Gordon Blair - Mystery? or Not!

[Rosinish]

Annie, I don't think that is a different address for Gordon. I believe that below his signature it reads A Monteith Clerk Witnefs ?......

Lobby

Thanks Looby & Isobel,

Can see it now but I suppose with not having it in front of me (full size) it did make it a bit awkward, mystery solved now though 

Annie

[Rosinish]

Now I am wondering about the reputed father v punitive father/s for Jane's sons .   If Jane's public claims to be Mrs Gordon BLAIR (newspaper cutting posted earlier), were not challenged, then what was Scottish law... 

You see, in NSW law at that time, a married woman's children were 'fathered' by her husband, regardless, unless she registered them and declined to provide the required information about her husband and their marriage.  (So by extension, women could simply wear a wedding ring, attend a registry office and give their details and the details of their husband (fictional or otherwise), their marriage place/date, and register their baby.   In NSW, this process was Informant driven, from 1856 to 1918ish without pre-printed forms for the informant's use, so oral questions posed by clerks in part time positions as deputy registrars.

What was Scottish law at that time - 1850s ?  Would Jane's children be legally the children of her husband .... is that part of the reason for the father being nominated as James Gordon BLAIR ....

All speculations of course....   

JM

JM,

Depending on where births were (area), people would be known by the Church i.e. if unmarried it would be common knowledge I would think for someone/anyone who had been a lifelong citizen?

However, depending on whether Parish Relief was sought by an unmarried women, she would be questioned as to who the father was etc.

This thread is now so long I don't recall if there was any other baptisms found other than the 2 girls or their marriages but the fact that 'Gordon' acquired 'James' is a total mystery & that was written by Jane herself?

I still wonder who the 3 other children were, their names, where born, were they baptised, was Parish Relief sought......
So many questions yet unanswered such as did Schwabe sign anything to state he was father or was his name used as a 'cover-up' as father post his death?

I think Looby's theory of Gordon & Henry Schwabe knowing each other/working together etc. is highly likely.

Those missing children are a mystery as is the death of Jane.

I wonder if she's just mistranscribed on the Index....well......hoping 

Those Parish Relief records could reveal something........

WHO CAN DO A LOOK-UP PLEASE 

Annie

[merryhow]

Hi Annie, I had a quick look at the poor relief records a couple of weeks ago didn't see anything, but I only had about half an hour before they closed. I'll be back in the Mitchell either today(Thursday) or Friday will try to make a bit more time to search.
If anyone else is going to be around hope they'll look too. Two heads, four eyes , maybe just maybe we'll find something.

Val

[Rosinish]

Ugh...Not sure what happened to my post, must have pressed wrong button earlier

Val,

That would be great as this is becoming an obsession with the unknowns 

Thought this might have been an 'unknown' son?

NORVAL
JANE
NORVAL
EDWARD
1874
644/10 10
10
Hutchesontown

Annie

Can't be a remarriage of Jane as there's no corresponding entry under a different surname i.e. must be a single Jane but it's Edward I'm curious about.

[Forfarian]

What was Scottish law at that time - 1850s ?  Would Jane's children be legally the children of her husband

Certainly as far a formal registration from 1855 was concerned, the law assumed that a child born to a married woman was her husband's unless she declared otherwise.

[Forfarian]

Can't be a remarriage of Jane as there's no corresponding entry under a different surname i.e. must be a single Jane

unless she was being less than 100% truthful.

[Rosinish]

A look for them in 1881 may give a clue!

Annie

[Rosinish]

Can't find a couple Edward & Jane in 1881.

Looks like the only Edward Norval I can see, his wife was a Margaret (Hunter), mother was Margaret & he was born Perthshire c1850

Annie

[OZScot]

► I think the records from the Belvidere Infectious Diseases Hospital Calton hold the key to Jane Norval.

Isobel found an 1871 Census record for Jane Blair/Norval as a patient there see #331.
 
How many Jane Blair/Norval's could there be in the Calton area and who's name has a strong likelihood of connected to at least 2 houses of ill-repute and 2 assaults by the Madame's of such establishments and then assaulted by a James Blair Gordon, clerk - probably mistakenly written or given as no such person exists in the whole of Scottish births and deaths for that period range.

As stated before the Hospital opened in 1870. I feel it's definitely her. She's a highly likely candidate for infectious disease. When she entered that hospital like every hospital they would have taken down ALL her particulars including current address, next of kin, where they can be contacted, her job title etc, etc.

I also think she's not going to be coming out - alive. Catch a disease back then you're in big trouble. Tens of thousands of people died just from TB over those years. Penicillin wasn't discovered until 1928 - 57yrs later than her Census entry and there were no antibiotics either. The need for such a hospital in Calton speaks for itself. It was a substandard place just to be living amongst all the toxic industries and she is in one of the worst.

There's no death record of Jane Blair/Norval. Who has the money to bury her if she died in there which is highly likely or out of there even? No husband and her daughter has been married barely 2yrs. A likely Pauper's grave maybe even on the grounds if they had a burial lot. All that survives of Belvidere is a few crumbling brick walls that housed very sick patients most of whom would never leave.

Mr.Tough stated in his email reply to me that those records existed for that period. Not what was in them however so it could be finding a nugget of gold or fool's gold of just a name.

That's what I think happened to Jane/Blair Norval. 
Sad but I think true but I'm willing to wash off any egg that lands on my face.

*** Those records hold the key. They may even confirm that it's not her.