon

[ore-dragon]

Hi Betty,

I did a search on scotlandspeople.gov for the marriage of Baxter & Shannon and found the entry!  Elizabeth was entered as Jessie. It was 1880. I was out by 10 years for the death of Catherine Robb!

One of the witnesses of the marriage confirms Catherine's entry in the 1871 census.

I then searched the 1881 census for Jessie and/or Elizabeth Baxter to no avail and then tried just Baxter and Elizabeth's date of birth and lo and behold up pops Betsey Baxter, husband Peter (seanman) living with step-son Wil Shannon.  Result!  It also allowed me to confirm Peter's place of birth and a birth entry for him in the OPRs.

Thanks for your help on this one.

Ore Dragon

[Betty Boo]

Hi  ore-dragon,

Glad you managed to get it all sorted out.

Betty or is it Elizabeth??,  or Betsy??