Mary Ann McKenzie - my Scottish Great Grandmother

[spindrift]

I've not started a topic on this board before ,so, I hope I'm not overdoing this.
Does anyone have any info on a Mary Ann McKenzie born in Fodderty, Ross and Cromarty in about 1840?
IF I have the right person Mary Ann McKenzie was born in 1841, all the records I can find give Fodderty as her birthplace, but I can't find a record of the birth, maybe her mother returned home for it.

The 1851 census lists: (all born Fodderty)
Alexander Mckenzie abt 1816 Head
Ann " abt 1812 Wife
Alexander " abt 1840 Son
Mary " abt 1841 Daughter
Colin " abt 1845 Son
Donald " abt 1846 Son
Margaret " abt 1848 Daughter

She first marries on 11th June 1859 to Donald Grant
She was a domestic servant and he a farm grieve both at Feregorm (or Foregorm) of Ferrintosh - I can find Ferrintosh but not the actual farm or estate. Both the marriage certificate and the 1861 census give a birth date of 1839. If the family I have on the 1851 census is the right one then by the time of her marriage her father had remarried, so, I don't have the maiden name of her mother.

Their daughter, Isabella, was born in 1860 and I have no other information about her. Donald died in 1863.

On 8th February 1870 she married William Darling Rayner of Waterbeach Cambridgeshire (Parish Records give date of birth 1841). They had 3 children (John 1872 - my grandfather, Elizabeth Beatrice 1877 and Mary Ann 1880). The records of both marriages give her father as Alexander McKenzie.
The 1871 census gives her place of birth as Scotland and the 1881 census as Fodderty.  She died 26th November 1884.
I'm certain of the English census info, the second marriage and death details and I'm almost certain that I have her first marriage details right, I'm not sure that I have the correct census entry for her family in 1851 or 1841 and I can't find her birth record.
I'd be really grateful for any help or suggestions.
David

[MonicaL]

Hi David

What was the name showing for Mary Ann's mother on the possible first marriage you have for her in 1859?  There is a birth entry showing on IGI on www.familysearch.org which might connect to Mary Ann:

Mary Ann McKenzie born on 9 FEB 1839 in Fodderty, Ross And Cromarty
Parents: ALEXR. MC KENZIE and ISABEL MC LEAN

Monica 

[spindrift]

Thanks Monica,

You might be right BUT -

I've searched the Old Parish Registers on "Scotlands People" for both the birth and the parents wedding and found no matches.

There is a family on the 1841 census who fit this info and might be the correct family instead of one from the 1851 census which I thought was the right one. 

What possessed two fathers with the same name to give their daughters the same names when they were born within a couple of years of each ther in the same small highland village?  Did they sit round their peat fires of an evening chortling at the confusion they were causing for future genealogists?

You asked about the wife at the time of Mary's first marriage and that raises some confusing possibilities.

I thought Alexander had remarried as the 1851 census gave the wife as Ann.  However, if it was Isabel as in the 1841 census then it sort of fits.  The marriage record for Mary gives her mother as Isabella McLennan not the Isabel McLean of the IGI but near.  The info on the IGI wasn't from any records but from their Pedigree Resource File and was submitted by a George Alexander MacLennan - coincidence?

David

[MonicaL]

This 1841 census entry would fit:

Alexr. McKenzie, 35, agri. lab.
Isabel McKensie, 25
Mary Mckenzie, 2

Address: Inchrory, Fodderty

Monica

[MonicaL]

Hi David

That birth in 1839 for a Mary Ann is showing as an actual extract from the OPRs and as such should show on SP. I am abroad at the moment and haven't got access to my passwords etc. to be able to check on SP but hopefully it will be there.

I wouldn't be too concerned about the McLean v. McLennan if everything else is correct. Remember in those times spellings were very fluid for lots of reasons. Does the occupation for father Alexander from Mary Ann's marriage cert. fit what you are seeing in the early censuses?

Monica 

[spindrift]

Thanks again Monica,

Yes, the occupations fit (ag lab & ploughman), I have looked on SP but couldn't find the birth - it might be me, I'm not an expert at this.

The occupations is an interesting point.  How did the daughter and widow of farm workers from the north of Scotland ever meet an ag lab (from a long line of ag labs) in Southern England, who's family never moved more than about 10 miles every 50 years or so?  I know organised parties of Scottish women travelled down to the Fens looking for agricultural work in the 1930's, could they have done so in the 1860's?


David

[spindrift]

Monica

A PS to my last post.

I had found the 1841 census but for some reason that I can't now remember I was convinced that it was the family on the 1851 census.

Now I have to find where they went after 1841.

David

[mrsaird]

I've not started a topic on this board before ,so, I hope I'm not overdoing this.
Does anyone have any info on a Mary Ann McKenzie born in Fodderty, Ross and Cromarty in about 1840?
IF I have the right person Mary Ann McKenzie was born in 1841, all the records I can find give Fodderty as her birthplace, but I can't find a record of the birth, maybe her mother returned home for it.

The 1851 census lists: (all born Fodderty)
Alexander Mckenzie abt 1816 Head
Ann " abt 1812 Wife
Alexander " abt 1840 Son
Mary " abt 1841 Daughter
Colin " abt 1845 Son
Donald " abt 1846 Son
Margaret " abt 1848 Daughter

She first marries on 11th June 1859 to Donald Grant
She was a domestic servant and he a farm grieve both at Feregorm (or Foregorm) of Ferrintosh - I can find Ferrintosh but not the actual farm or estate. Both the marriage certificate and the 1861 census give a birth date of 1839. If the family I have on the 1851 census is the right one then by the time of her marriage her father had remarried, so, I don't have the maiden name of her mother.

Their daughter, Isabella, was born in 1860 and I have no other information about her. Donald died in 1863.

On 8th February 1870 she married William Darling Rayner of Waterbeach Cambridgeshire (Parish Records give date of birth 1841). They had 3 children (John 1872 - my grandfather, Elizabeth Beatrice 1877 and Mary Ann 1880). The records of both marriages give her father as Alexander McKenzie.
The 1871 census gives her place of birth as Scotland and the 1881 census as Fodderty.  She died 26th November 1884.
I'm certain of the English census info, the second marriage and death details and I'm almost certain that I have her first marriage details right, I'm not sure that I have the correct census entry for her family in 1851 or 1841 and I can't find her birth record.
I'd be really grateful for any help or suggestions.
David

Could it be the farm that you are looking for is Torgorm. Spelling has changed over the years so it is difficult to sometimes find a place.

[spindrift]

Thank you - Torgorm could be correct.  I couldn't read the entry at all and Foregorm was suggested by someone from SP.   I'll check the census returns for the Farm nd see what i come up with.

David