Never one to shy away from a challenge
Linked to this, and your other thread:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=780621.0Your
Margaret McWatt Moodie has been a bit tricky to track down, but I think I may have pieced it together.
Let’s start with her mother,
Elizabeth Cook. Elizabeth Cook was born about 1824 probably in Ireland (although she variously appears as Ireland, Barrhead or Paisley in subsequent censuses) to
John Cook and
Margaret McWatt. She’s in Neilston, Renfrewshire in 1841 with her parents. She marries
William Moodie, calico printer from Barrhead, in 1845 in Neilston.
Margaret McWatt Moodie is born in Barrhead in December 1846, and baptised in Neilston in May 1847.
William Moodie must have died shortly after that, as some time before 1851, Elizabeth Cook marries again to
David Brown, a French polisher - although I can’t find a marriage. The family are in Paisley in 1851 with three children, all enumerated as Brown. I’m pretty sure Margaret is Margaret McWatt Moodie, and I have a feeling John may also be the son of William Moodie, but I can’t find a baptism record to back that up.
1851:
27 Queen St, Paisley
David Brown, Head, 26, French Polisher, Renfrewshire - Paisley
Elizabeth Brown, Wife, 26, Renfrewshire - Barrhead
Margret Brown, Dau, 4, Renfrewshire - Barrhead
John Brown, Son, 2, Renfrewshire - Barrhead
Mathew Brown, 3m, Renfrewshire - Paisley
By 1861, the family are in Edinburgh:
1861:
10 Old Fish Market Close
David Brown, 37, warehouseman, Paisley, Renfrewshire
Elizabeth Brown, 36, Paisley, Renfrewshire
Margaret Brown, 13, Paisley, Renfrewshire
John Brown, 12, Paisley, Renfrewshire
Mathew Brown, 9, Paisley, Renfrewshire
Elizabeth Brown, 6, Paisley, Renfrewshire
Robert Brown, 5, Edinburgh
1871:
53 Thistle St
David Brown, 46, unemployed labourer, Paisley Renfrewshire
Elizabeth Brown, 46, Ruthven, Perthshire (sic)
Robert Brown, 13, Edinburgh
David Brown, 8, Edinburgh
Mathew Brown is lodging in Potterow. David Brown snr died in Edinburgh in December 1871. The couple had two other children registered in Edinburgh: James Brown, b. 1857, d. 1858; and Agnes Pearson Brown, b. 1866 d. 1868.
Elizabeth Cook remarried again in 1884 in Edinburgh to
Michael Riley. She died in 1898 in Edinburgh. Her death was registered by her son, Mathew Brown and she is listed as the widow of David Brown and Michael Riley - no mention of William Moodie.
Margaret married as
Margaret Moodie in Edinburgh in 1867 to
James Millar. On her marriage record, her father’s name is recorded as James Moodie, but her mother is recorded as Elizabeth Brown, previously Moodie (ms Cook), so I’m pretty confident it’s her. The couple had at least 7 children, all born in Edinburgh: Thomas, James, John, David, Margaret, Alexander and Robert. Haven’t been able to track down a death for Margaret though.
As a postscript - the parish record for the proclamation of the marriage of William Moodie and Elizabeth Cook in Neilston states that there were three objections recorded: 1. William Moodie had already promised to marry one Ann Houston of Paisley; 2. On the faith of that promise, he was co-habiting with Ann Houston; and 3. Said Ann Houston was pregnant with his child.
Ruth