*COMPLETED* Charlotte Robertson bn 1868

[jmg1893]

I believe that my Great Great Uncle Charles Gordon who was born on 1886 in Peterhead married Charlotte Robertson bn 1868 on 1st March 1889 in St Andrews Parish Dundee.  His father was James Gordon and Mother Margaret Gordon.

The marriage certificate of Charles and Charlotte records her mother Christina (nee McKenzie) and her father as William Robertson, occupation Mill Overseer (Its not too clear on the certificate image on SP).

I'm a little confused and would appreciate some assistance with Charlotte's family. The 1871 census search showed only one Charlotte Robertson in Dundee at her age.     However it records her father as George and Mother as Catherina together with her siblings. 

I searched for her birth certificate and again it revealed one possible Charlotte Brown Robertson bn 5th May 1868 Father George, Jute Mill Overseer and Mother Christina Robertson (Nee McKenzie).

The confusion is over the fact that the birth certificate records father George and Marriage William otherwise Mother's details the same.  However the Census shows Father as George (same as birth cert) and mother different.

Can someone help and confirm why the birth and marriage certificate should show different father's forenames and whether the census record is the correct Robertson family.

Thanks in advance

Jim 

[MonicaL]

Jim,

Looks to be lots of errors there which are not helping you 

Have you thought to double check details on Charlotte's death cert?

I would say from everything you have that you do have the right birth entry with parents George and Christina (McKenzie).

Charlotte's 1881 census entry shows her living with her married sister:

Archibald Aitken 31
Christina Aitken 31
Archibald Aitken 7
George Aitken 5
William Robertson 15, Jute Yarn Dresser, brother in law b. Dundee
Charlotte Robertson 12, Jute Bobbin Shifter (Half Timer), sister in law b. Dundee

Address: 21 Glamis St, Dundee

You mentioned the 1871 census entry for the family. On the transcript I am looking at, both mother and daughter Christina show as Catherine on the transcript (have you double checked the original image?).

Monica 

[MonicaL]

Christina Robertson/Aitken died in 1909 in Dundee aged 58 (from an online tree). Her death cert which is included as a document, shows her parents as George Robertson, jute mill overseer, and Christina McKenzie, both deceased.

Monica

[jmg1893]

Thanks Monica,

First of all sincere thanks for being so kind as to take the time to help me.  It is a little confusing (well for me at least).  I think that Christina Robertson was indeed Charlotte's sister.

Charlotte died on 11th December 1949 aged 81 years in Dundee.  Her certificate shows father George and Mother Christina (nee McKenzie).  It's strange that her marriage certificate shows William as her fathers name and yet everything thing else is George, together with the different spellings of her mother's name.  Although still starting out in genealogy I've already discovered a few problems around  spellings of names, particularly on census records.

Sincere thanks again.

Jim

[MonicaL]

You do seem to have doubly unlucky with the name given by Charlotte on her marriage entry and then also that 1871 census entry (as mentioned, not sure if this is an error on the transcript or how it has been written up).

Errors do happen on certificates. More often in death certs where an informant to a death simply made a mistake. Happens less often on marriage certs because this would have been the bride or groom giving the details themselves to the registrar. But it did happen (and a pain when it does!).

In Charlotte's case you seem to have lots of other supporting info to help you, including her death cert and other census info. George and wife Christina must have had lot of children. The IGI index here www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true shows at least 11 were born post the start of official registration from 1855.

You are right to be open minded about spellings as these were very fluid in those times (both first names and surnames). You also have to take care to do with first name variants (this is a good site for first names www.whatsinaname.net/).

Monica

[jmg1893]

The familysearch link that you provided is a clear form.  Ive searched on their names but just get their marriage in 1844.

[MonicaL]

Jim, on the link to IGI:

Put in father and mother's full names on the r/h side (first name and surnames).
At the bottom, Bristish Isles and Scotland.
Then 'search'.

This will bring up all the children showing on these indexes for a couple with the names you have. This search is what is called a 'parent search'.

If you need to, you can add extra filters such as time ranges and counties. I tend to find that parent searches, in the main, bring up children for one couple most of the time.

Monica

[jmg1893]

Monica,

You're a star many thanks for your assistance with this search.

regards

Jim