Jedburgh Union Poorhouse

[MaryS]

Looking for some help finding information about George Bruce who died 1866 in the Jedburgh Union Poorhouse at age 79.  His wife Margaret may have died there in 1887.  Can anyone help?

[MonicaL]

Hi MaryS

Have you looked at George and wife Margaret's death certificates to see what if anything is recorded about their parents?

How have you worked back to them?

Monica 

[ScottishAncestry]

Hi MaryS,

The Borders FHS website has a Poor Law Records Search, however, neither Margaret or George appear. (http://www.bordersfhs.org.uk/BFHSPoorLawsearchform.asp) I see from the 1861 census that George was Tinsmith. Could it be he was only in the Poor House towards the end of his life. Perhaps more a hospitalization than somebody in permanent need of poor relief?

I’m not sure where the records of the Jedburgh poor house are, if indeed they still exist. In tracing George however I have searched the census and found these entries. Margaret was obviously George’s second wife.


1861 Census

County Name   Roxburghshire
Parish Name   Jedburgh
Town/Village   Jedburgh
Address   18 Castle Street
Rooms with Windows   1
Children attending School   0
Enumeration District   7
Enumeration Page   3
Schedule Number   15

Name   Relationship   Condition   Age   Sex   Occupation   Birthplace
George Bruce   Head   Married   73   M   Tin & Coppersmith   Roxburgh, Kelso
Margaret Bruce   Wife   Married   50   F       Roxburgh, Jedburgh

© Transcription — Graham Maxwell Ancestry 2011.
© 1861 Census Data — General Register Office for Scotland. Crown copyright.
Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of the HMSO and Queen’s Printer for Scotland.



1851 Census

County Name   Roxburghshire
Parish Name   Jedburgh
Town/Village   Jedburgh
Address   11 Burnwynd Street
Enumeration District   2
Enumeration Page   4
Schedule Number   17

Name   Relationship   Condition   Age   Sex   Occupation   Birthplace
George Bruce   Head   Widower   60   M   Tinsmith   Roxburgh, Kelso
Elizabeth Bruce   Daughter   Unmarried   28   F   Servant   Roxburgh, Jedburgh
John Bruce   Son   Unmarried   26   M   Tinsmith   Roxburgh, Jedburgh
George Bruce   Son   Unmarried   19   M   Tinsmith   Roxburgh, Jedburgh

© Transcription — Graham Maxwell Ancestry 2011.
© 1851 Census Data — General Register Office for Scotland. Crown copyright.
Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of the HMSO and Queen’s Printer for Scotland.



1841 Census

County Name   Roxburghshire
Parish Name   Jedburgh
Town/Village   Jedburgh
Address   Burnwynd
Enumeration District   6
Enumeration Page   2

Name   Age   Sex   Occupation   County of Birth
George Bruce   50   M   Tinsmith   Roxburghshire
Agnes Bruce   50   F       Roxburghshire
John Bruce   15   M   Tinsmith Ap.   Roxburghshire
George Bruce   9   M       Roxburghshire


© Transcription — Graham Maxwell Ancestry 2011.
© 1841 Census Data — General Register Office for Scotland. Crown copyright.
Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of the HMSO and Queen’s Printer for Scotland.



I’ll see if I can track down the records of the Jedburgh poor house. On the death certificate what is the “Usual residence”? Who signed it, what was their address?

Emma

[MaryS]

Thanks for the help Emma!  The information you have shown is what I have also.  I do not have a death cert. but have the death record from Scot. People.  His death was signed by John W. Robbie, Governor, at Jedburgh.  He was 79 and is said to have died from old age.  Both his father and mother are listed as "unknown", which makes me wonder where his wife Margaret and his sons were at the time of his death to provide some information.

I am most interested in George Bruce's second wife Margaret Mather whom I am trying to make a connection with.  I can not find a death record for her in S.P., but am told she died in 1887.  I am trying to find out who her parents were.  She was not living with her parents in any of the census.

Mary

[hdw]

You've probably travelled this road already, but George Bruce and Margaret Mather were married in 1854 at Jedburgh, the marriage also being registered in the Hawick OPR. The Hawick OPR entry says they are both in Jedburgh, but the Jedburgh one says she was in Hawick at the time of the proclamation.

In the 1851 census George Bruce, widower, and children are living in Burnwynd Street, Jedburgh, next-door to a family called Veitch. The Veitches have a "Visitor", called ... Margaret Mather! Aged 40, a laundress, born Jedburgh. Her birth and baptism don't seem to be recorded. Maybe it would be worth investigating those Veitches. Either Mr. or Mrs. Veitch may have been related to Margaret. Maybe Mrs. Veitch was a sister. An unmarried woman like Margaret would have tended to live with a relative rather than on her own.

Harry

[MonicaL]

From what you mention Harry, I think (from IGI entries) that Elizabeth Veitch's maiden name looks to be PHAUP.

Monica

[Br1gau]

Hi MaryS,

George Bruce is also listed in Pigot's 1837 at Burnwynd, so he lived there for many years!  See page 752 under tinsmiths.  There is also a John Burn, Blacksmith of Burn Wynd mentioned and others of the names Veitch & Mather:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0ecNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA750&lpg=PA750&dq=pigot+%2B+jedburgh&source=bl&ots=EK-NwX8ITf&sig=6NllCsBYZD1ZagwMS4w4-LqMo1U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SN8ZT43cHIju8QOM-rGbCw&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

brigyn

[MaryS]

Thanks for your suggestions everyone!  You are right, I have travelled down these roads before.  I tried to track down George's children to see if Margaret might have lived with them in her later years, but nothing.  Was it likely that someone who was a tinsmith all his life would end up in the Poorhouse?