Todd and Buchanan mystery in Glasgow

[Skoosh]

I wonder if they bought lairs in the new Necropolis Cemetery so gave up the Ramshorn graves?

Skoosh.

[BurrGardner]

Very close, Skoosh, but not exactly.  The necropolis does not have a grave for either Elizabeth (my supposedly exiled ancestor) nor her father, David Todd.  However, David Todd's great grandson, David Todd born in 1856, is buried there along with his wife, Mary Louisa Stewart.  The lineage goes like this:  David Todd, the industrialist, had a son, John, older brother of Elizabeth, my ancestor.  John had a son that he named David, likely after his father, and that David also had a son that he named David.  So it is this last David that is in the necropolis. 

Thanks for the suggestion; you sent me to find another relative!

Burrgard

[Tony Frith]

Sue, Im guessing that you have the same information about this that i have given that I descend from David Buchanan through DP and Geoff.

The story that I had was that David Todd threatened to disinherit the boys if they married the mothers of their children.

Charles died before his father on a tour of the continent and as such had no chance to marry or legitimise his children. John survived the father and as such inherited, married and legitimised.

DP Buchanan - was married twice 1. Marianne Mein, 2. Florence Watkins from which the Beaconsfield Buchanans and issue descend.

There have always been a bunch of stories floating around and while some are easy to verify others are not nearly so. Tracking back through generations can be nigh on impossible unless you have paperwork or a family bible to look at. This is because a large part of the population was nigh on illiterate quite a different story than our modern times. Based on this Id guess that both Todd and Buchanan families would be from the surrounding area.

[Susanne Buchanan]

Hello Tony

Belatedly:  Margaret Buchanan was from a farming family in Bonhill and worked in the cotton mill that was owned by the Todds  Possibly the Bonhill Printworks in the Vale of Leven. and met Charles Todd there.
He was based in Glasgow and associated with the Todd Higginbottom  Springfield Mill and had several residential addresses according to Census records.
Charles and Margaret lived as man and wife at Bridge of Allan and Margaret was called Mrs Todd and the 3 children the Todd children.
Unfortunately Charles did not give his name to David when he attended Rugby school as David Buchanan, probably to shelter him from the brand of illegitamacy, and the family lawyer, George Dalziel was named as his Guardian.
The girls Mary and Margaret were Buchanan when they went under the guardianship of Arthur, Charle's sister. Once again to appease a very critical society and aquire respectable marriages.
I think most of that is in the book Tony.

Hope the jigsaw is falling into place for you.
Susanne

[Tony Frith]

Hi Susanne, yes I received the book. Both mum and I found it very interesting and insightful. There’s a lot of information you have there that we had no idea was able to be found. I will message you directly as there’s a wee bit more that I have found recently. Not so much for the Buchanan side but more for the distaff line. Ngā Mihi Tony

[Forfarian]

Margaret married a minister after Charles's death from scarlett fever in Paris. There is a headstone in Dean Cemetery Edinburgh for Margaret Buchanan and Thomas Calderwood.

The marriage record of Thomas Calderwood and Margaret Buchanan in Edinburgh Parish Register reads as follows

Edinburgh, 12th October 1840. Proclaimed 11th October 1840. Thomas Calderwood, Wright, residing No 7 South St David Street, St Andrew's Parish, and Margaret Buchanan, residing No 29 George Street, same Parish, daughter of the late James Buchanan, Smith, have been three times Proclaimed in order to Marriage in the Parish Church of Saint Andrew's and no objections have been offered. Married at Edinburgh on the 15th day of October 1840 by the Rev William Nisbet, Minister of New Street Church.

So this Margaret Buchanan's husband was not a minister. (There is no record of a minister named Thomas Calderwood at https://www.ecclegen.com/general-index-introduction/ which despite its title does include all ministers of the Church of Scotland.)

And if Charles died in 1841, he was still living when Margaret Buchanan married Thomas Calderwood.

The fact that Margaret Buchanan or Calderwood and Margaret Buchanan, presumably the mother of David, are both listed in the 1841 census does suggest that they are two different Margaret Buchanans.

So in the face of two original records suggesting otherwise, what definite evidence do you have to prove that Thomas Calderwood's wife was Charles Todd's mistress?

[Susanne Buchanan]

Hello Forfarian

Thank you for the message but that was very old details we had and on 25/2/21 I asked for help in finding Margaret and Alexander Bate her husband, married 5/3/1844, where their graves were.
He died at Tranent 1/8/1846 and Margaret at Portobello on 12/11/1849.
I have searched Cemetery records to no avail.

Thank you
Susanne

[Forfarian]

on 25/2/21 I asked for help in finding Margaret and Alexander Bate her husband, married 5/3/1844, where their graves were.

No doubt you did, but it wasn't in this thread and I have not seen that request. There is no previous reference in this thread to Alexander Bate, and there are no posts in this thread between 3 May 1820 and 18 September 2021.

May I assume, then, that you have abandoned the idea that it was 'your' Margaret Buchanan who married Thomas Calderwood?

[Susanne Buchanan]

Hello Forfarian

Thank you for your input but I realised quite a while ago that our Margaret was not Calderwood's wife.
One of the roads we enter  searching for people .
Margaret married Alexander Bate and the only mystery now is where they are buried.
It was kind of you to find out those facts anyway.
Susanne