Whitecross family

[AsH62]

My 3 x great grandmother was Agnes Whitecross b. 27th July 1785 in Edinburgh. I have been told this but have no documentary proof.
She was the daughter of Hugh Whitecross and Ann Drummond/Dramenan. These facts are clear on her death certificate when she died in 1861.

Agnes was the second wife of Thomas Hepburn 1779-1857 and they appear to have got married in Whitekirk in abt 1808. His previous wife Allison Stewart disappeared in about 1806 and I have presumed that she died although after 6 years I have no proof.

I have the name of Agnes's parents but nothing else. I can't find when they got married, if they had other children or even their dates. Has anyone else come across this family please?

Thank you
Alison

[dex]

Hi Alison

I was back at Scotland's People Centre again this week so I had a look at this enquiry. I checked the OPR's for East Lothian to try to find the birth of Agnes Whitecross or the marriage of her parents but unfortunately nothing found. I extended the search to the whole of Scotland but again no luck. I tried for other children born to the same parents but nothing there either in East Lothian or elsewhere. I also had a look for the marriage of Agnes to Thomas Hepburn c1808 at Whitekirk but yet again nothing despite trying name variations etc.
It was apparent that the Whitecross surname and variants were most definitely focused on East Lothian and Aberdeenshire.
Sorry but another missing piece of your jigsaw.

Dex

[AsH62]

Hi Dex

That was really kind of you to take the time to do that, thank you!

I don't know if they will ever be found but now I know that someone (who knows what they are doing) has checked at the archives and can't find them and so it isn't just me and I will have to resign myself to not knowing, it's disappointing but I can put it to one side and move on.

Thank you again, I really appreciate it
Alison

[tidybooks]

Hi Alison,

I sympathise with your plight, I have been up this path many a time. Can I ask you to go back to your 2xGGF and 2xGGM and try and get some proof for them. If that doesn't work, I would suggest you go back again, until you do get proof. Post their details on here, and we will try and assist you.

Tom

[AsH62]

Hi Tom. Thanks for your understanding!

I have got as much proof as I know how for my 2 x great grandparents. I started to blog my research last year when I realised that lots of us are re inventing the wheel and paying for certificates that other researchers have already paid for. I thought that if I put everything I had on a blog rather than on a site like Ancestry then anyone could have access to it.

In the blogs I have included every certificate that I can find and any newspaper cuttings or references to books. The Blog is at https://medium.com/@Ash62
The first one is Thomas and Agnes which I decided to publish despite not being able to find some details, I didn't know if I would ever find them so it seemed sensible to publish it anyway. My 2 x great grandparents are James and Sibbella in the fifth blog.

If you can see anything in these blogs that will give me a clue about where to go for my missing information then I would be very grateful. I keep hoping that it must be out there somewhere but i have come to the end of my abilities to find it.
Thank you again for taking an interest
Alison

[tidybooks]

Hi Alison,

Did a family search on Thomas Hepburn and Agnes Whitecross, on FreeReg and LDS Family Search,
got the following:-

Ann          b 06 Mar 1809  bap 12 Mar 1809 @ Whitekirk

William    b 11 Nov 1811 bap 17 Nov 1811 @ North Berwick

Janet     b 1816  (died 1888, and age 72 on DC)

James    b 18 Jan 1819  bap 31 Jan 1819  @Whitekirk

Jean       b 23 Jun 1821 bap                        @ Whitekirk

Elizabeth b 29 Oct 1824 bap 06 Nov 1824 @ Whitekirk

Benjamin b 01 Mar 1826 bap 15 Mar 1826 @ Whitekirk

Margaret b 08 Jul 1828  bap 21 Jul1828  @ Whitekirk


That suggested using Scottish Naming Pattern, the following Grandparents,

William and Janet Hepburn

and

James and Ann Whitecross

So we can assume that the naming pattern wasn't followed, possibly due to previous marriage.

Found the following on the John Gray website,

Agnes Whitecross or Hepburn died Tyninghame as seen in Haddingtonshire Courier of 29 Mar 1861 page 2 column 3. (John Gray Centre, Haddington)

I take it you have the same children as I have found. I will do further checks.

Tom


PS  I have just noticed all the extra info on your blog Alison, sorry for answering before reading it. I have amended the children list.

[AsH62]

Hi Tom

Thank you for this, yes we are looking at the same list of children.

Your reference to Agnes's death being in the newspaper is new to me, that is another piece of concrete evidence that she existed!

I think you are right and that the naming pattern must have been used in his first marriage in some way and so wasn't relevant in his second. It is both fascinating and frustrating in equal measure.

Thank you again for taking the time to help me
Alison