Help to find a Cunningham ancestor.

[CaroleW]

The 1871 Ceres entry for the family I found in 1881 is as follows - all b Ceres:

William Cunningham   30 blacksmith
Jane  30
William  7
John  5
Eliza  3
Alexander 1
Divina Nairn   17 sister in law
Ceres ED 4 Page 7 Line 24

From Family Search

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTRL-ZQZ

[CaroleW]

1861 for Davina & Jane Nairn - Ceres.  All born there

 
John Nairn   52
Elisabeth 40
Jane  20
Euphemia  17
Margaret 10
Davina  8
John  5
Robert  3
Jane Williams 57 sister in law
Ceres ED 3 Page 10 Line 13

From FS - baptism of Robert

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XYB6-K57

Marriage of John & Elisabeth

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTPS-BJB

[Forfarian]

I am always very wary of equating Jean/Jane with Janet. I know the LDS think they are interchangeable, but I have only ever seen a couple of examples. I have many, many more examples of families who had a daughter Jean/Jane and a daughter Janet, so clearly thought of Jean/Jane as a separate name from Janet. So I am not convinced that it happens often enough to be useful without additional evidence. Of course Jane/Jean and Janet both morph into Jeannie or Jenny, which may be the source of confusion.

On the other hand, Janet is interchangable with Jessie. There is a birth of a Jessie Cunningham in Alloa on 11 July 1873, father William Cunningham, mother Margaret Reid. This couple also had two sons named William, one born 1866 and the other in 1870.

Also surprised that no-one has suggested Dunmore in the parish of Falkirk in Stirlingshire
http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NS8989
where there is a Dunmore Wood as well as the better known Pineapple
http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NS8888

I see that the 1911 census gives Janet's age as 36 and the 1901 says 26. This means that she is three times more likely to have been born in 1874 than in 1875.

It should be simple enough to find out the parentage of the William Cunningham in the 1901 snd 1911 censuses. He had a 22-year-old son John, born in Bathgate, and he and his wife had been married for 27 years. There can't be that many John Cunninghams born in Bathgate in 1888/9, and John's birth certificate will tell you Jane's maiden name and the exact date and place of William and Jane's marriage in 1883/4. The marriage certificate will tell you the names of William's parents.

[CaroleW]

Willam as born in 1862 so too young to be Janet's father but could be considered to be her brother, also interestingly so William was born in Selkirk and his wife in Falkirk,

The 1871 for William Cunningham b Selkirk 1862 shows father as Thomas occ woollen weaver - not William occ blacksmith.  In 1881 they did not have a daughter Janet/Jane/Jessie

[CaroleW]

From FS

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQ5N-T4P

or

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQNZ-761

[MaryThorn]

Thanks for the further pointers. The Jane/Jean/Jessie suggestion is an interesting one.

Janet and Watson appear to gave had a daughter in 1900/1901 called Jeannie Easton C Thornton, she died in 1902.

Janet and Watson go on to have another daughter called Jeanie E C Thornton in 1913.  The surnames used as names is common on the Thornton side, Watson's name is the surname of his grandmother and his middle name Oliver is the surname of his grandfather.  My grandfather also had Hall as a middle name, named after Watsons Grandmother on the paternal side.  This makes me wonder if Easton is a surname in Janet's family, either that or I really am clutching at straws now.

[MaryThorn]

Update - Brickwall knocked down

Just came across this old post of mine and thought I'd post an update.  It took another 2 1/2 years but I finally got to the bottom of the mystery and proved my suspicions to be correct.

I decided to look back at the other Cunningham family living in the same small village as my great grandparents.  The family that had a William Cunningham who was a blacksmith but was too young to be my great grandmother's father.  On looking at them again I realised that they had a 'son ' listed as living with them called Robert Watson Cunningham.  This seemed like another remarkable coincidence as my great grandfather was named Watson Oliver Thornton, the Watson and Oliver coming from great grandparents surnames.

Based on a hunch that all these coincidences must amount to something I checked the GRO records and only a Robert Cunningham matched, no mother's name given meaning he was illegitimate, strange for a couple who by this stage had been married for years.  I then hunted out a baptism record for Robert Watson Cunningham and there clear as day was a father listed as Watson Oliver Thornton!

The rest fell into place, realising that Robert Watson was actually the Cunninghams grandson it became clear that my great grandmother referred to her stepfather as her father on her marriage details.  I then checked the GRO records for the other Cunningham children and the mothers maiden name was listed as Jones.  This led me to a Scottish birth registered for my great grandmother as Janet Jones, illegitmate. Baptismal records and date of birth matched to the 1939 census.  Tracing back her mother's line led me to the family names of Easton and Campbell.  Now DNA has finally proved my brick wall has crumbled.

Sorry for the long winded post just was excited to be able to update.

[Forfarian]

Don't apologise

I'm sure we are all delighted to hear of the demise of brick walls.