William Wood/ Mary Main, Slamannan

[jimmain]

William Wood married Mary Main, 1817, Slamannan. Mary was the sistr of James Main who was married to Matilda Thomson. In the 1841 census, both of these couples were farming at Glen Ellrigg, south of Falkirk. Mary and James were the children of John Main/ Isobel Young, my ggggrandparents. In the 1841 census, William and Mary were noted to have 7 children: James, 20; Robert, 20; Janet, 15; Susan, 15; John, 8; William, 4 and Thomas, 1. I have not been able to find Mary’s death certificate. I would appreciate hearing from any of the descendants of this family.

[Robneve]

Hi Jim.

Further to the P.M. I sent, I have had a chance to go through this part of my tree.  According to my records, William Wood & Mary Main had 9 children.  They were:-
James George   b.1818
Robert               b1821
Janet                 b1823
Jessie                b1825   - married to Wm. Neilson
Susanah            b1826
William               b1830   - married to Janet Stirling
John                   b1833
William               b1836
Thomas              b1839


I have also noticed what may be a mistake in my tree.  I have 2 x William Wood.  I had always assumed the first born died young but this is not so.

I also searched in  Memento-Mori.co.uk  to see if there were any graves in Slamannan which might match.  All I could find was what I think may be Janet Stirling who is buried in Camelon Cemetery. However this was just a cursory search.

You can check this out for yourself on the Memento web site.  It is an excellent source of information.

I hope this and the other info. proves helpful.

Cheers,
Rob.

[andrew shanks]

I have William Wood's wife, Mary Main, as the daughter of Robert Main and Janet Russell.  This Mary Main was born at Airdire in 1798 and the 1841 census for Middlerigg helps to support this as it states that she was not born in Stirlingshire.

Hope this helps.

 

[jimmain]

Many thanks for this. I agree with you. I went through some previous research and found that Robert and Janet's daughter Mary was married to William Wood. I also found them in the 1841 census at Glenellrigg. As well, James Main/ Matilda Thomson were also farming there at the same time. I assumed that Mary was the sister of James, as William and Mary had a William Oswald and John Thomson working with them – both names are associated with James Main/ Matilda Thomson’s families. I didn’t find either William or Mary in the 1851 census, nor did I find Mary’s death record in SP after 1855, so don’t know what happened to them. I suspected that Mary was James’s sister because the age was right. James was the son of John Main/ Isobel Young, who also had a Mary. Of interest, is that John (my ancestor) was most likely the illegitimate son of James Main and Agness Russell, born in 1765. I discovered that James was working at Burnhead at the time and Agnes was a servant.  Two years later, James married Mary Mitchell and had another son, James (Mary Walker) and daughter, Janet (Robert Aitken). Janet and Robert had a son while they were at Ellrigg in 1797. The question now is whether there is a connection between Robert Main/ Janet Russell and John Main/ Isobel Young. In my previous research I was unable to find any definitive information on either Robert or Janet Russell. I would really appreciate hearing from you again if you have anything on them that would allow me to pursue that lead. Thanks again, Jim Main

[andrew shanks]

Apologies for the delay in responding - I was down in York for a few days. 

I am descended from Robert Main born about 1767 and his wife Janet Russell and I guess there could well be a link between them and your John Main b1765. 

The possibility of this may increased by the fact that John appears to have a double link to the Main family - his father, James Main born abt 1739, had Janet Main b1717 as his mother in law!!!

Both Robert and John would probably have passed away by the time of statutory registration, so researching a connection is likely to be difficult.

Clues might also lie with the Russell family given that John's mother was Agnes Russal and his paternal grandmother was Catherine Russell.

 

[jimmain]

This continues to be quite intriguing. I have more information I'd like to share with you.
James Main, b. abt 1745, m. Mary Mitchell,  abt 1766, Slamannan.
James was farming at Balmitchell and died at Heights in 1858; the inventory of his estate was signed by John Main, farmer, Millflats. James owed money to John as well as to William Main, farmer, Balmitchell; they were his sons.

A. Were Mary Mitchell’s parents James Mitchell/Jannet Main, m. 1738, Slamannan?
James Main/ Mary Mitchell; 4 children
1.  John, b.1765, to Agnes Russal, while James was working at Burnhead
2.  James, b.1768, m. Mary Walker
3.  Janet, b. 1772
4.  Janet, b. 1776, m. Robert Aitken

B. You mention that John’s paternal grandmother was Catherine Russell. Could you outline that connection for me. In researching Agnes, I found Agnes, b. 1745, Falkirk to James Russell/ Agnes Allan, and an Agnes who married John Tennant in 1769 in Slamannan. Could this be the same one?

C. Were James Main & Robert Main brothers??
I’ve looked at Robert Main/Margaret Gilmour, m. 1737, Barony; 8 children:
1. Peter, b. 1738
2. John, b. 1740; ?m. Agness Ramsay
3. Christine, b. 1742; ?m. James Jackson
4. James, b. 1745 ; ?m. Mary Mitchell
5. Margaret b. 1750; ?m. James Rankine
6. Elizabeth, b. 1753; ?m. Alexander Stewart
7. Robert, b. 1755; ?m. Janet Russell (or Janet Crawford)
8. Alexander, b. 1759; ?m. Agnes Gray

Robert Main/ Janet Russell, m. 1792; 4 children:
1. William, b. 1793, Shieldhill; ?m. Janet Gentles
2. Janet, b. 1796, Airdrie; ?m. Matthew Thomson or James Patterson
3. Mary, b. 1798
4. Marrion, b. 1802; ?m. William Aitkin

John Main/ Isobel Young, m. 1799, Slamannan; 7 children
1. James, b. 1802; m. Matilda Thomson
2. Mary. b. 1804
3. Elizabeth, b. 1807
4. David, b. 1812; m. Margaret Oswald
5. John, b. 1813; m. Helen Mitchell
6. Alexander, b. 1814
7. Alexander, b. 1816
John’s will, 1846, states that he was farming at Easter Glen; he apparently died in 1840. His son David was farming with him at the time. There is a precognition in 1844 against another son, John (my ancestor) for the crime of ‘forgery & uttering’. He forged his brother David’s signature on several promissory notes and in one case, he forged his uncle, James Main’s signature. He ended up in prison for two years.

James Main/ Mary Walker, m. 1793; 10 children:
1. James, b. 1794; m. Janet Fleming
2. William, b. 1806; m. Janet Taylor
3. David, b. 1799
4. Elizabeth, b. 1801
5. Thomas, b. 1803
6. Robert, b. 1808
7. Hanery, b. 1811; m. Elizabeth Kay
8. Mary, b. 1811; m. William Orr
9. John, b. 1797; m. Agnes Walker
10. Janet, b. 1815; m. Henry Taylor

D. The other puzzle I have is that a Thomas Main, b. abt 1773 has been documented in IGI as being a child of James/ Mary Mitchell. He married Janet Forsyth. I don’t think this is correct.

[jimmain]

This might be of interest to Coonwarra: I recently have been in contact with someone who is also a descendant of Robert/ Janet Russell and he provided me with an extensive family tree and other pertinent information. If you would like to contact him, let me know and I'll try to connect you with him.

[andrew shanks]

Hello Jim and thank you for this offer.

I will pm you with my contact details.
 

[OorWullie61]

My Wife is a descendant of Jessie Wood Neilson, the daughter of Janet Allan, she is her Niece. Her (Jessie)'s Nephew Gordon Crawford has been researching the family tree and perhaps you might want to contact him.